Boiled Sardines and Japanese Herbs
Ingredients(Servings: 2)
Directions
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Remove the head and innards of the sardines. Cut into round slices.
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Julienne the long onion, ginger and lemon peel. Set aside some of each for garnish. Slice the red chili pepper into small rounds.
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Bring (A) and 200 ml (6.8 fl. oz.) of water to a boil in a pot, add in the sardines and then (2).
- Cover with a drop lid* and simmer. Continue to simmer until the cooking liquids evaporate and the ingredients have a nice glaze.
- A drop lid is a lid that floats on top of the liquid in pots and pans while simmering foods. It allows heat to be evenly distributed so ingredients cook evenly and quickly. You can purchase one, or make a substitute out of aluminum foil.
Cooking Basics
In Japanese, this style of cutting up long onions is called "white-hair slicing", in the image of slicing up the onion into such fine strips that these are similar to white (gray) hair.
Chop up into 4 cm (1.6 in.) lengths, slice each vertically and remove the soft core. Stack the outer layers and starting at one edge, julienne across into ultra-fine strips. These ultra-fine strips are not cooked when used as garnish. If placed in water for about 10 minutes, drained and squeezed of any excess moisture, these strips will be fresh and crunchy yet mellow in flavor.
1. Remove scales (de-scale)
Move the tip of the knife from the tail towards the head to scrape off the scales.
2. Chop off the head
Place the knife at the base of the pectoral fin and chop off the head in one motion.
3. Remove the innards
Cut away the edge of the belly from the head to the anal fin with a knife. Open the belly and use the knife to scrape out the innards.
4. Split open with hands
At this point, wrap the innards up in a newspaper, throw these away and rinse the sardine with water and then pat dry to remove excess moisture. Put your thumb inside the cut near to the top of the backbone, then slide this down towards the tail to split open.
5. Remove the backbone
Use your fingers to fold the end of the backbone near the tail, then carefully pull out the bone in the same direction.
6. Remove the stomach bones
Lay the knife flat and slice away the stomach bones. This completes the butterflying process.
Peel the skin of the ginger, and cut thinly, gradually sliding and stacking the slices. Then thinly slice from end to end.
Glossary
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