Summer is not everyone's favourite season in Japan, least of all when a punishing heat wave sets in. But there's no way it's all bad. After all, this is ayu season.
These fragrant tender river fish — usually translated into English simply as "sweetfish" — are at their best when they're cooked as shio-yaki: simply dusted with salt, skewered whole and then grilled over charcoal, preferably served over smoldering bamboo leaves to give them an extra depth of smoky flavour.
In this case, the bamboo was just a seasonal accent: the fish had been cooked out in the kitchen, and the traditional grill underneath was just for effect. But these are the young fish — it's still close enough to the beginning of the season — and no extra flavour was called for at all.
They're also small enough and tender enough to be eaten whole: head, fins, bones and tails. The innards too, giving a sharp bitter accent to the tender white flesh.
The only accompaniment is a small dip of peppery green tadesu, a condiment made by grinding up leaves of tade herb and mixing it into rice vinegar. This herb — sometimes called "water pepper" by dint of its tangy taste — grows along the banks of the same rivers where the ayu swim, and it is supposed to be part of their diets, making it the classic taste combination with shio-yaki ayu.
On this occasion, though, little extra seasoning was needed, the fish were so soft and succulent.
These grilled ayu were part of a very fine dinner we were served to mark the Tanabata holiday last weekend at Shakunage in Ginza.
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