musashi

Is it?
Last time in Japan I had minke whale which I didn't think was so good.

geoff

No, gaijin, but my father was in the Air Force and we lived at Chitose
for a few years when I was 7-10yrs old. I learned a little bit of
Japanese from the children in the village (Chitose was a small village
then). Also had some fun times at the Noboribetsu hot springs. I didn't
discover sushi until much later. I took a few years of Japanese in
graduate school as part of the PhD program in Chinese and now try to
keep a little very basic conversation ability to chat with itamae. I
think of Hokkaido as a kind of imaginary honorary ancestral place.
That's why I am so partial to cold Otokoyama sake, I guess.

musashi

I see. Presume it was a long time ago. It must be nice to have
an honorary ancestral place that is renowned even in Japan for it's
seafood.

geoff

Yes. It was the mid 1950s.

geoff

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.

d. lutjen

Capelin roe, not smelt roe.

musashi

Masago.
It is the very small redish roe of I think Shishamo (Big Mouth Smelt,
Capelin?).
Used as a main neta in a gunkan maki and also sometimes as a garnish.
M

geoff

I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."

d. lutjen

When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in "smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.

geoff

Sorry - the last line about Nelson's was incomplete when I hit send. Ma
is #783 and isago is #3181