few days, then rinsed, air-dried, and coldsmoked for anywhere from five to 36 hours, with the temperature rising from 85º to 100ºF/30º to 40ºC toward the end to bring some glossy oil to the surface Four-Way Preservation: Japanese Katsuobushi The most remarkable preserved fish is katsuobushi, a cornerstone of Japanese cooking, which dates from around 1700 and is made most often from one fish, the skip-jack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis The fish’s musculature is cut away from the body in several pieces, which are gently boiled in salt water for about an hour, and their skin removed Next, they undergo a routine of daily hot-smoking above a hardwood fire until they have fully hardened This stage lasts 10 to 20 days Then the pieces are inoculated with one or more of several different molds (species of Aspergillus, Eurotium, Penicillium), sealed in a box, and allowed to ferment on their surface for about two weeks After a day or two of sun-drying, the mold is scraped off; this molding process is repeated three or four times At the end, after a total of three to five months, the meat has turned light brown and dense; when struck, it’s said to sound like a resonant piece of wood Why go to all this trouble? Because it accumulates a spectrum of flavor molecules whose breadth is approached only in the finest cured meats and cheeses From the fish muscle itself and its enzymes come lactic acid and savory amino acids, peptides, and nucleotides; from the smoking come pungent phenolic compounds; from the boiling, smoking, and sun-drying come the roasted, meaty aromas of nitrogen- and sulfurcontaining carbon rings; and from the mold’s attack on fish fat come many flowery, fruity, green notes Katsuobushi is to the Japanese tradition ... nucleotides; from the smoking come pungent phenolic compounds; from the boiling, smoking, and sun-drying come the roasted, meaty aromas of nitrogen- and sulfurcontaining carbon rings; and from the mold’s... accumulates a spectrum of flavor molecules whose breadth is approached only in the finest cured meats and cheeses From the fish muscle itself and its enzymes come lactic acid and savory amino acids, peptides, and. ..Penicillium), sealed in a box, and allowed to ferment on their surface for about two weeks After a day or two of sun-drying, the mold is scraped off; this molding process is repeated three or four times At the end, after a total of