Mushidai (Whole Sea Bream Steamed with Okara Stuffing)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 120 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 8 servings
- Ingredients
- 19
About this dish
Mushidai is a Kochi celebration dish built around a whole sea bream of about 1 kg.
Read more
The fish is opened from the back while its fins and overall form remain intact, salted lightly overnight, filled with 500 g okara seasoned with burdock, carrot, shiitake, leaf garlic, eggs, and sugar, then steamed whole for about 45 minutes. A sweet potato steams beside it as a traditional doneness indicator; when a skewer passes through the potato, the fish is checked. Sieved hard-boiled egg yolk finishes the surface. Presented whole on a large sawachi platter, it belongs at weddings, New Year gatherings, and Kochi banquets called okyaku. The center bones are traditionally retained for flavor, so diners must remove bones carefully.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Control
Scale and gut the bream, then open it from the back while leaving the fins and body form intact.
Rinse, pat dry, season lightly with 1 teaspoon salt, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
- 2Heat
Soak kombu in 400 ml water for 30 minutes, heat gently, and remove just before boiling.
Add 5 g bonito flakes, turn off the heat, rest 2 minutes, and strain 300 ml dashi. Separately soak and finely chop the shiitake.
- 3Control
Shave the burdock finely and dice the carrot and rehydrated shiitake.
Add burdock, shiitake, then carrot to the dashi; season with 30 g sugar, soy sauce, and 0.125 teaspoon salt, and simmer until dry.
- 4Season
Combine the okara with the cooled vegetables and finely chopped leaf garlic.
Add 5 raw eggs, 130 g sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt, then knead until moisture and seasoning are evenly distributed.
- 5Prep
Blot the rested bream dry again.
Fill the belly and back opening evenly with the okara mixture without packing so hard that the flesh tears, then bring the fish back to its original shape.
- 6Control
Line a large fully steaming basket with a damp cloth or bamboo leaves and add the bream and washed sweet potato.
Cover and steam vigorously about 45 minutes, until a skewer enters the potato and the stuffing center reaches at least 74°C.
- 7Heat
Lift the fish out carefully with the cloth and transfer to a large platter.
Press only the hard-boiled yolk through a fine sieve over the surface, then divide fish and okara together among eight diners.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- A roughly 1 kg sea bream is opened from the back and salted overnight.
- Finish cue
- Lift the fish out carefully with the cloth and transfer to a large platter.
- Storage and reheating
- The fish is opened from the back while its fins and overall form remain intact, salted lightly overnight, filled with 500 g okara seasoned with burdock, carrot, shiitake, leaf garlic, eggs, and sugar, then steamed whole for about 45 minutes.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official food safety guidance.
This recipe
120min, 19 ingredients
Category median
48min, 8 ingredients
Based on 200 recipes
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