Report on the one-day special feast “Delicious Lalara Dining” (Part 2)
#Dining #Mt.Fuji #DeliciousLalalaDining
On Wednesday, November 2023, 11, "Delicious Lalala Dining" sponsored by Shizuoka Prefecture was held at "Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha" (29-1 Miyamachi, Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture).
Shizuoka Prefecture is promoting gastronomy tourism in order to promote tourism by taking advantage of being one of the nation's top-class ``kingdoms of food ingredients''. As part of this effort, we will hold ``Bimi Ralara Dining'' (dining event) named after the Shizuoka prefecture brand of gastronomy tourism, ``Bimi Ralara.''
Naoki Maeda, owner of Sasue Maeda Gyoten in Yaizu, which is attracting attention from chefs around the world, is in charge of overall production, and the venue will be set at Mt. Four top chefs from Niigata Prefecture will create a special one-day feast using plenty of ingredients from Shizuoka Prefecture.
We would like to introduce the details of the morning session, which was held in two sessions: morning and afternoon.
【Schedule】
09:40 Shizuoka Prefecture Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center
10:45 Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine (precinct tour, prayer, Wakutama Pond tour)
[See the first part of the report]
11:30 Mt.Fuji Hongu Sengen Taisha Gathering Hall (meal)
14:00 Dissolution
A one-day feast prepared by top chefs from Shizuoka and Niigata. From Mt. Fuji to Suruga Bay.
After the tour of Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, there was a surprise performance on the way to the dining venue. Sencha from Umegashima, a mountainous area in Shizuoka City that uses spring water from Wakutama Pond, and Shizuoka Oden were delivered. Since it was feeling a little chilly, the participants couldn't help but smile at this hospitality.
At the entrance to the dining venue, top chefs from Shizuoka and Niigata greeted us from kitchen cars. First, let's introduce the profiles of the chefs.
【profile】
Shizuoka Chef Yasuhiko Inoue (Simples/Shizuoka City)
He started his career as a chef at the age of 20, and after training at star restaurants in Belgium, France, and Italy, he opened a restaurant in his hometown of Hita City, Oita Prefecture. In 2014, she moved to Shizuoka City and opened "Simples". Simple
Shizuoka Chef Kenichi Nishi (Kenichi Nishi/Yaizu City)
After training at Hiroshima's Chisso Taku Ichiju, he opened Hiroshima's popular French restaurant Chisso 2924. He fell in love with the fish from Sasue Maeda Uoten in Yaizu City and opened Chisou Nishi Kenichi in Yaizu City in June 2022. "Gault & Millau 6". Received bronze at “The Tabelog Award 2023”. Kenichi Nishi
Niigata Chef Keiko Kuwakino (Satoyama Jucho/Uonuma City)
After graduating from university, she worked at a beauty salon in Tokyo before heading overseas. She has traveled around the world, including Austria, Germany, and India, learning yoga and vegetarian cuisine from various countries. After returning to Japan, he worked as a head chef at a vegan restaurant in Tokyo. He has been the chef at Satoyama Jucho since it opened in 2014, expressing local gastronomy in his cuisine. In 2018, she became the head chef of "Satoyama Jucho" and received one star in the "Michelin Guide Niigata 2020 Special Edition". She received 2021 points in Gault & Millau 15.5. She was ranked 2023th in "THE BEST VEGETABLES RESTAURANTS 13" and was also awarded "Best Lady Vegetable Chefs". Satoyama ten chapters
Niigata Chef Kosuke Kobayashi (Sushi Tokiwa/Shibata City)
Born in Shibata City. After graduating from high school, he learned the basics of cooking at Hattori Nutrition College. At the age of 27, he joined Sushiya Uoma in Shimokitazawa and began his career as a sushi chef. In 2010, he returned to Sushi Tokiwa, and after many twists and turns, he officially assumed the name of the third generation in 2017 when the restaurant was renovated. He received the Special Excellence Award at the Niigata Gastronomy Awards. Winner of “2023 Destination Restaurants Awards”.Sushi Tokiwa
Producer: Naoki Maeda (Sasue Maeda Fish Store/Yaizu City)
Born in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture in 1974. The fifth generation owner of Sasue Maeda Uoten, which has been in business for over 60 years. He will acquire skills for both retail sales to local customers and specialty sales to restaurants. As a result of his efforts, he was flooded with delivery offers from many grand maisons. In 5, we were the only fishmonger to receive the "Terroir Award" given to producers in the French gourmet guide "Gault & Millau", which is on par with Michelin.
The venue was decorated with flowers reminiscent of Shizuoka's nature, and rice plants were placed on the tables as if to celebrate fertility. The chopstick rests and chopsticks were also made of wood, creating a natural feel of Shizuoka.
Mr. Naoki Maeda of "Sasue Maeda Uoten" is the general producer of this time.
