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淡白

English translation: delicate

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:淡白
English translation:delicate
Entered by: Mari Hodges

01:56 Aug 27, 2006
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Cooking / Culinary
Japanese term or phrase: 淡白
Tanpaku is used to describe the meet of hamo eel:
はもは獰猛な魚で、鋭い歯をもった扱いにくい魚だが、身は淡白で夏から秋にかけて旨みが増す。

"Light" isn't convincing enough for me. Is there a better word?
Any help would be appreciated.
Mari Hodges
Local time: 08:07
delicate
Explanation:
...might work in that context.

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Note added at 9 mins (2006-08-27 02:05:51 GMT)
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Iguess they're trying to emphasize that while the hamo is a savage li'l thing with sharp teeth, its meat is in fact quite delicate and particularly so during the summer and fall months.

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Note added at 20 mins (2006-08-27 02:16:50 GMT)
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Correction: it's not particularly "delicate" at those times, of course, but particularly good (delicious) to eat. I should also clarify that 秋にかけて wouldn't be the entire fall, but "towards" fall, but then I'm sure you already knew that.....失礼!
Selected response from:

KathyT
Australia
Local time: 21:07
Grading comment
Thank you again Kathy! Susan's reply also helped with my understanding of the term, but I went with "delicate, sophisticated".
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4refined
humbird
1 +2delicate
KathyT
4 -1plain
weshare (X)
1soft
V N Ganesh


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +2
delicate


Explanation:
...might work in that context.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 mins (2006-08-27 02:05:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Iguess they're trying to emphasize that while the hamo is a savage li'l thing with sharp teeth, its meat is in fact quite delicate and particularly so during the summer and fall months.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2006-08-27 02:16:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correction: it's not particularly "delicate" at those times, of course, but particularly good (delicious) to eat. I should also clarify that 秋にかけて wouldn't be the entire fall, but "towards" fall, but then I'm sure you already knew that.....失礼!

KathyT
Australia
Local time: 21:07
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
Thank you again Kathy! Susan's reply also helped with my understanding of the term, but I went with "delicate, sophisticated".

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Joe L: Like I always say: "delicate is accurate, when "light ain't right
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Joe.
agree  casey
4 hrs
  -> Thanks, Casey.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
refined


Explanation:
This what comes to my mind. Reasons are as follows:
淡白な味 is a description opposite to greasy, fatty stuff. In case of fish, Japanese staple food, they are roughly classifed as red meat group (such as mackerel and/or sardines) as opposed to white meat group (such as halibat, tilapia, snapper, etc.).
The former is considered greasy by their standard, while the latter (called 白身魚) quite often described as 淡白な.
Therefore your choice can be "refined taste of its white meat".

You find same expression (as in your quote) in this site, which indicated strong corelation between white meat and its "light" tastedness.

http://www.ajinomoto.co.jp/recipe/calendar/fish/fish_28.html
ハモの肉は白くて淡白な味わい。

It should be noted that hamo is considered a delicacay by refined and very sophisticated Kyotoites.

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  KathyT: One problem with using 'refined' to describe food is that it also means "processed" - eg. refined sugar. Some people would think of this negatively.
42 mins
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
soft


Explanation:
The soft hamo flesh and its slightly chewy skin contrasted the multiple layers of the negi, each bite offering a different sensation....

epicureandebauchery.blogspot.com/2006/07/taste-of-summer-hamo.html - 25k


    http
V N Ganesh
Local time: 16:37
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
plain


Explanation:
Very similar to Susan's opinion... but came up with the another word. I had looked the word 淡白 up in JAPANESE-JAPANESE Dictionary. As Susan said, Hamo is in the white meat group opposite of Tuna (red meat). Red meat fish is considered more heavy to eat (sit in the stomach, greasy) so plain is more あっさりした (Assari-shita) food, nothing heavy to eat. I wanted to use simple, but it will not go with it, so decided to choose plain.

weshare (X)
Local time: 20:07
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Joe L: Your explanation was very good and informative. Unfortunately, the word "plain" most often has negative connotations and wouldn't be appropriate in this case.
4 hrs
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