🍱 Ankou no Tomo-zu

It is a local dish of boiled anglerfish dipped in vinegared miso paste with liver. Anglerfish is a local product of Ibaraki prefecture, highly regarded for its quality, especially as that of the Hitachi region. Anglerfish fishing has been popular off the coast of Ibaraki for a long time, and it had been presented to Tokugawa Shogun as a delicacy of the Mito Domain in the Edo period (1603-1867). Although anglerfish dishes are also available in other prefectures, the one dipped in miso-vinegar is unique to Ibaraki. In Ibaraki, various dishes featuring anglerfish are enjoyed. The "Dobu-jiru," popular dish among tourists, is made without water, using vegetables like daikon radish and miso, and it was named after the fact the anglerfish liver dissolves, making the broth cloudy like mud. In households, anglerfish soup and hot pot dishes are commonly prepared. During the Edo period, anglerfish liver was counted among the "Sancho Nigyo" (Three Birds and Two Fish) – a group of five rare delicacies including skylark, ban (a type of goose), crane, anglerfish, and sea bream – all widely recognized as winter regional specialties.