【Reading】すずめびらき

【English Name】Suzume biraki

Suzume-biraki is one of the techniques of se-biraki, in which a fish is opened from the back side.

There are several types of se-biraki depending on how the head is handled, but what makes suzume-biraki different from the others is the point that the head, too, is split open into left and right halves. A knife is inserted from the back side and the blade is run along the bone toward the tail, while at the same time the head is also opened as if spread to the left and right. The name is said to have come about because the completed form evokes the figure of a sparrow (suzume) spreading its wings.

Other types of se-biraki include kata-sode-biraki, in which the head is opened while left attached to one of the half-bodies; a method of opening after first cutting off the head; and a method of opening the meat as is without touching the head. Se-biraki in general is widely used in marine-processing scenes such as dried-fish products of Pacific saury and Alaska pollock and salt-cured mackerel, and it is also adopted in Kanto-style eel kabayaki.

It is a traditional craftsman's technique handed down in the diverse processing of fish, beginning with dried and salt-cured products, and there are occasions to see it in the preparation work of sushi restaurants as well.