ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

yep wrote:
ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
yep wrote:
ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.

Capelin roe, not smelt roe.

"yep" wrote in message
...
ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago.
It is the very small redish roe of I think Shishamo (Big Mouth Smelt,
Capelin?).
Used as a main neta in a gunkan maki and also sometimes as a garnish.
M

D. Lutjen wrote:
"Geoff" wrote in message
...

yep wrote:

ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
D. Lutjen wrote:
"Geoff" wrote in message
...

yep wrote:

ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."

When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in "smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.

D. Lutjen wrote:
"Geoff" wrote in message
...

D. Lutjen wrote:

"Geoff" wrote in message
...


yep wrote:


ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."


When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in "smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.



Not to be mean or anything, but by looking in a dictonary.

ma $B??(B + isago $B:=(B = masago

For example, go to
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/c...wwwjdic.cgi?1C
and type "masago" in the KEYWORD field then check yes for "Check if the
keyword is romanized Japanese"

Result:
masago $B??:=(B $B$^$5$4(B "sand"

Or oin Nelson's dicstoinary, under

Geoff wrote:
D. Lutjen wrote:

"Geoff" wrote in message
...


D. Lutjen wrote:


"Geoff" wrote in message
...



yep wrote:



ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."


When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in "smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.




Not to be mean or anything, but by looking in a dictonary.

ma $B??(B + isago $B:=(B = masago

For example, go to
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/c...wwwjdic.cgi?1C
and type "masago" in the KEYWORD field then check yes for "Check if the
keyword is romanized Japanese"

Result:
masago $B??:=(B $B$^$5$4(B "sand"

Or oin Nelson's dicstoinary, under

Sorry - the last line about Nelson's was incomplete when I hit send. Ma
is #783 and isago is #3181

"D. Lutjen" wrote in message
...

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
D. Lutjen wrote:
"Geoff" wrote in message
...

yep wrote:

ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper
name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a
California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."

When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from
Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in
"smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.


Masago does come from the Kanji characters "Ma" (meaning true, genuine) and
Sa (meaning sand, as in Sa-baku meaningg desert)
and my guess is that "go" comes from "ko" as in roe but is left out when
written.
There is a high probability that this is ate-ji (kanji created to fit the
spoken word) as many kanji of names and places
in Hokkaido are taken from the original Ainu word.
Shishamo, often called Big Mouth Smelt, written Willow Leaf Fish in kanji is
an example of this.
English web sites often define masago as "smelt roe" perhaps because of the
term "Big Mouth Smelt".
It is my understanding that the Atlantic Rainbow smelt common to the the New
England area, as well as the several
I think species of "smelts"found on the US werst coast are not the same as
the Shishamo of northern Japan
although if the show the adipose fin they are probably somehow related.
Basically Japan's domestic production of Shishamo could no longer keep up
with demand as early as the 1950s and as a
result Japan imports roe filled capelin from the northern Atlantic countries
from Canada accross to Scandinavia.
So yes it's very likely that most masago comes from capelin from Iceland.
What I find intersting, as one who eats whole Shishamo for breakfast fairly
often, is how it makes economic sense to ship
North Atlantic capelin to China for processing and packaging, then ship it
to the US, which is how I am getting my Shishamo.
This is the same situation as with the Hokkigai caught off Canadian waters.
M

Anyway, whatever it's called, it's not really all that tasty. It's OK.

wrote:
Anyway, whatever it's called, it's not really all that tasty. It's OK.

Agreed - Compromise substitute for tobiko in my opinion.

i
wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyway, whatever it's called, it's not really all that tasty. It's OK.


HAHA...you're right.
While I can appreciate it's value as a colorful garnish,
I've never understood it's value as neta on a gunkan.

"Musashi" wrote in message news:...

"D. Lutjen" wrote in message
...

"Geoff" wrote in message
...
D. Lutjen wrote:
"Geoff" wrote in message
...

yep wrote:

ANyone know if theres a food called masako? i know it's a proper
name,
but is there a food with this name too?
thanks.

Masago = smelt eggs. The little crunchy orange-red bits on a
California
roll, for example.


Capelin roe, not smelt roe.



I think it can go by either:

Shishamo
$BLxMU5{(B
$B%7%7%c%b(B
Japanese smelt, Shishamo smelt, Japanese capelin
Spirinchus lanceolatus
The roe is called masago, which means "sand."

When you see masago in the U.S., it is invariably capelin roe from
Iceland.
I have never seen it any other way be it processed by a Japanese company
other otherwise. Never heard the term "shishamo smelt." We live in
"smelt"
country and while capelin and smelt are similar, they are not the same
animal.

Would be interested in how you get "sand" from masago.


Masago does come from the Kanji characters "Ma" (meaning true, genuine)
and
Sa (meaning sand, as in Sa-baku meaningg desert)
and my guess is that "go" comes from "ko" as in roe but is left out when
written.
There is a high probability that this is ate-ji (kanji created to fit the
spoken word) as many kanji of names and places
in Hokkaido are taken from the original Ainu word.
Shishamo, often called Big Mouth Smelt, written Willow Leaf Fish in kanji
is
an example of this.
English web sites often define masago as "smelt roe" perhaps because of
the
term "Big Mouth Smelt".
It is my understanding that the Atlantic Rainbow smelt common to the the
New
England area, as well as the several
I think species of "smelts"found on the US werst coast are not the same as
the Shishamo of northern Japan
although if the show the adipose fin they are probably somehow related.
Basically Japan's domestic production of Shishamo could no longer keep up
with demand as early as the 1950s and as a
result Japan imports roe filled capelin from the northern Atlantic
countries
from Canada accross to Scandinavia.
So yes it's very likely that most masago comes from capelin from Iceland.
What I find intersting, as one who eats whole Shishamo for breakfast
fairly
often, is how it makes economic sense to ship
North Atlantic capelin to China for processing and packaging, then ship it
to the US, which is how I am getting my Shishamo.
This is the same situation as with the Hokkigai caught off Canadian
waters.
M

"Musashi" wrote in message
...
i
wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyway, whatever it's called, it's not really all that tasty. It's OK.


HAHA...you're right.
While I can appreciate it's value as a colorful garnish,
I've never understood it's value as neta on a gunkan.

It's about 1/3 the cost of tobiko . . .

"D. Lutjen" wrote in message
news

"Musashi" wrote in message
...
i
wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyway, whatever it's called, it's not really all that tasty. It's
OK.


HAHA...you're right.
While I can appreciate it's value as a colorful garnish,
I've never understood it's value as neta on a gunkan.

It's about 1/3 the cost of tobiko . . .


Don't know if you azre into Japanese movies, but there was a 1996 Itami Juzo
movie staring Miyamoto Nobuko called "Supa- no Onna" (supermarket woman)
in which the supermarket was selling onigiri(musubi) with Tarako inside and
a scandal
ernsues because it turns out that they were using Masago instead.