Sea Urchins in Japanese Cuisine

choi

Ken Belson, A Single-Minded Search for Prized Sea Urchins. New York Times, July 21, 2013 (Sunday's Travel section).
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/0 ... ed-sea-urchins.html

Quote:

“Mid-June was also the start of uni fishing season on the Shakotan Peninsula, two hours west of Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital and largest city. * * * for connoisseurs, Shakotan is the place to be between mid-June and mid-August, when the uni is at its freshest.

“With just 5.5 million people spread across an area a bit smaller than Maine, Hokkaido is roomy by Japanese standards. With lush forests and dramatic coastlines, the island is still considered a frontier by the Japanese, who settled there in earnest less than 150 years ago. Like Maine, Hokkaido is a seafood lovers’ paradise.

““If the weather cooperates, the fishermen set out at 5 a.m. and for no more than three hours they lean over the side of their boats and look through a large glass to spot uni several feet down. They use a long rod with a three-pronged claw at the end to grab the uni, which are about the size of a golf ball. Uni live [on kombu, or kelp]  about 10 years, but they are most delicious at around 4 to 5 years old. * * * In other parts of Hokkaido, sea otters have decimated the uni population.

Note:
(a)
(i) sea urchin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin
(The name "urchin" is an old name for the round spiny hedgehogs that sea urchins resemble; Sea urchins are dioecious, having separate male and female sexes, although distinguishing the two is not easy; Sea urchins feed mainly on algae; section 8.2 As food)

Neither this (English-language) Wiki page nor the NYT article says specifically what part(s) of sea urchin people eat. But Japanese Wiki does.
(ii) ウニ
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%83%8B
(鮮度が重要視され、生きているものの殻を割ってその場で食べると特に美味であるが、この場合、消化器官やその中にあることの多い海藻類はあまり食べない)

translation: Freshness is important. Live sea urchins that are dissected [in front of you] are delicious to eat. In that occasion, algae-containing digestive organ and other innards are not eaten.


(b) Shakotan Peninsula  積丹 半島 includes the following cities and towns:
(i) Yoichi 余市 町
(ii) Furubira  古平 町
(iii) Shakotan  積丹 町
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A9%8D%E4%B8%B9%E7%94%BA
(町名の由来は、アイヌ語で「シャク（夏）」と「コタン（村、或いは郷土）」の二語を合わせたもので、意味は「シャクコタン（夏・場所）」となる（積丹町の公式ホームページによる)

translation: According to the official website of the town, the origin of the [place] name is combination of two Ainu words for summer ("shaku")  and village ("kotan") to mean "summer place."

* Japan does not deem Otaru  小樽 市 as part of the peninsula. See the map in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otaru,_Hokkaido
* taru 樽 【たる】 (n) cask; barrel
* Ishikari Bay  石狩 湾
* karu 狩る; 猟る 【かる】 (v): “to hunt”  (“kari” is akin to the gerund in English)

(c)
(i) Tsukiji fish market
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market
(“The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (東京都中央卸売市場 Tōkyō-to Chūō Oroshiuri Shijō), commonly known as the Tsukiji Market (築地市場 Tsukiji shijō), is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo”)

* The Kanji 卸し/ 卸 【おろし】(a noun pronounced "oroshi") has the same meaning as in Chinese: unloading.
(ii) “Nijo fish market in Sapporo[, a] fraction of the size of Tsukiji”

Nijō Market 二条 市場 (one block, from 南二条 to 南三条 (names of two streets in Sapporo, without “通;”  an idea copied from Kyōto, where ten east-west thoroughfares are 一条通 through 十條通)


(d) Maine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine
(capital  Augusta; Largest city  Portland [The 2012 city population was 66,214]; Population  1,329,192 (2012 est); section 2.1 Etymology: Maine is the only state whose name has exactly one syllable)

