Japanese Dried Fish

Not sure if you like Chinese dried fish. Dried fish in Japan is popular, and its price is rather cheap. It's used to be a traditional breakfast too. But of course, it's different to those in Hong Kong.

Today I tried dried fish at at "himonoya"(ひもの屋）. You can tell with its name, this izakaya （居酒屋） is selling dried fish (himono). The restaurant decorated as a little house in the Edo period. Dried fish is hanging over at the counter where the chef cook the dried fish. A whiff of dried fish permeate the air, but it is not overwhelming.

The way of preparing the fish is to remove their innards, salt the and dry them in the sun. It similar what I can see in Tai O, Hong Kong. There are two types of Japanese dried fish named himono and maru-boshi. As you can see in the photo, the fish is called hiraki ( which means open) that was cut open before drying. Another type called maru-boshi(whole- dried) is dried in original shape by salting the fish before drying it in the sun. I think it's a usual way that people used in Hong Kong. Anyway I'm not expert... but it seems to be same!

不知道你是否喜歡中國的魚干。魚干在日本頗受歡迎，且價格相當便宜。這原本就是一個傳統的早餐菜。當然，日本的魚干有別於香港的。

今天我去了“himonoya”（ひもの屋）試試看。從店名看，這居酒屋當然是賣魚干（himono）的。餐廳裝飾成一個江戶時代的房子。魚干掛滿在廚師調理食物的地方。燒魚干味道滲透於空氣中，但它一點也不濃烈嗆人。

魚干的製法一般是先清除了內臟，再鹽醃製,然後放在陽光下製乾。有點像我在香港大澳看到的。日本的魚干主要有兩種。一種叫hiraki,如其名是把魚打開。正如你可以看到，在照片中的就是hiraki，這是在乾燥前切開的。另一種類稱為maru-boshi,是製乾前,先把整條魚以鹽醃製·再在陽光下製乾。就像香港人製咸魚吧!雖然我不是專家 ...但它們就似乎就是像製咸魚啊!