Tachi-uo (Largehead hairtail) is a common fish in Japan. It is cooked in several ways
“Tachi” means “sword” and “uo” means “fish” in Japanese. It is a sliver, long, slender fish that lives throughout the tropical and temperate oceans of the world. It appearance is very similar to a samurai sword.
“Tachi-uo” is a very popular food for the Japanese, as it can be fished relatively easily in the sea around Japan throughout all seasons. It is baked and served as a main dish for lunch and dinner like in the photo above. It is also boiled with soy sauce and fish broth (nitsuke) and provided as a dish with sake at an izakaya. Even though it has small bones at both edges and in the center of its body, we Japanese can easily remove them from the meat with chopsticks. We have learned how to do this since we were children.
“Tachi-uo-maki” is a local specialty from Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. Tachi-uo is filleted and wrapped around a bamboo stick. It is baked with a soy-sauce-based sauce. It is a preserved food as well. It goes well with rice, beer and also sake.
