Freshwater eel split, steamed, then grilled over charcoal and brushed four times with a reduced soy glaze. The result is a lacquered amber surface, soft fatty meat underneath and almost no bones, ready to heat and put on rice.

What it is

Anguilla japonica, butterflied and cooked in the kabayaki style, then frozen. Each piece is a whole butterflied side, packed five to a box with the glaze already set.

Where it comes from

Raised in running freshwater ponds and processed at a plant that grills over binchotan charcoal, which is what gives the skin its blistered, slightly crisp edge.

Specifications

Condition on arrival

Frozen flat with the glaze intact. Small ice crystals on the surface are normal; a dry, chalky patch means it has been held too long at the wrong temperature.

Storage and thawing

• Keep at −18 °C or colder and use within six months
• Thaw in the refrigerator in the sealed wrapper so the glaze does not wash off
• Reheat from thawed, not from frozen, or the outside burns before the centre warms
• Do not refreeze once thawed

Shelf life and delivery

• Best before: 6 months from the production date on the carton
• Sent in an insulated liner with gel packs on a cold chain
• Freeze on arrival and keep the pieces flat so the glaze stays even

How to cook it

• Rice bowl — warm under a grill for three minutes, lay over rice, spoon on the sachet
• Sushi — cut into strips while barely warm and press onto rice
• Pan — glaze side up in a dry pan until the sauce bubbles
• Broil — two minutes under a hot element, watching closely

Allergen information

Contains fish, soy and wheat. Packed in a facility that also handles crustaceans and molluscs.