Autumn is here, bringing in one of our favourite fishes: the sanma (which translates in English as 'saury pike' or 'Pacific saury'). And with it plenty of puns, both in English and Japanese...
"Ichi, ni, sanma" says this poster, playing on the Japanese for "one, two, three"...
This teishoku set meal (above) at Ootoya costs ¥720 (including tax) for a whole charcoal-grilled fish, with rice, miso soup and a couple of little side dishes.
At En (below) you get slices of fresh sanma with an ume dressing.
In the shops, sanma are plentiful and cheap. In our local market they're three for ¥330 right now (though they were initially as low as ¥100 apiece)...
...although the fancy stores charge rather more — ¥980 for two at Kinokuniya.
Even if you don't have charcoal, they're so easy to prepare.
You just clean them and sprinkle them with salt. Then under the gas grill at low until they're nicely browned...
Mmm... So good with a squeeze of kabosu — and a few thimblefuls of ginjoshu sake to go with it.
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