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I love this eel recipe, in fact grilled eel is wonderful in almost any form. It’s very hard to find it in the UK, and if you do, it’s very expensive -but well worth it.
★★★★★
– Vincent
If you have ever stared at a Japanese menu wondering how hitsumabushi is different from unadon or unaju, you are in good company. Honestly, plenty of people in Japan are not sure either. The short version: the eel is chopped fine, served in a round wooden tub, and comes with hot dashi for the final bowl.
It is one of Nagoya’s ways with eel, not some dish the whole country eats nightly. I was born and raised here, and I want to show you how a local makes the real thing at home, from raw eel, so the curiosity finally has somewhere to land.
Hitsumabushi
Recipe Snapshot
- What is it? The Nagoya way of eating unagi kabayaki, where the grilled eel is sliced and placed over rice in a wooden ohitsu and eaten in 3 progressive bowls, the last one poured with hot dashi as a kind of ochazuke.
- Flavor profile: Sweet-savory caramelized unagi no tare against rich eel, lifted by sansho and then washed light by a clean, faintly grassy dashi finish.
- Why you will love this recipe: It builds restaurant-style hitsumabushi at home from raw eel, with a layered tare you grill on in thin coats and a 4-move eating ritual that turns 1 bowl into 3 different experiences.
- Must-haves: Raw filleted eel, a soy-mirin-sake-sugar tare you reduce until glossy, and a seasoned dashi for the final ochazuke bowl.
- Skill level: Medium. The grilling and the repeated tare coats take attention, but the steps are stovetop-simple and the eating ritual does the rest of the work for you.
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What Is Hitsumabushi?
Hitsumabushi (ひつまぶし) is grilled eel kabayaki, chopped fine and scattered over rice in a round wooden tub, and it is Nagoya’s special way to enjoy eel kabayaki. Take the same eel and same tare you would put on unadon, chop it small, give it a wooden tub instead of a bowl, and hand it a pot of hot dashi for the last few bites. That is genuinely the whole difference.
The story Atsuta Horaiken tells is that its eel-rice takeout kept cracking the ceramic bowls in transit, so the shop switched to an unbreakable wooden tub, and diners who left the rice behind nudged the staff into chopping the eel through it. Nagoya is a B-class-gourmet powerhouse that quietly sits overlooked between Tokyo and Osaka, and the casual food here is some of the best in the country if I do say so myself.
Hitsumabushi Ingredients
What You’ll Need for Hitsumabushi
- Eel: The eel is the centerpiece, and starting from raw eel is the real thing, the highest level you can reach at home. Working from raw lets you own the grill and the texture in a way packaged eel never quite gives you. The sake goes in early to steam it briefly and lift any surface fat before the eel meets real heat.
- The tare (turbinado sugar, dark brown sugar, sake, mirin, Japanese soy sauce): This is where the whole dish is won or lost. The tare is the soul of any eel, and if the tare is off, no amount of good grilling will save the bowl. Turbinado carries the body of the sweetness and a little dark brown sugar deepens it, the sake and mirin loosen it and bring the gloss, and soy sauce gives it the salt and backbone.
Classic Hitsumabushi Condiments/serving ingredients
- The condiments (green onions, kizami nori, wasabi, toasted white sesame, plus a little tare to mix through the rice): This is the fun layer, the part you arrange to your own taste.
Substitution Ideas
- Japanese soy sauce → Tamari: Koikuchi is the base I build this tare on, and it works. That said, tamari is a completely legitimate swap. It is mostly soybean with little or no wheat, so it gives a deeper umami, a darker color, and a stronger glaze, and it is the traditional choice for eel tare in this part of the country.
- Raw eel → Vacuum-packed kabayaki: Starting from raw eel is the real thing. If you go with packaged kabayaki instead, that is a legitimate choice and most people will, but be honest with yourself that it is a different level and a different flavor. To get the most from it, rinse off the old sauce, pat it dry, steam-reheat it with a splash of sake, then re-glaze and lightly crisp it under high heat.
- Eel → Catfish or a similar fish: If eel is out of reach or too expensive, another similar fish works as a real stand-in, and catfish is the one most people land on outside Japan. It is leaner, milder, and firmer, so it is good in its own way rather than identical to eel. The tare and the grill carry a lot of the experience here, which is why a fattier fish can ride along convincingly.
Have trouble finding Japanese ingredients? Check out my ultimate guide to Japanese ingredient substitutes!
