Kyoto Foodie: Where and what to eat in Kyoto » sea bream tai

Epic Sushi! Kyoto-style Sushi Lesson at Kichisen

Kyoto Foodie — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:22:47 +0000

Helena Chlepnac from Sushi Fusion from Switzerland was in town studying-up on Kyoto’s incredible culinary culture. We had a chance to spend a few days together which culminated in the most luxurious sushi meal, actually, three sushi meals, that I have ever had or even imagined! This was epic sushi! And all thanks to Chef Tanigawa at Kichisen, who gave Helena a full day lesson on how to make authentic Kyoto-style sushi.

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.

SHARE! Kyoto Food and Drink Forum

Tweet! Tweet! Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.

Summer Matsutake Dobin Mushi

Kyoto Foodie — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:44:16 +0000

Summer Matsutake Dobin Mushi 夏松茸土瓶蒸し

Matsutake Mushroom is synonymous with autumn. Although rare, in early summer it can be had as well and is a favorite among aficionados and gourmets. Last night I got a taste of some at Kichisen, the greatest restaurant in the world.

Matsutake Dobin Mushi

＊Sorry about the photos, I didn’t have a camera with me so these were taken with a mobile phone.

I was over at Kichisen last night for a meeting with the boss. In his mind if he doesn’t serve me half a dozen dishes or so before we start talking the matter at hand, it is bad manners on his part. Right away I tried to take out my notebook but he told me to put it aside; he had some natsu matsutake for me to try. He started out by telling me how astronomically priced it was — not exactly Kyoto-style — and where in Japan it was from.

He served a number of dishes, most of them are not served to customers. The dishes were exquisite and novel, he said that they are esa (feed) for he and the apprentices. Nice feed!

There was chicken cartilage deep-fried and then simmered in vinegared broth served with a dash of ichimi chili flakes. Then there was a mysterious dish, it was a pile of something completely buried in roasted and ground sesame seeds with shoyu and wasabi on top. With my chopsticks I picked up a bit to discover that is was maguro sashimi! It was divine! Drinks were homemade catnip liqueur then glass after glass of this imojochu (yam shochu) ladled out of a clay pot that had just arrived from Kyushu.

Natsu Matsutake Dobin Mushi with Early Summer Yuzu
Then one of my all time favorite dishes in the whole wide world is matsutake dobin mushi. Dobin means earthenware pot and mushi is to stream. This is matsutake mushroom that has been cooked in a small teapot-like vessel with seasonal chicken, fish, or shrimp and some greens. Kichisen being purist only uses hamo pike eel in the summer. Fresh Japanese citrus such as sudachi or yuzu invariably accompanies this dish.

Matsutake is an autumn delicacy. However, some very exclusive restaurants serve it in the early summer and it is called natsu matsutake, natsu means summer. I had never had natsu matsutake before.

Dobin mushi is served piping hot and you pour small amounts into a cup, which arrives atop the pot containing the broth. There is enough broth for about 5 or 6 pours and the taste pleasantly changes with time. You squeeze a drop of citrus into the cup each time before drinking, or squeeze the entire citrus into the pot at once (I suspect that Kichisen would frown on this practice). DO NOT put the citrus itself in as the will ruin the broth by quickly becoming extremely bitter.

Matsutake Dobin Mushi

Matsutake Dobin Mush: Summer Matsutake and Hamo Eel

Hamo Eel

Matatabi-shu: Catnip Liqueur

I guessed that this is to make your date frisky after dinner, the boss told me in no uncertain terms that that was correct. The name in Japanese is mata tabi, mata meaning more or again and tabi meaning travel — it re-energizes you to travel more.

Sea Bream Rice Served in a Silk Bag
This final course was an amazing rice dish served inside a woven and silk basket. The rice was cooked in a donabe and then chunks of well grilled tai sea bream and slivers of carrot are mixed in just before serving. Dried red shiso flakes are sprinkled on top.

A Bowl of Rice Served Kichisen Style

Rice with Grilled Tai, Carrot and Red Shiso

Rice and Cucumber Tsukemono

Kaga Futo Kyuri (Kaga Cucumber, a Traditional Kanazawa Vegetable)

Tanigawa-san always seats me at the counter which is just off the kitchen. So, whenever he has something to say or a few minutes he appears and we engage in some light-hearted banter. I guess that since dinner including the penis shaped matsutake topics included plently of lewd sex talk, penis sizes (He had a guest once from Sweden that had to tape his penis to his leg when he played basketball he said, it was so big. He was black in case you didn’t guess. I didn’t ask how they got onto that topic of discussion over kaiseki.), virgins (shojo goroshi, a new addition to my vocabulary), the aphrodisiatic affects of catnip (on girls), then it was on to his current passion in life; Ed Hardy, Ed Hardy, Ed Hardy products. The final topic was whether or not the Louis Vuitton shoes that he made Miwa order off the internet for him were real or not. He had an apprentice bring down all his Louis Vuitton shoes, ones that he had bought at Takashimaya or in Paris, in their boxes and we compared everything. In the end I guessed that they were authentic, but Tanigawa-san wasn’t taking any chances, before I had finished my rice, he had sold the ones in question to one of his apprentices — at a slight mark-up.

