In some Japanese restaurants, you can see oyakodon, a
chicken and egg rice dish on the menu. Chicken, egg, green
onions, and several other ingredients are simmered together
with condiments including soy sauce and then served over
rice in a large bowl. Oyakodon may taste a little sweet due
to the mirin in it. Mirin, used for cooking, is a rice wine
with a very high sugar content. Whenever you eat beef,
pork, or a Japanese dish that tastes sweet, but is not
dessert, chances are good that the sweet taste comes from
mirin.
While this image of parent and child together on the table
in front of you may not resonate with most Westerners, the
image seems popular in Japan. You can also find shake
oyakodon, which is salmon parent and child, on some menus
too. This is salmon and roe, which are served raw, over
rice. You can also find cooked salmon served together with
raw salmon roe over rice. Some sushi places serve pieces of
sushi with salmon and salmon roe together too. They could
be combined inside a gunkan, which is how sea urchin and
salmon roe are generally served. Or this could be a regular
piece of salmon on rice, adorned with a few eggs on top.
Many Japanese seem to derive great satisfaction from these
combinations of food that can be eaten in many forms. My
friend, Fred, was out for sushi a while ago and saw shirako
on the menu. Not knowing what it was, he asked.
The sushi master explained that tarako, was the eggs, and
shirako was the male part. Fred, knowing that tarako was
cod roe, immediately put two and two together, realizing
that tarako was cod sperm. Later, he discovered on the
Internet that cod milt sounded much better. Just as most
Americans prefer calamari to octopus, Fred imagined that
most Americans would prefer cod milt to cod sperm, or at
least be less revolted. Fred thought about this a while,
and then ordered one.　Now, he can't even remember
what cod sperm tasted like, just that it was neither
delicious nor revolting, just another variety of sushi,
perhaps a little bit on the slimy side.
What Fred does remember is that the sushi master seemed
quite pleased that both the soft roe, which is sperm or
testes depending on the marine species, from the male cod
and the hard roe from the female cod could be eaten. If you
would like to see what Fred ate, do a google for "sushi in
English with pictures" and "cod sperm." A piece of shirako
sushi should pop up in your browser.
Fred finds it quite interesting that shirako is looked down
on in America as cod sperm while the soft roe from sea
urchin is quite popular. Sea urchin has a strong taste and
for some people, is an acquired taste. Shirako, however,
doesn't have a strong taste. Shirako is available in Japan
only in the winter months. If you have the chance, don't
miss the magic moment.
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You can find Aaron Language Services on the Web at
http://www.aaronlanguage.com/ . We provide translation from
Japanese to other European languages and back to Japanese,
edit English and other European languages, and offer online
English coaching to a primarily Japanese client base. If
you can't read Japanese, you can always reach us via our
personnel page.
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