Monkfish Hot Pot | あんこう鍋

OMG….

this is probably the most natural reaction if your are not familiar with this fish….

even if you are…no doubt it still has a lot of visual impact.

This is a MONKFISH (‘ANKO’ in Japanese).

If you are a fish or sushi lover, I am sure some may have heard of BLOWFISH (‘FUGU’ in Japanese) but not so much of this MONKFISH (‘ANKO’) which is a winter delicacy. It is caught in deep waters residing at the bottom of the ocean, forgiving the part of looking grotesque and ugly, the fish itself has a firm flesh, full of collagen, jelly-like and is very delicious.

The most popular way of eating MONKFISH is of a hot pot seen below. Oarai town in Ibaraki prefecture, some 2 hour northeast of Tokyo is well known for this MONKFISH fishery. We took a drive to a restaurant called ‘Oomori’ at Oarai,  a restaurant which normally specializes in sardines cuisine but serves monkfish only during the winter months.

毎年念願だった行事の一つ。

冬が終わる前に、、『あんこう鍋』を食べに大洗まで行ってきました。あんこうのつるし切りはさすがにインパクトありますわ。一番寒い今の季節は肝も脂が乗っていてあんこうが一番美味しい時期だと地元の人は言っておりました。我々が訪れたのはいわし専門料理というお店でしたが、冬の数ヶ月だけあんこう鍋もやっている大洗『大森』というお店に行ってまいりました。（茨城県東茨城群大洗町磯浜町3152-1/TEL 029.267.4060)

『あんこう鍋』

This is the ANKO NABE, a hot pot which is served at the table.

The fish meat, skin, liver is placed over a bed of hakusai (white cabbabe), shitake mushrooms ready to be boiled over a grill pan.

食卓で調理してくれました。

まずは肝をフライパンで炒める始めると数分で脂が溶け始めます。

The Anko liver is first sauteed until the liver oil starts to dissolve and begins to get bubbly as below.

お醤油の出汁と八丁味噌を足して、『あんこう鍋』のお鍋汁でした。

Dashi (soy sauce broth) and hatcho-miso is added to the anko liver and used as soup to boil the ANKO hot pot.

アラカルトメニューから『あんこうのから揚げ』も頼んでみました。

ふぐとせるくらいの美味しさでした。

A la carte menu – fried Anko. Extremely delicious.

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Shop Information

大洗『大森』(Oarai , Ohmori Restaurant)

茨城県東茨城群大洗町磯浜町3152-1 (3152-1, Isohama-Cho, Oarai-Machi, Ibraki-Gun, Ibraki)

TEL 029.267.4060

Web URL http://www.ajidokoro-oomori.com/

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