Cook the local flavors once more

Tai-meshi, sashimi-bowl style

From: Shimanami Kaido: sea-bream rice and a salty breeze

The sashimi bowl with the egg yolk melting over it

Ehime has two kinds of tai-meshi. In Toyo, around Imabari, a whole sea bream is cooked with the rice. In Nanyo, around Uwajima and Seiyo, raw slices are steeped in a sauce of soy sauce, mirin, egg, sesame and dashi and poured over hot rice. The Nanyo style is said to have begun as a meal fishermen ate on boats where they could not light a fire. This is the one I made, with two egg yolks.

Ingredients

Sea bream sashimi
Soy-based sauce
2 egg yolks
Shiso leaves
Sesame seeds
Cooked rice

How I made it

Roll up the shiso leaves and slice them thin
Drop an egg yolk into the sauce, mix, and coat the sashimi in it
Lay the sashimi over the rice and scatter the shiso and sesame
Top with the second egg yolk

Sources: maff.go.jp

This moment in the journey

The pot-rice type, and a face-off

The other tai-meshi is cooked rice, like pilaf. The Hojo tai-meshi went into the microwave, little pot and all. When I lifted the lid, rice mixed with sea bream was steaming. I loosened and mixed it with a wooden paddle.

Now, both of them are staring at each other. The egg yolk ran glossy over the sashimi bowl, the sesame glistening. In Japan, there are many cultural differences between regions. Even tai-meshi from the same prefecture can be very different. We are all different, and all wonderful. In the tatami room at night, I closed out my day in Ehime.

Watch this scene on YouTube6:01

Read this scene in the full journey