Katsuura's fresh tuna, never frozen, has a soft, chewy texture. After the tuna bowl at lunch, this was my second fresh tuna of the day, eaten with a beer while the collar grilled over the coals.
Ingredients
- Fresh tuna (lean red meat and fatty cuts)
- Shiso leaf
- Shredded daikon
- Soy sauce
How I made it
- Arrange the sashimi on a plate with shredded daikon and shiso
- Eat with soy sauce
This moment in the journey
Tuna collar on the coals, and fresh tuna again
The tuna collar would be grilled slowly over charcoal. I lit the coals in the shichirin and laid the big collar on the wire mesh. On the little table on the terrace waited sashimi of the fresh tuna from the self-service shop, and a beer. Good fish to round off a good day.
While the collar cooked, I enjoyed my evening drink. My second fresh tuna of the day: lean red meat and pale, fatty cuts. That soft, chewy texture had completely won me over.
Watch this scene on YouTube4:31
More notes from this journey
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Ochazuke with saba heshiko
Heshiko is a traditional preserved food of the Wakasa region of Fukui: gutted mackerel is salted, then packed in rice bran and left to cure for months.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled tuna collar
Nachikatsuura is a fishing town that boasts Japan's largest landings of fresh tuna.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Nachi Falls (Hiro Shrine)
One of Japan's three great waterfalls: 13 meters wide at the lip, with a 10-meter-deep basin, it drops 133 meters in a single fall.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Kumano Nachi Taisha and the Yatagarasu
One of the three grand shrines of Kumano, born of the worship of Nachi Falls, with a history of about 1,700 years.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Katsuura's fresh tuna
With the Kuroshio current flowing offshore and a deeply indented coastline, Nachikatsuura is a fishing town with Japan's largest landings of fresh tuna.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Katsuura Fishing Port Nigiwai Market and the Umi no Yu footbath
A market beside Katsuura Fishing Port, with a direct-sales area for fresh tuna, dried local fish and vegetables, and a food court of tuna dishes, sushi and set…
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast