Hyūgadon (ひゅうが丼, Ōita marinated tuna rice bowl)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Suribachi and surikogi, or a mortar and pestle
• •Yanagiba sashimi knife, or the longest sharp knife you own
• •Deep ceramic donburi bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Check the tuna

   Keep the tuna cold until you are ready to cut. It should smell clean and faintly sweet, never strongly fishy, and the surface should look moist rather than tacky. If it fails that test, cook it instead. Sourcing first, always.

2. 2

   Slice cleanly

   Use a yanagiba, or the longest sharp knife you own, and slice the tuna across the grain into pieces about 6mm thick. Draw the blade through in one pull instead of sawing. A clean cut leaves a smooth face for the sauce to cling to, and the fish eats softer for it. Let the knife do the seasoning.

   If the tuna warms on the board, put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Cold fish cuts cleanly; warm fish drags.
3. 3

   Wake the sesame

   Grind the toasted sesame in a suribachi, or a mortar and pestle, until half is paste and half remains in small flecks. Whole sesame tastes pleasant, but ground sesame releases its oil into the sauce. That is what gives Hyūgadon its roundness.

4. 4

   Make the sauce

   Put the sake and mirin in a small saucepan and bring them to a lively simmer for thirty seconds. Stir in the sugar until dissolved, then cool the mixture before adding the shōyu and ground sesame. This small nikiri step takes off the raw alcohol edge, and cooling the sauce protects the tuna's clean surface.

   Taste the sauce before the fish goes in. It should be a little stronger, sweeter, and saltier than you want the finished bite, because rice and yolk will soften it.
5. 5

   Marinate briefly

   Fold the tuna slices gently through the sesame-shōyu sauce and refrigerate for 5 to 8 minutes. Do not make it a long soak. Soy firms raw fish as it seasons it, and after fifteen minutes the tuna begins to taste more of the bowl than of itself.

6. 6

   Build the bowls

   Divide the warm rice between two deep donburi bowls. If the rice is fierce from the cooker, fan it for a minute first. Lay the tuna over the rice in overlapping slices, spoon on a little of the remaining sauce, and set one yolk in the center of each bowl. Finish with scallion, nori, a few sesame flecks, and wasabi if you like it. Serve at once, while the fish is cool and the rice is warm.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger one plain question: what came in today that you would eat raw? A good answer matters more than any label. If the answer is uncertain, buy fish for grilling and make a different dinner.
• •Use lean tuna, akami, for this bowl. Fatty toro is splendid in its place, but with sesame sauce and egg yolk it can become too rich, a little like wearing two coats indoors.
• •Do not marinate the tuna ahead. Hyūgadon is quick because it should be quick; the fish wants minutes in the sauce, not an afternoon.
• •The rice should be warm enough to carry the sauce but not hot enough to cook the tuna at the edges. That small pause after the rice cooker opens is not laziness. It is technique.
• •For someone who should avoid raw egg, use a pasteurized yolk or leave it off and add another spoonful of sauce. Say plainly that the bowl will be leaner. The yolk is part of the pleasure, not decoration.

Advance Preparation

• •The sake, mirin, sugar, and shōyu base can be made one day ahead and kept refrigerated. Grind and add the sesame close to serving, because its aroma fades after it is crushed.
• •Cook the rice ahead and hold it warm. If it has been refrigerated, reheat it fully, then let it settle until warm before topping.
• •Do not slice or marinate the tuna in advance. Keep the block cold, slice it shortly before serving, and dress it only for the final few minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)