Shiokara
Shiokara is a Japanese salted and fermented seafood preparation, in which squid or the organs of other fish are matured in salt until the flesh breaks down into a thick, savoury paste that keeps its solids.
Shottsuru
しょっつる · shottsuru · shotturu
Shottsuru is the fish sauce of Akita, Japan, made from salted fish, most often the sandfish hatahata, which liquefies over a long maturation of a year or more.
Akita's fish sauce
Shottsuru is the fish sauce of Akita on the Japanese northwest coast. It is made from salted fish that liquefies over a long maturation, and it is one of the three major regional fish sauces of Japan, alongside ishiru and ikanago shōyu.
Hatahata, the Japanese sandfish, is the fish most strongly associated with the sauce, though other fish are also used.
Sources for this section
How it is made
The fish is salted and left to mature. Over a year or longer the fish liquefies, and the liquid is then processed and filtered. Production times vary, and the MAFF account gives the year as the common length rather than a fixed one.
The liquefaction is the change that gives the sauce its character. The sources do not split the causes of that change between microbes and enzymes.
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Why the stages matter
Salting holds the fish steady while the long maturation takes place. The long maturation is what turns solid fish into a liquid sauce, and the filtering removes what remains solid. The sources do not give the salt measure or the temperature.
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Safety and open questions
The MAFF account gives no histamine limit, safe salt level or shelf life for home production. Appearance, smell and taste do not establish that shottsuru is safe.
Open questions: the date of first production, and how the process varies between producers.
Sources for this section
History
Shottsuru is a longstanding regional tradition of Akita, with variable production times; the MAFF account does not date its first production.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Hatahata (Japanese sandfish)Whole fish, salted.
Amount not stated
The MAFF account names hatahata most strongly; other fish are also used.Amount not stated
The sources give no measure.Method
Risks and precautions · High risk
Smell and taste do not establish that the sauce is safe.
- Salt the fish.
- Mature the salted fish for a year or longer until it liquefies.
- Process and filter the liquid.
Conditions
Fermentationfrom 365 days
Places
Akita
Documented preparation · Region evidenceThe MAFF account names Akita as the place of the tradition.
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Sources
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, JapanMethod · History
Shottsuru (MAFF Japan)Akita; strongly associated with hatahata, Japanese sandfish, though other fish are also used.
Salted fish liquefies during long maturation, commonly a year or longer; the liquid is processed and filtered.
Cited in: Akita's fish sauce; How it is made; Why the stages matter; Safety and open questions