How to Make My Hitsumabushi
i. Add the turbinado sugar and dark brown sugar to a saucepan, set it on the stove, and turn the heat to medium-low.
ii. Once the sugar starts to melt, pour in the sake and mirin. Bring it to a boil and let it bubble for a minute or 2, stirring now and then.
iii. Add the soy sauce and drop the heat down to a simmer.
iv. Simmer until it thickens slightly, around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so the sugar does not scorch, and skim off any foam that forms on top. Pull it off the heat and let it cool while you deal with the eel.
Sugar burns fast and quietly, and a tare taken too far turns bitter while a tare pulled too early stays thin. Keep the simmer gentle and stop when it just coats a spoon. That glossy coat is the Maillard browning that gives eel tare its color and aroma.
i. Wash the filleted eel under cold running water. Cover a chopping board with plastic wrap, lay the eel on top, and cut each fillet into a few pieces by pressing a sharp knife in and working the eel back and forth over the wrap.
ii. Place the eel skin side down in a frying pan and add the sake.
iii. Turn the heat to medium-low and steam it with the lid on for 3 minutes.
iv. Take it off the heat, line your grill with foil, and preheat the grill on medium-high for 5 minutes.
i. Lay the eel on the foil skin side down and grill for 6 minutes.
ii. Turn it over and grill the skin side for 5 minutes, or until it is lightly charred.
iii. Brush the tare generously and evenly over the skin and slide it back under the grill for 30 seconds.
iv. Turn it over, brush tare on the flesh side, and grill another 30 seconds. Repeat 2 more times on each side, 6 coats in all.
Thin coats caramelize into a glossy, layered glaze without burning, which is exactly what a single thick coat would do. The grill heat is the other turning point here, hot enough to crisp the skin, controlled enough that it never dries out and goes bitter.
v. Cut the grilled eel into strips.
i. Mix a little of the leftover sauce through the warm Japanese short-grain rice.
ii. Divide the rice into wooden bowls, top with the grilled eel, and brush liberally with more tare.
iii. Brew the green tea bag in the warm dashi stock, then stir in the soy sauce. Brew a few minutes, pull the teabag, and serve it in a teapot or jug on the table.
i. Divide the eel and rice into quarters with a rice paddle. It splits cleaner than chopsticks, and Nagoya food does not need to be elegant, so be bold about it.
ii. Scoop the first quarter into a small bowl and eat it as it is, the eel and tare on their own. A pinch of sansho here.
iii. Add the second quarter and pile on what you like, chopped green onion, kizami nori, wasabi. This is the quarter you get to arrange to your own taste.
iv. Add the third quarter and pour the dashi tea over the top.
v. Wasabi and a little toasted sesame are good here too.
vi. Eat the final quarter however you liked it best out of the 3.
If you follow the default recipe, it will yield 2-3 main servings.
Essential Tips & Tricks
- Aim for both at once: skin that is not rubbery, flesh that is not dry. This is the one balance the whole bowl turns on. Stop the eel before it fully chars and keep the grill at a heat that is firm but not fierce. Push too hard and the skin sets into something chewy and the inside dries out, ease off and the skin never crisps. You want it to read as both tender and crisp in the same bite.
- Do not skip the short steam before the grill. The 3 minutes under a lid with a splash of sake is where the flesh loosens and the raw fishy edge drops away, and that is where the foundation of the whole dish gets set.
- Watch the tare, not the clock, and keep the heat gentle. Sugar scorches fast and quietly, so a tare pushed too far turns bitter while one pulled too soon stays thin and watery. Let it simmer slow and stop the moment it coats the back of a spoon.
With these simple tips in mind, you’re set for success every time you make hitsumabushi.
What to Serve With This Recipe
- Osuimono (Clear Soup)
- Traditional Miso Soup
- Easy Takuan (Pickled Daikon)
- Napa Cabbage Pickles
Hitsumabushi Troubleshooting
This is the balance the dish lives or dies on, and you want both, not one or the other: skin that is not rubbery and an inside that is not dried out. Rubbery skin is collagen that set into a tough state from heat that was too high too fast, and dry flesh is simply overcooked. The fix is the short steam before the grill to set the flesh gently, then a grill heat that is firm but not fierce, pulled before it fully chars. If your skin is consistently tough, slow down the cooking so the collagen has time to soften instead of seizing.
Bitter tare almost always means the sugar scorched or the sauce reduced too far. Sugar burns fast and quietly, so a tare taken past its window goes bitter while one pulled too early stays thin. Keep the simmer gentle, stir now and then, and stop the moment it just coats a spoon. Once it is bitter there is no rescuing it, so if you accidentally burn it you will need to start again with a fresh batch.
