Learning to Make Kyoto-style Sushi from Chef Tanigawa

About Helena Chlepnac and Sushi Fusion
Helena is lives in Switzerland and does Sushi Fusion, a sushi catering company and now offers sushi classes which are very popular. Helena has over 300 students learning to make sushi in Switzerland!

Prelude to Sushi Lesson: Furosen Sake and Funazushi Day Trip
Before learning to make Kyoto-style sushi from the Iron Chef defeater, we went up to Shiga Prefecture for a day to experience a bit of Shiga’s culinary culture.

First we visited Uehara Sake Brewery to see the how they make the world’s greatest sake: Furosen. We were given a tour of the brewery and a generous tasting. Uehara Sake Brewery revived the tradition of using wooden barrels for brewing sake and Helena remarked that her favorite champaign maker is the only one that continued to use wood while everyone else changed to stainless steel. Now, how is that for good taste!

Uehara Sake Brewery and Sixth Generation Owner Mr Uehara

Uehara Sake Brewery Tasting Furosen Sake

This is the greatest sake in the world.

Two Year Old Funazushi

In the afternoon we visited a tsukemono maker called Marucho that has been making tsukemono with Shiga vegetables since the Edo era to see how they make their pickles and Shiga’s meibutsu (famous product): funazushi. Funazishi is made from a special variety of carp from Lake Biwa that has been salted and fermented with rice for 2 years. It is a variety of narazushi (fermented fish ‘sushi’) which is the origin of modern-day sushi. Fermented fish is not popular even among many Japanese foodies for reasons that you can imagine. It is not bad though.

At Marucho they make the real deal; funazushi that has been made with the finest wild carp from Lake Biwa and fermented for 2 years. (The cheaper funazushi is made with aqua-cultured carp and only fermented 1 year.) This proper way of making funazushi is called hon-jikomi (authentic production). This requires frequent washing and changing of the rice. This is what separates the good funazushi from the bad. Additionally, the bones of the carp are quite robust and the two year fermentation process softens them to nearly the same as the meat.

Marucho generously offered us a sample of their best, hon-jikomi funazushi. Helena remarked that if she didn’t know that it was fish, she wouldn’t have known from the taste. Funazushi made the old-fashioned way is not fishy and is surprisingly sour. If you like cheese, you would probably like funazushi. The best funazushi is nearly bursting with eggs. The taste of the eggs really reminded me of mimolette cheese, both in flavor and in texture.

It was a fun and interesting day, but I sensed that Helena was really looking forward to her sushi day!

The Main Event: Sushi Lesson at Kichisen

Helena went to the Kyoto Central Wholesale Market with Chef Tanigawa bright and early and selected fish with him. From mid-day the lesson began in the kitchen. Helena learned how to make most all the summertime Kyoto sushi styles from Chef Tanigawa. Miwa translated and I only joined the party late in the afternoon, just in time to eat.

This is what Helena learned:

1. How to Clean and Prepare Fish

• Ayu (Sweetfish)
• Tai (Sea Bream)
• Saba (Mackerel)
• Hamo (Pike Eel)
• Ika (Squid)
• Akagai (Red Shellfish)

2. How to Make Kyoto-style Sushi

• Hamozushi
• Sabazushi
• Sasamaki Zushi
• Ayuzushi
• Isomaki Zushi
• Ryuhimaki
• Temarizushi (ball-shaped, similar to nigiri sushi)
• Kikuzushi (chrysanthemum flower-shaped, similar to nigiri sushi)
• Komakizushi (Kinzanji Miso, Shiso and Cucumber)
• Tsukemono Sushi (also nigiri sushi)
• Inarizushi (deep fried tofu pockets stuffed sushi)

Cleaning Fish at Kichisen

Sea bream ‘tai’ for several kinds of sushi.

Cleaning Fish at Kichisen

After cleaning the tai for sushi, the head is split for soup or rice. Nothing is discarded.

Making Sushi Rice

Chef Tanigawa kindly gave Helena his recipe for sushi rice — I got a copy of it too.

Helena Shaping Rice for Hamozushi

Chef Tanigawa Demonstrating Cutting Hamozushi

Chef Tanigawa Demonstrating Cutting Sabazushi

Finishing-up in the Kitchen

Epic Sushi Plate One

From top to bottom; hamozushi, sabazushi, inarizushi, sasamaki.

Epic Sushi Plate Two

From top to bottom, left to right; ayuzushi, kikuzushi, temarizushi, isomaki, komakizushi, tsukemono (nigiri) sushi, ryuhimaki sushi.

Assortment of Kyoto-style Sushi

My fav was the one on the bottom right, it is called ryuhi maki. It is a ‘bozushi’ made with tai on rice with sansho leaves wrapped in soft and chewy kombu and has slices of raw green yuzu between each piece. At the back right is one of Kichisen’s exquisite homemade umeboshi. On the lower left is ayuzushi.

