Honkarebushi

Honkarebushi (katsuobushi affiné à la moisissure)

What it is

After smoking, the loin is scraped clean and deliberately seeded with Aspergillus glaucus, then shut in a cellar and put out in the sun again, cycle after cycle, for four to six months. Two rounds make karebushi; three or more make honkarebushi, by which point the mould has eaten the remaining fat and the block rings like wood when struck.

In the kitchen

Shave it thin and steep it once, off the boil at about 80 C for a minute, then lift the flakes straight out — squeezing the cloth or letting it boil pulls back the bitterness the mould spent six months removing.

Goes with

Kombu Koikuchi shoyu Hon-mirin Junmai sake Daikon Silken tofu (kinugoshi) Spring onion Shiitake

Same species

Bonito (katsuo) Katsuobushi (dried bonito) Shutō (fermented bonito viscera)

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