【Reading】にまいぼうちょう

【English Name】Nimai-bōchō (butterfly cut technique)

Nimai-bocho is one of the essential knife skills in the preparation of sushi and Japanese cuisine. It refers to a technique of running the blade horizontally into the fish or shellfish to be used as a topping, opening up the flesh in the manner of double doors (kannon-biraki). It is used for purposes such as thinly opening up thick flesh so that it covers the top surface of the shari (rice), or shaping a small slice into a size suitable for nigiri.

The similarly named nimai-oroshi is a method, in the process of preparing a fish, of removing the flesh from one side of the central bone while leaving the bone on the other side. It is positioned as a stage before reaching three-piece filleting (sanmai-oroshi), and there are cases where it is sent directly to cooking as is.

This technique is especially often applied to small toppings such as kuruma-ebi (Japanese tiger prawn) and sayori (halfbeak). The point that the mouthfeel becomes even smoother when the thickness is made uniform should not be overlooked. It is customarily performed using a single-edged sashimi knife or yanagiba knife.