In Japan, there is a cultural practice of eating eel during the hottest part of July, known as the Midsummer Day of the Ox.
Eating delicious, nutritious eel makes you feel full of energy, and there are various theories for why, but it serves as a kind of jinx to get through the hot summer. Beginners will probably choose Unaju, broiled eel with sauce served over rice in a lacquered box. Of course, that’s an excellent choice. But am I the only one who thinks that with normal size, there is not enough eel compared to the amount of rice? For people like me, Hitsumabushi is recommended. The chopped eel is densely spread over the rice, so you can get a good balance of eel and rice as you eat. At the end, you can pour dashi stock over any leftover eel and rice, and enjoy the sauce that has been enriched by the fatty eel as you finish the leftovers. Besides hitsumabushi, there are many other ways to eat eel, such as Shirayaki, a kind of eel grilled without sauce that is eaten with salt and wasabi, or eel rolls, in which broiled eel with sauce is served between tamagoyaki, or even grilled eel liver.
Most people like eel, but actually, eel blood is poisonous. If a skilled chef removes the blood completely, you can eat the flesh as sashimi, but the one time I tried it I was worried and drank a lot of alcohol as a disinfectant (at least, for my peace of mind), so I don’t actually remember the taste.
Although eel can be a little expensive, I hope you will take the opportunity to enjoy carefully prepared Japanese eel in a variety of ways.