Wakashi two ways

This is wakashi sashimi, which I bought for a recent dinner,still in the package it came it (why do they always include parsley?). Wakashi is one of the dozens of names given to yellowtail--you may already be familiar with hamachi and buri--depending on location and size of the fish. In the Kanto area the fish is called wakashi at its youngest stage.

I'd never tried wakashi before but it looked a lot like buri, which I love, and was also very cheap so I knew I'd have to give it a try. Unfortunately neither my husband or I were impressed, and although it was obviously very fresh it had an overly fishy flavour and a yucky soft texture. I didn't hate it but I definitely didn't love it, so I put it in the fridge for the next day's dinner.

And this is what it became: tatsuta-age. I just gave it a quick soy sauce and ginger marinade, then dipped it in katakuriko (potato starch) and deep-fried it. Now that's more like it: the marinade and cooking (and a squeeze of lemon before eating) took care of the fishiness, and the softness was lovely when contrasted with the crisp coating.

Normally tatsuta-age calls for bigger pieces, but with my lack of frying skills the small slices were perfect: they cooked up so fast there was no time to screw them up. Next time I see wakashi on sale I may just buy it again, and I know exactly what I'll do with it. If you want to do the same, here's the recipe:

Tatsuta-age

Tatsuta-age is most often made with chicken (thigh, skin-on is preferred) but is also popular with pork and fish like yellowtail, mackeral and saury. For fish a simpler marinade is preferred, but with chicken I like to add lemon juice and sesame oil and for pork try adding garlic and sriracha.

• 450 grams meat (fish fillets such as yellowtail and mackeral, bonless chicken breast or thigh, or pork shoulder)
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sake
• 1 Tbsp mirin
• 1 knob ginger
• optional marinade ingredients: crushed garlic, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sriracha or other hot sauce, sesame oil
• kakakuriko or cornstarch for dredging
• oil for deep-frying
• lettuce or cabbage and lemon slices for garnish

Prepare the meat for frying: for fish, remove bones from fish, for chicken, remove excess fat (leave the skin on or remove it as you like). Cut into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces.

Pour the soy sauce, sake and mirin into a ziplock bag. Peel and grate ginger, squeeze the juice from the grated ginger into the bag, discard ginger. Add the meat to the bag, squeeze and shake to distribute the marinade evenly. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible (this creams a vacuum that helps the meat absorb the marinade faster, some people even use a straw to suck all the air out). Let fish marinate in fridge for 20 to 30 minutes, chicken and pork for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Add about oil about 3 cm (just over 1 inch) to a deep pan or round-bottomed pot--a wok works great--and heat to 170 to 180 C (340 to 360 F). Meanwhile, dump contents of bag into colander, drain well. Add several tablespoons of katakuriko to a bowl, dip the pieces of meat a few at a time, tossing to coat well.

Add to the hot oil and fry, a few pieces at a time, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve on lettuce leaves or slice cabbage with slices of lemon.

Comments

[OnigiriFB]

Great post as always. Um, how many ways is there to say yellowtail in Japanese. I'm trying to learn Japanese hence the question. And of course I LOVE food so food terms are really important to me :P
Um also the reason I commented is kara-age is friend chicken, age is fried I assume or faintly remember. What is tatsuta mean? Fish? Yellowtail? Any fried food using the technique for kara-age. I'm so confused.

[Amy]

Oh my goodness, I don't think there is enough space here to list all the names! But in the Tokyo area the youngest are called wakashi or wakanago, then they are called inada, then warasa, then the fully mature fish are called buri. But plenty of people here say hamachi instead of inada and mejiro instead of warasa, both of which terms from western Japan. Other areas have completely different names for each stage.

In practice kara-age and tatsuta-age are pretty much the same thing. I'm not quite sure what the exact differences are and I don't think many Japanese really do either.

Kara is an old word for China and yes, age means deep-fry. So kara-age is an old name, from back when deep-frying was introduced from China. Kara-age is almost always chicken but the word name is sometimes used for other kinds of meat. It is always marinated first but there are many variations on the next step, with some recipes using a batter, some calling for a coating of flour and katakuriko, and some using no coating at all.

I don't know what tatsuta means but assume it's a place name. Chicken is most popular but pork and fish can also be used. It is marinated and then coated in katakuriko only, and is usually fried to a deeper colour.

That's all I know, but like I said there's not a huge difference and the terms tend to be used interchangeably.

[liebe]

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