= Bonito, the fishiest of washoku fish =

A lengthy article in BBC presented another type of fish dish, charred black on the outside but bloody raw inside. The fish used is really fishy, with a reputation outside of Japan as unpleasant tasting, awfully fishiest of fishy…

Bonito.

Bonito
https://www.britannica.com/animal/bonito

Bonito, (genus Sarda), tunalike schooling fish of the tuna and mackerel family, Scombridae (order Perciformes).

Bonitos are swift, predacious fishes found worldwide. They have striped backs and silvery bellies and grow to a length of about 75 cm (30 inches).

Like tunas, they are streamlined, with a narrow tail base, a forked tail, and a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins.

It is deliberately mislabeled as “bonito tuna”or “skipjack tuna” or even “false albacore.” It is not exactly tuna, but gets marketed that way due to wishful resemblances. In some countries, such mislabeling is false advertising.

Bonito
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonito

Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae — a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish.

Bonitos closely resemble the skipjack tuna.

Pacific and Atlantic bonito meat has a firm texture and a darkish color. The bonito has a moderate fat content.

The meat of young or small bonito can be of lighter color, close to that of skipjack tuna, and is sometimes used as a cheaper substitute for skipjack, especially for canning purposes, and occasionally in the production of cheaper varieties of katsuobushi that are sold as bonito flakes.

Bonito may not, however, be marketed as tuna in all countries.

A flashy cooking method is being showcased in the BBC article involving a two meter tall flame to flash sear a few slabs of fish on a stick, leaving the center raw with a charred crust on the outside.

— Chinese face-frying lung cancerous wok-hei hell?

It appears to be the same food theatrics of Chinese stir fry where the big flashy flames shoot out of the wok (producing all those carcinogenic acrylamide “stir fry flavors”) as flaming farts of burning hot oil.

— Benihana teppanyaki theatrics

A colorful story has been planted, that a defeated samurai traitor fleeing the Meiji restoration prosecutors, for some ungiven reason, started cooking fish in a gigantic straw bonfire late 19th century. Apparently. the story is a marketing ploy, as the fanciful local legend admittedly cannot be verified.

This “katsuo-no-tataki” seared bonito method probably has its roots in Benihana, the theatrical teppanyaki grill chain, searing raw tuna slabs with a blowtorch.

Grilling tuna steaks with a blowtorch
https://youtu.be/fOnY5xqVLvc

Is this another new Japanese “tradition” in the making unfolding now before the BBC?.

Quotes:
• … the most sought-after dish in town is katsuo-no-tataki (seared bonito).
• Literally meaning “to hit”, it’s a brief searing method lasting around 90 seconds, in which fish or meat is cooked over towering straw-fuelled flames.
• While katsuo-no-tataki’s origins are unclear, some believe it originated with Sakamoto Ryoma, a 19th-Century rebel samurai and Kochi’s most famous son…
• Whether or not this legend is true, there’s no doubting that just as Ryoma’s martyrdom has come to be a symbol of Kochi over the years ­– his face appears on posters and products around the city — so has the seared fish.

Japan’s delicious fire-seared delicacy
Is this the single best food in Japan?
BBC Travel
Oct 16, 2020
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2020101 … d-in-japan

In one of the country’s least-visited prefectures, chefs dramatically sear bonito over towering flames.

Inside the Hirome Market in Kochi City on a humid August evening, diners were packed shoulder-to-shoulder on communal tables, surrounded by shops and stalls. The hungry chatter grew and the tables quickly filled inside the sprawling, single-storey structure as dinner time approached. Hirome is as busy as this throughout the year, and no matter the season, the most sought-after dish in town is katsuo-no-tataki (seared bonito).

Often called “skipjack tuna”, these smaller cousins of tuna are normally found deep at sea, but they swim unusually close to shore just off the Kochi coastline, following large schools of sardines carried by the Kuroshio current. This close proximity allows Kochi residents to eat the fish at its freshest, and over the years, local chefs here have developed a dramatic cooking technique to maximise the bonito’s flavour.

The tataki cooking technique is now used around the world, but it originated here in Kochi.

Literally meaning “to hit”, it’s a brief searing method lasting around 90 seconds, in which fish or meat is cooked over towering straw-fuelled flames. The flames partly cook the outside of the fish, searing its dark flesh black and leaving its exterior with an intense, smoky barbecue flavour while its inside retains a raw and succulent sashimi quality. Chefs roughly cut it with huge knives into thick slices and serve it alongside spring onions, ginger and garlic and seasoned with salt or soy sauce.

These days, Japanese restaurants apply the tataki technique to salmon and even beef, but its smoky source harks back to bonito. In fact, it’s become so popular in Kochi that people regard it as a symbol of the whole prefecture — and travel from far and wide to sample it.

