Kabayaki (蒲焼)

Kabayaki (蒲焼) is a preparation of fish, especially unagi eel, where the fish is split down the back (or belly), gutted and boned, butterflied, cut into square fillets, skewered, dipped in a sweet soy sauce-base sauce before being broiled on a grill.

Besides unagi eel, the same preparation is made of other long scaleless fish such as hamo (pike conger), dojō (loach), catfish, anago (conger eel), and gimpo (ギンポ). One can also find canned products labeled as kabayaki-style sanma (Pacific saury).

The eel kabayaki is often served on top of a bowl (donburi) of rice, and called unadon, the fancier form of which is the unajū, placed inside a tiered lacquered boxes called jūbako. It is also torn up and mixed up evenly with rice to make hitsumabushi (櫃まぶし), which is enjoyed especially in the Nagoya area.

Photos:

"Eel kabayaki,Una-don,Katori-city,Japan" by katorisi - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eel_kabayaki,Una-don,Katori-city,Japan.JPG#/media/File:Eel_kabayaki,Una-don,Katori-city,Japan.JPG

"Unagi kabayaki by Kossy@FINEDAYS in Akabane" by Kossy@FINEDAYS from Akabane, Tokyo - Flickr. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unagi_kabayaki_by_Kossy@FINEDAYS_in_Akabane.jpg#/media/File:Unagi_kabayaki_by_Kossy@FINEDAYS_in_Akabane.jpg