Karaage

is a Japanese cooking technique in which small pieces of meat or fish are marinated, dredged with a starch, and deep fried in oil. The usual meat is chicken, but may also be other meats, fish, or tofu. Karaage may be served alone or with rice and shredded cabbage.

The marinade typically includes sake, soy sauce, ginger juice, and scallions.

The process is different from other Japanese frying techniques, which do not marinate the food: su-age 'naked fry' is not coated with starch or batter; koromo-age 'batter fry', the technique used for tempura, uses a batter.

Name Kara-age means "Chinese frying", but kara means "empty" when spelled with the kanji , so the name is often thought of as "dry frying", that is, without batter. There exists considerable disagreement among newspapers and publishers in Japan about the preferred kanji, leading some to write it phonetically as .

The chicken version may be called or more specifically . Some consider them to be distinct dishes. McDonald's Japan offers a tatsuta sandwich ().

History

The first references to a style of frying called (then written as ) were in the Genroku period at the end of the 17th century. Chicken was popularized as a "Chinese-style" restaurant food (using the characters , where 唐 means Tang) in the 1930s.

by itself usually refers to the chicken version, the most common application of cooking style since making it at home became more popular after World War II. The post-war increase in the popularity of karaage is said to have begun in Ōita Prefecture in neighboring cities Usa and Nakatsu. At the annual Festival in Nakatsu, over 60 different shops participate to provide unique versions of the dish."Karaage Festival" Retrieved June 5 2024 Shops which advertise "Nakatsu karaage" can be found throughout Japan."【大分名物】中津からあげ7選！からあげの聖地で外せない名店はココ！" Retrieved June 5 2024"【東京都内】こだわりのから揚げ専門店7選！大分・中津のご当地からあげも♪" Retrieved June 5 2024

In Japan, chicken is commonly available in convenience stores such as Lawson, FamilyMart, and 7-Eleven as a fast-food item. It is also readily available in food stands throughout Japan.

Regional

Since has spread throughout Japan, there have been many regional takes on the dish, the most notable ones including:

– Hokkaido prefecture's version of , made with a marinade and served with a spicy dipping sauce.

– Nagoya's version of , made with bone in chicken wings, sprinkled with sesame seeds and basted with a special sauce.

Chicken – Miyazaki prefecture’s version of , dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartar sauce.

– Okinawa prefecture’s version of . Gurukun is Okinawa's official and most popular fish, often called a "banana fish" in English; it is a fish fried whole and served with lemon.

– Korea's take on fried chicken, very similar to , but usually made with milk and a sweet/spicy sauce consisting of soy sauce, rice wine, red chili pepper paste, honey, and seasonings.

– A version of popular in Yamaguchi prefecture. Shimonoseki is known as the capital of fugu and many restaurants serving fugu can be found around the city. The flesh, organs, and bones of the blowfish are deep-fried.

in the media has become embedded in Japanese cuisine and has made several TV appearances. Probably the most notable appearance has been in the anime/manga series Shokugeki no Soma, a show about a young aspiring chef who sticks to his roots in family restaurant food. Another notable mention was by Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain sang praises for the Japanese fried dish in an interview, saying that he always stopped by Lawson to pick up when he visited Japan. The dish of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force is deep-fried chicken , such as Okinawan-style deep-fried chicken. It has been used to promote the JASDF.

Karaage

Bron en licentie