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Because of its rich
flavor, for its excellent preservation, and low cost to
produce, Tsukudani became widely popular as a side dish
and became known as Edo specialty as well. The name Tsukudani,
began to be used at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate era,
and since it was well known as a Tokyo specialty, after
the Meiji restoration, an ex-samurai opened up a Tsukudani
store. During the war, there was high demand for it as the
soldier’s preservation food, and because of that,
the industry grew rapidly. As this happened, it becomes
a familiar dish in the common family.
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The
common ingredients used in Tsukudani are fish such as bonito,
tuna, gobi, pond smelt, small crucian carp, small sea bream,
small flatfish, and young sardines. The shellfish used are
such as littleneck clam, clam, oyster, and ark shell. Other
dried sea products used are dried squid, kelp, dried seaweed,
small fishes, and dried prawns. The nutritional value depends
on its ingredients but for example, if it is made with fish,
it is rich in protein, and because it is processed by boiling,
it is also rich in various vitamins, calcium, iron and phosphorous. |
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At
first, the soy sauce boiled ones were mainly produced, but
recently, there are other variations such as sweet ones
with sugar added, and ones with boiling fried ingredients.
There
are also other variations of Tsukudani, which is processed
differently, such as “shigureni” that is made
with mainly shellfish, such as clams, that is boiled down
with soy sauce, ginger, and Japanese pepper. This variation
is widely spread in the Kansai area. |
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Another
variation is “kanroni” which uses fresh water
fish such as ayu, pond smelt, crucian carp, and rainbow
trout, and boiled down with starch syrup and sugar, until
there is no more watery portion. There is also “Ameni”,
which is made by boiling down soy sauce, sake, and mirin,
and after that boiling once again with adding starch syrup.
For the Japanese, who eat rice as a main diet, Tsukudani,
which draws out the flavor of the rice and increase the
appetite, is a must have. |
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