It is not white. It comes out grey, and if you look at the cut edge you can see small pale flecks of bone in it. The head and the guts are taken out and everything else — skin, bones, the lot — goes into the mortar together and is ground down before frying. That is the whole method, and it is also why some people need a moment to come round to it.

It began as the fish nobody could use. When the Date family arrived in Uwajima from Sendai around 1615 they brought kamaboko craftsmen with them, and kamaboko wants pale, clean flesh. The small fish left over had to go somewhere. They went into this.

A little fish called hotarujako is said to suit it best, though red mullet, horse mackerel and gurnard all get used. Nobody is certain about the name either: it may come from an old word for miscellaneous small fry, or simply from the name of that fish. The flat ovals are about the length of a hand.

Eat it straight out of the oil with nothing on it at all. Later, gone cold, you hold it over a flame for a moment and it comes back. There is a faint grittiness of bone on the tongue afterwards, and when somebody tells you that this is the good part, you find that you agree with them.