Misozuke creates a wonderful taste for grilled fish, chicken and even beef. Sake and mirin is added to miso paste, just like the kind used for soup, and then the fish is marinated for a day or two. I used a cut of tuna ‘throat’ for this.

The other day when I discovered these maguro tuna ‘throats’, there were both thick and thin slices. I bought a package of both. The thick ones I marinated in sake kasu (see this article for details) and these thinner slices I did in miso.

Maguro Tuna ‘Nodo’

Misozuke
Misozuke is easy and very tasty. Just mix miso paste with sake and mirin. You can probably use white cooking wine and sugar if cooking sake and mirin cannot be obtained. Miso used for misozuke is usually the ‘sweet’ variety. Dark/red is salty and light/brown is sweet. Kyoto’s miso is particularly light in color and is often used for misozuke. (I used barley miso for this, probably not orthodox.)

Usually fish is marinated in miso but chicken is quite common. Beef is wonderful. You can just pack a steak in miso paste with a small amount of sake for a day and then cook it on the grill. It is divine.

Marinade: Miso Paste, Sake and Mirin

This is barley miso, it is the right color and sweetness for good misozuke.

Marinade: Miso Paste, Sake and Mirin

Maguro in Marinade

Marinated Maguro

After marinating, the miso is wiped off, but not washed. Notice there are still a few bits of miso on the fish. This adds flavor but burns easily.

Grilled Misozuke

Being thin, these cooked a little quicker than expected. They got a little burned but were still plenty tasty.

How did it taste?
These slices were rather thin and got a little over-grilled. After cooking, there wasn’t a lot to eat, but what there was was mighty tasty! The richness and fattiness of the tuna is ever present and the miso brings sweetness and also of course the flowery bouquet of the ferment. The skin of such a large fish is not edible and there are two bones, just like in a beef steak, but the cartilage which after being grilled can be eaten. It is pleasantly gooey and tasty.

This was nice but the slices were a little too thin I think. The thicker cuts that we did in sake kasu were better. (see article)

I spotted these beautiful slices of maguro tuna throats in the store the other day and knew I had to try them. I packed them in sake kasu to make kasuzuke and then grilled them. They were heavenly!

Nodo, literally ‘throat’, denotes innards, but maybe chin or neck might be more like it. The cut would appear to be back from the mouth and between the gills.

I wasn’t sure what this would be like. Would it be sinewy and gross, or over the top rich and creamy? We were not disappointed!!

Maguro Tuna Throat

This is yakizakana (grilled fish) that has been marinated in sake kasu for several days.

Steps

• Wipe fish clean
• Rub with salt
• Pack in sake kasu (sake kasu may need sake or cooking sake added to increase liquidity)
• Wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours (we waited 4 days, quite long)
• Wipe sake kasu from fish with fingers and/or paper towel
• Grill slowly (the fish has a lot of sugar in it now from the kasu, so be careful not to let it burn)

1. Marinate in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

Maguro Tuna Throat: Packing in Sake Kasu

2. Wipe and Prepare for Grilling
Japanese say that the fish should be wiped clean, but not washed with water. A very small amount of sake kasu will remain.

Maguro Tuna Throat: Ready for Grilling

Maguro Tuna Throat: Ready for Grilling

3. Grilling
The key is to not let it burn which easily happens with kasuzuke and misozuke, teriyaki for that matter too, as there is a good deal of sugar content in and on the fish.

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

Maguro Tuna Throat: Grilled and Ready to Eat

How did it taste?
As mentioned above, this is very rich, fatty and creamy — like toro. The kasu fragrance is very ‘fruity’ and that remained even after grilling. This kasu is hand pressed so the amount of alcohol left in the kasu is fairly high. I marinated this tuna for several days so the alcohol also permeated the fish. Kasu has quite a bit of sugar as well.

After grilling, the sake (alcohol) taste and the fruitiness of the kasu is not cooked out, it is obvious. The sugar content reacts nicely with the richness of the fish as it grills.

It is quite an amalgamation of flavors: alcohol, fruity, sweet and fatty grilled fish. It is rich and luxurious and not something to make an entire meal of. This should be one part of a larger meal accompanied by rice, maybe some tsukemono or veggies and some alcohol or strong tea to wash it down.

Tataki: Tataki is half well done, half sashimi. I did some tuna cheek tataki. Back in Minnesota, when I was a kid, we used to freeze the cheeks from all the walleye we caught in an entire year to have a single ‘cheek’ dinner. Walleye cheeks aren’t very big, maybe about the size of a baby scallop. An average sized, single maguro tuna cheek on the other hand makes about half a meal!

Seared Tuna Cheek Tataki
This winter at the food court at Fuji Daimaru Department Store in Kyoto, I have often seen maguro cheek for sale in the sashimi section and had wanted to try it. I think I had maguro cheek at a barbecue once fairly soon after I washed up in Japan. And, once a chef friend of mine grilled an entire maguro head for me, as an appetizer — this is a gargantuan meal in itself! But, I really wanted to try some maguro cheek at home. At Fuji Daimaru I noticed that they also offered these tuna cheeks as tataki. Tataki is sashimi on the inside, but seared, cooked well done on the outside. I finally got a torch (just for this article) and put the beautiful sake kasu in my refrigerator to use on this one.

The steps I used are as follows:
1. Rub cheek with salt.
2. Pack in sake kasu and marinade for about 24 hours. (Add sake add needed to increase liquidity.)
3. Lightly wipe sake kasu off.
4. Grill lightly in fish grill (for super fresh tuna this might not be necessary).
5. Sear with torch (you need some high power flame for this).
6. Submerge in ice water.
7. Slice and serve.

