Wednesday, March 25, 2009

HIMONO(stockfish)




The word Himono means dry foods, especially dried fishes.

As you know, a dried fish(stockfish) has a long storage life and high amount of nutrients. Besides, it has good flavor and it's very cheap. So, it's a essential element of Japanese cuisine.

There are several ways of making Himono such as Maruboshi(drying a fish without removing its gut), Niboshi(boiling a fish before drying), Mirin-boshi(soaking a fish in Mirin before drying) and Hiraki-boshi(removing gut). Among them, Japanese people prefer Hiraki-boshi and it's served in many Japanese restaurants.

There are many kinds of fishes served as Himono such as:

Aji - Hiraki or Mirin-boshi
Sanma - Hiraki or Maruboshi
Hokke - Hiraki
Iwashi - Niboshi or Maruboshi

Especially, Aji and Sanma are extremely popular. You can buy them in any supermarkets at a very low price.