Blowfish / Globefish / Fugu

jin
2015年6月7日
読了時間: 2分

Preparing fugu, Japan's poisonous fish dish

Cutting of Blowfish (Fugu) in Japan

Fugu come closer to the Japan coast in this season.

Fugu (blowfish) is in season from around the autumn to the spring equinox. However, winter is the best season to eat it. One reason is that many fugu dishes are served hot or in a soup. Japanese people love eating fugu in

Japanese-style stew, nabe, fried, in roasted fin sake or other hot dishes and love enjoying the firm fish meat. Another reason is that fugu come closer to the Japanese coast in this season, so are easier to catch.

Fugu called fuku (fortune) can bring you happiness.

There are many ways to refer to fugu. In the Kyushu area, people sometimes call it fuku; because while the Chinese character, kanji for fugu makes you imagine bad fortune, fuku means happiness. On the other hand, there are many

people who call fugu by the name teppo, because if you ingest the poison, you'll go to heaven! Mmm... it sounds like eating fugu means putting your life in danger. Even so Japanese people still love fugu dishes. We even eat fugu in sashimi in a slightly different way from other sashimi.

Why is blowfish sashimi so thinly sliced?

Seeing the scenery through fugu; It's like an art!

Fugu meat is rich in fiber and elastic, so it's hard to chew. That's why the cook slices fugu thin enough that you can see the scenery through it; that way you can chew it and enjoy the texture. The cook uses a special knife to slice

fugu, and carefully presents the pieces on a huge dish; a round shape is the most common way. Looking at the pattern on a china dish through thinly sliced fugu sashimi, it might feel as if you are looking at a piece of art. Japanese cooks also use a special knife technique.