TO PURSUE THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE JAPANESE CUISINE

March 8, 2013 5:58 PM

TOKYO GASTRONOMY is the YouTube account of Seiji Yamamoto, chef and owner of the Nihonryori RyuGin restaurant. His videos demonstrate traditional Japanese cuisine preparation in a serene and focused way. The ones that really hooked me was this 9 minute video of Ichiban Dashi creation and spring vegetable soup.
posted by boo_radley (21 comments total)

My eyes have been fed
Yet I feel wronged; this repast
is NOT IN MY MOUTH
posted by louche mustachio at 6:18 PM on March 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I need a small garden so I can cultivate micro turnips. There is something to be said about using the best ingredients available to you and taking your time over it.
posted by arcticseal at 6:24 PM on March 8, 2013

A SPECIAL MOUNTAIN YAM (this is awesome thanks)
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:26 PM on March 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Be aware that one video (it's the one with the tiny little fish piled high on bamboo leaves) involves spiking live fish through the eyeball with skewers prior to grilling. I'm not easily upset, but the blood and pathetic flapping were off-putting.
posted by ninazer0 at 6:34 PM on March 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh my goodness I had never heard of katsobushi and now I MUST TRY IT. It's like if cheese was made of fish.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:36 PM on March 8, 2013

My grumble above notwithstanding, this is eye-opening cuisine, although I'm more at a Cooking With Dog standard. But dashi, done properly with kombu and katsobushi, is a revelation, and you don't need fancy equipment. Although I'm sort of starting to want a pair of those long crooked tweezer things for some reason...
posted by ninazer0 at 6:43 PM on March 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

Another vote here for cooking with dog. If only it didn't take hours to make Nikuman.
posted by surplus at 7:14 PM on March 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I had seen the video of their unagi preparation, and that was great. Looking at their webpage, it's a 3* Michelin star restaurant. A meal there is gonna be very pricey. More generally, I've found these types of videos extremely informative for generating cooking ideas. But other than a couple of channels on YouTube such as the MAD1 Symposium series and the Nigiri documentary, haven't come across much else.
posted by polymodus at 7:23 PM on March 8, 2013

This is spellbinding, in a "how much completely insane shit can we subject a single fish carcass to" way.

Can't stop watching these!
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:39 PM on March 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

The brilliance of this post made me ask what the korean equivalent for this was, and a quick search of MF archives yeilded this. So great. Perhaps its my cultural bias and a strong love of the "other," but there is something so spiritual about Asian food prep. Yes, I'm talking about you, Eat, Drink, Man Woman
posted by Perko at 8:19 PM on March 8, 2013

Does anyone know anything about the liquid nitrogen sprayer he uses in the beef video? It that its intended purpose or is it re-purposed? I would like to have one of those.
posted by Infernarl at 8:39 PM on March 8, 2013 [1 favorite]

"this 9 minute video of Ichiban Dashi creation"

What would've been quite amusing is if he did all that ornate, rather anal preparation... then had a final scene where he took all the prepared ingredients, displayed them elegantly on a counter, then, with a single sweep of his arm, propelled them forcefully into an awaiting garbage can.
posted by markkraft at 10:15 PM on March 8, 2013

with a single sweep of his arm, propelled them forcefully into an awaiting garbage can

...the essence of the true Dashi now coats the chopping board, and only now can the master prepare the true creation...
posted by mattoxic at 10:27 PM on March 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

I think their video of a strawberry dessert has been linked to on the Blue before. It just gets more incredible as you watch it.
posted by hoca efendi at 10:51 PM on March 8, 2013 [2 favorites]

Seiji Yamamoto is the Yasojiro Ozu of food preparation. The preparation of a duck has, in a measure, changed my philosophy of life.
posted by rmmcclay at 4:14 AM on March 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

RyuGen is absolutely delicious. We ate there last year. Had a dish of ankimo (monkfish liver) with a sauce of hot mustard and white miso that I still think about.
posted by JPD at 6:05 AM on March 9, 2013

ninazer0: "Be aware that one video (it's the one with the tiny little fish piled high on bamboo leaves) involves spiking live fish through the eyeball with skewers prior to grilling. I'm not easily upset, but the blood and pathetic flapping were off-putting."

Yeah I didn't need to see live prawns put into boiling water either. I'm not a PETA type but I don't enjoy watching anything die.

*proceeds to recall numerous lectures from mom on watching her mom kill and clean chickens for dinner and how I never would have survived in those days*
posted by IndigoRain at 8:48 AM on March 9, 2013

that strawberry one was ammaaazing. No spoilers, but I was shocked, SHOCKED, by how it ended.
posted by rebent at 5:30 PM on March 9, 2013

that strawberry one was ammaaazing. No spoilers, but I was shocked, SHOCKED, by how it ended.
posted by rebent

Which one's the strawberry one?
posted by surplus at 6:42 PM on March 9, 2013

showbiz_liz, as I'm sure you can find out, katsuobushi is the base of much of Japanese food. Many of the soups associated with Japanese food, (and there are a lot!) are based on katsuobushi.
posted by gen at 8:06 PM on March 9, 2013

Surplus: this one :)
posted by rebent at 11:50 AM on March 15, 2013