You do not need charcoal, and most readers do not have it. A kitchen broiler or oven gives a genuinely good result using the same logic: skin side first, a short steam earlier in the process, then the tare-glazing under the broiler at the end. What you give up is the smoky charcoal aroma, so lean a little harder on a strong dashi and a well-reduced tare to carry the flavor. Just do not over-char it trying to chase the charcoal look, since a weak home grill burns the skin dry and bitter before it crisps.
More Nagoya Meshi Recipes
Hungry for more of my hometown cooking? Explore the full Nagoya Meshi Collection to find your next favorite.
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Hitsumabushi (Nagoya Style Grilled Eel/Unagi)
Ingredients
Unagi Sauce
- 3 tbsp turbinado sugar light brown with coarse texture
- 1 tsp dark brown sugar muscovado or similar
- 5 tbsp sake
- 5 tbsp mirin
- 5 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)
Unagi
- 300 g filleted freshwater eels or conger eels/cat fish
- 2 tbsp sake
- 300 g cooked Japanese short-grain rice cook it a touch firm so it holds up under the dashi pour
- 1 pinch Japanese sansho pepper optional but recommended
Extra condiments / toppings for hitsumabushi
- 2 tsp unagi sauce to mix with rice (1tsp per bowl)
- 300 ml dashi stock for ochazuke
- 2 g green tea bag for ochazuke
- 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) for ochazuke
- 1 tbsp finely chopped green onions
- 1 tbsp kizami nori (shredded nori)
- 1 tsp wasabi paste
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
My recommended brands of ingredients and seasonings can be found in my Japanese pantry guide.
Can’t find certain Japanese ingredients? See my substitution guide here.
Instructions
Unagi Sauce
- Add 3 tbsp turbinado sugar and 1 tsp dark brown sugar to a cold sauce pan. Place the pan on the stove and heat on medium-low.
- Once the sugar starts to melt, add 5 tbsp sake and 5 tbsp mirin. Bring to boil and let it bubble for 1-2 minutes while stirring occasionally.
- Pour in 5 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) and lower the heat to a simmer.
- Simmer until thickened slightly (about 10 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent the sugar from burning and scoop out any foam that forms on top.Once thickened, take the pan off of the heat and leave to cool while you prepare the eel.
Unagi don
- Wash 300 g filleted freshwater eels with cold running water. Cover a chopping board with plastic wrap and place the eel on top. Cut each eel into 2-3 pieces by pressing a sharp knife into the area you want to cut and pushing the eel back and forth over the plastic wrap.
- Place the eel in a frying pan with the skin side facing down and pour in 2 tbsp sake.
- Set the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Steam gently in the sake for 3 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat. Start preheating your grill or broiler on medium-high for 5 minutes.
- Line a baking tray with foil and place the eel fillets on top in a single layer with the skin side down. Slide under the grill and cook for 6 minutes.
- Carefully flip the eel over and grill the skin side for 5 minutes or until lightly charred.
- Brush an even layer of sauce over the skin and place back under the grill for 30 seconds.
- Pull the tray out, flip the eel over and apply the sauce to the meat side. Return to the grill for 30 seconds, then pull, flip and repeat. Brush with sauce and grill for 30 seconds each time 6 times in total (3 times on each side).
- Transfer to a heatproof cutting board and cut the eel fillets into finger-width strips.
- Pour about 1 tsp of leftover unagi sauce over each portion of rice and mix until evenly distributed.
- Divide the rice into wooden bowls and top with the grilled eel strips. Brush liberally with more unagi sauce.
How to enjoy hitsumabushi (3 ways)
- Heat 300 ml dashi stock to about 80 °C (176 °F) and add a 2 g green tea bag and 2 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu). Brew for 2-4 minutes then remove the teabag. Serve in a teapot or heatproof jug on the table.
- Ask each diner to divide their bowl into quarters using a rice paddle or spoon.
- Traditional: Remove the first quarter and place it in an individual rice bowl. Eat as it is or sprinkle with 1 pinch Japanese sansho pepper to taste.
- Personal: Once you've finished the traditional serving, spoon the second quarter into the same bowl and add toppings you like such as 1 tbsp finely chopped green onions, 1 tbsp kizami nori (shredded nori) or 1 tsp wasabi paste.
- Dashi chazuke: Place the third-quarter into your rice bowl and pour the prepared dashi tea over the top. This is also good with wasabi and additional toppings such as 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds.
- Enjoy the final quarter in the way you liked best!
I love this eel recipe, in fact grilled eel is wonderful in almost any form. It’s very hard to find it in the UK, and if you do, it’s very expensive -but well worth it.
Your recipes are invaluable to us in the ‘Anglian’ region, as so much is difficult to source locally.
Hi Vincent,
Thank you for your comment and sharing your experience!
Yuto