Kasu Chinmi: Ikura is hard to beat, but salmon roe marinated in sake kasu for about a week beats ikura! This is a rather rare dish in Japan. The first time I recall having it was this January at Kichisen. After one bite, I knew that I had to try making it! Winter is the season for both sake kasu and salmon roe. It of course tastes of salmon roe and in addition has a wonderful flavor combination of sake and the fruity fragrance of fermenting sake mash.

What is Sujiko?
Sujiko, unlike ikura is still in the egg sac, ikura is individual eggs. Ikura can be cured with either salt or shoyu and the slightly sinewy egg sac is removed. Once sujiko is cured, the taste is identical to ikura and the texture is not very different.

I just packed the sujiko sacs in sake kasu and refrigerated for about 1 week. It of course keeps longer than that.

Sujiko Kasuzuke can be enjoyed as is and goes very well with sake or wine. With food it is usually served on rice, we used it to make a luxurious onigiri rice ball (see photo below).

Preparation

Kasuzuke: Sake Kasu

Kasuzuke: Sake Kasu – detail

Sujiko (Salted Salmon Egg Sac)

Sujiko on Sake Kasu

Next step is to gently cover it with kasu.

Done

Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko Kasuzuke

I am trying to figure out what to do with all this orange stained sake kasu now. We are certainly not going to throw it out! I am hoping that it will make excellent salmon kasu soup, we will let you know if we are able to come up with anything yummy.

Served

Sujiko Kasuzuke – served

Sujiko Kasuzuke – served

How Did it Taste?
Sujiko cured in sake kasu has a definite taste of sake and the flowery sweetness of the mash. This kasu we used this year was teshibori (hand-pressed) so the alcohol content is higher than mechanically pressed kasu. Also, I mixed in some fine ryorishu (cooking sake) to increase the liquidity of the kasu, making it better for marinading.

I have been making onigiri (rice balls) with it and eating it as chinmi on or along side rice at dinner. It is really nice! It is very easy to make and doesn’t even cost that much, but if you do the preparation you are rewarded with a very luxurious and special taste.

A friend that doesn’t drink much was over for dinner recently and was a bit surprised at the alcohol content in the sujiko! I guess she got a bit of a ‘buzz’ from it! That’s what I like, food that gets you drunk!

Sujiko Season
By the way, sujiko is in season in late autumn and early winter. I bought this in February but had to hunt around for it. I found it at the food court at Fuji Daimaru Department Store in Kyoto. I bought 6 roe sacs for about 1,800 yen. A pretty reasonable price, I thought. If it had been proper ikura, I think that it would have cost about 3-4 times that for the same amount.

Sujiko Kasuzuke Onigiri

This is from our Uri Nukazuke Onigiri article.

Koshogatsu, or ‘little shogatsu‘ is traditionally observed on January 15th and marks the end of the Japanese New Year celebration. Mochi that has been offered to Shinto gods for the last half month is now quite dried out and is shattered with a hammer for eating by humans. The shards are cooked in okayu rice porridge, in Kyoto this okayu is cooked with azuki beans for the ‘rice dish’ of the last O-shogatsu meal. I was invited over to Kichisen to photograph Koshogatsu cuisine and the most expensive maguro in Japan, Oma Maguro, from the port of Oma on the northern most part of the Honshu main island. If I had been told it was wagyu beef, I would have believed it!

Japan’s Finest Tuna: Oma Hon Maguro

Oma Maguro is considered the very best tuna in Japan for sushi and sashimi. It is taken in the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido via the ipponzuri, literally ‘one line catching’ method of fishing, using live bait on a single hook and line. Oma Maguro weigh several hundred kilos and the largest taken on record is 440 kg! The highest price ever paid for a tuna at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market was for an Oma Maguro that weighed 202 kgs and sold for about $200,000 USD in 2001. Oma Maguro is famous for its fat content and exquisite marbling which looks nearly identical to Japan’s famous wagyu beef in which the cows are fed beer and apples and massaged by humans. This makes it prized for the best sushi and sashimi.

Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Master Tanigawa selected the most choice part of the tuna for this toro sashimi. It comes from the kama, or collar of the maguro. (More about kama at the links below.) If you like toro, you have to try the kama section of the fish.

If you go to a fine wagyu restaurant in Japan, wagyu sushi and wagyu sashimi will often be on the menu, this tuna looks identical!

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Koshogatsu Ryori: Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Is it wagyu, or is it tuna?

Traditional Koshogatsu Dinner: Azukigayu (Azuki Bean and Mochi Rice Porridge)

After photographing the toro sashimi, Master Tanigawa invited me to try some Koshogatsu azuki bean okayu rice porridge and two slices of toro. Of course I was only too happy to accept!

The okayu, though including azuki beans was not sweet, it was almost bland. The kagami mochi inside was well cooked and soft enough to eat but still I could tell that it had been dried out. While eating it in a dimly lit, chilly room, I could easily imagine what shogatsu was like a thousand years ago in Kyoto. The toro sashimi, or course a very new addition to the culinary scene in Kyoto, and it was pretty incredible. I have had some pretty fine toro but this was different. It did just melt on my tongue. (I won’t torment you with the details on this one.)

Koshogatsu is not regularly celebrated by most Japanese now, though a fair number of people observe it in Kyoto. This was my first time to eat Koshogatsu food such as kagami mochi. Thank you Master Tanigawa!

Kichisen Ikebana Decoration and Otoso

The silver pot is filled with otoso: New Year’s sake.

Shogatsu Decoration: Kagami Mochi

Do you remember this offering from this article? Today is the last day of O-shogatsu and the kagami mochi in the shogatsu offerings is broken apart and in Kyoto eaten with azukigayu (azuki bean rice porridge).

Koshogatsu Ryori: Azukigayu and Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi

Oma Maguro Toro Sashimi – detail

The master said that these two pieces would set you back about $100 USD.

Koshogatsu Ryori: Sujiko Kasuzuke

Sujiko is ikura still in the egg sac. I love ikura but had never had it flavored with sake kasu (sake mash lees), it was astounding!

Koshogatsu Ryori: Eating Azukigayu and Mochi

This is a detailed article about Oma Maguro:
Japan’s love affair with Oma’s tuna | The Japan Times Online

KyotoFoodie Burikama articles:
Buri kama Shioyaki (Salt Grilled Yellowtail Collar)
Buri-zanmai: Buri Kama Shioyaki (Salt Grilled Fatty Yellowtail Collar)