🐟 Sakana no Tsukemono (Shiokara) (Pickled Fish)

There are many plankton at the point where the inner bay flow includes plenty of fresh water from the Ise Bay joins with the Kumano-nada Sea, and small fish like sardine gather there. Also, big fish like bonito get there to eat small fish. Therefore, the point becomes good fishing area. Making dried fish with salt is developed to preserve lots of fish caught there. "Sakana no Tsukemono" (pickled fish) was invented as one of the method to preserve fish. Pacific saury is called "saira" and "shiokara" (salted pickled fish) is expressed as "shokara", it is called "saira no shokara." On the other hand, another type of "shiokara" is made called "wata-jokara" in Wagu area in Shima region. The ingredients for this are bonito, "kamasu" (barracuda) and "sawara" (Japanese Spanish mackerel). They make "katsuo no shokara" with bonito's guts, too. The fishermen used to make it on the ship while fishing to make use of guts from freshly caught bonito until these days. These dishes were invented to preserve lots of freshly caught fish when there was no fridge. Those pickled for a long time are pickled from autumn to winter, then eat in spring. The principle of shiokara is that, on the one hand, a large amount of salt preserves the food, on the other hand, self-digesting enzymes produce umami, and microorganisms produce an odor that gives the food its distinctive aroma. Therefore, when you fillet pickled fish, you will see the meat is very beautiful transparent red.