Cuisine is a very important part of Japanese culture. The spiritual value of Japanese cuisine is highly appreciated by the United Nations and has officially included Japanese cuisine in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Delicious, nutritious dishes and exquisite decoration are what people think of when talking about Japanese cuisine. Although Japanese cuisine is famous all over the world, there are still interesting things about Japanese cuisine that few people know. Now will be revealed by Japanese chef – head chef of Ussina Ageing Beef & Bar restaurant.
1. Chef is not a normal cooking profession
To get certified or work in a professional restaurant, every Japanese chef must undergo training, practice, and accumulate experience from simple tasks such as preparing ingredients, processing, and cleaning utensils until they have the opportunity to take on higher positions. Due to the specific nature of the job, the process of learning and working is also very difficult.
They must always work at a high intensity, go early to prepare ingredients and cooking utensils, and promptly serve dishes to customers. They leave work late after ensuring the kitchen is clean and tidy.
Chefs accept that their time for themselves, their families, and their friends will be shortened. “ No weekends ” – “ no holidays ” and they must stand completely during working hours to serve customers.
The working environment of chefs in general and Japanese chefs in particular… is not in a bright, spacious and beautiful office. Chefs will work in a kitchen that is always on fire, fighting with ingredients and racing against time to serve customers delicious dishes quickly. Their hands are also hard to avoid injuries and calluses because of this profession of “ playing with fire, joking with knives ”.
The pressure on Japanese chefs also comes from the need to be creative. How to keep the menu fresh, create delicious recipes, pay attention to the nutritional balance of each dish, and decorate beautifully to attract diners.
The reward for a true Japanese chef is not how much the restaurant sells. It is how much the customers are satisfied with the chef’s food. It is a fact in Japan that customers do not come to a restaurant because they are selling food that they want to eat. Customers come to a restaurant because they like the chef and trust any dish that is cooked by that chef.
2. Tokyo is the world’s top culinary city
Topping the list of major cities in the world, Tokyo is home to 302 Michelin stars in 2017. No less than 12 restaurants in Tokyo have 3 Michelin stars and 53 restaurants have less than 2 Michelin stars.
Meanwhile, Paris, famous for its fine dining, came in third with 141 stars, and New York came in fifth with 88. What’s even more surprising is that two other Japanese cities took second and fourth place in the top five. The capital Kyoto boasts 135 stars and Osaka has 116 Michelin stars.
And these Michelin-starred restaurants don’t just serve Japanese food. Many of Tokyo’s Michelin-starred restaurants serve Western cuisine, with a large portion serving French cuisine. This has given rise to a new type of Asian-European restaurant called Niku Baru.
3. Simplicity is key
Dishes are served in small portions, and the flavors are fresh and simple. Japanese chefs carefully select ingredients to ensure they are of the best quality. They then portion the food as small as possible to bring out the colors and flavors.
To put it simply, instead of using many ingredients to cook a dish, they will choose 1 to 2 ingredients for a dish and limit the use of spices. To create the flavor of the dish, they will use excellent cooking techniques and fresh ingredients to enhance the flavor of the dish.
For example, when a customer orders Wagyu beef. The chef will think of a simple way to prepare it but ensure that it maximizes the flavor of the beef. Usually, the beef will be processed into steak, which means grilled beef in large pieces. Using a heating method to cook the meat to a golden brown layer on the outside but still pink on the inside.
4. Sashimi is not just fish
One of the dishes of Japanese cuisine is Sashimi , thin slices of raw fish or meat that are beautifully presented. While most sashimi is made from fish, such as tuna and salmon. Of course, red meat is also a premium ingredient for making raw sashimi.
The most popular red meats used for sashimi in Japan are beef, horse meat, and venison. Of these, Wagyu beef is the type of meat favored by Japanese chefs for making high-end sashimi. In addition, horse meat and venison sashimi are also considered specialties in some regions of Japan.
Japanese chefs at famous sushi restaurants will give you a piece of advice when enjoying sushi: do not dip your sushi into the bowl of soy sauce. This is really important, because it shows politeness and does not let the taste of soy sauce destroy the original flavor of the sushi.
You should avoid dipping too much sushi rice into the soy sauce because the rice grains may lose their stickiness. This will cause the shape of the sushi to break and make it difficult to keep the shape until you eat it.
Instead of dipping your sushi directly into the soy sauce, you can use a soup spoon to dip a little soy sauce and drizzle it over your sushi.
5. Wagyu beef is not just one type.
Wagyu beef means “ Japanese beef ” and is a breed of purebred Japanese beef. In fact, there are many types of Wagyu beef, the most famous of which is Kobe beef , a breed of Japanese black-haired cattle raised in the Kobe region. In addition, there are Hida beef, Miyazaki beef, Omi beef, and Matsusaka beef, which are among the most expensive beef on the planet.
The reason Wagyu beef is so expensive is because it is rare, due to limited supply, strictly monitored breeding and care processes, high care costs as well as unique delicious quality.
At each stage, Wagyu cows are cared for according to a specific regimen, specific to each region and breed. It can be said that Wagyu are the “happiest” cows in the world when they receive daily therapeutic massages and warm baths; sometimes they drink beer, listen to classical music and soak in Sake to relax.
When eating Wagyu beef, you are not only physically nourished but it also provides optimal spiritual value for culinary users. Each piece of Wagyu meat when put in your mouth, you will feel the soft, light taste, not causing boredom but on the contrary, the more you eat, the more addicted you become.
It can be said that Wagyu beef is among the “world’s” top in terms of quality and the rich nutritional value it brings. In particular, for Japanese chefs, Wagyu beef is a favorite ingredient, allowing them to freely create new dishes.
