Buri Daikon (Yellowtail and Daikon Stew)
Cuisine: Japanese
Region: 富山県
Servings: 4人分
Buri Daikon (Yellowtail and Daikon Stew) is a home-style seafood dish. Ingredients and step-by-step instructions are below, with notes for home cooking.
Ingredients
- Yellowtail bones and scraps (head, collar, etc.) 8 pieces (about 600 g)
- Daikon radish 1 medium (about 1 kg)
- Water 1.2 L
- Sake 200 ml
- Mirin 100 ml
- Soy sauce 100 ml
- Ginger (julienned, for garnish) to taste
Steps
- Peel the daikon and cut into 2–3 cm rounds; halve any large slices. Lightly bevel the edges (mentori).
- Put the daikon in a pot, cover with rice-washing water (or plain water), and simmer over medium heat about 20 minutes until a skewer slides through easily. Rinse under water.
- Place the yellowtail scraps in a colander and pour boiling water over them. As soon as the surface turns white, plunge into cold water. Rub off bloodline, scales, and slime with your fingers.
- Combine water, sake, mirin, and soy sauce in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the yellowtail and daikon. When it boils again, skim the foam often.
- Cover with an otoshibuta (drop lid) and simmer gently over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. Occasionally spoon the broth over everything.
- Turn off the heat and rest about 30 minutes so the daikon absorbs flavor as it cools. Reheat before serving.
- Plate the yellowtail and daikon, spoon over the broth, and garnish with julienned ginger if you like.
Rate this recipe
Notes
The quick boil-and-cold-rinse (shimofuri) is the key to a clean-tasting buri daikon without fishiness.
Parboiling the daikon in rice-washing water removes harshness and keeps it white and tender.
Stews soak up flavor as they cool. Chill once, then reheat—the daikon turns amber and tastes much better.
A pressure cooker shortens the simmer a lot and even softens the bones in the scraps.
Origin and history
Buri daikon is yellowtail scraps simmered with daikon in soy sauce and mirin—a signature winter home dish along Japan’s Sea of Japan coast.
In Toyama Bay, fatty yellowtail land in winter; Himi’s “kanburi” (cold-season yellowtail) is especially famous. In some Toyama areas, families still gift yellowtail to a married daughter’s household at year-end, tying the fish to good fortune in daily life.
Heads, collars, and other scraps left after filleting are packed with umami and fat. Instead of discarding them, cooks stew them slowly with winter-peak daikon so the radish takes on the fish’s flavor. Many households look forward to daikon that has rested overnight—an indispensable plate on cold-season tables.