Thamnaconus modestus
ingredient / ingredient-umazurahagi-liver
ウマヅラハギ
Thamnaconus modestus is the liver of umazurahagi (black scraper, Thamnaconus modestus). This filefish-family species is related to kawahagi and is often treated alongside it as food. Material from Niigata Prefecture's Sado Regional Promotion Bureau cautions that damaging nearby organs while removing the liver can sometimes impart bitterness.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
When preparing the liver of umazurahagi (Thamnaconus modestus), damaging nearby organs as it is removed is described as something that can cause bitterness. 「佐渡のお魚情報通信」 (in translation: "Sado Fish Information Bulletin"), updated in 2019 by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Promotion Department of Niigata Prefecture's Sado Regional Promotion Bureau, warns 「周囲の臓器を傷つけないように丁寧に作業しないと苦みがついてしまうことがあるので注意して下さい」 (in translation: "Take care to work gently without injuring surrounding organs, or bitterness may develop"). It also says that adding the liver shortly before a hot-pot dish is done keeps it from hardening. The bitterness statement remains advice for home cooking from a prefectural fisheries-promotion office; no chemical analysis or sensory test is offered as support.
Umazurahagi is a filefish in the order Tetraodontiformes. It is related to kawahagi (Stephanolepis cirrhifer), in the same family, but belongs to a different genus and is a different species. The Sado bureau's caution about bitterness concerns umazurahagi, not kawahagi liver itself. Although the two related species are often treated side by side as food, the reported observation about umazurahagi liver cannot simply be applied to kawahagi liver.
Tokushima Prefecture's 「ウマヅラハギの薄造り」 (in translation: "thin-sliced umazurahagi sashimi") calls for rubbing the liver with plenty of salt, rinsing it in water, and states that pouring boiling water over it is also acceptable. After that, sake and mirin are added and the liver is ground to finish it as kimodare. This is not an experiment that fixed quantities or times, but the steps leading up to serving the liver with the sashimi remain concrete.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: The source of the caution that damage during liver removal may cause bitterness. / The source establishing that umazurahagi and kawahagi are different species.
Checked for this overview: Used for the kimodare process of salt-rubbing, rinsing in water, optional boiling water, sake and mirin, and a mortar, and for the qualification that no quantitative conditions are given.
Follow the connections
Thamnaconus modestus →differs from→ Stephanolepis cirrhifer
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Composition and content (1)
Scope: Species classification
Note: The scientific names were confirmed in descriptions on multiple aquarium and encyclopedia websites, but primary sources of fish taxonomy, such as original description papers, were not traced.
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ingredient-umazurahagi-liver —differs_from→ ingredient-kawahagi-liverHow processing and cooking change it (2)
Scope: Niigata Sado Regional Promotion Bureau's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Promotion Department, 「佐渡のお魚情報通信」 (in translation: "Sado Fish Information Bulletin"), updated March 29, 2019.
Note: This is home-cooking guidance from a prefectural fisheries-promotion office, without supporting chemical analysis. It concerns umazurahagi (Thamnaconus modestus), a related filefish, not kawahagi (Stephanolepis cirrhifer) itself.
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ingredient-umazurahagi-liver —has_perceived_bitterness_associated_with→ "Niigata Prefecture's Sado Regional Promotion Bureau Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Promotion Department cautions that, when removing umazurahagi liver, care is needed to avoid damaging nearby organs or bitterness may develop. It also says that, for a hot-pot dish, adding the liver shortly before completion keeps it from hardening."Scope: The umazurahagi thin-sliced-sashimi process in Tokushima Prefecture's 「漁師の食卓 秋冬」 (in translation: "The Fisherman's Table, Autumn and Winter")
Note: A prefectural dish record that does not give ingredient quantities, heating temperature, or time. Not a test that measured any reduction in bitterness.
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ingredient-umazurahagi-liver —is_prepared_by→ "Tokushima Prefecture's thin-sliced-sashimi introduction states that plenty of salt is applied to the removed liver and rubbed in, the liver is rinsed in water, and pouring boiling water over it is also acceptable, after which sake and mirin are added and the liver is ground to make kimodare"