Yamada, the art of unagi
A family in Shizuoka cooks Japanese eel like engraving a blade.
Yamada's unagi is not a dish. It is a ritual. The Japanese eel — Anguilla japonica — is raised in the fresh waters of Lake Hamana, Shizuoka, then grilled using the kabayaki technique: multiple cookings, sweet soy sauce, and a final charcoal glaze.
Unagi is all about water and fire. Yamada cultivates its eels in earthen ponds, fed by Hamana springs. Water circulates continuously at a constant 18°C. The eels grow slowly, for two to three years, until they reach 200 grams. Not an ounce more.
The story
The kabayaki moment is sacred. The eel is opened dorsally (Kanto style), deboned by hand, skewered on bamboo sticks, then grilled three times. Once dry to remove fat, once steamed to tenderize, once sauced and caramelized over flame. Total: 30 minutes per piece.
"The eel doesn't wait. If you miss the moment, it retracts. Cooking is about listening."
The terroir
Lake Hamana is a brackish lake, half-salt, half-fresh. This unique characteristic in Japan gives the eels firm flesh and a subtle taste, without the muddy note found in pure freshwater eels. Yamada is the last house to raise eels exclusively in Hamana, where the industry has relocated to China.
The kabayaki sauce is macerated for six months in cedar wood barrels. Premium Kikkoman soy sauce, Mikkaichi mirin, Okinawan cane sugar. It is used to glaze the eels, but also poured back into the barrel like a mother, enriching itself with each grilling.
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