EDITORIALS
Smoked Nishin, Hokke, and Salmon are superb! If you want to try smoked foods "only available in Hokkaido," this is the place to go in Yoichi!
Smoked food" became a boom a while ago, and now seems to have gained a sense of citizenship. In addition to eating smoked food, enjoying smoked food by oneself has become a well-established hobby, and various kits for this purpose are now on the market. However, when people hear the word "smoked", they usually think of "hot smoking".
The process used by the Yoichi-based smoked food specialty store "Smoked Food Shop Minami Sentaro Shoten" (hereafter referred to as "Minami Sentaro Shoten") is not limited to warm smoking. Let's take a peek at what it's all about.
Generally speaking, smoked food is warm-smoked at a high temperature of 60 to 80℃. In contrast, Minami Sentaro Shoten uses a method called cold smoking, in which the food is slowly smoked at a low temperature of around 20°C (68°F) to prevent the fat from being released while removing the moisture, thereby locking in the flavor.
The company was founded in 1948, and the first owner, Minami Fentaro, learned the cold smoking method from the indigenous people of Sakhalin Island.
You may be thinking, "If it's so delicious, why don't all people adopt cold smoking? However, it is not that easy, which is why cold smoking is such a valuable process. Temperature control is essential, and in warm Japan, except in snowy areas such as Hokkaido, it is basically only suitable for winter.
Moreover, the smoking process takes a week at the shortest, and as long as three months at the longest, so it requires adequate facilities. After smoking, Minami Shotaro Shoten hangs the fish from the ceiling of the workshop to dry it. This allows the fish to mature and the umami flavor to be more concentrated.
When we asked third-generation owner Nambo Noritaka about recommended cold-smoked products, he recommended fish such as Hokke, Nishin, and salmon, which are typical of Hokkaido. Once you try their cold-smoked fish, you will be addicted to its rich umami and deep flavor.
By the way, they also offer hot smoking, and I was told that their most popular item is smoked amaebi (sweet shrimp), which is caught between April and the end of November and smoked on the same day. Fresh and beautiful to look at, the smoked amaebi is sure to be a hit as a snack or a kid's treat.
There are many other smoked foods that you will not find anywhere else, such as smoked nuts and vegetables! Combined with the smoky aroma wafting from the workshop in the back of the store, it is inevitable that you will find yourself buying all kinds of products.
And once you taste it, you may want to visit Yoichi just to buy smoked products here. The unique aroma coming out of your nose will surely become addictive.
Smoked fish shop: Minami Yakusentaro Shoten
Location: 88 Minato-cho, Yoichi-cho, Yoichi-gun, Hokkaido
Phone: 0135-22-2744
Official website: https://nptomedon.com/
The process used by the Yoichi-based smoked food specialty store "Smoked Food Shop Minami Sentaro Shoten" (hereafter referred to as "Minami Sentaro Shoten") is not limited to warm smoking. Let's take a peek at what it's all about.
Generally speaking, smoked food is warm-smoked at a high temperature of 60 to 80℃. In contrast, Minami Sentaro Shoten uses a method called cold smoking, in which the food is slowly smoked at a low temperature of around 20°C (68°F) to prevent the fat from being released while removing the moisture, thereby locking in the flavor.
The company was founded in 1948, and the first owner, Minami Fentaro, learned the cold smoking method from the indigenous people of Sakhalin Island.
(Photo courtesy of Minami Susentaro Shoten)
You may be thinking, "If it's so delicious, why don't all people adopt cold smoking? However, it is not that easy, which is why cold smoking is such a valuable process. Temperature control is essential, and in warm Japan, except in snowy areas such as Hokkaido, it is basically only suitable for winter.
Moreover, the smoking process takes a week at the shortest, and as long as three months at the longest, so it requires adequate facilities. After smoking, Minami Shotaro Shoten hangs the fish from the ceiling of the workshop to dry it. This allows the fish to mature and the umami flavor to be more concentrated.
When we asked third-generation owner Nambo Noritaka about recommended cold-smoked products, he recommended fish such as Hokke, Nishin, and salmon, which are typical of Hokkaido. Once you try their cold-smoked fish, you will be addicted to its rich umami and deep flavor.
By the way, they also offer hot smoking, and I was told that their most popular item is smoked amaebi (sweet shrimp), which is caught between April and the end of November and smoked on the same day. Fresh and beautiful to look at, the smoked amaebi is sure to be a hit as a snack or a kid's treat.
There are many other smoked foods that you will not find anywhere else, such as smoked nuts and vegetables! Combined with the smoky aroma wafting from the workshop in the back of the store, it is inevitable that you will find yourself buying all kinds of products.
And once you taste it, you may want to visit Yoichi just to buy smoked products here. The unique aroma coming out of your nose will surely become addictive.
Smoked fish shop: Minami Yakusentaro Shoten
Location: 88 Minato-cho, Yoichi-cho, Yoichi-gun, Hokkaido
Phone: 0135-22-2744
Official website: https://nptomedon.com/
Writer Profile
Hokkaido Sightseeing Turtle Writer Bubu-Neko
I'm Bubaneko, a writer with many connections to sightseeing spots and tourist facilities in Hokkaido. There are many wonderful resources, even the ones we take for granted when we live in Hokkaido. I will be sharing these wonderful attractions of Hokkaido with you.
