Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

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The third installment in our series responding to reader requests answers a query on how to “cook a fish whole.”

You can find “maiwashi” Japanese sardines glistening in the seafood section of your local supermarket.

Though the in-season fish can be enjoyed grilled with a sprinkle of salt or simmered with soy sauce and other ingredients, you may feel reluctant to clean and prepare a whole fish yourself.

But any worries you have over doing so will disappear once you learn the proper procedure.

Even if you’re a beginner, you can keep the kitchen clean and make cleaning up easy by laying a large piece of paper on the cutting board. If you remember where to insert the knife and with how much force, the tender sardine won’t crumble.

Another key to achieving good flavor is rinsing the fish carefully.

This week’s recipe, “a sardine simmered in salted water,” allows you to simply enjoy the fish. Sake adds savory “umami” and aroma to the simmering liquid. The fish turns out moist when cooled in the liquid, and you can keep the dish in the refrigerator for three to four days.

If you wish to increase the number of fish, adjust the volume of simmering liquid but keep the same salinity. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment for preparing it from scratch and get to relish eating the in-season ingredient simply with salt.

SUITS JAPANESE, WESTERN, CHINESE CUISINE

The arranged version of our recipe is a salad where simmered sardines are cooled, served with vegetables and a sour yogurt sauce. The combination may be unexpected, but the refreshing dish is a good choice during the hot and sticky season.

Another appeal of fish simmered in salted water is the way it can be used in either Japanese, Western or Chinese dishes if desired. We recommend you serve it with grated daikon radish and soy sauce mixed with vinegar.

If you pour olive oil and lemon juice over the fish, you’ll wind up with a Western-style dish. To go for a Chinese flavor, top the fish with fine strips of green onion and ginger and pour sizzling hot sesame oil on it.

To choose the best-tasting Japanese sardines, look for how fresh they are and how much fat they have. Choose those with clear eyes and a taut and shiny body. Buy ones that are thick when viewed from their back.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Akiko Watanabe in the cooking aspect and Midori Kasai in the cookery science aspect)

* Ingredients (Serve six)

[Easy-to-make amount]: 6 (540 grams) sardines, 1 piece (half the size of thumb) ginger, 1/2 cup sake, 1/2 Tbsp salt, 1 tsp vinegar.

About 165 kcal and 1.4 grams salt per portion

1. [Rinsing sardines (Cleaning)] Place tip of knife lightly on sardines, move from tail to head as if stroking to remove scales. Insert knife under pectoral fin and cut off head. Cut off hard part on the stomach side at an angle (PHOTO A). Make an incision up to the anus and remove guts.

2. Move fingers along spinal cord, rub lightly to cleanly remove blood (PHOTO B). Rinse surface as well and pat dry thoroughly with kitchen paper.

3. [Cooking] Finely slice ginger.

4. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in frying pan, add sake, salt and vinegar and lay in ginger and sardines.

5. Pour simmering liquid on surface of sardines (PHOTO C), cover with drop lid made of parchment paper. For 10 minutes, simmer on medium heat that produces bubbles from the bottom. Turn off stove and leave as is until simmering liquid cools. When cold, move to storage container with the liquid. It can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

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Akiko Watanabe is a cooking expert specializing in Japanese cuisine.

Midori Kasai is a professor at Ochanomizu University and former chairwoman of the Japan Society of Cookery Science.

ARRANGED VERSION

Salad with sardines (Serves two)

Finely slice some cucumber at an angle, remove calyx from some cherry tomatoes and cut in half. Mix 1 Tbsp mayonnaise in 3 Tbsp plain yogurt to make sauce. Place two cold sardines simmered in salted water and vegetables on plate and serve with the sauce.

COOKERY SCIENCE

Acid is effective to reduce fishy smell. When fish loses its freshness, the trimethylamine N-oxide in the body turns into trimethylamine and other amines that become the source of volatile fishy smell. Since amines are alkaline, they are neutralized by acids in vinegar, umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricot) and other ingredients and become less volatile so that the smell is reduced.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Gohan Lab column