6. Sauce is an indispensable ingredient
It can be said that sauce is the “ soul ” of a delicious dish. There are even dishes that sometimes lose their “identity” without sauce. Sauces play a role in making our dishes much more delicious and Japanese cuisine is no exception. There are dishes that are hard to imagine what they would be like without the following Japanese sauces:
Tonkatsu Sauce
Tonkatsu is a very famous deep-fried pork dish of the Land of the Rising Sun. Japanese people can eat tonkatsu in many different ways such as with rice, on its own, with curry rice… Tonkatsu sauce has a slightly sweet and sour taste, made from vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and some vegetables such as tomatoes, apples, lemon juice, carrots, onions…
Miso Sauce
Imagine miso soup without miso, for many Japanese it would be a tragedy. However, it is not limited to soups, miso sauce can also be used to create a great dipping sauce for steamed vegetables.
Mix in some miso, mirin and sugar or crushed peanuts or ginger… This sauce is said to help even vegetable haters chew their vegetarian dishes without any problems.
Okonomi sauce
Okonomi is a sauce that is often used to top Japanese pancakes. Okonomi is a brown sauce with a sweet and sour taste and a thick and flavorful texture, made from ketchup, oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Okonomi sauce is often served with creamy mayonnaise.
Not only is it served with Japanese pancakes, you can also use this sauce with fried foods or other savory dishes like takoyaki. You will never see a pancake without okonomi sauce, because without okonomi, Japanese pancakes will be very “bland” and have a disjointed flavor.
Ponzu Sauce
Ponzu may look a bit like soy sauce and is also made from soy sauce, but it tastes very different. Ponzu has a liquid texture and a slightly sour citrus flavor. Ponzu sauce can be used in many salads or dipping sauces, and can be used in cooking as a marinade. The Japanese often mix ponzu sauce with some grated daikon or the juice of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit).
No Kushikatsu
Similar to tonkatsu sauce, this is a sauce specifically for fried foods. These fried foods are usually kushiage and kushikatsu (mixed fried foods skewered on bamboo sticks). It has a runny texture and a very sweet taste, and is not commonly sold in convenience stores like many other types, but is usually only available in kushikatsu specialty restaurants.
For Japanese restaurants, to create a difference and attract customers, the sauce is the soul of the chef. Selecting from fresh ingredients, the chef will concentrate the broth and enhance the flavor by seasoning with special spices according to their own recipe.
7. Teppanyaki is art
If you often admire the splendid, luxurious and no less formal appearance of many traditional Japanese dishes. Then with dishes prepared on a Teppanyaki stove, you will not only be satisfied with the artistic cooking performances right at the table. But also cannot help but be excited by the stimulating aroma emanating from the ingredients that are golden brown on the grill.
Walking into a Teppanyaki restaurant, the first thing that strikes you might be the bustling atmosphere and the constant clattering of shovels and sizzling sounds coming from the food sitting on the griddle.
Diners sit around a table, in the center is a large grill and the chef will cook right there. With an impressive performance from cutting ingredients quickly with a shovel to juggling food with precision, and when the spices begin to be seasoned, the aroma spreads, making you restless.
In some luxury restaurants, Teppanyaki kitchen tables are placed in an open kitchen. They will be separated from the diners’ table space by a transparent glass layer. Thanks to that, diners can still see the chef’s operations but can still relax in the melodious sound without being disturbed by other sounds.
Teppanyaki dishes are quite diverse, from popular dishes such as Okonomiyaki or Yakisoba fried noodles that are commonly seen at mobile stalls (called “Yatai” in Japanese), to high-class dishes such as seafood or Wagyu beef (representative dishes of luxury Teppanyaki restaurants).
Wagyu Beef Steak is the most suitable dish for the thickness of this giant pan. The beef dishes will retain the characteristic aroma, deliciousness, sweetness and softness that no other stove can do.
Do you want to enjoy the cooking skills of Japanese chefs right now ?
No need to fly all the way to the Land of the Rising Sun, you just need to contact Ussina restaurant to book a table and you can enjoy hot Wagyu beef cooked on a Teppanyaki stove. Then the beef will be served at the table and heated on Fuji volcanic rocks. There is nothing better than satisfying your hunger with the stimulating aroma of the special Snow Ageing Wagyu beef combo including beef tenderloin, loin, grilled beef tongue, and grilled ribs.
The feeling of biting into each piece of Snow Aging Wagyu beef brings an explosion of taste and flowing meat juice. Diners will enjoy the rich sweetness in each line of fat and the aroma that melts to every sense. The aroma of the meat is like a blend of the sweet taste of peach and the fatty taste of coconut. The chef skillfully marinates a thin layer of salt and pepper on the beef to make the meat taste just right, enough for you to feel the original sweetness of the meat.
You can still experience a different flavor when beef is combined with red wine sauce or Japanese sauce. With a smooth texture and carefully seasoned flavor according to a secret recipe. Red wine sauce will enhance the feeling of flavor permeated by both taste, smell and sight. It will be especially interesting when beef steak is combined with a glass of red wine.
Of course, there will be refreshing dishes made from vegetables such as Grilled Salmon Salad, Rainbow Salad, Hokkaido Tomato and Mixed Vegetable Salad, Grilled Wagyu Beef Salad, etc.
Or Western-origin side dishes such as Japanese Ahijo Mushroom, Seafood Spaghetti, Burrata Cheese, Wagyu Beef Hambagu, etc.
At Ussina restaurant, diners not only enjoy delicious dishes made by Japanese chefs, but also experience a luxurious and sophisticated culinary space.