Monthly Memo From Doi's Culinary Philosophy
Original text by Doi Yoshiharu
Translated by Yoshiko Fukuda
December-Shiwasu
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●Now, we only have a little bit of this year left on our hands.
Having entered Shiwasu, the temperature have drastically dropped and many of the ingredients that are most delicious around chilly seasons are beginning to express their flavor. When it does get colder, fish do not lose their freshness as fast as they used to during the warmer seasons so they get much more tasty.●For the end of the year parties, at Ajiichii, we started a special menu filled with sea bream delight.
●During the chilly winter season, especially in December and January, red sea breams are particularly delicious. In preparing for the icy winter, red sea breams store enough energy and nutrients. That is how the read sea breams adopt their unique flavor, containing original smell and stronger taste.
Red sea breams are at its best during Spring and Autumn. There are Sakura-sea breams which display the color of cherry blossoms and there are Momiji-sea breams which demonstrate the color of autumn leaves.
The best time to eat a certain kind of fish depends on its breeding season. Red sea breams spawn in May yet the right time to eat them is from March to April when they carry tiny fine eggs in their stomachs. After spawning they will recover from their exhausting experience and get back their strength from around October. Therefore, in December they will be rich with nutrients. Therefore even when they are prepared and cleaned for cooking they leave a great amount of sticky oil on one's hands.● Special menu for Shiwasu - Delight in winter sea bream from head to tail!?
Muko(hour d'oervres) Tai tororo yose
Chines yam is held together by agar or vegetable gelatin and on top of it a baby cod is
placed to symbolize a baby sea bream. Then soup is poured with sea bream gelatin to harmonize the overall flavor.
Nimonowan(simmered dish) Tai kabu
First the ara (head, bones, and other so-called 'waste' parts which provide delicious flavor to soup) soup of sea bream is cooked. Then the soup from the ara and a little bit of light soy sauce is used to season the already simmered and softened turnip which was flavored lightly with kelp. Afterwards, the red sea bream is taken out and added to the turnip and its soup. Thereafter the whole should briefly be heated then served.
Hassun (morsels of different Japanese food served on a "palette" plate)
Tai no sushi, Tai kimi zushi, Tai kawa no goma yaki
Kobujime(first fish meat is flavored with vinegar and salt, then it is wrapped in kelp so that a third savor is subtly mixed in with the original two) red sea bream is served with sushi rice and egg yolk.
The skin of red sea bream, flavored with soy sauce and mirin, is thoroughly broiled.
Tsukuri (assorted sashimi) Tai hidori
The skin of the bream is lightly broiled. Then the skin is cut off and the half raw fish is served. Since the fish is not cooled in water after the skin was broiled the flavor is left. This tsukuri is an original menu served with natural salt.
Yakimono (grilled foods) Tai no kabuto mushi or tai no kabuto yaki
Steamed sea bream kabuto (head) or broiled sea bream kabuto
The kabuto placed either in sake or sake and soy sauce and then is steamed.
Sunomono (vinegar flavored food) Namako wakame
Namako (sea cucumbers) and wakame (lobe leaf seaweed)
Gohan (cooked white rice) Tai chazuke or Tai zousui
Bream chazuke or bream zousui. Pieces of sea bram meat which is flavored with soy sauce and sesame seed are used as ingredients for chazuke and zousui. (Chazuke- a simple Japanese dish made by pouring hot water over a bowl of rice that has been topped with various ingredients. Zousui- a kind of gruel made by simmering rice in seasoned stock with additional ingredients.)
Kounomono ( pickled vegetables) Daikonzuke and others
White radish and other seasonal vegetables
Dessert Strawberry with jelly topping
Since this menu cooks natural sea breams the price is set at 7500 yen.●In the old days, workers who had tasted the winter red sea breams often said that "Unmarried sea breams are better than the married sea breams!".
In Spring the snow on the mountainside melts releasing rich nutrient filled water which drains into the river. Like fertile soil, this river water contains billions of micro-organisms and minerals even in one scoop by the hands. There are plankton living on these kind of minerals and nutrients in the sea. These plankton inhabit around the region where the river water is deposited. Sea breams that were born in spring, along with other young fish, feed on these plankton. And as the food cycle goes on, some of those young fish will probably be eaten by larger ones like hamo (pike conger) and suzuki(bass).
