Foil-Grilled Scallops (ホタテのホイル焼き, Hotate no Hoiru-yaki)

Scallops do not ask for much. The good ones are sweet before you season them, especially cold-water hotate from Hokkaido when they're at their prime, shun. If they smell sharp or sit in a milky puddle, don't make this dish. Nothing hidden: choose something fresher and sleep better.

Hoiru-yaki means cooking in foil, which sounds like a weeknight convenience and, in truth, is one. But it is a good convenience. The foil becomes a small lidded pot: mushrooms lift the scallops, a spoonful of dashi and sake loosens their juices, and butter with shōyu gathers into a broth you must not waste.

The deciding detail is time. Scallops turn from tender to rubbery while the cook is still admiring the neat folds, so open one packet early and look. You want ivory flesh, just opaque through the center, still springing when touched. Serve the pouch in the bowl and let each person spoon the broth over rice. This is washoku in a practical mood: the method, not the menu, and every drop accounted for.