【Reading】ぬきいた

【English Name】Nukiita (Draining Board)

An indispensable wooden tool in the kitchens of Japanese and sushi cuisine is the nukiita. It serves to remove excess moisture left in ingredients, and hinoki (Japanese cypress) or icho (ginkgo) are favored materials.

It handles the preparation of a wide range of materials—tofu, vegetables, seafood, and more—by arranging the ingredients on the board and applying pressure with a weight to squeeze out moisture. In sushi-making, the water content of the topping greatly affects texture and taste, so the draining work using this tool has been valued by chefs as a key part of preparation.

A widely known procedure is to wrap the ingredient in a cloth (sarashi) or kitchen towel, place it on the board, and set a weight on top. Applying moderate dehydration increases the unity of the rice (shari) and topping when forming nigiri and prevents the flavor from becoming muddled.

In recent years plastic substitutes have appeared, but because wooden products have the property of naturally absorbing moisture, they have retained firm support in traditional kitchens.