The Master’s Technique that Japan Boasts to the World

As the person who deliberately arranged for his hotel in Tokyo to be near the Tsukiji fish market in order more easily catch its famous early morning tuna auctions, it's not surprising that I would jump at the opportunity observe the cutting of a whole tuna into blocks for sashimi at the Mitsuwa Marketplace...even if it's in New Jersey.

Every year, Mitsuwa presents a tuna cutting demonstration where they cut the largest the bluefin tuna: the giant bluefin tuna (also known as the northern bluefin tuna, or in Japanese 鲔，and more specifically, hon-maguro). I first heard about it when my coworker gave me a Mitsuwa weekly ad which advertised the event. To get a better idea of what I could expect to see, I googled it and came across Greg Takayama's fantastic page about when he and some friends went. It's a popular event. On Sunday afternoon, at the third demonstration of the weekend, there were easily more than 150 people there to watch and many more were there to buy the sashimi and the nigiri sushi that was prepared from the fish.

The demonstration area was a fenced enclosure whose the perimeter was surrounded by people trying to get a good view of the 680 pound fish that was lying on the table. I arrived about 1/2 hour early and was the second or third person back from the front. There was a presenter, one or two people who actually cut the fish, and a few other people who assisted with the packaging and selling of the fish.

A few minutes before the scheduled start time, a commercial fisherman who somehow became friends with the sushi chefs who were also fish cutters, gave an introduction to what we were about to see and was also friendly enough to answer any questions we might have. I learned a couple of things:

• At 680 lbs., the fish is one of the largest fish they've ever had.
• The fish was probably about 800+ lbs. before it was "dressed," i.e., gutted and the tail and head removed)
• The fish had been caught about 4 or 5 days earlier
• The fish is not killed until they are ready to drain its blood
• The temperature of the fish as it was being cut was about 35-40 degrees
• Tuna is worth roughly 10 times more at the beginning of their migration than at the end of it. Since they do not feed while migrating, they lose their fat.
• O-toro (the fattiest cut) makes up about 5% of the flesh
• Chu-toro (medium fatty cut) makes up about 10-25% of the flesh
• The quality of the fish can be determined from examining a cross section of where the tail meets the torso or cross sections at other parts of the torso
• The meat around the ribs, labeled kiriotoshi at the store (but called nakaochi), tastes very good and is relatively inexpensive (~$20/lb)
• The quality of fish offered for sale was said to be comparable to what you would find at high-end sushi restaurants such as Nobu and Yasuda.

Fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, one very important fact that was not mentioned was that giant bluefin tuna are critically endangered. Although a female can lay 40 million eggs, the population for this fish is declining for the sake of a $7.2 billion industry. Scientists say that the sustainable limit for global fishing for the survival of this species is 7,500 tons. Yet, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, an intergovernmental organization that seeks to manage and conserve tuna species set a limit of 22,500 tons.  Sounds like industry lobby got its way.

A large part of this problem is due to the popularity of tuna. It seems like every lunch place in New York sells tuna rolls or tuna nigiri. What a waste. At these places, the fish isn't even worth eating. Yet, everybody does. Conservation groups suggest avoiding this type of fish altogether, but I wonder if we can save the species simply by not having less than mediocre sushi. 

As I watched the cutting demonstration, I thought about how gruesome it was. Unless we're tending vegetables in our garden or watching a PETA video, many of us probably do not give much thought to what our food was before it was food. Most of us probably wouldn't go see a cow being slaughtered or watch the butcher in action. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of blood in the fish. Or maybe fish occupies a different position from cows in our hierarchy of sentient animals. After all, there are pescatarians.

Despite the guilt, it was very exciting. Definitely educational and worthwhile.  For those you interested, the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers this guide for the sustainable eating of sushi.

On that note, on to the pictures:

First, a picture from the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, Japan, to give some context as to where bluefin tuna starts its commercial life.

Workers at Tsukiji.

Waiting to spring into action packaging and selling the fish.

Beautiful pattern on the fish's skin. The fish is able to control each of those small fins individually.

The collar bone was the first to be removed.

This knife was virtually a sword.

One of the butcher's tools.

Sawing.

Opening.

This one might as well be called a sword too.

Scraping the meat from the ribs for kiriotoshi. I noticed that the people cutting the fish were saving much of it for themselves

Bored of the chunk of flesh in front of them

You call that a knife?

Removing the spine.

Bloody gloves at the scene.

Each block was about 1/4 lbs. That's about $300 worth of fish on the tray.

Each 1/4 lb of fish could probably produce about 15 pieces of sashimi, which would make a piece of o-toro nigiri just over $1. You'd probably pay over $5 for quality fish at a restaurant. Prior to 1970, the commercial value of this type of fish was 5 cents a pound.

People clamored for the fish. At these prices, it's not surprising. I noticed that specific, presumably better, cuts were handed out to specific people.

Tuna, the other red meat.

Part of the line of people waiting for sushi.

