【Reading】さいきょうやき

【English Name】Saikyo-yaki

Saikyo-yaki is one of the cooking techniques of Japanese cuisine, in which fish is marinated in "Saikyo miso," a white miso long handed down in Kyoto, and then grilled.

Compared to ordinary miso, Saikyo miso has a lower salt content and, owing to its high proportion of rice koji, is characterized by a mellow sweetness. By soaking fish in this miso bed for several days, an elegant flavor and rich aroma permeate the flesh, and when grilled, the sugars in the miso char to produce a distinctive fragrance.

A widely beloved ingredient is sawara (Spanish mackerel), with sake (salmon), gindara (sablefish), and madai (red sea bream) also cited as representative choices. Even for fish whose umami is not easily expressed by salt-grilling alone, the miso marinade enhances the flavor and allows the ingredient's qualities to be expressed more richly, which is why it is prized.

As a grilled dish (yakimono) in Japanese cuisine, it is an indispensable presence in kaiseki cuisine and ichiju-sansai (one soup, three dishes) menus. In sushi restaurant courses it may appear as a grilled dish, and there are also cases where miso-marinated fish is incorporated as a topping for chirashi-zushi or oshi-zushi.

When cooking, it is essential to wipe off the miso thoroughly before grilling. If miso remains, it tends to scorch, so carefully performing this preparatory step is the key to a good finish.