At the end of March, Snow Peak's first American Campfield opened in Long Beach Washington (read our experience here). I really enjoy finding books while traveling and dedicating myself to them instead of bringing my own. You can typically find something in the same mindset that you're in while you're away and get an opportunity to read a piece you may otherwise ignore. So as the sun rose over the marshland and tents, I spent my mornings with a cup of coffee at the cafe reading Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s ‘In Praise of Shadows’. Amongst the musings on design, how we interact with built spaces and general notes on early 1900s Japanese society was a couple hundred year old recipe I became determined to try.
The recipe is simultaneously incredibly simple yet complex in its specificity. Consisting of Salmon, rice with Sake, a bit of salt, completely dry hands and most importantly, persimmon leaves. Unfortunately, with no idea on where to acquire fresh persimmon leaf I reached out to foodie extraordinaire @lovezee. To my surprise, her aunt had a tree growing in her back yard and a short while later a bundle of fresh leaves were boxed and sent up to Portland.
Dry, a little sweet and a little salty, each piece is tightly packed with a mild flavor and makes for a fantastic breakfast enjoyed with miso.
Ingredients:
- Half pound sushi-grade Salmon. Do not use any salmon as it is not safe to eat raw. Sushi-grade fish of most kinds can typically be found at your local Asian grocery store.
- 2 cups sushi rice. This is more than you need, but will allow for some discard to remove burnt and/or caramelized pieces.
- Coarse salt
- 10-15 fresh persimmon leaves
The Author's Notes:
It seemed to me the end of everything when the traffic policeman came to Kyoto. Now one must travel to such small cities as Nishinomiya, Sakai, Wakayama, or Fukuyama for the feel of Japan. The same is true of food. In a large city it takes a concerted search to turn up a dish that will be palatable to an old person. Not long ago a newspaper reporter came to interview me on the subject of unusual foods, and I described to him the persimmon-leaf sushi made by the people who live deep in the mountains of Yoshino-and which I shall take the opportunity to introduce to you here.
The Recipe:
Note: This has been slightly edited from the original text for clarity/brevity.
- To every ten parts of rice one part of saké is added just when the water comes to a boil.
- When the rice is done it should be cooled thoroughly, after which salt is applied to the hands and the rice molded into bite-size pieces.
A piece of salmon ready to be wrapped on the Persimmon leaf.
- At this stage the hands must be absolutely free of moisture, the secret being that only salt should touch the rice.
- Thin slices of lightly salted salmon are placed on the rice, and each piece is wrapped in a persimmon leaf, the surface of the leaf facing inward.
- Both the persimmon leaves and the salmon should be wiped with a dry cloth to remove any moisture.
- Then, in a rice tub or sushi box, the interior of which is perfectly dry, the pieces are packed standing on end so that no space remains between them, and the lid is put in place and weighted with a heavy stone, as in making pickles.
The pieces packed tightly, ready for pressing
- Prepared in the evening, the sushi should be ready to eat the next morning. Though the taste is best on the first day, it remains edible for two or three days.
- A slight bit of vinegar is sprinkled over each piece with a sprig of bitter nettle just before eating.
I learned of the dish from a friend who had been to Yoshino and found it so exceptionally good that he took the trouble to learn how to make it - but if you have the persimmon leaves and salted salmon it can be made anywhere. You need only remember to keep out every trace of moisture, and to cool the rice completely.