Prêt à manger.

All nice and tidy.

Lamb Takedown - Highline Ballroom, October 4, 2009

Hi there. Apologies for not posting anything in over one year! The blog was left alone, like an aging cheese or wine, but never forgotten...

Recently, I found myself eating less meat. Not for any particular grand purpose, but simply because I did not have the taste for it. It all came to an end this past weekend with the Mid-Autumn Festival on Saturday (the modern tradition in Taiwan is to grill meat on that day) and the Lamb Takedown the next day.

The Takedown is an amateur cooking event that proclaims itself to be "America's Most Important Food Competition". Each event is centered around a different theme (chili, cookies, etc.) . This time, it was lamb. The American Lamb Board sponsored the event and provided 15 pounds of lamb meat to 20 teams of participants to do whatever they wanted with the lamb. With an admission fee of $15, roughly 150 people came to sample (or gorge) on the 20 bite-size lamb dishes.

Basically, Takedown attendees walk around a buffet and are given what each station has to offer. There were two sections to the buffet, with 10 stations in each. Like any buffet, food piled-up on the plate quickly. By the time I had picked-up 5 or 6 items, my plate was more or less full. However, to avoid having to wait in line for the section again, I added to the plate until all 10 stations were covered.

The creations varied from the more familiar (lamb with cumin, lamb cooked with Meditteranean spices, and lamb roti, for example) to the less typical (bean salad with lamb, lamb with cornbread, and banh mi sandwiches with lamb). Most of the chefs braised their lamb. I believe three teams made lamb tacos. All of them were very friendly.

Most of the dishes were good, but only a few of them really showcased lamb's distinctive taste and even then, it was mild. Sometimes, I felt like I was simply eating beef. I don't know whether the lack of the lamb character was due to the preparation, the cut, or the source. I suspect it's probably because the lamb is American. The lamb I usually see in the supermarket is from New Zealand. I remember once I had bought American lamb, and did not find it particularly flavorful.

While we were eating, the MC of the event kept reminding us to vote for our favorite dishes. It is a competition after all! Voting was haphazard. It was hard to remember what each dish was. I had to revisit the stations to identify what I ate. Also, people could vote more than once, and I'm sure not everybody voted. It's OK, though, it's not a serious competition.

Representatives from each team went on stage to introduce themselves, what they made, and why they made it. I recall a few:

- One person had visited Northwest China and wanted to represent the Uighurs

- Another wanted to try something different

- A third person just wanted to prove she could make a lamb dish and carry it to the Highline Ballroom by herself

Then came the award ceremony. First, three professional critics (Josh Ozersky of The Feedbag, Daniel Maurer of NY Magazine, and George Motz of the NY Food Film Festival) revealed their three favorite dishes. Then, came the audience award. Here are the winners:

Judges:
1st: Aaron Ginsberg - Barbacoa Style Lamb Tacos w 3 Chile Salsa
2nd: Kate Bryant - Pulled Lamb Shank with Pears
3rd: Jeff Allen and Diella Koberstein - Chinese Xi’an Spicy Cumin Lamb with Pickled Jalapenos

People’s Choice!
1st: Jeff Allen and Diella Koberstein
2nd: Bronwyn Flemming Jones - Wam Bam Thank You Lamb Tajine
3rd : Mark Bernal - Yang Rou Chuan (羊肉串）

The winner of the Judge's award won $50, and the winner of the People's Choice won $100.

This was the first time I had been to a Takedown event. It was a little disorganized, but being around others who also paid money to enjoy an amateur cooking competition was just flat out fun. Unfortunately, I wasn't very organized in taking notes or pictures this time.

Thanks go to my friend Cindy for organizing this outing and to two of her friends, Harsh and Juan Marcos, for coming and providing humor that lamb-filled afternoon.

There are a few more pictures below, but visit my Flickr set for the event for more photos. Also, the Village Voice has great photos of the food.

Strange Fruit: Krispy Kreme Cheeseburgers

It's exactly what it sounds like.

http://incredimazing.com/page/Mmmm_Krispy_Kreme_Cheeseburgers

Strange Fruit: Food that Eats Itself

Not only is food sometimes anthropomorphic, sometimes it eats itself.

Check out this great collection of photos by Flickr user agmilmoe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agmilmoe/sets/72157594356771968/

Drink Up: Ginger Beer

Part of my job involves communicating with foreign law firms. One of our associates in Australia sent us a bunch of foodstuffs from the Land Down Under. His cultural exchange package included a ginger beer named Bundaberg. My only experience with ginger beer up until this point was from a few years ago at a Caribbean restaurant. Now that I think about it, it makes sense for Australia to have ginger beer too since ginger beer originated in England in the 1700s.

The name "ginger beer" is a bit of a misnomer. Ginger beer is not an alcoholic beverage...at least, not these days. Traditionally, ginger beer involved fermenting a mixture of ginger, sugar, and water with ginger beer plant, which is not a plant, but a symbiotic union between the yeast Saccharomyces florentinus and the bacteria Lactobacillus hilgardii. The fermentation process produces carbon dioxide and ethanol and qualifies the beverage as a beer. Additional flavorings such as lemon, sassafras, or licorice could be added as well.

