How a Japanese Chef Turns a Whole Fish Into 6 Dishes

  • last year
Japanese chef Yuji Haraguchi, owner of OKONOMI // YUJI Ramen in New York, demonstrates how he butchers an entire kampachi and transforms it into six varied dishes.
Transcript
00:00 [dramatic music]
00:03 Hi, I'm Yuji Haraguchi.
00:04 Today I'm going to butcher a whole kampachi
00:07 and use the pieces to make six unique dishes.
00:10 Today I'm making six different dishes
00:14 with this whole kampachi.
00:15 It's based on my business philosophy called mottainai,
00:19 no waste in Japanese.
00:20 The first step is to remove all the fins for safety.
00:28 Sometimes the fins are really sharp
00:30 and it can have some germs and also some poisons too.
00:33 Fortunately, that's not the case of this kampachi,
00:36 so I'm safe.
00:37 I'm going to start taking off the scale.
00:41 I'm using yanagi knife,
00:45 which is usually used for slicing sashimi and sushi.
00:49 I'm starting from the tail to the front
00:51 because that's the opposite direction of how scale runs.
00:57 This technique is called suki-biki.
01:00 This is the best way to remove the scale completely.
01:04 In this way, scales are all attached like strings
01:08 and then you can discard it very easily.
01:10 What you see is actually the skin right underneath the scale.
01:16 So I was putting a knife right between scale and skin.
01:23 If fish is fresh,
01:24 the scales are strongly attached to each other.
01:28 If the fish is not fresh, I'm not able to do this technique.
01:32 And also if you like to deep fry,
01:36 it creates a really nice, almost like chips.
01:39 Kampachi scales are completely removed.
01:43 Now I'm going to clean the kampachi.
01:46 Cleaning means removing the gill and guts and blood.
01:49 For this process, I'm using deba.
01:52 Deba is a single-edge blade, really sharp,
01:55 and also makes it easier to fillet the fish.
01:58 So I'm putting the bone right next
02:00 to where the collar bones are,
02:02 separating the collar from the rest of the body.
02:05 I'm trying to be very careful
02:09 not to damage or separate organs.
02:11 You don't want any blood to penetrate
02:14 into the rest of the body.
02:15 So I want to remove as one single piece
02:19 and then the removal will be much, much cleaner.
02:21 (gentle music)
02:24 I'm using just a kitchen brush to scrub the bloodline,
02:31 the vein that runs underneath of the spine.
02:34 It is important to get the blood out of the fish
02:38 because blood is where it deteriorates first
02:42 and then the germ grow much quicker
02:44 if there is blood left.
02:45 Now kampachi is completely cleaned.
02:50 I can break it down to individual pieces.
02:52 The first step is to remove the head and collar
02:58 as one piece from the rest of the body.
03:01 I'm just using scissors, cutting two collars from the head.
03:07 To fillet the fish, open up the skin.
03:16 (gentle music)
03:19 Then cut around the spine
03:22 so that I won't leave any meat right next to the spine.
03:25 Same thing right here,
03:29 opening up the fillet by cutting the skin first.
03:33 This is what you wanna see,
03:40 meat are all separated,
03:42 but the fillet is kept just by the tail and then the ribs.
03:47 I'm taking the tail part off first,
03:51 then I'm going to switch it to scissors again,
03:54 separating the ribs.
03:56 Same thing here,
04:02 opening the skin for the belly side
04:05 and top loin side first.
04:06 Flip it so that the meat is on the bottom side.
04:11 In this way, I can actually see where the knife is.
04:15 Cutting the first fillet is a little bit easier.
04:18 The other side is a little bit more difficult
04:20 to see what you're cutting.
04:22 It requires some practice.
04:25 Now the second fillet is removed.
04:31 I'm gonna put the bone aside with the head.
04:34 Each fillet will be broken down into three parts,
04:38 the top loin, the belly, and the tail.
04:40 When you're working with fillet,
04:44 it is important to notice how pink or red
04:48 the fillet itself is.
04:50 If you don't see this nice pink colors all around,
04:53 that means the fish is a little bit old.
