Karasumi: Dried Mullet Roe

Please check Shizuoka Gourmet Blog for all the gastronomy in Shizuoka Prefecture!

—————————————————-

Karasumi, known as “boutargue” in French, or as “btarga” in Italian, is the dried roe pouches of the mullet.
It is a quite expensive morsel in Japanese cuisine as well as in Europe (that is the real one!).

Numazu City is quite renown for its karasumi, and fishermen have just started drying them under the sun, after getting rid of blood vesels, carefully cleaned them and sprinkled them with salt.

They are served thinly cut as they are in Japanese restaurants. You can expect good sushi restaurants to serve them as starters on their own.
This year’s catch was only one fourth of the usual expectation, so brace yourselves when you open your purse!