These days, ginger beer is brewed from the same basic mixture of ginger, sugar, and water but not fermented. It is carbonated by the addition of pressurized carbon dioxide and contains no alcohol. Sounds a lot like ginger ale, no?

Ginger ale originated in Ireland as a soda drink. How is modern ginger beer different from ginger ale? They aren't much different, except for the fact that ginger beer has a stronger ginger taste to it, which means it probably has more ginger in it.

How did ginger beer lose its punch? In England, an 1855 law that taxed beverages with more than 2% alcohol was issued and hence the transformation to a non-alcoholic beverage. In the United States, ginger beer's decline in popularity was partly due to the Temperance Movement and the Prohibition.

While ginger beer is a rare sight these days, it used to be a lot more popular. According to this article by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, ginger beer was the most popular beverage in England for 150 years.

For those of us who want to experience authentic ginger beer, there are many recipes on the internet.

Here are three to get you started:

• http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-ginger-beer/
• http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/ginger-beer-recipes.html
• http://wildschwein.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/ye-olde-fashioned-homemade-ginger-beer-theory-and-practice/

The first two are probably a little more practical to make since they do not require ginger beer plant. However, if you want to include ginger beer plant, there is an active Yahoo! group devoted entirely to ginger beer plant where you can find some information about where to get it.

Here is the link to the group:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GingerBeerPlant/

I'd be curious to know if anybody has ever had or made authentic ginger beer before. Please share any stories you might have! I'll follow-up if I come across more ginger beer or make some myself.

Sources:

http://www.fohbc.com/BandE_Article4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_beer
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blginger_al.htm

The 32nd Flavor

I am visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Taipei at the end of August. I was reading my Time Out Guide to Tokyo and came across a brief mention of fried chicken ice cream.

A quick Google search revealed that that's not all I have to look forward to

http://subversivewriter.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/japanese-ice-cream-flavors-squid-eel-goat-not-for-the-faint-of-heart/

I've noticed that I seem to have written a lot about Japanese food...

Review: Japa Dog

The Japanese have taken something foreign to their culture and made it distinctly Japanese -- Again. I love it.

As part of travel planning, the epicurious are sure to make a list of places where they want to eat without any regard to proximity to their hotel. Once in the foreign city, however, practical considerations set in, and the list is pared down to the more easily accessible places. On my recent trip to Vancouver, I lucked out. A place that I wanted to try, the Japa Dog hot dog stand, happened to be right outside my hotel.

Japa Dog sells Japanese-style hot dogs and is a block from the main strip, Robson Street, in downtown Vancouver. The first thing you notice about the cart is that it is surrounded by people eager to place their orders and to pick up their orders. A blue rope is stretched out near the cart with the intended purpose of getting customers to queue up alongside it. However, because the side of the cart from which customers order seems to alternate after every third order, it's never clear whether the rope is there to line up those who have yet to place the orders or those who are waiting to pick up their order.



As you get closer to the cart, the next thing you notice about Japa Dog is that it relishes (no pun intended) its publicity and its celebrity customers.



Like the website, the cart excitedly lists when it has appeared in the media and who has had a Japa Dog, even mentioning what kind of hot dog the celebrity ate.



Japa Dog offers ten types of hot dogs. All the sausages are all freshly or recently grilled and the buns are toasted. Should you choose one of the six more traditional offerings, like the all-beef hot dog, your choice of condiments go beyond the standard ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, and relish. There are several types of mustard, Asian chili sauces, and peppers with which you can top your dog.

The real reason why you would go to Japa Dog, however, is for the Japanese-style hot dogs:

Misomayo - turkey hot dog, kaiware sprouts, miso-sesame sauce, and japanese mayo - This dog was very mild in flavor. As it always is, the turkey sausage was tough. It is probably a good introduction for anyone not completely sold on the idea of a Japanese hot dog.



Terimayo - all beef hot dog, nori, chopped onion, and teriyaki mayo - The teriyaki mayo and the beef worked well together. The nori didn't add too much to the overall flavor other than making it a little more Japanese tasting. Still, it was good.



Oroshi - bratwurst (pork), daikon, scallions, and special soy sauce - This was by far my favorite. The flavors of all the ingredients were balanced and combined well to make a great tasting hot dog. This one is a must try.



The people working the cart are extremely friendly.



Since the cart is on a street corner with no benches nearby, you have no choice but to stand and eat your dog, sit on the steps of the wine shop that the cart is directly in front of, or sit on the edge of one of the concrete enclosures between the steps which hold some grass and trees and hope that the sprinklers aren't on. The wine shop doesn't seem to mind all the people hanging around eating hot dogs. All the better, I don't want to be hassled while enjoying my Japa Dog.