🍱 Nametagarei no nitsuke(Boiled slime flounder)

The slime flounder is also known as “granny flounder” or “Indian flounder” in other regions. It is said that it came to be called “slime flounder” because it is very slimy. It is characterized by being larger than other flatfishes, and compared to the yellow striped flounder, which weighs around 300g per fish, the slime flounder grows to around 600g per fish during the winter period, almost double the size. A fish with thick and filling meat, it is said that it came to be served over the New Year because it is deemed to be auspicious for the prosperity of descendants due to its increased number of offspring in winter and also, because the eggs are golden in color, it is auspicious for business prosperity as well. The slime flounder is low-calorie and easy to digest, and it is effective for recovering physical strength when one's stomach is in poor condition too. It can be said that it is the best fish to eat during the year-end and New Year holidays when we tend to eat too much and get tired. In fact, it is only recently that the slime flounder came to be eaten on New Year's Eve. From the Edo period to the prewar period, cod was the New Year's fish in Sendai. This can be observed in the letter written by Date Masamune, who was worried that cod would not be available in the castle town on New Year's Day, instructing his vassals to investigate the reason why cod caught by fishermen was not being shipped (refer to “History of Sendai City”), as well as a document from before World War II describing annual events in Sendai stating that cod soup is indispensable for the New Year (refer to Sendai Castle Town “Townspeople Retsuden”). Today, the custom of eating cod on New Year's Day is almost non-existent.