Oh man, for me it's painful to watch this portrayed as "food porn." Couple thoughts in response to this:
- This chef, like many others who aren't skilled in deba, use a gyuto to filet large fish like salmon. It feels easier for the beginners, and there are some who can do it well, but in this case it seems like a crutch for the areas where he lacks good technique.
- His deficiency with deba hocho is evident during his sea bream adventure. He uses his deba more like a hacksaw than a hocho in some parts of the video (see when he removes the ribs). Fish is demanding in that if you don't get a clean cut, you can't preserve the texture of the fish. Do those look like glassy cuts?
- to answer
@hentaides: I go through 2-4 salmon that size every day. I use a deba for all the butchery. If you're good with deba, it's a much cleaner filet than gyuto. No chips.
- Lastly, please don't think that's what sashimi tsuma is supposed to look like. This is the part I'm most upset about. Good tsuma is VITAL to sashimi - it both complements and contrasts the fish. It's supposed to be crisp, fresh, and vibrant. After you katsuramuki the daikon, you're need to soak it in ice water to remove astringency. This garbage was dry and desiccated. The chef clearly used a benriner and not an usuba. All these things together lead to wilted, bitter daikon that is just awful for sashimi. For me that's indicative of the level of care of the whole dish.
Basically I rant because like so many other chefs I see on youtube and instagram, they focus on the photogenic bits but neglect the truly important parts that make sashimi special. It's visually impressive for the uninitiated, but would lack the cohesion that makes really good sashimi such a treat.
It's usually really important for me not to criticize chefs, but 1) I've had some beer, 2) this is a food culture that's important to me and I want people to experience it done well, not half-a$$ed, and 3) they're putting this out there as a standard that other people will see and aspire to. If I was served this at a restaurant, I wouldn't say anything but I also probably wouldn't go back.
Any good chef in this idiom knows: just slicing fish in a pretty style isn't enough to call it sashimi. You have to know how to serve the fish in the height of it's deliciousness. The sea bream hadn't had ikejime done to it. It's fairly easy to get ikejime sea bream, especially in NYC. At this point they're just sacrificing quality for a few bucks saved. The texture and taste difference is drastic in fish like sea bream, especially as sashimi. The hamachi was definitely the frozen hamachi sides that are ubiquitous. I can get fresh tennen buri pretty regularly even here in Boston. Again, cutting quality for a few bucks saved. The difference between fresh, wild-caught, young hamachi and the frozen slabs this guy is serving is vast. Lastly, he's serving kihada maguro. That's cat food. At least use mebachi if you're going to pretend to be a high-end restaurant. I get not using 本マグロ if you're concerned about the environment, but for the love of all that is good and holy don't serve kihada maguro for top dollar. That's like serving a hamburger patty and charging filet mignon prices.
Anyways, I'm intoxicated and hate this video. I'll probably regret this post in the morning. Good night.
