Kabayaki (蒲焼) is a preparation of fish, especially unagi eel,[1] where the fish is split down the back[2] (or belly), gutted and boned, butterflied, cut into square fillets, skewered, and dipped in a sweet soy sauce-based marinade before being cooked on a grill or griddle.
Besides unagi, the same preparation is made of other long scaleless fish such as hamo (pike conger),[2] dojō (loach),[1][2] catfish,[1] anago (conger eel),[1] and gimpo (ギンポ) (gunnels).[1] One can also find canned products labeled as kabayaki-style sanma (Pacific saury).
Kabayaki eel is very popular and a rich source of vitamins A and E, and omega-3 fatty acids.[3] A popular custom from the Edo period[4] calls for eating kabayaki during the summer to gain stamina,[4] especially on a mid-summer day called Midsummer Ox Day (doyō-no ushi-no-hi [ja] (土用の丑の日),[3][4]) which falls between July 18 and August 8 each year.[5]
The eel kabayaki is often served on top of a bowl (donburi) of rice, and called unadon, the fancier form of which is the unajū, placed inside a lacquered box called jūbako. It is also torn up and mixed up evenly with rice to make hitsumabushi (ひつまぶし), which is enjoyed especially in the Nagoya area.
- ^ a b c d e Heibonsha 1969, vol. 7,"kabayaki" by Tekishū Motoyama (ja:本山荻舟) describes it as being used principally or almost always for unagi (「もっぱら鰻」)
- ^ a b c Shinmura 1976 the Japanese dictionary says kabayaki applies to such fish as ungai, hamo, and dojō
- ^ a b Prosek 2010, p.144-
- ^ a b c Bestor 2004, pp.167-8, repeats a story of an eel purveyor from Edo who asked a calligrapher to write the Ox (day) character as a sign
- ^ Sasaki, Sanmi (佐々木三味); McCabe, Shaun; Iwasaki, Satoko (2005). Chado the Way of Tea: A Japanese Tea Master's Almanac. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 9780804837163., p.372 describes Doyo as "about eighteen days from July 20th", though in actuality the beginning date can shift a day or two. The days cycle through the twelve animals (twelve heavenly branches) so any one or two of the dates within the eighteen-day period can fall on an Ox day.