Miso-Marinated Crab Roe, Nagori Grilled Eggplant

The appetizer, since it's October, is nagori, last-of-the-season, grilled eggplant: I grill only the cap end of the eggplant over charcoal and top it with crab roe that's been marinated in Saikyo miso. Crab roe apparently isn't in distribution right now, so I had to ask a Chinese-cuisine chef directly to get hold of some. I also add shaved mountain yam onto the grilled eggplant. This time I was able to plate it on a rare piece of antique Ko-Imari ware — an amusing vessel that you simply can't plate properly unless you hold it out at ease, the way the saying 'a fan in the left hand' describes a life of leisure.

This was a dish I had wanted to try for a menu in this season. Going back to October of Heisei 7 (1995), it's an arrangement of a menu by Chef Takeshi Komatsuzaki, served at an event held by the Japan Culinary Research Association (AAJ) at Sagami. The previous month, September, had seen the party for the 65th anniversary of the Association's founding and the 10th anniversary of its incorporation as a general incorporated association, held in the Rose Room of Tokyo Kaikan; this menu was for a kind of after-party gathering the following month, served to the era's most celebrated chefs, so it was a menu put together with real dedication.