Thursday, November 11, 2010

Try at least once: The grisly recipe



Again, I did not go asking for it. It was just there, on the menu and someone thought that we must try it. It was served right in front of me and suddenly I realized that there are heads and legs and its a LOCUST!! Gulp!!


I waited for my boss to have one and say “delicious”. My colleague in front of me won’t even look at the dish. I decided to go for it. Held one in my chopsticks. Looked for any insectile expressions and just put it inside my mouth. The outer part was kind of sweet and once I chewed on it felt like I am having a deep fried dried fish without much taste. This is not that bad, I thought. After few more bites I wasn’t feeling like I was actually eating an insect. Rest of the dinner went on discussing and persuading about eating イナゴの佃煮.

Name:   Inago no Tsukudani (イナゴの佃煮). “Locust boiled in soy sauce”
Place:    Izakaya under the Chuo-line tracks at Kanda-station, Tokyo

And here is the recipe:

I did not bother to look for the recipe at first until I spoke about this dish with one my colleague. She was like “Oh, I used to catch locusts for my parents when I was kid!”. And that's how I got the recipe which goes somewhat like this..
  • Catch the locust. Be careful not to break their legs, wings so that “final product” has fine looks. 
  • The main ingredient is the sauce which is sold in retro-packs these days. It is called Tsukudani-sauce. Pour the sauce in the pan on medium heat. Make sure the pan has tight lid.
  • Now comes the grisly party. Throw your “catch” under the pan, alive! and close the lid. Once the flutter has stopped, you know that it’s safe to check whether its cooked or not.
Serve as it is.

I had it once but don't have confidence to try it again.