Black Code marinated in Sake Kasu
2006-05-04 Chris Shenton
Serves 2 for a main course of 4 for an appetiser

The Black Cod isn't Cod at all but a West Coast Sable fish.  Kasu are
the lees left over when making Sake.  It comes in square flat-ish
plastic packaging from the frozen section of Asian markets.  I paid
$3.40 for a 300g package at Katagiri in NYC but have also bought it
Han ah Reum (Hmart) in Falls Church, VA.

The fish is salted over night then marinated for about a week in the
fridge.  Surprisingly, it doesn't go off: the Kasu has some
preservative properties due to residual alcohol. It has a rich,
complex sweet taste.

I've made this with Black Cod (Sable) and it's terrific, though the
fish is $12 - $20 per pound from DC's better fishmongers.  I've also
made it -- at the same time with the same salt and marinade regimen
-- with wild-caught Salmon and East Coast Cod: both came out very
salty and dry, while the Sable came out moist and sweet; I don't know
why.  The Sable cooked without the marinade has a mucilaginous fatty
layer under the skin which isn't appealing without the Kasu treatment.
I've also done this with unsalted shrimp and scallops, simple and
good. Some articles claim to reuse the Kasu marinade, and I've done it
once and lived to tell the tale.

The Uwajimaya market defines Kasuzuke and has link to Black Cod Kasuzuke:
http://www.uwajimaya.com/glossary.asp?PrimaryName=kasuzuke

The New York Times has a good article on a number of Seattle chefs
preparing this:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=940DE0D61331F935A15755C0A96E948260

12	oz	Black Cod (Sable fish)
1/6	cup	Kosher Salt
5	oz	Kasu (one half of 300g package)
1/8	cup	Sugar
1/4	cup	Sake

Salt both sides of the fish, cover and refrigerate 12-48 hours.
When I did this with less salt for 24 hours it turned out more salty
than more salt for 48 hours; I don't know why. You'll have to experiment.
Rinse off the salt and pat dry.

Mix up the Kasu, Sugar and Sake until it's like a thick paste, mine
was a bit too thick to pour.  Put the fish -- whole -- into the
marinade, coat well, and refrigerate for 7 days; you can use a zip-top
bag for this.  (I usually throw in some shelled shrimp for a chef's
treat).

Wipe off the marinade and cut the fish into individual serving-sized
chunks; the fish will have firmed up which makes for well-defined
slices.  Place the pieces on a cookie sheet, skin-side down.  Broil
until the fish starts to brown and the fish is barely cooked; the
sugar gives it an appealing darkness without over-cooking the fish.

Sushi Taro in DC serves this skin side up but I serve it skin-side
down and don't tend to eat the skin. Maybe if I broiled it skin-side
up it would be a bit more appetizing but then I'd lose the appealing
flesh color.