Name: “Pine-Cone” Squid (Ika No Matsukasa Yaki )
Yield: Serves 6–8.
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 1–2 tablespoons mirin (syrupy rice wine); 2–3 fillets of squid (about 1½ pounds); 1–2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds, dry roasted

Preparation info

Serves
6–8
.

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

At Home with Japanese Cooking

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1986

About

Golden squares of nubbly, tender squid look like pine cones and taste divine. They make an unusual and attractive hors d’oeuvre.

Ingredients

2–3 fillets of squid (about 1½ pounds)
1–2 tablespoons soy sauce

Method

Lay the triangular-like fillets flat on the board, inner surface down. (If you’re having trouble deciding which side is the inner one, look closely for ridges; these indicate where the cartilage used to be on the inside of the body.) With a very sharp knife score the outer surface of the squid with many shallow cuts in a crosshatch design.

Remove the skin from tail to head if this has n