I haven't been able to find proper aji (butterflied dried Japanese [horse mackerel / jack mackerel / scad, depending on who you ask]). Does this product look like it would be similar? It's to be grilled, for aji no hiraki.
Aji is trachurus japonicus, but I also see decapterus maruadsi being called "Japanese scad", and this fish is in the same genus. 🤔
by bradygrey
1 Comment
not likely.Â
philippine dried fish generally gets the direct salt application while drying so its much drier and saltier, instead of the japanese technique of soaking in a brine, then air drying.
if youre going to grill this, youre going to end up with a quite salty, slightly tougher end product instead of aji no hiraki texture. usually in the philippines, this is deep fried or toasted and eaten with vinegar and a lot of rice.
making your own aji no hiraki is possible though. soak cleaned, butterflied fish in a 10 percent brine solution for about an hour or two. then take it out and air dry it 24 hours on a cooling rack with a fan blowing at it. in humid weather, you can instead dry it in the fridge.