Himono

Since Japan is surrounded by the sea, it is only natural that many ways to prepare and cook seafood have been developed over the centuries. One way to prepare fish is to remove their innards, salt them, dry them in the sun, and then grill them over a hot flame just before eating. Fish prepared this way is called himono. It is cheap and readily available all over Japan, and often appears on the dining table. The traditional Japanese breakfast is sure to include himono, along with steamed, fermented soybeans called natto.

The custom of drying fish in the sun goes back to ancient times. Documents preserved in the Shosoin storehouse, which was built in the Nara period (710-784), mention how people dried small fish whole, and then offered them to the gods. That would have been an early form of himono. In the Edo period, horse mackerel were often caught and dried, according to an illustrated anthology of food called Honcho Shokkan, published in 1697.

In the early days, whole fish were completely dried to preserve them, then eaten just like that. But tastes have changed over the centuries, and today we generally dry fish so that about half of the original moisture remains.

There are two types of himono, are called hiraki or maru-boshi, depending on the shape. Fish that are cut open before drying are hiraki (which means open), while fish dried in their original shape are maru-boshi (whole-dried). Salting the fish before drying it in the sun offers a number of advantages: enzymes cannot easily break down the protein in the fish; taste compounds such as amino acids and inosinic acid are present in greater quantities than in fresh fish; and the fish lasts longer.
Because no special utensils are needed, it is easy to prepare himono in the home. Freshly made himono is juicier than dried fish from a store, and much tastier.

To prepare himono, first slit the underside of the fish, remove the innards, split it open, and then wash it. A fish with the head still on makes a more attractive serving, but if you want to prepare it the easy way you can cut the head off, since it is not generally eaten anyway.

Next, salt the fish. You could sprinkle salt all over it, but that is hard to do evenly, so we generally use the tate-jio method. This involves splitting the fish open and soaking it in salt water, with 10 to 20 parts salt to 100 parts water. This way, all of the fish is evenly salted. The amount of salt and the soaking time depend on the type and size of the fish.

After salting, place the fish on a net or sieve, to drain off the moisture. Dry it in the sun. When the surface is dry, it is ready.

When you are ready to eat, place it on a wire mesh and grill over a flame or charcoal with the skin down. When the skin is scorched and the surface of the flesh begins changing color a little, turn the fish over and continue grilling.

You can use any kind of fish to make himono, but these days we often use fish with a darkish flesh, like sardines, horse mackerel or Pacific saury, all of which are available in fairly large quantities in Japan. Himono made from these fish is cheap, and many Japanese like eating it with rice.

This information is from Nipponia magazine.