🍱 Sendai zoni

Sendai Zoni has been eaten since the end of the Edo period. It is a beautifully colored meal for a special occasion with grilled hake so large that it protrudes from the bowl, harako (salmon roe), Sendai celeri, and omorina. Daikon, carrots, and burdocks are cut into small pieces and quickly blanched in hot water, and the "o-hinna" is divided into servings and frozen in the open air. This way, the flavor sinks in more easily (in recent years, with global warming, freezing in the freezer is the norm). The broth is made from grilled and dried goby, which were once caught in large numbers in Matsushima Bay. These grilled gobies are sold in rows of several fish tied together with straw. In the past, there used to be a number of yaki-haze huts, but due to poor catches in recent years, the number of huts has drastically decreased. As a result, the price of grilled goby has become more expensive every year. Harako, which is made from salmon that have come up the Abukuma River, is also a highlight, but its price has also risen in recent years, and overall, Sendai zoni is becoming more and more expensive. Incidentally, it is recorded that Lord Date Masamune did not eat Sendai zoni, but rather a zoni of dried abalone, dried sea cucumbers, and herring stock.