We grilled some Aji the other day which is horse mackerel in English. It’s a pretty stinky fish but our aunt from Kumamoto is visiting and she shared a secret to beat the stench that I’m gonna remember forever.
Clean the fish and cut it however you’d like. Some people prefer fillets but the Japanese don’t mind having the head and tail attached. Whatever floats your boat. The trick to get the funk outa the fish is simple: 5 parts salt, 1 part sugar – mix it up and rub it on the fish.
Let it sit for 20 minutes, rinse off the rub and dry the fish. Re-apply the salt/sugar to your preferred taste and grill it. The sugar and salt combo not only takes away the smell, it makes the fish fluffy… or in Japanese fua-fua.
