Miso-Marinated Spanish Mackerel (鰆の西京焼き, Sawara no Saikyōyaki)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Fish grill (yakiyaki ami) or oven broiler
• •Shallow nonreactive container with lid
• •Gauze or cheesecloth, optional but traditional for a clean cure
• •Offset spatula or fish spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the fish

   Check the fillets for pin bones and pat them dry. Sprinkle the salt evenly over both sides and rest the fish on a rack for 20 minutes. The salt draws out surface moisture and a little strong aroma, so the miso can season cleanly instead of sliding off wet fish.

   If the fish smells strongly fishy after salting, change the dish and cook something else. Saikyō miso is seasoning, not a curtain.
2. 2

   Mix the miso

   Stir the Saikyō miso, sake, mirin, and sugar if using until smooth and spreadable. The sake loosens the miso and carries its aroma, while the mirin rounds the sweetness and helps the finished surface brown.

3. 3

   Bury and chill

   Blot the salted fish very dry. Spread a thin layer of miso in a shallow container, lay down the fillets, and cover them completely with the remaining miso. For a neater method, wrap the fish in a single layer of gauze before burying it. Cover and refrigerate for 36 to 48 hours. Time does the seasoning here; too short and the center stays plain, too long and the miso begins to make the fish salty and tight.

4. 4

   Clean before grilling

   Lift the fillets from the miso and wipe them clean with your fingers, a spatula, or a damp paper towel. Don't rinse unless you must, because water steals the surface seasoning you waited two days to build. The fish should look lightly stained and glossy, not coated in paste.

   This is the detail that decides Saikyōyaki: miso left on the surface burns before the fish cooks.
5. 5

   Grill gently

   Heat a fish grill, broiler, or toaster oven to medium-high and oil the rack or a sheet of foil. Grill the fish skin-side up first if it has skin, 3 to 4 minutes, then turn carefully and cook another 3 to 5 minutes. Move it farther from the heat if the color races. You want light amber patches and a lacquered sheen, not black edges.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Rest the fish for 2 minutes before moving it to plates. The flesh settles and flakes more cleanly after that short pause. Serve with hajikami pickled ginger and a small wedge of sudachi or lemon if you like, but don't squeeze citrus over the whole fillet. Let each bite keep its miso sweetness.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger what came in today that still looks glistening fresh. For this dish, firm pale flesh and a clean smell matter more than the name on the label.
• •Use Saikyō miso if you can. A regular white miso may work as a stand-in, but taste it first; if it's saltier and less sweet, shorten the cure to 24 hours and skip the extra sugar.
• •Gauze is the tidy Kyoto-school method because it keeps miso from clinging to the fish. No gauze? Marinate directly, then wipe carefully. The grill only cares that the surface is clean.
• •Don't hurry the cure with extra miso or high heat. The miso needs time to move into the flesh, and the grill needs restraint so the sugars brown instead of scorch.
• •The used miso has touched raw fish. Don't reuse it uncooked as a dressing or sauce. If you want to use it, cook it thoroughly in a pan and treat it as a separate cooked seasoning.

Advance Preparation

• •The fish should marinate 36 to 48 hours, which makes this excellent for a dinner party. Start it two days before serving.
• •After marinating, the fish can be wiped clean and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours before grilling.
• •Grill just before serving if you can. Cooked Saikyōyaki keeps one day refrigerated, but reheating should be gentle and brief so the fish doesn't dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 125g)