January 12, 2010

Sazae no Tsuboyaki (Turban Shell Cooked in its Own Shell/サザエの壷焼き(つぼ焼き)

As I mentioned in the Local Sushi Shop in Niigata thread on eGullet, my son likes sazae no tsuboyaki very much.
There are two types of sazae no tsuboyaki:
1. Put some soy sauce and sake in sazae, grill sazae, and when it's done, the diner takes out the flesh and eats it, except the sunabukuro (lit. sand bag).
2. First take out everything from the shell, remove the sunabukuro (and other inedible parts), cut the edible parts into small pieces, put them back in the shell, season with soy sauce and sake (top it with a quail egg), grill it, and serve.
I bought two sazae today, and tried sazae no tsuboyaki of the latter type for the first time.
eGulletのLocal Sushi Shop in Niigataスレッドで述べたように、息子はサザエの壷焼きが大好きです。
サザエの壷焼きには2種類あります:
1.醤油と酒をサザエに入れ、焼いて、焼けたら、食べる人が身を取り出して食べる(砂袋を除き)。
2.殻からすべて取り出し、砂袋(および他の食べれない部分)を取り去り、食べれる部分を小さく切って、殻に戻し、醤油と酒で味付けし(鶉の卵を乗せ)、焼いて、出す。
今日、サザエを二つ買って、初めて後者のタイプのサザエの壷焼きを試しました。

I tried to follow the instructions provided here (Japanese only), but I failed to take out the flesh from the shell.
ここ(日本語のみ)に書かれた方法に従おうとしましたが、殻から身を出すことができませんでした。

I gave up making sazae no tsuboyaki of the latter type, simply put some soy sauce and sake in the shell, and grilled in the toaster oven.
後者のタイプのサザエの壷焼きを作るのは諦め、単に醤油と酒を殻に入れ、オーブントースターで焼きました。

Two grilled sazae:
焼いた2つのサザエ:


I learned only today that the sunabukuro is the part with some concentric circles, not the dark green part.
砂袋とは濃い緑の部分ではなく、同心円のある部分だと今日初めて知りました。

(Sorry for the blurry photo.)
(ボケた写真ですみません。)
Edited to add these photos:
追伸:次の写真を追加します:
Sophisticated version of sazae no tsuboyaki that my son had at the above-mentioned local sushi shop two years ago.
2年前に息子が上述した地元の寿司屋で食べたさざえの壷焼き:

Photo taken from a different angle:
別の角度から撮った写真:

Note that at this sushi shop, the flesh and innards are cooked before being put back in the shell and the fire is set immediately before being served to the customer.
この寿司屋では、身や内臓は殻に戻す前に火を通し、お客に出す直前に火を点けます。
Sazae sashimi on the left and awabi (abalone) sashimi on the right:
左はさざえの刺身、右はアワビ(あわび、鮑)の刺身です:

Close-up of the sazae sashimi:
サザエの刺身のクローズアップ写真:

I personally prefer sazae sashimi to tsuboyaki.
個人的には壷焼きより刺身のほうが好きです。

4 comments:

fabergreen said...

Thanks for your interesting posting! I enjoy reading it!

Yangsze said...

I've had this in a restaurant, but they cooked it until it was hard and rubbery, but somehow your pictures make it look very delicious! I wonder if it's more tasty the way you cook it, or is it always hard?

Hiroyuki said...

fabergreen: Thanks for your compliment. My first attempt failed, but I'll make another try, with a better tool!

Hiroyuki said...

YSC: Sazae is "kori kori" (コリコリ), nice and crunchy. Natually, it will become hard if cooked for too long. Grilling in a toaster oven is a great way to prevent overcooking!