04:57 When you poke it,
04:57 the meat should also bounce back to you.
05:00 What I'm doing right now
05:03 is separating the ribs from the fillet.
05:07 For this, I'm using my slicer.
05:09 It's a long, skinny knife
05:11 that is a little bit more flexible.
05:14 It is important to know the rib,
05:16 it actually ends in the middle of the belly.
05:19 Removing the pin bones from the ribs,
05:23 they're actually attached to each other like a triangle.
05:26 So by separating those,
05:27 I can put my knife much, much easier.
05:31 Removing the very end of the fillet,
05:34 it just has a little bit of bones
05:36 and not so much meat.
05:38 I'm going to separate the tail.
05:41 For this process, I'm using deba.
05:44 Deba is a lot sharper and it has more weight.
05:48 It makes it a little bit easier to portion.
05:51 So I'm going to separate the fillet
05:58 into the top loin and belly
06:01 by removing the pin bones.
06:04 Pin bones run from the head to the middle of the fillet,
06:07 between the top loin and belly.
06:10 It is very difficult to remove unless you trim it.
06:14 My favorite part of the kampachi is the belly part.
06:23 It is very crunchy and also fatty
06:27 and very pretty when I take off the skin.
06:30 So that's the part that I would save it for myself.
06:34 (upbeat music)
06:36 In general, the pin bones parts are removed and discarded,
06:40 but I'm going to combine these parts together
06:43 with the head and the bone to make the ramen broth.
06:46 This kampachi is entirely broken down.
06:51 I can say that I did a good job here
06:53 because I can see each individual line of the bone.
06:57 Now I'm going to use all different parts of kampachi
07:01 to make six unique dishes.
07:03 (upbeat music)
07:05 Let's cook.
07:07 First, I'm going to use kampachi head and bones
07:09 to make ramen.
07:10 The broth going to be made with water and a kombu seaweed.
07:19 What's unique about this ramen
07:22 is the broth is entirely made
07:24 with roasted kampachi bones and head.
07:27 I'm pressing the head down
07:29 so that the entire head can be roasted evenly
07:33 along with the bone.
07:34 Pork and chickens are used for ramen
07:37 because of its high collagen.
07:40 This kampachi has a great collagen
07:42 that can turn into delicious ramen.
07:44 You don't want to over roast the bones
07:46 because you actually lose the collagen
07:49 if you roast them too much.
07:50 I'm removing kombu out of the water
07:55 and then adding the pin bones,
07:59 head,
08:03 and the bone.
08:07 You can kind of see collagen right in the spine.
08:12 It's kind of like a jello.
08:14 That will become a really good part of the broth.
08:18 And then I'm adding some aromatic vegetable,
08:22 leek and ginger.
08:24 (sizzling)
08:26 This will kind of balance the aroma
08:29 and the broth won't be as fishy.
08:31 While ramen broth is boiling,
08:33 I'm going to use a part of the kampachi loin
08:36 to make chashu.
08:37 Chashu is usually braised pork, sliced thin,
08:41 but today I'm going to do my original twist with kampachi.
08:45 So I'm going to just let this top loin block marinate
08:50 in original sweet soy sauce.
08:52 (sizzling)
08:54 Chashu is marinated for about a half hour
08:56 and I'm going to just torch all around it,
09:02 what's also known as tataki style.
09:04 (sizzling)
09:07 This is kind of my own ideas
09:17 of creating similar visual look as chashu.
09:22 (sizzling)
09:24 The inside is completely rare.
09:28 The chashu will be slowly cooked
09:31 with the heat from the broth as well.
09:34 After a few hours, the broth is very nice and creamy.
09:37 That's the kind of color that you also see
09:42 from tonkotsu ramen or regular ramen.
09:45 This is sake kasu,
09:48 it's a by-product from sake fermentation process.
09:52 A flavor unique to sake kasu.
09:54 Since it has some rice,
09:58 the broth itself becomes a little bit thicker
10:01 without diluting the flavor.
