Tomo means its own. The flesh of the monkfish is dressed with the liver of the monkfish, and nothing from any other fish goes anywhere near it.

The liver is broken up in a pan and fried, and miso and sugar are worked into it until the mixture goes dark and thick. Pieces of the fish, boiled and cut small, are folded through that. Some cooks add dried daikon strips and wakame at the same point.

Iwaki and Soma are where the fish comes ashore in this prefecture. People here say the monkfish has nothing about it you throw away. Flesh, skin, stomach, liver, the lot of it. It is said admiringly, and it is also a description of a coast where you did not have the option of being selective about a fish that ugly and that cheap.

Processed and packed, it can be bought at any time of year now. The fish still only comes ashore in the cold months. Households close to the water made it with fish alone. Further inland, or in leaner years, dried daikon went in by the handful to make the same amount of liver stretch across more people. It belongs to Soma in particular; down the coast at Iwaki they lean towards the hotpot instead. Processed versions are on sale all year now, but the fish itself comes ashore in winter and only in winter.