Shutō (seafood)

Shutō (酒盗) is a specialty shiokara of Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in Japan.^[1]

Shuto is made by salting rare parts of bonito (katsuo), fermenting it for more than six months, then chopping it up and sometimes adding a mixture of sake and mirin. There is also a tuna (maguro) type that has a milder character.

The Chinese characters of the dish (酒盗) means "sake thief" and is derived from the belief that it is a good side dish for sake. Legend has it when eating Shuto (酒盗), your chopsticks will move so fast that you will want to ‘steal’ (盗) ‘sake’ (酒). ^[2]

There are records that it has been eaten in Japan for about 300 years. It may also be made with various other fish such as salmon, sea bream, and saury.

It is sometimes known as ‘Japanese anchovies’, which does not refer to the ingredients or manufacturing process, rather the way in which it is used.

There are variations of shuto, such as hot pepper, green onions and others. The combination of shutō and Japanese sake creates a wonderful culinary match.

Although this dish is quite salty, the sake adds a depth to the flavour that may take several samplings to fully appreciate. As a result of the saltiness, a favoured method for savouring this dish is to take a small bite and then follow it with either a drink of alcohol or some rice.

April 10th is Shuto Day!^[2] Shuto has been popular in Japan for a long time. ‘Shuto Day’ was established in the hope that this traditional taste will be handed down to the present day. (Recognised by the Japan Anniversary Association). There are a few ways of reading characters in Japanese. In this case, the month April can be read as (Shu) and the date 10 as (to). If you combine the two, it becomes Shuto!

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