The theme for this day was ``From Mt. Fuji to Suruga Bay - Japan's largest height difference.'' Starting from Mt. Fuji, we moved on to land, then to the ocean, then to the deep sea, and finally to the Earth's magma, with dishes representing each location.
Mr. Maeda told the chefs, ``Only ingredients gathered the day before,'' ``The tide comes from the sea, so salt is not used in cooking up to sea level,'' and ``Chefs' signature dishes (= for that chef). The chefs are given the following tasks: ``Seal the dish (which can be said to be the signature dish),'' ``Finish the dish with multiple people,'' and ``Think about the overall composition together.'' He gave it to me.
``I think all the chefs stayed up all night thinking about it.Chef Kuwakino has just returned from overseas and is working hard with a tight schedule to serve delicious food,'' said Maeda. Students from Suzuki Gakuen Central Culinary and Confectionery College, who study cooking, served as servers.
Wakutama Pond stretches out outside the window, and the workbench looks like a painting with plants as frames. The food was prepared outside in the car kitchen, and the chefs put the finishing touches on the dishes at the work tables set up in the audience seats.
"Forest Soup"
``After climbing Mt. Fuji to the 5th station, I thought about what kind of dish I should make,'' said Chef Inoue, who flavored his Fujinomiya chicken soup with forest ingredients such as mushrooms, ginkgo nuts, and raw goji berries. The water used is from Wakutama Pond. The result was a delicious and nutritious dish that brought out the flavors of the ingredients themselves.
"Umegashima Wasabi and Deer Dishes"
Umegashima in Shizuoka City is said to have been used by Takeda Shingen for hot spring treatments.
Umegashima is also home to a gold mine, hot springs with names related to gold, such as Konya Onsen and Kogane no Yu, and is also a producer of wasabi. This dish was created because deer love wasabi. This salad combines low-temperature-cooked venison, cheese made from fresh milk from the farm, salted wasabi stems, grated wasabi, wildflowers picked from the mountains, and wasabi leaves. .
"Vegetable dishes"
A dish inspired by the area about 800 meters above the ground. In order to meet Mr. Maeda's request that ``salt not be used in cooking at sea level,'' we used a sauce that concentrated the flavor of vegetables. Shizuoka has a variety of vegetables, so I couldn't choose just one, so I used carrots, burdock, potatoes, green peppers, turnips, cauliflower, leafy vegetables, and even rare vegetables that you don't often see.
Lightly grilled, boiled, sometimes spicy, sour, or pickled in rice bran, etc. As I move my chopsticks forward, I imagine it's like walking through a field and encountering a variety of living things. It was a dish that made me want to eat.
"Steamed clam rice"
The location is the sandy beach of Suruga Bay. It is said that the clams will grow larger from this time of year until spring. Steamed clams with the scent of the ocean. It was a dish with a slightly salty taste and a hint of sea minerals that made me feel like I was playing on the beach.
This is still the entrance to Suruga Bay. From now on, we will enter the sea little by little. I can't wait to see what the next dish will be.
"White sweet sea bream with sesame sauce"
Shirakawa, a white sweet sea bream, is slowly cooked in low-temperature oil and confited to give it a moist texture. The soup is made with sesame milk made from freshly squeezed sesame seeds that were obtained first thing in the morning the day before. The sesame milk goes well with the delicate Shirakawa, and the yuzu-scented oil is used as an accent. This is a very elegant tasting dish.
``Sea bream comes in red, black, and white, and the white sea bream is the most luxurious fish in Suruga Bay.It is also a fish found in shallow waters in Suruga Bay.It is the white sweet sea bream that even Ieyasu loved,'' says Maeda.
"Aoriika squid Ayame Yuki's Shari style"
The location is deeper into the sea, at a depth of 45m in Suruga Bay. The theme given by Mr. Maeda to sushi chef Chef Kobayashi was ``Sushi that doesn't hold hands.'' Therefore, this dish was reconstructed using vegetables from Shizuoka and fish from Suruga Bay. We use thinned turnips called Ayameyuki and combine them with bigfin squid.
"Squid is a squid with a strong sweet taste. It takes 50 bites to get the sweet taste, but we use a knife to replace that with the sweet taste."
The slight sweetness of the turnips and the umami and sweetness of the squid combined in the mouth, creating a dish that left a lasting taste and aroma in the mouth.
"Mackerel Battera, Mukitake Mushrooms and Peanuts"
The location goes further into the sea, reaching around 70m into Suruga Bay. As the water temperature drops, the number of fatty and delicious fish increases in this area.
``Mackerel is a popular fish,'' says Maeda. ``We caught this mackerel using a fishing method that we developed together with fishermen to find a way to make it into something better.We also changed the way it is pasteurized and the basics of cooking.''
During this season, mackerel are growing up eating sakura shrimp. The taste of mackerel changes by determining what the fish are eating and how they are digesting it before fishing.
