Saikyō Miso Doko (西京味噌床, sweet white miso marinade bed)

The word doko means bed, and that tells you almost everything. This is not a glaze, not a heavy paste to leave clinging to the fish, and certainly not a place to bury a tired fillet and hope for mercy. Saikyō miso doko is a soft, sweet miso bed that lends salt, fragrance, and a little sweetness slowly. Nothing hidden.

The one detail that decides it is balance. Saikyō miso, the pale sweet miso of Kyoto, is lower in salt and richer in rice kōji than darker miso, so it can sit with fish for a day or two without bullying it. Sake loosens the miso and carries aroma. Mirin rounds the sweetness and gives the finished grill that lacquered shine. Warm the sake and mirin first, not to make a ceremony of it, but to soften the alcohol's raw edge before it enters the miso.

Use this for glistening fresh fish at its prime, especially sawara in spring, salmon when it is good, or black cod if you can buy it honestly fresh. We lay the fish against the doko, often with gauze between fish and miso, then wipe it clean before grilling. That wiping feels wrong to new cooks. It isn't. Leave the miso on and it burns before the fish cooks. Take it off, and the flavor remains where it should be: inside the flesh.