I killed my first buri-kama of the year tonight. It was a lunker! I grilled it shioyaki style and squeezed on lots of sudachi.

The coming of autumn and winter in Japan means excellent fish, and buri (鰤 ぶり), yellowtail, is my all-time favorite. It is still a bit early in the season, but the buri are fattening up!

Buri Kama Shioyaki

I found this pretty huge buri kama, or collar in the neighborhood co-op this afternoon and thought it would have plenty of nutrition and energy to help me fight this bout of bronchitis I have. (だから、no new articles on KyotoFoodie recently.) In addition to the ‘medicinal effect’, I LOVE buri kama shioyaki!!

Buri kama, or collar, is that chunk of fish just back of the gill area. It may not look all that appetizing to a lot of folks, but there is some REALLY good eating fish in here. Plus, kama are usually cheap!

Picking out the sweet meat of the kama is great fun and was just made for beer and sake!

To do this dish, or something like it, you need some large fish collar, salmon will do. Some good salt and a grill or broiler. Then some citrus to squeeze on. If you can get Japanese sudachi or yuzu, you’ve got the real deal! If not, lemon is just fine.

The taste of sudachi can be approximated with about 1 part fresh lime juice and 3 parts fresh lemon juice.

Buri Kama (Yellowtail Collar)

This was a big one, and only cost 250y!

Buri Kama (Yellowtail Collar) – Chiai

Buri has lots of chiai (血合い), the deep red flesh at the bottom is chiai. Chi means blood and ai means meet. So, where blood meets flesh. Buri kama doesn’t actually have that much chiai.

Buri Kama (Yellowtail Collar) – detail

This is the fatty part that makes yellowtail taste so good. Those white lines are fat and oil. Mid-winter fatty yellowtail in Japan is a kind of foie gras from the sea. Raw or cooked, it is hard to beat! It is still early in the season, so it isn’t nearly as fatty as it will be in a few months time.

Buri Kama – On the Grill

A poorly lit shot from in the gas fish broiler. On the skin side grind or sprinkle a lot of salt. The skin is not eaten and easily separates from the flesh, so it can be cooked until black.

Buri Kama Shioyaki Served

On this side salt is sprinkled in moderation or none at all. Oil dripping down from the skin side will bring plenty of salt to this side for flavoring.

Buri Kama Shioyaki Served – detail

Yum! By the way, these sudachi are old, so they are no longer green.

To see a great photo of this dinner finished (defeated) and some about the sake that washed it down, just click here. And some more here.

‘Dessert’: Onigiri

This onigiri is a creation of Miwa (AKA Paku). It has shiso pickled ginger, shiso leaf and katsuo-bushi mixed in the rice. We made the pickled ginger last summer. It is too salty to be healthy but tastes great!

Buri-zanmai Series (Part 3): Winter is the time for buri, or yellowtail. The meat is laden with oil and rich flavor. Here we make a quick and simple rice dish, Buri Sashimi and Shiso Donburi.

Buri Sashimi and Shiso Donburi:
Donburi is a popular ‘rice bowl’ dish in Japan. Here we make a decidedly nouveau, winter-themed donburi. Just fresh buri sashimi, finely chopped shiso leaves, shoyu, wasabi and a squeeze of sudachi all on a bed of warm rice makes this a quick and healthy meal!

Ingredients:

• buri (yellowtail) sashimi
• shiso leaf (10-15 per serving)
• shoyu
• wasabi
• sudachi

＊As with all home cooking recipes here on KyotoFoodie, we trust that our readers are fellow foodies and will be able to ‘wing’ the recipe and even alter and improve it.

Rice: Cook as usual for white rice. For a serving of two, use about one and a half cups of rice. Try to use Japanese-style short grain rice, ‘California rice’ is just fine.

Add dried kombu or sake for additional flavor.

We like mugi-gohan for this dish too. Add half a cup of pressed oats (oshi-mugi) if you like.

Preparation:
Preparation for this dish is quite simple. While the rice is cooking, the other ingredients can easily be prepared.

Shiso: Wash the shiso leaves and chop finely.
Wasabi and Shoyu: Grind fresh wasabi root if available. If not, use preserved wasabi paste. Mix wasabi paste with shoyu.
Sudachi: If fresh sudachi is available, simply cut in half and remove seeds.

Serve: Serve the rice in a large ‘donburi‘ style bowl and allow to cool somewhat for 1 to 2 minutes. Place the chopped shiso atop the rice. On the bed of shiso, place the sliced buri sashimi. Spoon on about 2 tablespoons of wasabi-shoyu over to the sashimi. Next squeeze on half a sudachi. If not obtainable, lime or lemon is a fine substitute. Bottled sudachi juice is also fine.

Enjoy!

Buri Sashimi and Shiso Donburi — Served

Buri Sashimi and Shiso Donburi — chopping Shiso