10:04 It kind of balances all the flavors,
10:06 especially with the fish broth.
10:08 Chashu is usually sliced thin on top of ramen.
10:14 I can cut it straight down
10:16 and then becomes almost like the same shape as the chashu.
10:20 This particular type of ramen noodle,
10:30 it's not as chewy.
10:32 The noodle will soak up the broth much better
10:36 than the chewy noodle,
10:38 so that you will taste the broth really well in the noodle.
10:42 (upbeat music)
10:44 I'm lifting the noodle so that the noodle will all separate.
10:55 The noodle will soak up the broth as even as possible.
10:59 This is scallions.
11:00 Chashu, kampachi.
11:05 Adding a drizzle of chiyu, which is a chicken fat.
11:11 Black pepper for spice and heat.
11:15 This is our first dish,
11:16 kampachi ramen with kampachi chashu.
11:19 Next, I'll be using kampachi cutters to make himono.
11:25 Himono is a traditional fish preservation method,
11:29 curing with salt and dry aging.
11:32 This is such a simple dish.
11:34 It just takes time.
11:35 Kampachi cutters are very tasty
11:37 because it's fatty.
11:39 You can get multiple flavors from a single piece of cutter.
11:44 Put it in the fridge and don't cover it.
11:49 You wanna just let it dry out.
11:51 After a week or so, this is what it looks like.
11:55 The surface is super dry and it becomes kind of glossy.
11:59 It's almost like leather.
12:00 So I'm using the skewers and using this pan
12:04 to make the colors kind of float in the air
12:08 so that the fish will be cooked evenly
12:11 and the entire color will have a nice, crispy finish.
12:15 The temperature is about 450.
12:23 I'm going to cook for about seven minutes.
12:25 While my colors are roasting,
12:30 I'm going to prepare some garnish.
12:32 Grated daikon radish adds a really nice bitter flavor to it
12:36 and it also cleans the palate.
12:39 You can kind of see the fat sizzling
12:48 right underneath the skin.
12:51 The entire color has the same surface texture
12:56 because of the way it was cooked,
12:59 floating with the skewers.
13:01 Plate it nice and simple
13:03 with the daikon radish and a little bit of soy sauce.
13:05 This is the finished kanpachi himono
13:09 with the kanpachi colors.
13:11 Next, I'm going to make kanpachi kasuzuke
13:16 with the kanpachi tail.
13:18 Kasuzuke is marinating anything with sake kasu.
13:23 The first step is to salt the fish.
13:25 What's special about the tail is it has a strong muscle
13:29 and it has more flavor compared to the rest of the body.
13:33 I'm mixing sake kasu with mirin
13:36 and then make it into a really thick paste.
13:39 Kanpachi tail has been marinated half hour.
13:56 Take out just a little bit of excess sake.
13:58 Excess sake kasu off the meat.
14:01 Use a skewer again to roast it.
14:06 Otherwise, the bottom part will be steamed.
14:10 I usually cook at a little bit lower temperature,
14:16 350 or 400, and you're gonna cook it a little bit longer.
14:20 Not to burn the kasu.
14:23 The process itself is very similar as the himono,
14:27 but the flavor and the result are completely different.
14:31 That's why I like to work with those two different methods.
14:34 That's our third dish.
14:39 Kanpachi kasuzuke with kanpachi tail.
14:43 For my next dish, I'm making kanpachi maki roll
14:46 with kanpachi belly.
14:47 I'm seasoning the rice with the sushi vinegar.
14:52 [upbeat music]
14:55 You want to make sushi rice ahead of time
15:01 so that there is time for the rice to rest.
15:03 While rice is resting, I'm preparing the ingredients.
15:08 Cucumber.
15:09 Now I'm preparing belly for maki roll.
15:17 First, I'm removing the skin.
15:20 I'm using the knife slicer so that removing the skin
15:25 is a little bit easier since it's narrower
15:27 and also it's more flexible and bendy.
15:30 So I'm making a strip based on the size of the seaweed.
15:36 Because of the thickness,
15:42 you can just simply cut that into strips
15:44 without any trimming or anything.
