Gobo Maki (Burdock Wrapped in Eso Fish Skin)

Quick answer

Total time: 45 min
Level: Hard
Servings: 1 servings
Ingredients: 6

About this dish

Gobo maki is a grilled seafood preparation from Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, traditionally served at festivals, for guests, and in cherry-blossom viewing lunches.

It uses the skin separated from eso fish during local kamaboko production rather than wrapping the burdock in fish paste. The skin is soaked overnight in a concentrated sweet and savory sauce of soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, and sugar. A burdock root cut to 15 to 20 cm is threaded onto a metal skewer, then wrapped one sheet at a time with the marinated skin. The skewer is turned continuously over the heat so the skin cooks evenly and the sauce darkens without burning in one place. It is ready when the outside is fully cooked and browned with light char marks. After a short rest, the skewer is removed and the roll is sliced to show the burdock center.

Ingredients (1 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
whole eso fish	1	ea
burdock root	1	stalk
soy sauce	4	tbsp
mirin	4	tbsp
cooking sake	4	tbsp
sugar	2	tbsp

Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

5 steps

1

Season

Fillet the eso into three sections and separate the flesh from the skin.

Use the skin for this dish and set the flesh aside. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake, and sugar into a concentrated marinade, then submerge the skin completely.
2

Control

Cover the container and marinate the skin overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, lift out and drain the skin. Discard the remaining marinade that contacted the raw fish rather than reusing it.
3

Control

Cut the burdock into a 15 to 20 cm length and run a long metal skewer straight through its center.

Starting at one end, wrap the drained eso skin around the burdock one sheet at a time, overlapping it so the burdock is covered.
4

Heat

Hold the skewer over the heat and grill while turning it slowly and continuously.

Adjust the distance so one side does not burn, and cook until all the skin is opaque, fully cooked, and evenly browned with light char marks.
5

Prep

Remove the roll from the heat and rest it for 5 minutes so the glazed surface settles.

Carefully pull out the metal skewer and cut into bite-size pieces that show the burdock center and layers of eso skin.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Eso skin separated during kamaboko production marinates overnight in a sweet savory sauce.
Finish cue: Adjust the distance so one side does not burn, and cook until all the skin is opaque, fully cooked, and evenly browned with light char marks.
Avoid this: Turn the skewer continuously so the overlapping eso skin cooks through without burning on one side and browns evenly.
Substitution: Marinate the fish skin overnight under refrigeration, and discard the marinade that touched raw fish instead of brushing it on during grilling.