Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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Etsuko Aoki began a small cooking class in Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1957 when she was 24.

Knowing she had studied at a culinary school in Tokyo before getting married, her husband’s family gathered new cooking utensils, telling her, “You should teach people,” and “You can do it.”

Encouraged, she set off on her path as a director of a cooking school and a cooking expert.

It was an era of rapid economic growth, with society ready to absorb new concepts. Aoki’s home cooking using Western and Chinese styles was ahead of the times, and something people longed for.

Fast forward 65 years, her stance of, “I learn because I don’t know anything; I impart knowledge so it can be used,” remains the same.

For example, Aoki first made “kabura-zushi”--a representative traditional dish of Kanazawa where salt-pickled turnip and Japanese amberjack are pickled for a while with “koji” (rice malt)--because she knew so little about it.

This type of “narezushi” is believed to be the origin of sushi as we know it.

Though kabura-zushi is nearly synonymous with Aoki today, she recalls “when I first tried it, I kept telling my brain to just keep eating.”

In Mikuni, a port town in Fukui Prefecture where she was born and raised, it was taken for granted that fresh fish was cooked right away and served on the table.

Thus, the food culture of maturing raw fish, as the dish requires, came as a surprise.

She wondered why everyone made a fuss about the dish saying, “New Year’s won’t arrive without it.”

Aoki became increasingly curious to a point she felt like “cooking it myself to get to the bottom of it.”

Her coach was a proprietor of a Japanese cuisine restaurant with whom she had become acquainted.

Her cooking class became a place to learn the flavors of her chosen hometown.

When the end-of-the-year season arrives, Aoki becomes restless over the year’s catch of Japanese amberjack and spends up until New Year’s preparing kabura-zushi, starting with deciding whether to use green or white turnips.

“The flavor of the pickling liquid switches at one point from that of koji to the umami of the turnip and Japanese amberjack,” she said. “Over time, I grew captivated by the power of fermentation.”

For this week’s recipe, details such as the times were changed so that a smaller amount can be pickled at home. If possible, keep it in a cold spot and place it in the fridge after the flavor has blossomed.

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Etsuko Aoki: Born in Fukui Prefecture in 1933, Aoki is a cooking expert focusing on regional cuisine. After opening a cooking class in Kanazawa in 1957, she went on to launch the Aoki Cooking School. She interviews people about regional cooking across Ishikawa Prefecture and tries to re-create the dishes. Aoki also runs a restaurant called Shiki no Teburu that serves the dishes. She has written many books, including “Kanazawa, Kaga, Noto, Shiki no Kyodo-ryori” (Kanazawa, Kaga, Noto: Regional cooking of the seasons).

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves 12)

400 grams of Japanese amberjack (“buri”) sashimi, 3 turnips (1 kg), 50 grams carrots, some yuzu zest, chili peppers cut in rounds, about 1 kg sweet, fermented rice drink (“amazake”) (Cook 1.5 “go,” or 270 ml, rice, mix with 400 grams malted rice (“kome-koji”) and 1 cup hot water and leave in a rice cooker with heat-retention (“hoon”) function on for about 2 hours)

1. Lay block of buri in about 500 grams of salt that covers it entirely, place weight on top and leave for 2 to 3 weeks.

2. Cut off top and bottom part of turnip and cut in half horizontally. Make horizontal incision in each to halve thickness again but do not cut through. Leave small part uncut.

3. Have salt weighing 2.5 percent of the turnip ready. In a pickling barrel, layer salt, turnip, then salt and place weight of 2 kg on top and pickle for about 5 days.

4. For main pickling, drain turnip using sieve. Rinse fish and cut at an angle into 5-mm-thick slices and marinade in sake for 5 minutes. Sandwich fish between turnip layers. Cut carrot and yuzu zest into fine strips. Pour enough sweet, fermented rice drink to cover bottom of barrel. Line up turnip slices topped with rice drink. Scatter carrot, yuzu and chili peppers on top. Repeat process. Place drop lid and then a weight. Leave in cold and dark place for 5 to 8 days.

About 270 kcal and 1.9 grams salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column