(e) sushiya 寿司屋; 鮨屋
(i) Fuku Zushi  冨久寿司/富久寿司

The travelogue thus describes the sushiya: “At the counter, I ordered sanshoku chirashi (2,100 yen, or $21.50 at 98 yen to the dollar), a lacquer bowl filled with uni, ikura, or salmon eggs, and hotate, or scallops, on a bed of rice with wasabi, mint leaf, sliced cucumber, ginger and pickles. The ikura popped in my mouth, the hotate was buttery soft and the uni was creamy and sweet without a seafood aftertaste, the kind of freshness I was hoping we would encounter when we left Tokyo.”
(A) uni 海胆 【うに】 (n): "sea urchin"
(B) For ikura, see (g) below.
(C) chirashi  散らし
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirashi
(may refer to chirashizushi, a Japanese dish)
* barazushi ばら寿司; ばら鮨 【ばらずし】
* bara 《散》 【ばら】 (n)
* gomokuzushi 五目寿司; 五目鮨
(D) hotate 帆立 【ほたて】 (n): “scallop”  (“ho” is Chinese pronunciation for 帆)
(ii) “On Sushiya-dori, a street lined with restaurants, many with plastic sushi in their front windows to help tourists determine what is served inside, we found Otaru Tatsumi Sushi. Inside, the chef, Shinya Takami, used a metal tool to split open a few live bafun uni. With a small spoon, we scooped out the five roe sacs that were covered by a brown goo that formed the guts of the sea urchin.”
(A) Sushiya-dori  寿司屋通り (name of a street in 小樽 市)
(B) Tatsumi Sushi  巽鮨

* tatsumi 辰巳; 巽 【たつみ】 (n): “southeast”
* in China: 八卦
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%AB%E5%8D%A6
(section 2 卦象: 後天八卦方位, 巽 (東南); section 6 八卦与九宫: 九宫, 四宮巽 (東南))
(C) Shinya TAKAMI  高見信也
(iii) “The highlight [at Masa Zushi], though, was ika somen, thin strips of squid on a bed of seaweed and sliced radish. A dollop of uni with roasted seaweed sat on top of the squid.”
(A) Masa Zushi  政 寿司
(B) ika イカ 《烏賊》 【いか】 (n): “cuttlefish; squid”
(C) sōmen 素麺; 索麺 【そうめん】 (n): “fine white noodles”

sōmen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dmen
(very thin—less than 1.3 mm in diameter—white Japanese noodles made of wheat flour)

(f) “There are more than 100 varieties of sea urchin in Japan, but only six are edible. The chef, Kiichi Sasaki, explained that two types are caught nearby: Murasaki uni, which has a mustard yellow color and a sweet taste, as well as longer tentacles on the outside, and bafun uni, which has an orange hue and a richer taste.”
(i) murasaki uni  ムラサキウニ  Heliocidaris crassispina
http://www.zukan-bouz.com/sonota/uni/murasakiuni.html

murasaki 紫 【むらさき】 (n): “purple”
(ii) bafun uni  バフンウニ  Hemicentrotus puicherrimus
http://www.zukan-bouz.com/sonota/uni/bafununi.html
(暗緑色; “形や色が馬糞(ばふん)に似ているのでこの名がある”)  

translation: dark green; the shape and color similar to horse manure, thus the name

choi

(continued)

(g) イクラ  (which is the katakana form of “ikura”)
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9
(ロシア語: ikra; もともと日本では、サケの卵巣から取り出したもの（筋子）と粒状にばらしたもの（イクラ）を区別する名称がなかったが、あるとき、ロシア人が粒状にばらしたサケの卵を「イクラ」と呼んでいるのを見た日本人が、これを「イクラ」と呼ぶものと思ったことに由来するとされ、実際、筋子と区別するのに都合がよかったために「イクラ」と呼ばれるようになったとされる)

translation: Russian: ikra; Originally in Japan, there was no difference between the roe 筋子 of salmon 鮭 and the dispersed eggs. But once upon a time, Russians called dispersed eggs “ikra.” Japanese saw it and started calling the latter ikura.
(i) Kathryn Hill, Ingredient Spotlight: Salmon Roe (Ikura). theKitchen, Aug 29, 2009.
http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-ikura-93487

Please click the link “curing the roe yourself at home.”  

* The preparation, or the cure, is to remove the fishy smell and flavor of the salmon eggs.
* The above Web page refers to sujiko.

sujiko 筋子 【すじこ】
(which is salmon eggs still in the casing or sack 卵巣膜; why the name in Japan?  Japanese Wiki says, “筋（スジ）のような卵巣膜によって卵が繋がっている.” Basically, a roe looks like a muscle in the eye of Japanese. 筋 (pronounced "suji") can mean either muscle or tendon (Japanese Wiki: "動物の筋肉や腱")

(ii) The link--“curing the roe yourself at home”--seems to be almost the same as how Japanese cures ikura. See

イクラの作り方. ほくとの一人旅, early Autumn, 2003 ２００３年早秋の今年.
http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hokuto283/sake/sake_ikura.htm

Except that in the preceding Web page, this Japanese uses hot water (twice), after casing of salmon roe is removed (does not say how hot).

* hokuto 北斗 【ほくと】 (n): "(abbr[eviation]) {astron[omy]} (See 北斗七星) the Big Dipper"  ("hoku" and "to" are, respectively, the Chinese pronunciations for 北 and 斗)