Japanese Eel Unagi Kabayaki Grilling and the Kanto Kansai Style Divide

Ingredients

• 4 freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica), whole, live or freshly killed, back-split Kantō style: split from dorsal fin along spine to tail, head left attached; spine and rib bones removed
• For the tare
• 120 ml soy sauce
• 120 ml mirin
• 60 ml sake
• 30 g sugar
• To serve
• 800 g short-grain Japanese rice, cooked, kept hot
• 2 tsp powdered sanshō, applied at service, not during cooking

Method

1. 1
   Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce by approximately one-third until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and carries a deep, sweet-salty aroma. Remove from heat and reserve. The tare may be maintained and replenished indefinitely in the Edo restaurant tradition.
2. 2
   Thread the split, boned eel fillets lengthways onto flat metal or bamboo skewers to keep them flat over the grill. Prepare a charcoal fire and allow it to reach full combustion — the coals should glow uniformly without flame, radiating intense far-infrared heat at 600–700 °C at the coal surface. Place the eel skin-side down over the charcoal. Grill until the skin is golden and the surface shows the first signs of caramelisation. No tare is applied at this stage; early application will burn before steaming.
3. 3
   This is the step on which the Kantō dish lives or dies. Transfer the grilled eel to a bamboo steamer set over vigorously boiling water. Steam at 100 °C for 15–20 minutes. The steam converts the eel's collagen to gelatin, producing the characteristic silky, melt-in-mouth interior of Edo-style kabayaki, and drives off excess rendered fat from the flesh. Without this step, grill-only unagi will never achieve the texture that defines the Kantō preparation. The eel is ready when the flesh yields easily to the lightest pressure and has visibly swelled and softened.
4. 4
   Return the steamed eel to the charcoal grill. Begin basting with tare, applying it in multiple thin successive coats: brush, grill briefly until that coat caramelises and sets, brush again. Repeat this cycle, turning the eel, until the surface has built a deep lacquered coat through successive caramelisation. The completed glaze should be mahogany-dark, glossy, and firm to the eye, with the smell of caramelised soy and char rising sharply from the grill.
5. 5
   Remove the eel from the heat after the final tare application. Rest for 2–3 minutes off the grill. During this rest, the tare's sugars harden from a liquid state to a true glaze and the internal temperature equalises through the fillet. The surface, which was tacky immediately off the grill, should become slightly firm to the touch.
6. 6
   Divide the hot rice among four lacquer boxes (unaju format) or deep pottery bowls (unadon format). Lay the glazed eel fillets over the rice. Finish with powdered sanshō applied at the moment of service — never during cooking. The sanshō's tingling quality cuts through the sweet-fatty tare and eel fat. Serve immediately.