Hamozushi (Pike Eel Sushi) – detail

Hamo is only eaten in Kyoto.

Sabazushi (Mackerel Sushi) – detail

Sabazushi is perhaps Kyoto’s most common and popular sushi.

Sasamaki (Sasa Bamboo Leaf Wrapped Sushi) – Wrapped

Sasamaki (Sasa Bamboo Leaf Wrapped Sushi) – Unwrapped

This is kodai, literally ‘small tai’ (young sea bream).

Temarizushi (Ball-shaped Sushi) – detail

This is squid (ika), notice the sprig of green kinome sansho leaf under the squid.

Q&A with Chef Tanigawa after the Feast

Chef Tanigawa said that he is open to doing such lessons occasionally for chefs from abroad. If you are a chef and going to be in town and want to learn from a Kyoto master chef, feel free to send us an email.

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Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

The only dish served, sabazushi and the noren (shop curtain)

Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

About Sabazushi
saba means mackerel, zushi is sushi

Before refrigeration and fossil fuel powered transport, Kyoto didn’t have much for fish, and no fresh fish from the sea. Therefore, the people of Kyoto, including the emperor, had to eat salted or dried fish that could make the journey from the Sea of Japan to the capital.

Saba (mackerel) is tasty, nourishing and plentiful in the Sea of Japan. Since olden times the Sabakaido (Mackerel Highway) brought food stuffs, mainly marine products from the sea to Kyoto. The Sabakaido ran from Obama in modern day Fukui Prefecture to Demachiyanagi (Kyoto), a 10 minute walk from Hanaore. The most important product brought to Kyoto on the Sabakaido was saba.

Sabazushi is made with saba that has been lightly pickled in salt, then filleted. The fillets are then pickled in sushi vinegar (rice vinegar and sugar) for a short time. Next the outer skin of the saba is carefully peeled away (retaining a delicate inner skin), remaining small bones are extracted with a tweezer-like device.

The fillet is placed into a kigata (a wooden form) for making oshizishi (pressed sushi) which is filled with sushi rice. A very thinly sliced piece of pickled kombu (kelp) is placed atop the saba. It is then pressed in the wooden form.

After pressing the sabazushi is placed in dried bamboo shoot covering and wrapped. The sabazushi will now keep (for a short time by modern standards).

Hanaore
Hanaore is one of several well known sabazushi restaurants in Kyoto. The honten (original, main shop) is located just to the west of Shimogamo Shrine (a UNESCO World Heritage site).

Hanaore seats just a few customers, serves one dish and offers several other oshizushi for take away.

The quality of the saba used is said to be the very, very best. The clerk told us that they have a difficult time now obtaining saba of the size and quality that passes muster with the proprietor.

Hanaore is highly recommended.

If you are visiting Shimogamo or Kamigamo Shrine or the Imperial Palace, Hanaore is probably on your way. Portions are small, we recommend it for lunch or an afternoon snack. Prices are pretty high, but unless you are on a tight budget, don’t let that stop you. This is how refined Kyotoites dined before industrialization. Again, a very ‘Kyoto’ experience.

Hanaore storefront and noren

noren

Hanaore’s offerings written on pieces of bamboo
only one kind of oshizishi is served in the restaurant, the others are available for purchase

sabazushi and an exquisitely simple soup

sabazushi and naturally colored (red shiso) pickled ginger

Hanaore’s sabazushi is huge!

notice the yellowish pickled kombu atop the sabazushi

the soup features a single, tiny fillet of amadai (sweet baby snapper) — amazing!
amadai is also lightly pickled, this seems slightly grilled too

other oshizushi available, they are wrapped in bamboo shoot covering and a paper label
all priced to knock your socks off!

framed photograph of oshizushi, the one of the lower left is wrapped in thick, green kombu (kelp)

Narezushi is the original sushi of Japan, this is funazushi, a controversial delicacy of neighboring Lake Biwa. Funa is a kind of carp. Narezushi is fish fermented with rice. Think fish cheese — only in Japan! If you like blue cheese, you *might* like funazushi. Most Japanese won’t touch this one. If you want to out do the natives, you’ve got to try this one!

Sliced funazushi on the left (the orange center is the funa eggs). On the right is narezushi made with saba, we have not tried this one yet but have heard that it is more palatable than funazushi.

A whole saba narezushi packaged in bamboo sheath (left). On the right is heshiko. Heshiko is pickled with huge amounts of salt and nuka (rice bran). Heshiko is popular among drinkers. This heshiko is made with saba.

Iwashi (sardine) heshiko, another important fish from the Sea of Japan

English
This is not a tourist destination, Hanaore is undiscovered. Give it a try, with only one thing on the menu, you can’t order the wrong thing!

Hanaore website (Japanese language only)

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