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Both are served with ponzu, a citrus sauce often mixed with soy sauce and providing the perfect sharpness to accompany the subtle flavor.įugu tataki is a happy medium between cooked and raw, with the skin flash-seared before the fish is served in thick slices, accompanied by sadachi lime and myoga, Japanese ginger.įor those seeking a more casual dance with death, a contemporary twist is fugu karaage – dipped in batter and deep-fried, or crispy fried fugu-skin, the perfect snack to pair with a cold beer. For a warmer dish, tecchiri nabe is a fugu-filled hotpot offering chunks of fish and seasoned vegetables in a light dashi broth. It’s a beautiful display, but the chrysanthemum is the Japanese flower of death.
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Sashimi is the go-to preparation method, with paper-thin slices of pufferfish flesh laid out in the design of a chrysanthemum. Once prepared, the fish offers a surprising variety of mediums at which to (minimally) risk your life. While she recovered from paralysis after a few days, it could easily have been fatal. Licenses can be revoked, with an infamous case of a two-Michelin starred chef being stripped of his after serving an insistent customer the fugu liver, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. In learning to artfully remove the organs and do so without leaving traces of poison behind, chefs must train for two years, practicing on over 100 fish and spending thousands of dollars in the process. To this day, preparation at home is illegal as is the sale of the pufferfish organs regulated training and certification is required for chefs who plan to prepare fugu. He was so impressed by her dish, he requested that the prefectural governor lift the ban, with the restaurant, Shunparo, often fabled as the first official fugu restaurant in Japan. According to the legends of Shimonoseki – Japan’s self-proclaimed fugu capital – faced with a storm and no fresh catch, a local restaurant owner served fugu to the first prime minister of Japan, risking the punishment of death in doing so. It did not return to diner’s plates for 300 years, although it was still enjoyed behind closed doors.
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The deadly fish has long been regulated thanks to its dangerous quality and was outlawed entirely in the 16th century. Deaths are rare but not unheard of – only 23 people have died from eating fugu in the past two decades, according to the BBC. If unfortunate enough to ingest any, diners will quickly lose sensation in their mouth before the paralysis spreads death usually occurs in a matter of hours. The poison is not produced by the fish itself but builds up through their consumption of microorganisms from the sea. The area is particularly known for its preparation of anglerfish liver, sometimes called the “foie gras of the sea,” and creamy sea urchin dishes.The poison excised from this delicacy is tetrodotoxin: lethal in as little as 2 milligrams and found in the organs of the pufferfish, particularly in the liver. Other famous dishes include fried fugu, fugu hot pot, a fugu rice porridge, and hirezake (a hot sake with a grilled fugu fin in it).įugu may be the main attraction in Shimonoseki, but the city - and the Yamaguchi Prefecture in general - is also home to many other seafood delights. Sometimes, the slices are so thin they become transparent. Today, the most common way to eat fugu fish is to cut it into thin slices, wrap it with spring onions, and dip it in vinegar and soy sauce. Shunpanro may have been the first restaurant in Japan to be officially licensed in preparing dishes with fugu, but many others now serve the poisonous puffer. He was so impressed by its flavour that he decided to lift the ban and declared Shimonoseki the “home of fugu.” Credit: Courtesy of Setouchi DMO In 1888, Itō Hirobumi, the first prime minister of Japan, ate a dish with the blowfish during a visit to the Shunpanro restaurant in Shimonoseki. In fact, eating fugu is so dangerous that it was outlawed in the 16th century, though many secretly kept the tradition alive. If improperly prepared, fugu can be toxic to those who consume it, so only registered chefs with special licenses can create meals with this finicky fish. By Jessica Poitevien Japan’s potentially poisonous blowfishįugu (or blowfish) is by far the country’s most dangerous dish, and it’s the one that Shimonoseki is most known for. In Yamaguchi Prefecture of Japan, that could mean trying a dish that’s potentially life-threatening. Sometimes, that means eating parts of an animal they’re not used to or chomping on insects and unfamiliar fruits. For many travellers, part of the fun of exploring the world is trying new-to-them foods that are unavailable back home.