Registered trademark: Oomasa specialty Shiogama-yaki
Asahi Shimbun evening edition, article published on May 25th, 1996 (Heisei 8)
From “Aji-gokoro, Tabi-gokoro: Nyusuru Unji”
Karatsu, Saga: Taiko-yaki
“It’s like a Taiyaki, but it’s not a Taiyaki. It’s wrapped in salt to bring out the real flavor.”
It’s a Taiyaki, but it’s not a Taiyaki. It’s a bit like a Zen koan, but to put it simply, it’s a dish where real sea bream is wrapped in salt and grilled. The color and shape of the finished product is similar to that of the Taiyaki sweets with bean paste filling.
It is generally called “shiogama-yaki”. In Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, it is called “Taiko-yaki”. The restaurant “Daimasa”, a Japanese inn located to the west of Karatsu Castle, has a sign in front of its entrance that reads “Shiogama cuisine”, making it the restaurant’s signature dish.
The cooking process begins with scooping up sea bream from the fish tank using a net, as freshness is the selling point. The water temperature is kept low at 7 degrees, and the fish are not fed for a couple of days. This is to make the flesh firm, and as soon as this is done, the vital point of the head is quickly poked, the scales are removed, and the internal organs are removed.
Next, the batter is made. 1.5kg of coarse salt is mixed with egg white to make a batter, which is kneaded by hand for a couple of minutes until it is soft like earlobe. This batter is spread on the sea bream to a thickness of around 1cm, and the fish is shaped and the eyes and scales are drawn on. As well as being pleasing to the eye, this also helps to release excess steam.
After 30 minutes in the gas oven, the fish-shaped pancakes are golden brown and look like giant Taiyaki. “The children love them,” says the owner, Fujiko Tanaka. The name “Taiyaki” has its origins in the history of Japan. The ruins of the Nagoya Castle are located in the town of Chinzai, near the city of Karatsu. In the past, Toyotomi Hideyoshi set up camp here. At that time, he was so impressed by the beauty of the sea bream from the Genkai Sea that he sent it to his ailing mother, Omasamichi, wrapped in salt so that the flavor would not be lost, by express horse. That is why it is called Taiko-yaki.
The godparent is the Karatsu City Ryokan Cooperative Association. About 400 years after the time of Hideyoshi, in 1976, just before the Saga National Athletic Meet, the young chefs of the association named it in an attempt to promote Karatsu’s local cuisine.
However, there are no reliable documents or records left to support the story of Hideyoshi. Those involved at the time of the naming recall “it was like what I saw in the documents”, but local historians and curators at the Nagoya Castle Museum have “never seen any documents to support the story”. Is it impolite to dig too deeply?
When eating, carefully peel off the hardened salt crust with a bamboo spatula so that the fish does not fall apart. A sweet aroma rises with the steam. As I had been told in advance by Mr. Tanaka, the flesh is not salty. “The sea bream swims in salt water, but the flesh is not salty in the same way. It is the original flavor of the sea bream.”
He says that you should start eating it within 10 minutes of it being cooked. It is best eaten when it is hot. “Taisei” also delivers taikoyaki, but they have decided that they will only deliver it within a 10-minute drive.
From this, it is doubtful that they would deliver it “by fast horse”. In Osaka, where the Omasen was located, the seas of Naruto and Akashi, where the sea bream is delicious, are closer than the Genkai Sea.
At the Omasen, they also tried salt-baking flatfish and prawns, but they say they couldn’t bring out the same delicious flavor as the sea bream. This cooking method, which brings out the original flavor, is a testament to the deliciousness of the sea bream, which is known as the king of fish. (Yuzo Hisatsune, Saga Branch) Full article.
Article from the Saga edition of the Nishinippon Shimbun, April 7, 2002 (Heisei 14)
In the 1970s, this dish was popular at many Japanese-style restaurants in Karatsu City, but it is now rarely seen. On the 4th, the Ryokan “Daimasa” in Higashijonai, which has continued to serve this dish as its signature dish without interruption, held its first “Tai Kuyo” (memorial service for sea bream) on the beach to the west of the Ryokan. Mr. Kenji Tanaka, who runs the Ryokan, said, “It is out of gratitude for the sea bream. I want to cherish Shiogama-yaki as a Karatsu specialty.
Shiogama-yaki is a dish in which a whole sea bream is wrapped in salt and then steamed. In 1962, about eight years after he started the inn business, Mr. Tanaka began serving Shiogama-yaki, which was rare in Karatsu at the time, and it became popular for its natural umami flavor.
When the National Athletic Meet was held in Saga in 1976, the city called on inns and other establishments to include it on their menus, saying, “Let’s make it known nationwide as a specialty of Karatsu”. However, the number of establishments serving it gradually decreased.
About three years ago, Mr. Tanaka registered the trademark “Daimasa Specialty Shiogama-yaki” for Daimasa’s Shiogama-yaki, with the idea that it was the original Karatsu Shiogama-yaki. It has been preserved as a highlight dish for celebrations and banquets.
At the memorial service, the chief priest of the Karatsu Shrine, Togawa Tadatsugu, performed a Shinto ritual and released a sea bream into the Karatsu Bay. Mr. Tanaka said, “We use 1,500 sea bream a year. I’ve always wanted to hold a memorial service to express my gratitude. I’d like to hold it again next year and in the spring.”