【Reading】つけこみ

【English Name】Pickled

Tsukekomi (marinating) is a general term for the technique of soaking ingredients in a seasoning liquid or pickling bed to impart flavor, improve preservability, and season. Depending on the choice of material—salt, vinegar, soy sauce, sake lees, miso, rice bran (nuka), and so on—there is a great difference in the final flavor.

In the field of sushi, "zuke," which refers to soy-sauce marinating, is widely known, and the zuke of lean red meat in Edomae sushi has a history of developing as a means of preservation in an era when refrigeration technology did not exist. Su-zuke (vinegar marinating), which firms ingredients with vinegar, is also positioned as an indispensable step in preparing silver-skinned fish (hikarimono).

The time devoted to marinating ranges widely, from light pickling completed in a few minutes to old pickling requiring several years or more. With short-time marinating, the main aim is to preserve the original color and texture of the ingredient, while with long-time marinating, fermentation by microorganisms such as lactic-acid bacteria is promoted, forming a distinctive sourness and aroma. Nare-zushi is a food made by marinating cooked rice and fish together for a long period and lactic-acid fermenting them, and is widely recognized as the origin leading to today's nigiri sushi.

Through the action of osmotic pressure, moisture inside the ingredient moves outward while seasoning components penetrate inward, so that the flavor blends in. Furthermore, because salinity and lowered pH work to suppress the proliferation of putrefactive bacteria, marinating is a technique that has long been used in various places as wisdom for food preservation.