Demonstration of Japanese Cuisine for All the people
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Preparation of fish and Cooking with Soy sauce”
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| Cutting fish |
“Today, Japanese food has become so popular abroad, we have felt that it is time for us to introduce the Japanese cuisine to non professional people, particularly to younger generations.” said Ms Isami Oomori, advisor of the Academy of Japanese Cookery to the students of Lycée Jean La Fontaine in Paris at their lecture theatre joined by their parents and other interested audience.
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| Mr. Taittinger, Mayor of Paris 16th district |
After a very warm welcome speech by Mr Pierre- Christian Taittinger, the mayor of the 16th district of Paris, who describes himself as an amateur as far as Japanese cuisine is concerned, Mr Yoshihiro Murata, the Chairman of the Academy accompanied by a young talented chef, Mr Hiroshi Shimoguchi, commenced the workshop to demonstrate how the preparation of raw fish is done as well as providing other information for basic Japanese cooking.
The art of cutting – preparation of raw fish should be done only by skilled person
“ When I came to France for the first time some 35 years ago, French people thought that Japanese were uncivilized because we were eating raw fish! But we Japanese never eat an untreated fish like an animal.” Mr Murata laughed. He continued to say “In Japan, the regulations controlling commercial distribution of raw fish is very strict and only qualified persons may prepare them. In France, however, it seems that the fish are sold without much concern of its freshness and often in some new sushi shops raw fish is prepared by un-skilled persons. I am afraid you may become exposed to problems of hygiene before you can begin to talk about the taste of sushi.”
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| Audience |
While Mr Shimoguchi demonstrated impressive ways of cutting fresh sea bass, Mr Murata commented “The western knives are sharpened on both sides like a wedge to cut a lump of meat by pushing and tearing. Japanese knives are sharpened only on one side and can enter smoothly between the cells of the material. This delicate technique can be understood clearly when applied on the raw fish. The Japanese word “orosu” used to describe the cutting process of fish in the kitchen derives originally from “receiving from the God ”. The cutting has been considered the most important technique in preparing the traditional Japanese cuisine.
Another interesting consideration in Japanese cooking is the size of pieces presented in a dish. Unlike in Europe, Japanese do not use the knife and fork when eating. That is another reason why the art of cutting has developed. It is thought that a piece of food an average human can accommodate comfortably in his mouth is measured smaller than 3cms square. You may be interested to know that almost all the pieces in Japanese dishes are cut less than that size.
Japanese Cuisine Lesson for all the people
After having demonstrated the advanced technique of cutting fish, Mr Murata and Mr Shimoguchi moved on to talk about the bases of cooking using soy sauce and Mirin, which is a type of sweet rice wine often used in cooking. Equal proportion of these liquid provides sweet-bitter balance. You may further add sake, water or dashi bouillon depending on the type of dish you are preparing. For example, for teriyaki sauce, the ratio of soy sauce, Mirin and sake is of equal portions, while for stewing fish, the ratio of soy sauce, Mirin, sake and water should be 1:1:4:4. If you are stewing vegetables, use of dashi bouillon instead of water for its rich Umami-taste is recommended.
Historically speaking, Japanese cuisine has been deeply influenced by the “five elements” ideology of ancient China, such as;
- Five techniques: to cut, boil, steam, grill and fry
- Five colours: white, red, black, yellow and blue/green
- Five tastes: sweet, bitter, salty, spicy and sour
“However,” Mr. Murata added “concerning the five tastes, the above notion belongs to the very ancient history. Today it is scientifically proved that the five basic tastes we humans can detect are sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, sourness and umami.”
The event was a great success and during the friendly reception followed, the discussions continued actively on the basic material of water, seasoning and on other secrets of Japanese cuisine. Many young students seemed more than ready to put their new gained knowledge into practice at home.
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