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▼ ‘Minor fish’ May Look Ugly But Can Be Tasty
- Category:Gourmet
One mid-June day, a sushi shop specializing in home delivery in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, received packages of fish from Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, and other places. Shop manager Yoshitaka Asayama found that the delivery included an unusual kind of fish, called kibirekawahagi modest filefish, for the first time in six years.
All the fish delivered to the Kurozu no Sushi Kyozan shop were ones not usually found at sushi restaurants — such as kuroshibikamasu snake mackerel, which has a slender, charcoal-black body with sharp teeth; hamafuefuki blue-streak emperor, which requires time and multiple steps to prepare because of its hard scales; and chikamekintoki long-finned bullseye, whose appearance is similar to kinmedai alfonsino. These kinds are not usually favored by consumers and therefore are often discarded at markets.
The shop has featured unused or lesser-known fish — kinds that rarely hit the market because of the small volumes caught or their undesirable appearance — as sushi toppings since its opening. It is part of the growing drive to make effective use of unfamiliar kinds of fish amid mounting concern that resources will run out, mainly because of global overfishing.
“All these kinds are not known, but they are tasty,” Asayama, 55, said.
Asayama, who has dealt with about 500 kinds of unusual fish so far, said many of them require some preparatory steps before cooking, such as removing scales and hard bones. “It’s a cook’s job to prepare them so they are easy to eat,” he added.
Asayama posts photos of lesser-known fish the shop has purchased on its website. One of the shop’s popular menu items is a premier chef’s choice set featuring such fish along with common ones. The set, which serves three, is priced at ¥3,580 before tax.
“We hope our customers get more interested in fish by trying kinds that they’ve never eaten before,” Asayama said.
Meanwhile, Tsukiji Mottainai Project Uoharu, an izakaya pub in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district, features grotesque-looking deep-sea fish, purchased at the nearby Tsukiji Fish Market, for use in sashimi and other main menu items.
The pub opened in January last year to make better use of fish that are edible but usually abandoned due to their unappealing appearance or lesser-known names.
“We hope that many people realize that we can enjoy kinds that are usually abandoned, as long as they are prepared carefully,” said an official for the operator of the restaurant.
Pro Spar, a seafood processing and sales company in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, coined the term “minor fish” to name kinds of fish that are unfamiliar to many parts of the nation and sell them as its main products.
The company purchases these types from about 300 ports nationwide, processes them at its factory, and then ships to supermarkets, restaurants and other places.
“It’s been easier for information about minor fish to spread on the internet,” President Hiroki Suzuki said. “An increasing number of people are interested in trying kinds that are consumed only in specific areas.”
Domestic consumption of seafood has been falling year-on-year, with annual consumption per person standing at about 27 kilograms in fiscal 2014, less than 70 percent of the fiscal 2001 figure — about 40 kilograms. The decrease is believed to have been caused by a decreasing number of fish shops where consumers can learn how to cook, as well as lifestyle changes.
The Fisheries Agency promotes the use of lesser-known fish, sharing reports on processing methods and projects featuring such fish. “Growing interest in lesser-known types can help use fishery resources much better,” an agency official said.
Prof. Eiji Tanaka of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology said it is not good enough to promote how novel these kinds of fish are.
“They would just have one-shot popularity,” said the expert on fishery resources. “[Businesses] are urged to expand the market by keeping up efforts to make commercial products.”
By Akio Oikawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
All the fish delivered to the Kurozu no Sushi Kyozan shop were ones not usually found at sushi restaurants — such as kuroshibikamasu snake mackerel, which has a slender, charcoal-black body with sharp teeth; hamafuefuki blue-streak emperor, which requires time and multiple steps to prepare because of its hard scales; and chikamekintoki long-finned bullseye, whose appearance is similar to kinmedai alfonsino. These kinds are not usually favored by consumers and therefore are often discarded at markets.
The shop has featured unused or lesser-known fish — kinds that rarely hit the market because of the small volumes caught or their undesirable appearance — as sushi toppings since its opening. It is part of the growing drive to make effective use of unfamiliar kinds of fish amid mounting concern that resources will run out, mainly because of global overfishing.
“All these kinds are not known, but they are tasty,” Asayama, 55, said.
Asayama, who has dealt with about 500 kinds of unusual fish so far, said many of them require some preparatory steps before cooking, such as removing scales and hard bones. “It’s a cook’s job to prepare them so they are easy to eat,” he added.
Asayama posts photos of lesser-known fish the shop has purchased on its website. One of the shop’s popular menu items is a premier chef’s choice set featuring such fish along with common ones. The set, which serves three, is priced at ¥3,580 before tax.
“We hope our customers get more interested in fish by trying kinds that they’ve never eaten before,” Asayama said.
Meanwhile, Tsukiji Mottainai Project Uoharu, an izakaya pub in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district, features grotesque-looking deep-sea fish, purchased at the nearby Tsukiji Fish Market, for use in sashimi and other main menu items.
The pub opened in January last year to make better use of fish that are edible but usually abandoned due to their unappealing appearance or lesser-known names.
“We hope that many people realize that we can enjoy kinds that are usually abandoned, as long as they are prepared carefully,” said an official for the operator of the restaurant.
Pro Spar, a seafood processing and sales company in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, coined the term “minor fish” to name kinds of fish that are unfamiliar to many parts of the nation and sell them as its main products.
The company purchases these types from about 300 ports nationwide, processes them at its factory, and then ships to supermarkets, restaurants and other places.
“It’s been easier for information about minor fish to spread on the internet,” President Hiroki Suzuki said. “An increasing number of people are interested in trying kinds that are consumed only in specific areas.”
Domestic consumption of seafood has been falling year-on-year, with annual consumption per person standing at about 27 kilograms in fiscal 2014, less than 70 percent of the fiscal 2001 figure — about 40 kilograms. The decrease is believed to have been caused by a decreasing number of fish shops where consumers can learn how to cook, as well as lifestyle changes.
The Fisheries Agency promotes the use of lesser-known fish, sharing reports on processing methods and projects featuring such fish. “Growing interest in lesser-known types can help use fishery resources much better,” an agency official said.
Prof. Eiji Tanaka of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology said it is not good enough to promote how novel these kinds of fish are.
“They would just have one-shot popularity,” said the expert on fishery resources. “[Businesses] are urged to expand the market by keeping up efforts to make commercial products.”
By Akio Oikawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
- August 5, 2016
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