15:49 I put the nori seaweed half cut onto bamboo roll.
15:53 It's important to season rice well
15:55 so that I can spread rice evenly.
15:58 And then make sure that the rice meets with the rice
16:08 the other side and then press it lightly
16:12 and then make sure there is a little hanging
16:14 from the seaweed.
16:17 You're gonna cut it with one stroke as much as possible.
16:21 It's helpful to have a little bit wet knife
16:27 so that the rice won't stick to the knife as much
16:30 and it makes a cut a little bit more sharp.
16:32 Finishing with toasted sesame seed.
16:38 This is my kampachi maki roll made with kampachi belly.
16:44 Traditional roll, hosomaki, is very simple
16:47 and people actually eat it as a snack.
16:49 So that's my perfect snack.
16:50 Next, I'm making nigiri with a kampachi loin.
16:55 Nigiri is a term that two are put together,
16:58 neta and shari.
16:59 Neta is a term for slice of fish.
17:04 Shari is basically sushi rice.
17:07 I'm using my yanagi knife to cut neta.
17:10 I'm scoring each neta
17:14 so that the neta will bend over shari much nicer.
17:19 Making nigiri itself is not difficult to do,
17:30 but difficult part is how to cut neta.
17:33 I'm forming shari.
17:38 (gentle music)
17:40 You wanna make nigiri in a way
17:46 so that the neta will cover the rice completely.
17:50 So it's almost like an umbrella.
17:52 Shaping the rice, making an air pocket
17:55 so that it'll be nice mouth feeling when you eat nigiri.
17:59 It's very important to have perfect balance
18:03 of neta and shari.
18:04 (gentle music)
18:07 For toppings, I have two ingredients.
18:13 Umeboshi is salt fermented plum.
18:17 We'll add a really unique salty flavor from the plum.
18:20 And kinome, we'll add really refreshing,
18:26 almost like a minty flavor.
18:31 I love these colors and also the flavor combinations.
18:34 This is my kanpachi nigiri.
18:38 It is simple, but simple doesn't mean easy.
18:43 That's why you often see this type of sushi
18:46 only at a sushi restaurant.
18:49 Finally, I'm making shabu-shabu salad.
18:51 Shabu-shabu is a method of cooking
18:54 thin sliced meat in a hot water.
18:57 So I have these kanpachi slices from before.
19:00 I'm taking some of these slices to cure with kombu.
19:04 Kombu is a dry kelp.
19:06 The natural salt from the kelp will cure kanpachi,
19:12 taking the water out from the fish,
19:16 but at the same time, adding extra umami,
19:19 which is a glutamic acid, into the fish.
19:23 I like to cure for at least half hour.
19:26 Curing is finished, and then I have hot water
19:29 waiting for shabu-shabu.
19:31 You can kind of see that the kombu is flexible.
19:35 It's not like a dry piece of paper.
19:37 Shabu-shabu is such an easy method.
19:40 You just have hot water, dip it with chopsticks,
19:43 and then make sure the outside is completely cooked,
19:46 and then quickly chill it in ice water.
19:49 Shabu-shabu is a really quick process.
19:53 Do these shabu-shabu motions for two or three seconds.
19:57 (upbeat music)
20:00 Now I'm just gonna assemble my shabu-shabu salad.
20:12 On the bottom, scallion and microgreen,
20:16 and some nice colorful tomatoes.
20:18 Bring back the shabu-shabu.
20:22 I roll them up a little bit so that it looks nice.
20:26 (laughs)
20:28 And then drizzle the salad dressing over everything.
20:36 Just finishing with toasted sesame seed.
20:41 This is my shabu-shabu salad with kampachi loin.
20:45 I hope you enjoy watching me break down whole fish
20:48 and then make these six different dishes.
20:51 Kampachi is one of my very favorite fish in America.
20:55 With just the thoughts, you can make one whole fish
20:58 into so many different amazing meals.
21:01 Motainai is just more of a way of thinking,
21:04 and these thoughts can be applied
21:06 for any aspect of your life.

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