Tokyo (Edo) and Osaka, Japan — kabayaki tradition from Edo period (17th century)
Unagi (freshwater eel, Anguilla japonica) occupies a singular position in Japanese food culture — historically the most labour-intensive restaurant preparation, associated with summer stamina (doyo no ushi no hi, the midsummer 'day of the ox' when eel is traditionally consumed for its fat-rich, stamina-giving properties), and supported by a highly specialised craft tradition. The kabayaki preparation (split, skewered, steamed, then grilled over charcoal with repeated tare applications) is so specific that unagi restaurants are essentially single-dish specialists — the itamae trains for years to master the cutting, skewering, steaming, and grilling sequence. Three regional styles: Tokyo-style (split from the back, steamed before grilling, placed over rice — unaju); Osaka/Kansai style (split from the belly, no steaming, more crispy texture); Nagoya hitsumabushi (shredded eel over rice in a wooden tub, served three ways). Unagi is currently listed as Critically Endangered (IUCN) — sustainable sourcing is an urgent consideration.
Rich, fatty, intensely flavoured — eel has one of the highest fat contents of any Japanese food fish; kabayaki tare adds sweet-soy-umami lacquer; the combination is deeply satisfying, almost meaty in richness
Tokyo-style kabayaki sequence: kill → split from the back → skewer in S-shape → grill briefly without tare → steam 20 minutes → grill with repeated tare applications until lacquered; the steaming step is what distinguishes Tokyo-style (produces extraordinarily tender interior); tare is applied 3–5 times during final grilling building the lacquered surface; the tare itself (master sauce maintained and replenished for decades at old unagi restaurants) is the restaurant's signature.
The great Tokyo unagi restaurants (Ikeuchi in Tsukishima, Nodaiwa near Azabu) maintain original tare stocks from the Meiji era — the accumulated flavour of generations of eel cooking is literally in the sauce; for home preparation using pre-made kabayaki (available vacuum-sealed from Japanese supermarkets): steam the packaged eel still wrapped for 3 minutes, remove, glaze with additional store-bought or homemade tare, grill briefly under the broiler until surfaces are lacquered — transforms supermarket kabayaki into restaurant-quality; the standard unaju tare ratio: 2 parts soy : 2 parts mirin : 1 part sake : small amount of sugar.
Grilling unagi without the steaming step (Tokyo-style requires steaming for the characteristic tender interior — skipping produces tough, dense eel); applying tare too early in the grilling process before the eel surface is set (tare burns before eel is cooked); over-grilling until the eel becomes dry and fibrous (the interior should remain moist and silky with a lacquered exterior); treating farmed and wild eel identically (wild eel has significantly more complex flavour and higher fat content — rare and expensive).
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art — Shizuo Tsuji