Photo/Illutration Sardines pan-fried with salt (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

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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Toshiko Okuzono, an expert who is active on TV, in magazines and other media, began cooking when she was in elementary school.

Her mother, who did not cook, would often serve dishes bought in the food section of department stores. Hoping to eat home-cooked meals that her grandmother, who was a good cook, used to make, Okuzono began to work in the kitchen when she was still a young schoolgirl. 

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Toshiko Okuzono (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

Looking back on those days, Okuzono says, “Actually, I was playing. I never hated what I was doing.”

She says her late scientist father had a profound effect on why cooking was like playing to her. He taught young Okuzono about the “science” involved in cooking.

For example, when making “koshian” (strained bean paste), the skin of the azuki beans would float on the water because of the difference in the specific gravity of the bean and the skin. Fish becomes hard when cooked, since protein solidifies through heat.

When she learned that there is such a logic to cooking, the process became fun, like experiments. Her stance, which is to look at what she cooked and always wonder “how did it turn out this way,” was also her starting point as a cooking expert.

When she thinks of her father, she recalls the dinner table when they had grilled fish.

“If you cleanly eat the whole fish, the skeleton will be displayed at a museum,” her father said as a scientist’s joke.

“He was a doting father,” says Okuzono.

This week, she will introduce a fish dish that uses sardines, now in season, that is tied to memories of her father.

Although the salt dusted on the fish draws out the water and removes the smell, evenly dusting the entire fish is not easy. Thus, she came up with the idea of immersing the fish in salt water.

This saves the trouble of sprinkling salt and the fish takes on a salty flavor evenly. When a lid is placed on the frying pan while the fish cooks, the heat will also evenly disperse.

Why not eat it cleanly so that you can also get a fish skeleton at the end of the meal?

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Toshiko Okuzono is an expert in home cooking born in Kyoto city in 1962. After graduating from a university, she worked at a hotel for some time before becoming a full-time homemaker. She published a cooking book in the 1990s while she was child-rearing and set out on her career as an expert on home cooking. She offered hassle-free recipes and made her mark on TV and in magazines. She recently published “Chotto tsukutte mitakunaru otonano kashikoi tenuki gohan” (Clever and fuss-free dishes for grownups you may want to try) published by Gakken Plus.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves 2)

4 sardines (iwashi), appropriate amount of flour, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt water (1 tsp salt to 1 cup [200 cc] water), about 5 cm daikon radish (grated)

1.Remove head and guts of sardine, then rinse thoroughly. Immerse in salt water for 5 to 10 minutes.

2.Pat dry with kitchen paper, dust with flour.

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Dust the sardines with flour. (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

3.Heat frying pan and add sesame oil. Add sardines, place lid, steam-fry for 3 minutes.

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Place lid on the frying pan to steam the fish. (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

4.Turn sides and cook for 3 minutes.

5.Serve with grated daikon radish, accompanied by soy sauce.

About 315 kcal and 1.9 grams salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

The skin will turn crispy by dusting the sardines with flour. You can also enjoy the rich taste of the fish’s fat. The fish may be cooked in a fish grill as well.

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

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