オホーツク海は流氷が去って「海明け」すると毛ガニ漁のシーズン。流氷に豊富に含まれるアムール川流域地域由来のプランクトンを流氷の海の底でたっぷりと食べ続けた毛ガニたちが、水揚げされる。
ずっしりとしたその体躯一杯にうま味が凝縮されている。とくにカニ味噌はその自然な風合いと味覚によって人間の五感すべてを支配してしまう。陶然として食べ続け、やがて満腹中枢から「もう一杯だ」と応えてきてくれるのが、ちょうど500g前後のヤツ。という地元人的解説を友人から受け売りしている（笑）が、自分でもまったく同意する。
家族が集まる週末にあわせて送ってもらって食させていただいた。ちょうど週末は、送ってくれた「雄武町」では毛ガニ祭りだそうで、浜ゆで直送のものは数量制限までされていた。友人によると「浜ゆで」したてで冷凍していないヤツという付加解説もある。こういう地元からの情報は有益で面白い。
で、この毛ガニをメインに積丹で獲れた「赤カレイ」「イカ」「ホタテ」「ホッキ貝」なども買い付けてきて、これはにぎり寿司にして付け合わせた次第。


すっかりカレイの包丁さばきには魅せられておりますが、今回はとびきり大型のヤツを入手して捌きました。骨を断ち、アタマ部分を落としてから内臓部分を除去して、３枚におろしていく。最後、皮から身をえぐり剥がすときの包丁仕事の手許で感じる満足感、開放感はなんとも言えない。イキモノであるカレイへの敬意を感じながら捌く。そうなんです、殺生だけれどそれが同時に愛情の根源でもあると思えるのです。
そして積丹産の大型のイカ。こちらもきれいに捌き、皮を剥がして鮮烈な白身を解放していく。久しぶりの大きさのヤツだったので、一杯のイカから寿司ネタとして12コ分に捌くことができた。丁寧に裏包丁も入れた。
ホッキも自然な色合いの肉身本体に還元して、たのしく仕上げた。彩りも兼ねて筋子も握ってみました。
ということでしたが、まず毛ガニに立ち向かいはじめると人とのコミュニケーションよりも食事作業にほぼ没入する、毛ガニ食とはただただ肉身と味噌の解体・ほおばるの繰り返しで豊穣な時間が経過していくばかり。わたしの場合はカニ味噌をひとつの容器に掻き出して、それを肉身につけて食べるのがいちばん好き。足も食べるけれどそれよりもみっしりと肉身の詰まった中央部が堪えられません。甲殻から剥がしながらの無言の行が至福の時間。
最初に書いたようなアムール川流域からオホーツクの海底での輪廻転生のドラマが、カラダに染みわたっていくような時間なのですね。

English version⬇

Taste of spring from Okhotsk and Shakotan
Hairy crabs that have been stacked in a circle under the drift ice. They are landed at the dawn of the new year and sent directly from the sea. On the other hand, fish in season from the sea of Shakotan. Enjoy the bountiful harvest of the season. Shakotan

When the Sea of Okhotsk “dawns” after the drift ice has gone, it is the season for catching hairy crabs. The hairy crabs are landed after they have fed on plankton from the Amur River basin, which is abundantly contained in the drift ice, at the bottom of the drift ice sea.
The umami taste is concentrated in their massive body. Especially, the crab miso (crab innards) dominates the human senses with its natural taste. After eating the crab, one’s satiety center will eventually respond, “I want another one,” and the crab weighing around 500 grams is just the right size. I have heard this explanation from a friend of mine (laugh), and I totally agree with it.
I had them sent to me on the weekend when my family gathered for a family gathering, and I enjoyed eating them. The weekend was a hairy crab festival in Yubu-cho, the town that sent me the crab, and there was even a limit on the quantity of those directly sent from the beach. According to my friend, the additional explanation was that the crabs were freshly “beach-boiled” and not frozen. This kind of local information is interesting.
We also bought red flounder, squid, scallops, and hokki-gai shellfish caught in Shakotan, which we made into nigiri-zushi and served with it.
I am completely fascinated with the knife skills of flounder, and this time I obtained a very large one and handled it. After breaking off the bones and removing the head, the entrails are removed and the fish is cut into three pieces. The satisfaction and sense of freedom I felt while working with the knife at the end, when I gouged the meat out of the skin, is indescribable. I handle the flounder with a sense of respect for it as a living creature. Yes, it is a killing, but at the same time it seems to be the root of love.
And then there is the large squid, a local delicacy. I clean the squid, peel off the skin, and release the bright white flesh. It had been a long time since I had seen a squid of this size, so I was able to cut it into 12 pieces from a single squid. I also carefully back-cut the squid.
The hokki was also reduced to the natural color of the meat body, and finished off in a delightful way. I also nigiri musuko for color.
But when you start to face the hairy crab, you are more absorbed in the eating process than in the communication with other people. In my case, I like to scrape out the crab meat and miso into a container and eat it with the meat. I eat the legs as well, but I can’t get enough of the center of the crab, which is filled to the brim with crab meat. The silent line while peeling it out of the shell is blissful time.
It is a time when the drama of reincarnation from the Amur River basin to the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk, as I wrote in the beginning, seems to seep into your body.

Posted on 4月 10th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: おとこの料理＆食