Cook the local flavors once more

Ochazuke with saba heshiko

From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window

A close-up of the ochazuke, chopsticks lifting a slice of 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. It was a precious source of protein for getting through the winter, and is said to date back to the mid-Edo period. The bran is scraped off and the fish sliced and lightly grilled, or eaten in ochazuke, as a side with sake, or inside rice balls. This time, heshiko bought in Ine, Kyoto, became ochazuke in a fishing village on the Kii Peninsula.

Ingredients

Cooked rice
Saba heshiko (mackerel pickled in rice bran)
Hot tea

How I made it

Unwrap the heshiko and slice it thin
Lay the slices over the rice
Pour hot tea from the pot over the bowl

Sources: maff.go.jp

This moment in the journey

Ochazuke with heshiko

I laid the slices over freshly cooked rice and poured hot tea from a glass teapot. A specialty of the Sea of Japan, eaten for breakfast on the shore of the Kii Peninsula.

I set the bowl on a tray by the window and picked up my chopsticks, looking out at the sea. The salt and the deep, aged flavor of the fish melted into the tea, and the rice disappeared quickly.

Watch this scene on YouTube0:42

Read this scene in the full journey