🍱 Ikanago no kugini

Ikanago no kugi-ni" is a local dish made by boiling raw ikanago fry in soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and other seasonings to a sweet and spicy consistency. It is called "kugi-ni" (meaning "nail stew") because the finished product looks like a rusty nail that has been bent. It is said to have originated in Kobe, where it was originally prepared in the homes of fishermen, but it became widely known to the general public in the 1980s. One of the reasons for the popularity of the dish was that women of a fishermen's cooperative in Akashi created a recipe for nugi-ni, which had a strong seasoning for fishermen, and improved it for ordinary households, and held cooking classes. Every year, from the end of February to April, the shinko fishing season is held to catch ikanago fry (shinko), and customers line up at fresh fish stores to buy shinko. The smell of soy sauce and sugar used to cook ikanago wafts through the streets, and locals say that "the smell of ikanago brings spring". The "ikanago no kugi-ni" is a springtime tradition in the Seto Inland Sea, and is still an established part of the local culinary culture today.