A few days ago I was dined with a fugu dinner in Tokyo. Fugu, a blowfish in English, is the most expensive fish to eat in the world. It is so expensive that I had never had it in my life. It is notorious for its poison in the belly and a special license is required to cook it. Except for the poisonous part, all the parts are said to be edible. We enjoyed a course menu starting from hire-zake which is warmed Japanese sake with the blowfish fin. Sake is changed into milder and tastier by a piece of fin. Main part of this fish is served as tessa, extremely thinly sliced raw fish. Each piece of tessa is so thin that we can see the pattern of the large dish on which it is dished up. The most delicious part around the bone is served as tecchiri and karaage. Tecchiri is a kind of stew with blowfish and karaage is deep fried blowfish, both of which are great. The last dish was finished with zosui, a kind of congee with blowfish soup. Sure my first experience of fugu was good but I didn't think it was so delicious and attractive that I would pay so much money. It is often said that a few years ago, when the cooking skill of removing the poison of this fish was not developed, people used to eat it at the risk of their life. Of course I don't understand why they used to do such a dangerous thing. It might have an addicting taste which I don't know.
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