White flesh
White horsehead (Shirakawa)
【Nigiri sushi: Shiromi】
Out of the five types of Amadai that live in Japan, Aka-amadai, Shiro-amadai and Ki-amadai are the three types offered in the markets. True to its name, Shiro-amadai is a white color (Shiro means ‘white’) so is also called Shirakawa (which means ‘white skin’).
Shirakawa has more elasticity than the other two and has rich fat, making it perfect as sashimi or a sushi topping. The umami is so strong that even when served raw, the customer sometimes thinks it’s been prepared using kobujime. The fat between the meat and the skin is sweet and the skin is delicious in its own right, so it can even be eaten as sashimi with the skin left on. They are in season from autumn to winter. However, they say in a catch of 1,000 Amadai, you can only get one Shirakawa, so it is a rare item you won’t often see, even in a high-end sushi restaurant.