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Buri Daikon (Yellowtail Simmered with Daikon)

Buri Daikon (Yellowtail Simmered with Daikon) reads umami 7.5, salinity 6.4 and sweetness 5.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Japanese main, about 1 hr 39 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.5 · Salinity 6.4 · Sweetness 5.4 · Richness 4.1 · Funk & Ferment 3.4 · Allium 3.1 · Marine & Briny 2.6 · Warm Spice 2.2 · Fruity 1.4 · Sourness 1.4 · Floral 1.3 · Earthy 1.1 · Nutty 1.0 · Herbaceous 0.8 · Bitterness 0.7

What's in it (12)

Time & effort: about 1 hr 39 min (1 hr 19 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 10.1 kcal, 0.3 g protein, 0 g fat, 2.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

  1. Salt the buri pieces on both sides and leave them 20 minutes. Beads of liquid will appear on the surface, carrying with them the smell that makes people say they dislike oily fish. Blot them away.
  2. Lay the fish in a colander in the sink and pour the litre of boiling water slowly over it, then plunge it straight into cold water. This is shimofuri, frost-falling: the surface whitens, the scales and clotted blood lift away, and you can pick them off with your fingers. Skipping this step is the single most common reason a home-cooked buri daikon tastes muddy.
  3. In a wide pan, cover the daikon rounds with the rice-rinsing water and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer meets only faint resistance. The starch in the cloudy water draws out the daikon's raw bitterness and keeps the flesh white. Drain and rinse the rounds.
  4. Put the daikon, sake, water, sliced ginger, mirin and sugar in the pan, bring to a boil and set a drop lid on the surface. Simmer 15 minutes.
  5. Slide the fish in, add the soy sauce, replace the drop lid and simmer steadily but not hard for 25 to 30 minutes, spooning liquid over the exposed tops every few minutes. The daikon should be the colour of weak tea most of the way to its centre.
  6. Lift the drop lid, raise the heat and reduce the remaining liquid for 3 to 4 minutes, tilting and basting, until it is syrupy enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the tamari off the heat. Serve with the ginger needles piled on top, and eat the daikon before the fish; in Toyama, where winter buri is the great fish of the Sea of Japan, the daikon is understood to be the point of the dish.
  7. Substitutions: 4 steaks on the bone can stand in for the buri collars and belly cuts; 1 L water with 1 tbsp raw rice added can stand in for the rice-rinsing water.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.