Tiger pufferfish (torafugu) ◆

Fugu (poisson-globe)

What it is

The fish does not make tetrodotoxin itself — it accumulates it through its food, from bacteria, so farmed torafugu raised on controlled feed test clean, a point argued in Japan for decades without loosening a single rule. Handlers have needed a licence since Osaka issued the first ones in 1948, and the examination is still set prefecture by prefecture.

In the kitchen

Buy it only already dressed by a licensed handler, and never trim it yourself. Sliced transparently thin it is texture rather than flavour: it wants ponzu with grated daikon and chilli, and the milt is best charred and salted.

Goes with

Ponzu Daikon Spring onion Yuzu Junmai sake Kombu Nori

Same species

Fugu shirako

In season alongside

Oyster mushroom Albacore Cod Glass eel Haddock Hake

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