Raw Maguro Tuna Cheek

(Sorry, no beagle for scale today.)

Marinading Maguro Tuna Cheek in Sake Kasu

Marinading Maguro Tuna Cheek in Sake Kasu

Kasuzuke: Maguro Tuna Cheek Marinaded in Sake Kasu

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Searing Tuna Cheek with Torch

At this point, the cheek has already been grilled in the fish grill for about 2 minutes per side.

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Searing Tuna Cheek with Torch

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Plunging in Ice Water

The idea here is to ‘stop’ the cooking completely even after the direct heat is removed. (Fish keeps cooking.)

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Plunging in Ice Water

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Plunging in Ice Water

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Sliced

Seared Maguro Cheek Tataki – Served

How Did it Taste?
Even while still raw, I was struck by the sweet fragrance combined with the rich and fatty ‘meatyness’ of the tuna. After it was grilled and seared, this was even more pronounced. The sweetness of the sake kasu and the rich oiliness of the tuna, combined with the seared fragrance was just a little too much, the center is still raw, of course. I had considered squeezing some yuzu, sudachi or daidai orange juice on it, but decided that it wasn’t needed. Even soy sauce was not needed. The sweetness of the kasu was seared onto the surface and the still raw flesh on the inside had more than a hint of sake (This is hand pressed sake kasu so there is quite a bit of alcohol left in it. Also, I marinated this for 48 hours, not 24 and that might have been a bit too long.)

About Tataki and Yakizakana
Usually the tataki preparation is with fresh, sashimi grade fish, and also fine wagyu beef. Kasuzuke fish for grilling is usually cooked all the way, like normal yakizakana. I am not sure about kazuzuke tataki though, it might be a bit nouveau. I did cook it a bit for than normal tataki as it had been marinaded for 48 hours.

In Japan there are literally more ways to prepare fish than one can easily imagine. Yakizakana, grilled fish, is one of my all time favorites. Sakana-no-hoshimono, dried fish, is extremely tasty and quick and easy to make. I discovered this one the other day, it is a whole dried herring with it’s own eggs inside.

About Dried Fish for Grilling in Japan
There are many kinds of drying processes used for fish here. ‘Dried’ overnight with just a bit of salt is very common and tasty. Dried with varying degrees of saltiness; sweet, middle and very salty are also common. This herring is dried with some salt and it’s own eggs filling the entrails cavity. This herring wasn’t dried rock hard, but was semi-dried and soft and juicy after cooking.

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Uncooked

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Grilled and Served

Terminology
Yakizakana 焼き魚: grilled fish
Komochi 子持ち: literally, ‘has child’ (egg)
Maruboshi 丸干し: whole dried (fish)
Nishin にしん: herring

How Did it Taste?
Salty, but not too salty, just the right amount to contrast well with rice. I used the leftovers for chazuke, tea poured over flavored rice, the chopped herring adding the flavor.

The herring did have a slight ‘pickled’ flavor. Herring eggs are rather chewy and are the source of the unusual flavor, I think. The taste reminded me slightly of spiced sausage and seemed a little bergamoty, but, ever so slightly. There is no spice used in the drying process.

This herring was pretty large, about 20cm.

Unfortunately this kind of fish is not yet widely available in English speaking countries. Drying then grilling small fish is a great way to enjoy eating fish with the bones, and usually the head and guts included. (Miwa did remove the larger bones from this one but the rib bones I ate.) I am sure that an enterprising foodie entrepreneur abroad will popularize this genre of fish preparation someday, hopefully someday pretty soon!

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – Egg Sac Detail

Yakizakana: Whole Dried Herring – detail

Chazuke is a quick, simple meal, easily made tasty with a little creativity and often leftovers, then just pour on some tea and eat/drink it up! I prefer to use brown rice, genmai for chazuke (and fried rice) because of it’s more complex and earthy flavor. It is far more nutritional than white rice as well. I used some grilled ichiya boshi sardines and Miwa’s favorite, grilled ginnan nuts for flavoring. For a second course, tsukemono on rice, first with no tea, then with tea.

Chazuke
Chazuke is just tea, any Japanese tea will do, poured over rice, usually with something else for flavoring. Nori, umeboshi and salmon are probably the three most popular ‘toppings’. A plethora of packaged flavorings are available to just sprinkle on, or you can used your imagination and add whatever you like, or whatever is leftover in the refrigerator.

Ichiya Boshi Fish
Ichiya-boshi literally means ‘one night dried’, or, fish dried over night. After one night, and just a little salt, the fish is of course only slightly dried. Often small, whole fish are prepared for eating this way. I used sardines here.

Ichiya-boshi is one of those fish preparations that I hope to see adopted in Western countries. Eating small fish puts far less pressure of fisheries and as the bones and sometimes the head are often eaten too, the mineral and nutrient content is far superior to just large fish flesh.

Ginnan Nuts

In Japan, the very pungent fruit from the ginnan nut is roasted with salt and enjoyed as a side dish, often with beer and sake. If you like pungent, full-bodied cheese and nuts, you will probably like ginnan. The heavy smell of roasting ginnan in the kitchen is wonderful and strongly evokes fall and early winter in Japan to me. Ginnan are also used to flavor such dishes and chawanmushi.

Miwa and I love them and I roasted and shelled some and added them to this chazuke for a flavor that was wonderful and probably unheard of in Japan. (Japanese might look at that and think that it was created by a foreigner.) It tasted great though. I guess that I just want to show how flexible chazuke is.

Chazuke with Grilled Sardines and Roasted Ginnan Fruit