Cabbage and Trout Layered Pickle

Name: Cabbage and Trout Layered Pickle
Prep time: 70 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 30 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: cabbage 5000 g; salt 100 g; commercial salt-cured trout for cooking 1 whole; small carrot 1 piece; dried red chilies 2 pieces; fresh ginger 1 piece; prepared amazake 100 ml; vinegar 2 cups

Quick answer

Active time: 105 min
Waiting: See the steps
Level: Hard
Servings: 30 servings
Ingredients: 8

About this dish

Blanched cabbage is layered with cooked salted trout, carrot, ginger and chili, and each layer gets a splash of amazake and vinegar.

In inland Tsugaru, Aomori, fresh seafood was once hard to come by, and through about four months of heavy snow, pickled vegetables and long-keeping salted trout carried households through winter. Families ate the grilled flesh and put the remaining edible parts into pickles or shirani soup. The batch fills an 18L container and stays at 4°C or below from start to finish, so refrigerator space is the first thing to sort out.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

commercial salt-cured trout for cooking1 whole

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small carrot1 piece

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dried red chilies2 pieces

fresh ginger1 piece

vinegar2 cups

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Instructions

7 steps

1

Clean and sanitize an 18L food-safe pickling container and press plate and let them dry completely.

Trim outer leaves and cores from 5000g cabbage and separate the leaves into large sections.
2

Blanch the cabbage in 500g batches for 45 seconds and cool immediately in cold water.

Stand it in colanders for 30 minutes to drain, cut into 5cm pieces, toss evenly with 100g salt, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3

Confirm that 1 commercial salt-cured trout for cooking has had its gills and innards removed, and remove any that remain.

Roast at 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes until the thickest flesh reaches at least 63°C. Cool to 4°C or below within 2 hours.
4

Remove the flesh and other tender edible parts from the cold trout and divide into 3cm pieces, discarding every firm bone and fin.

Finely shred 1 small carrot and 1 piece fresh ginger. Stem and seed 2 dried chilies and slice into thin rings.
5

Mix 100ml prepared amazake and 2 cups vinegar in a clean bowl.

Divide the cabbage, trout, carrot, ginger, and chili into five portions and layer them in that order in the container, spooning the amazake-vinegar liquid evenly over every layer.
6

Set the press plate directly on the surface, add a clean weight equal to about 20 percent of the food's weight, and close the lid.

Pickle under refrigeration at 4°C or below for 2 to 3 days, turning upper and lower layers once daily with clean tongs.
7

When the cabbage has taken on the trout flavor and acidity, serve chilled with clean tongs.

Because this pickle contains fish, keep it continuously at 4°C or below. If mold, unpleasant odor, unusual bubbling, or slime appears, discard the entire batch without tasting.