The forest and the sea are connected together as one whole. Hence in order to make the fishing ground richer, people must protect the environment and care for the plants on the forest. I think people are finally beginning to understand this fact.How Professionals Handle Red Sea Breams
Sea breams are fished one by one by professionals and kept alive at a well at the bottom of the ship. By keeping the fish in the different water pressure they can adapt to an environment out of the sea. That is advantageous since they will be transported to other destinations even after they are off the ship. They are killed by swift blow by a hook. This quick hit will trap the freshness in the fish.
The fish which were individual caught, are carefully dealt with in a completely different method from the one used on fish that were caught by a net in great amounts.
Nowadays, the skills and techniques required to keep a fish at its freshest condition is advancing. Red breams are shipped out in divided containers where fish are kept at individual spaces with water in a swimming position. Therefore, they are kept alive until right before they are cooked.
Before in the old days, in preparing a fish for cooking, the tails were cut and an incision was made at its neck bone in order to drain out blood. However, these days, titanium wire which does not rust in sea water, is pierced through from the tail to about the neck part and the nerves are pulled out. Therefore, the hardening of the muscles will not occur right after the death of the fish. Thus for a long time even until after a whole day, fish can be preserved fresh just as if it were alive. These kind of technique make ikemono possible. A fish meat that is alive means that when he touches the meat it is firm and resistant. These kind of techniques are original to Japan, and it is only recent that its use became popular. They were not employed ten years ago.
Sea breams that were scrupulously taken care of by experts will be deliver to the restaurants. But even these best quality fresh sea breams will perish if they are badly handled at each restaurant.
In order to successfully scrape off the fish scales, the scale remover should be used diagonally so that there is less burden on the meat of the fish. During this step the scale on the head should not be forgotten.
Then once again the left over scale should be taken off with a knife. By adding these extra steps in the preparation stage, and touching the fish more than necessary is said to "rub" the meat of the fish in Japanese. These 'rubbed' fish are even more liable to perish. Their freshness will be lost quicker. Thus, the fish should be rinsed under water and their guts should be removed immediately. Afterwards all the moisture should be wiped off the fish like after a bath and that fish should not be put close to any water after that stage.●The next step is to cut off the head and separate the fish into three pieces; the two fillets and one with the back bone and some meat.(First the fish with its insides taken out is placed on the cutting board with its belly facing toward you. Split the fish from the belly down to the vent. Then turn the fish over and make the back face toward you. This time cut above the back bone straight down but stop the knife before splitting the tail. Cut vertically to separate the top fillet. Flip the fillet with the backbone over again to face the meat part down on the board. Repeat the second step of cutting above the backbone and separating the fillet. Now there are three fillets; one top meat, bottom meat and the bone that was in between the two.) The head should be rinsed under water to extract the gills and other red parts on the fish meat. Subsequently, the head is put in boiling water and immediately afterwards it is put in water again to remove what is left of the scale. This time the scale should be taken off by the hand. Ara (head, bones, and other so-called 'waste' parts which provide delicious flavor to soup) cooking should never include the scales.
The fillets without the bone should be wrapped in a dry cloth, and stored in a refrigerator (if possible it should be the old fashioned style refrigerator which is cooled with blocks of ice). However, most will be using the electric refrigerator, so the fish should be placed in a wooden box with its lid tightly closed so that the cold air will not directly hit the sea bream. In order to preserve the freshness of a fish, the temperature should be maintained at below zero but warmer than the freezing point. Nonetheless, this temperature is only suitable for ara soup, broiling or simmering; all which cooks the fish. But for sashimi this temperature is too cold. Maintaining the freshness of a sashimi fish will require 8 degrees Celsius. Of course, sashimi fish should be filleted right before serving. Filleting fresh fish is actually a harder task, since the meat is so plump that it bounces the knife off, but the meat is almost transparent and full that even when it is cut into individual pieces it retains its body.Please enjoy the winter bream from head to tail.
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