In eastern Japan, conger eel is generally simmered. In the Banshu district of Kansai it is grilled with a sauce, and that version is what Akashi is known for.

The eel is butterflied and put on a skewer, and that is nearly the whole of the equipment involved. One method uses a thick bamboo skewer driven through four eels at once, taken at the head and the tail.

The sauce is soy-based with a little sugar worked into it, and it is deliberately not sweet, because the whole point of it is to leave the fish audible underneath rather than covering it over.

The eels landed at Akashi have firm flesh and a fine grain to them, and grilling is said to suit that better than simmering would, because simmering would take the texture away. A light sauce on a mild fish, and neither one covering the other. The skewering itself is skilled work: the pieces are matched for size and thickness so that a whole skewer cooks evenly, and each one is grilled by hand rather than in a batch. It can be eaten simply laid over hot rice, or worked into akashiyaki or a rolled omelet. Simmer it or grill it, and on that single question the east and the west of this country part company.