Anago kabayaki

Method

1. 1 Cut the eel along its back, remove the bones, and scrape off all the slime from its skin.
2. 2 Steam the sea eel for 10 minutes right from the start, instead of grilling it dry beforehand like with freshwater eel.
3. 3 Sea eels have thinner flesh and less fat, so steaming them first or grilling them until dry will cause the meat to shrink.
4. 4 Simmer soy sauce with mirin, sake, and sugar until reduced by half to make tare sauce.
5. 5 Grill the steamed eel on the grill for 3 minutes and brush with tare sauce twice.
6. 6 Use less tare than you would for freshwater eel so as not to overpower the subtle sweetness of the sea eel.

With an appliance

• Charcoal grill 50 min

  Grill over charcoal, keeping the grill 12 cm above the grate, for 3 minutes after steaming; brush with tare sauce for the final two coats.