While katsuo-no-tataki’s origins are unclear, some believe it originated with Sakamoto Ryoma, a 19th-Century rebel samurai and Kochi’s most famous son, who was assassinated by pro-government forces in 1867. Some claim that Ryoma saw the tataki technique in Japan’s southern Nagasaki prefecture, one of the first areas to open up to foreigners after the end of the Sakoku period (Japan’s secretive period of isolation from 1633–1853).

Whether or not this legend is true, there’s no doubting that just as Ryoma’s martyrdom has come to be a symbol of Kochi over the years ­– his face appears on posters and products around the city — so has the seared fish.

Even the prefecture’s yuru chara, ordinarily a cute mascot designed to help drive tourism, is an almost frightening beheaded bonito head on the body of a man.

Cartoon-like drawings of the fish are also found on drain covers around the city.

— Kochi city mascot giant bonito head

Outside of Japan, bonito fish is considered one of the most harshest tasting fish, cooked or raw. Sports fishermen never even bothered to consider eating such fish relegated as trash fish such as bluefin tuna was once considered, let alone even catching it except for the occasional sport. Bonito seem to particularly fill the nets mainly around Kochi, Japan.

If you ever had a bad can of tuna, most likely the tuna was substituted with the counterfeit tuna, bonito. That tuna-breath fishy flavor, especially that lingering aromatic aftertaste, is horrendous.

Americans have a low opinion of bonito.

Can you eat bonito trash fish or treasure?
https://youtu.be/3vu0t5P3cSw

BOAT Full of TRASH Fish…Catch Clean Cook- Bonito (False Albacore)
https://youtu.be/aJCr-oLKYFM

Are bonito fish good to eat?
https://luremefish.com/bonito-fish/

Are Bonito fish good to eat? Bonito fish are safe to eat, but because of the strong, harsh flavor and oily texture, it isn’t a taste that is accepted by all.

Many people have speculated whether or not it is safe to consume bonito fish.

You should be aware that Bonito fish do indeed have a taste that is unlike any other.

Though the taste is highly unusual, it is still perfectly fine to eat, should you be lucky enough to catch one.

AH, BONITO . . . CAN’T BEAT IT, BUT DON’T EAT IT
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xp … story.html

The biggest knock against bonitos, which are properly known as little tunny and members of the tuna tribe, is that you can’t eat them.

Their coarse, bloody flesh tastes like _ well, put it this way: You really have to be hungry to eat a bonito.

The taste is just weird fishiness incarnate and must be an acquired taste. The overwhelming dominating flavor fits nowhere in most cuisine.

It only appealed to the internally colonized downtrodden Japanese trying to squeeze flavor out of as whatever little repetitive food was available. The scars of ancient lack of food to develop a proper cuisine led later to the wide cultural appeal of artificially manufactured ajinomoto artificial “umami” flavoring since modern times.

— Katsuobushi traditional fungal spoilage preservation

“The bonito processing technology was not good, so bonito would quickly spoil, as it was not thoroughly dried.”

The Japanese were so impoverished by the oppressiveness of their overlords seizing any rice they managed to grow, the general populace likely resorted to eating katsuobushi, dried mildewy spoiled bonito sticks, shaved and boiled in water to maximize extracting desperately needed flavorings. The more fishy the fish, the more flavor could be boiled out of less shavings, so one stick can be stretched far. Later, Meiji era steam fishing trawlers probably hauled a lot of trash fish such as bluefin tuna and bonito, finally mass manufacturing factory produced bonito flakes for modern convenience.

Dashi (soup stock)
https://restaurants-guide.tokyo/column/ … oup-stock/

Dried bonito took its current form between the Sengoku Period (1491–1573) and the beginning of the Edo Period (1603–1867), and it began to be used for dashi by the beginning of the Edo Period.

The bonito processing technology was not good, so bonito would quickly spoil, as it was not thoroughly dried.

In 1908, researchers succeeded in extracting the flavor compounds in kombu, and the artificial seasoning of umami was produced. [i.e., ajinomoto = MSG vat produced as by-product of mildew]

Packaged, shaved flakes of dried bonito went on sale, too, and became prevalent in many households due to their convenience.

— Katsuobushi (dried bonito) in traditional form

Unfortunately, a certain fungal compound traditionally used in producing Japanese katsuobushi, miso, and soy sauce giving the uniquely Japanese aftertaste has been found to be toxic to humans inhibiting the powerhouse of cells, the mitochondria.

beta-Nitropropionic acid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-nitropropionic_acid

β-Nitropropionic acid (3-nitropropanoic acid, BPA, 3-NPA) is a mycotoxin, a potent mitochondrial inhibitor, toxic to humans. It is produced by a number of fungi, and found widely in food, in sugar cane, as well as Japanese fungally fermented staples miso, soy sauce, katsuobushi, and some traditional Chinese medicines.