Sakurazushi (Salted Sakura Leaf Tai Sushi)

Kyoto Foodie — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:49:27 +0000

Sakurazushi: Salted Sakura Leaf Tai (Sea Bream) Sushi 鯛桜寿し

Just when you think that you have tried all the sushi in the world, you discover one in the very ‘un-sushi’ town of Kyoto that takes you aback! Sakurazushi, as made by Kichisen, is tai (sea bream) wrapped in salted sakura leaf. More than sublime!

Itadakimono: Recently Tanigawa-san at Kichisen has been bringing a lot of yummies, especially sushi for us to try. I just can’t believe my luck. He doesn’t like to see them appear on KyotoFoodie the next day, but with this one I knew that all you foodies around the world would have to hear about it!

Shiozakura is the salted sakura (cherry) leaf that is used for sakura mochi (sakura mochi ice cream) and here Tanigawa-san uses it to make Kyoto-style sushi. He said that the secret is to sprinkle the tai (sea bream) sashimi with salt, then put it in vinegar for a short time. Subtlety, complexity and surprise is the point. Atop the rice, where you would usually find wasabi in sushi, Tanigawa-san adds kinome (sprig of sansho). Two sakura leaves wrap the sushi which is garnished with a cherry petal fashioned from carrot.

Sakurazushi

Sakurazushi – Inside

Of course you don’t unwrap it when eating it, I just thought that I would show you what it looks like inside.

Sakurazushi – Inside

If you look carefully at the fish, in the middle of the sushi (lengthwise) you can see faint green, that is the kinome under the flesh.

Sakurazushi – Served

Verdant green maple leaf decorates the plate to suggest the season.

Sea Bream Japanese Feast: Tai Sashimi, Tai Meshi, Tai Nitsuke

Kyoto Foodie — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:44:41 +0000

Sea Bream Japanese Feast: Tai Sashimi, Tai Meshi, Tai Nitsuke 鯛

Sea bream, or ‘tai’ in Japanese is one of the best loved fish and an important symbol in Japanese culture. It is in season in the spring and is called the ‘King of Fish’ in Japan. A whole tai is quite expensive and is enough for an entire meal. Here are three ways to eat one tai.

Itadakimono: Yesterday I was over at Kichisen with a friend chatting with Mr Tanigawa, as I was leaving Mr Tanigawa ordered one of his students to get a tai for me to take home. When they showed the beautiful red fish, I couldn’t believe my luck. It was huge! He also gave me some greens that I had not heard of before: hakusaina.

Sea Bream Feast Served

Sea Bream ‘Tai’

Sea Bream ‘Tai’ – Cleaned

Sea Bream Feast Served

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Ready to Cook

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Cooked

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removing Meat from Head

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removing Meat from Bones

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) – Removed Bones

Tai Meshi (Sea Bream Rice) Served with Ki-no-me

Ki-no-me is the leaf of the sansho plant.

Tai Meshi
Tai-meshi is made a number of different ways and Mr Tanigawa recommended that we use the head for that. (We put the spine in too and that was a mistake as it left a fair number of bones in the rice. Surprisingly, we were able to strip the meat from the head, even the lips — with only getting a few small boney bits in the rice,)

The idea here is that the head of the tai will make a lot of excellent dashi (soup stock) for the rice. And that it did! Also, nothing should go to waste. First, the tai head is grilled shioyaki style, just for a minute or so on each side. Then the head goes in the rice cooker and is cooked on top of the rice with some ryorishu (cooking sake), salt and a bit of shoyu.

Removing the meat from the head is not as difficult as you might expect. Tai-meshi is usually garnished with ki-no-me, which is the leaf of the sansho pepper bush.

Tai Nitsuki – Simmering Sea Bream with Greens

Tai Nitsuki – Simmered Sea Bream with Greens

Tai Nitsuke
We made a light dashi with just a few small slices of ginger and simmered half the tai in it. As the end, we added the hakusaina greens as per Mr Tanigawa’s instructions. For me, it is hard to beat fish simmered in sake and shoyu.

Tai Sashimi

Tai Sashimi
The bottom half of the fillet is eaten raw, the skin is stripped off and it is simply sliced. Meanwhile, on the other half of the upper half of the fillet, and the skin that was stripped off the lower half, Mr Tanigawa poured boiling water and then plunged it into ice water.

The scalded skin is sliced thin and mixed with scallion and ponzu. (Ponzu is a citrus juice and vinegar based shoyu dipping sauce. I got this ponzu at a shoyu shinise in Kyoto and it includes grapefruit juice, a novel ingredient!) This is similar to the fugu ‘teppi‘ dish.

The ‘scalded’ sashimi with skin is dipped in ponzu and the ‘raw’ sashimi is dipped in the usual shoyu and wasabi. This contrast was particularly wonderful and the kind of surprise you get at a restaurant like Kichisen.

UPDATE: My bad, I called ‘tai’ red snapper, rather than sea bream in this article and was kindly corrected by Marc@NoRecipes. (22 April 2009)