page_title: Kabayaki
section_title: Kantō vs. Kansai
hierarchical_section_title: Kabayaki / Kantō vs. Kansai
caption_attribution_description: English: Eel kabayaki,Una-don,Katori-city,Japan 日本語: 鰻丼、うなぎ蒲焼。うなぎ山田。香取市。
context_page_description: Kabayaki is a preparation of fish, especially unagi eel, where the fish is split down the back, gutted and boned, butterflied, cut into square fillets, skewered, and dipped in a sweet soy sauce-based sauce before being cooked on a grill or griddle.
  Besides unagi, the same preparation is made of other long scaleless fish such as hamo, dojō, catfish, anago, and gimpo. One can also find canned products labeled as kabayaki-style sanma.
  Kabayaki eel is very popular and a rich source of vitamins A and E, and omega-3 fatty acids. A popular custom from the Edo period calls for eating kabayaki during the summer to gain stamina, especially on a particular mid-summer day called doyō-no ushi-no-hi, which can fall anywhere between July 18 – August 8 each year.
  The eel kabayaki is often served on top of a bowl of rice, and called unadon, the fancier form of which is the unajū, placed inside a tiered lacquered boxes called jūbako. It is also torn up and mixed up evenly with rice to make hitsumabushi, which is enjoyed especially in the Nagoya area.
context_section_description: Broadly, two schools of cooking the kabayaki exist. In the Kantō region (eastern Japan), the eel is slit down its back and butterflied, so a lighter-colored stripe of the belly runs down the middle of each fillet on the skin side. The long eel is cut into shorter, squarer fillets and skewered. In Kanto, the skewered eel is first grilled, plain, into what is known as shirayaki (白焼き or 素焼き), then steamed, before being flavored and grilled again; as a result, it turns out more tender and flakier after grilling.
  In the Kansai region (western Japan), the eel is slit down the belly and directly grilled without being steamed, often still in their original length, and called nagayaki (長焼き). The outer skin could be tough and chewy, so eel cooked in Kansai style may be placed between layers of hot rice, for the steam to help tenderize it.
  In the Kansai area, the eel is often called mamushi, just like the name of the common viper in Japan, Gloydius blomhoffii). Some speculate the name is a corruption of mabushi meaning "besprinkle", while others say it is a reference to the eel being rather similar to the viper in shape and vigor-endowing abilities when consumed.
caption: Eel kabayaki
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.01", "Image DateTime": "2009:07:04 18:20:28", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "28048", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8895", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/5", "EXIF FNumber": "19/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:07:04 18:20:28", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:07:04 18:20:28", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "19/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "20", "EXIF SubSecTime": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "80", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "27910", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "30", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}