🍱 Tsukuda-ni

" Tsukudani, " which has been eaten as a preserved food since the Edo period (1603-1868), is a Tokyo specialty named after Tsukuda Island (current Tsukuda area in Chuo-ku). When the Edo shogunate was founded, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved fishermen from Tsukuda Village in Settsu Province to Tsukuda Island at the mouth of the Sumida River, making the area the center of the fishing industry. At that time, the common methods of preserving fish were boiling in salted water or pickling in salt, but the fish was boiled with thick seasonings, such as tamari soy sauce introduced from Kishu (Wakayama Prefecture), which made it highly storable. "Tsukudani" is also a standard ingredient in "Ocha-zuke (rice in tea or soup) " and "onigiri (rice balls). " In addition to seafood tsukudani such as white fish, seaweed, kelp, shrimp, and little neck clam, there are also agricultural products as ingredients. In addition, there are varieties that use locusts, bee larva, and numerous other ingredients in local regions. The flavor of soy sauce, mirin (sweet cooking sake), sugar, and starch syrup boiled down to a sweet and spicy consistency is a perfect match for white rice and is popular throughout Japan.