Browse Techniques

Anko (monkfish, Lophiomus setigerus)—not to be confused with anko (red bean paste)—is celebrated in Japanese winter cuisine for one specific quality: its liver (ankimo), which has been called 'foie gras of the sea' and commands prices that reflect this positioning. Ankimo is monkfish liver steamed gently in sake until firm, pressed into a cylinder, and served sliced with momiji oroshi (spicy grated daikon) and ponzu—the preparation that has brought global attention to the ingredient. Beyond the liver, anko nabe (monkfish hot pot) is the most celebrated preparation: the gelatinous skin and chewy flesh of monkfish are simmered together in a dashi-miso-sake broth, producing a collagen-rich, intensely savory hot pot. The monkfish's extraordinary ugliness (it has no commercial appeal as a display ingredient) combined with its culinary excellence is a well-recognized irony in Japanese fish culture—the anglerfish's lure hangs over a face that seems designed for Halloween, yet every part except the gall bladder is culinarily usable. The Ōarai anko festival (January) celebrates the preparation of whole monkfish hung from a hook and butchered whole—a technique called tsurushi-giri that allows precise sectioning of the very gelatinous fish without a cutting board. For professionals, sourcing fresh ankimo is the access point to one of Japanese cuisine's most genuinely extraordinary ingredients.

Tonburi—the dried and processed seeds of the kochia plant (Kochia scoparia, summer cypress)—is one of Japanese cuisine's most extraordinary textural ingredients, known as 畑のキャビア (畑 no kyabia—field caviar or land caviar) for its visual resemblance to sturgeon caviar and its remarkably similar burst-on-contact texture. The kochia plant's seeds are harvested in autumn, sun-dried, then processed through a multi-stage simmering and rubbing technique to remove the outer husk and reveal the brilliant green-black seed within. The production is laborious—Ogachi district in Akita is virtually the only area that maintains it at commercial scale—and the annual harvest is limited, making tonburi a genuinely rare ingredient. Texturally, each seed pops when bitten in a manner closely resembling fish roe, releasing a subtle, slightly earthy green flavor. The flavor itself is mild—described as slightly bitter with herbal undertones—making tonburi primarily a textural rather than flavor ingredient. Traditional preparations: tonburi no yamakake (with nagaimo yam), served with soy and wasabi; as a garnish on okura (okra) or hiyayakko (cold tofu); and in modern applications as a caviar substitute in Japanese-fusion preparations. The visual impact in combination with other ingredients is significant—deep green-black seeds on white tofu against pale nagaimo creates a striking monochromatic presentation.