【Reading】づけだれ

【English Name】Marinating Sauce

Tsuke-dare is a general term for a seasoning liquid in which ingredients are soaked so that flavor permeates to the very core of the material. The basic version is made by combining soy sauce as a base with mirin, sake, sugar, dashi, and the like, and the proportions are adjusted according to the purpose of the dish and the characteristics of the ingredient.

Where tsuke-dare demonstrates its true value in the world of sushi is in the technique of "zuke." Red-fleshed fish such as tuna are submerged in a soy-sauce-based sauce to concentrate the umami. In the Edo period, when refrigeration facilities did not exist, this method became established as a practical piece of wisdom for preserving freshness. Each sushi restaurant inherits its own proportions, and the individuality of that sauce is the core element that determines the restaurant's flavor.

Broadening one's view to Japanese cuisine as a whole, the uses of tsuke-dare are truly diverse. In okizuke, a marinade made by adding chili pepper and dashi to a liquid of boiled soy sauce and sake is put to use. In shogayaki (ginger pork), a cooking method of using a sauce of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar with added ginger juice in two stages—as a marinade and as a finishing glaze—is established as standard. In karaage and tatsutaage as well, the procedure of marinating with a liquid combining soy sauce, sake, ginger juice, and the like is widely adopted.

The time required for marinating ranges widely from a few minutes to several days depending on the thickness and type of the ingredient, and the very fact that the degree of flavor penetration changes with the passage of time can be said to be the charm unique to dishes that make full use of tsuke-dare.