tortoiseshell sauce; thickened dashi-soy-mirin sauce
A thick, glossy sauce made from dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sometimes sugar or katakuriko, used in Japanese cuisine. Named for its resemblance to tortoiseshell. Often used as a topping or glaze for dishes like anago (conger eel) or tofu.
When you pour tortoiseshell sauce over conger eel tempura, both the appearance and the taste are exceptional.
In this cooking class, they carefully teach you how to make tortoiseshell sauce.
Common mixed kanji-kana spelling; べっ甲 is the usual way to write べっこう (tortoiseshell).
Full kanji spelling; 鼈 is a rare character and 餡 is a common kanji for bean paste or thickened sauce.
Mixed spelling with 餡; less common than べっ甲あん but still seen.
Mixed spelling with 鼈; 鼈 is rare and may not display correctly on all devices.
From べっ甲 (tortoiseshell) + あん (thickened sauce), named for its glossy, dark appearance resembling tortoiseshell.