Here are some dishes using mackerel from Yaizu Ogawa Port. It's a flavor that will change the concept of mackerel as we know it until now. Use persimmon vinegar for the sushi. Mackerel has a lot of fat and gives the impression of being heavy, but this mackerel has fat that is not heavy. You can enjoy it easily.
"Fried horse mackerel, battered scales, sushi tartare and Honyamacha"
Flying horse mackerel appears from around 80m deep in Suruga Bay. It is made using rockfish scales as clothing. This is a dish that you can enjoy with its crispy texture. The accompanying tartar sauce uses vinegared rice instead of boiled eggs. This is a collaboration dish that is possible because we have a sushi restaurant. On top of the tartar sauce, tea leaves from a first-class Honzan tea are drizzled with water to soften them.
``There is a leader who stands at the front of horse mackerel, and the horse mackerel that we are offering to you today is that leader's horse mackerel.The fish that we catch are hungry, so they bite on the bait. Fish doesn't taste good.Fish caught in fixed nets is fish in normal condition, so it tastes better that way.The fishermen of Ogawa Port are now changing the way they catch fish.By the way, Shizuoka's "Tempura Seisei also uses this horse mackerel in their signature dish," says Maeda.
"Ebodai sashimi"
Now, Mr. Maeda himself wields a knife here. Ebo-tai, a fish that was in the sea until 8 a.m. on the day of dining. As of 4 a.m., it had not been caught in the net, but the fishermen went fishing again at 8 a.m. and caught it just for this occasion.
``I didn't have much time, so I specially asked the auctioneers to serve it first.The salt removes the moisture that causes spoilage and prevents dehydration.Please enjoy the taste as it is without adding soy sauce or anything. ” said Mr. Maeda.
The Ebo-tai, which was alive just a few hours ago, is packed with the deliciousness of fish, and the flavor spreads in your mouth with every bite.
``It's a fish with a lot of flavor, and when you bite into it when it's warm in your mouth, the flavor oozes out.The taste changes depending on how you chew.''
It has a flavor similar to that of kelp.
Mr. Maeda says that just as the saying goes, ``tailoring a kimono,'' he is ``tailoring a fish.'' "I believe that in the food baton relay, the customer is the anchor at the end of the food journey." It seems that the customer is the one who completes the cooking.
"Ukkari Rockfish Sakura Shrimp with XO Sauce"
A fish with the interesting scientific name ``Ukkari rockfish'' appears from around 150 meters deep in Suruga Bay.
``It's a fish with a juicy flesh.The surface is coated with hot sesame oil, and the inside is kept rare.This fish grows up eating sakura shrimp, so we pair it with homemade XO sauce made with sakura shrimp,'' says Nishi. chef.
"Kinmedai sea bream"
Finally, let's go to the deep sea of Suruga Bay.
``Up to a depth of 200 meters, there is sunlight and photosynthesis can take place, but below that depth the water becomes sterile and plankton cannot grow.The water pressure becomes stronger and the salt concentration becomes higher.Fish in such a place are unable to migrate. It is characterized by the fact that many of them have soft flesh.
It is inspired by a golden sea bream in the deep sea, and is depicted floating in a squid ink sauce reminiscent of the ocean floor. The yuzu peel is made to look like the big eyes of a golden sea bream. Golden sea bream caught off the coast of the Tenryu River is paired with a rich soup made with stewed aromatic vegetables.
"Magma and lava, scoria beet ice cream and bamboo charcoal crumble"
After diving to the depths of the ocean, the final dessert was a beetroot ice cream inspired by the earth's magma. Scoria is volcanic ejecta. The meal ended with a dessert depicting such rugged rock formations.
One of the joys of this meal was pairing it with various drinks to match each dish. Let me give you a brief introduction.
【Non-alcoholic】
Forest botanical water Jennifer with roasted berry leaves
Motoyama tea sparkling tea
Motoyama Tea Cold Brewed Leaf Flavor Tea
Houjicha made with dashi soup from golden sea bream
Persimmon mead style soft drink
Bishop Crown (type of green pepper) concentrated juice
Kuromoji tea from Izunoyama
[Alcoholic drinks]
Shizuoka's Sake Good Fortune Sake Rice, Homarefuji
Shizuoka City Whiskey Gaia Flow Spiced Highball
Hakuin Masamune first squeeze, fully ripe, with the taste of Japanese pepper
Shizuoka Sake Kaiun Sake Rice Yamada Nishiki Golden Sea Bream Fillet
Sake persimmon mead drink
Shizuoka's sake Kaiun Sake rice and Homaji cocktail
Bishop Crown and Numazu Craft Gin Lemongrass Tailored Cocktail
Fujieda Sugii Sake Brewery Old Sake Asuka Yamamoto Mirin
Finally, we received a few words from the chefs.
Chef Inoue
"I think people love nature very much. I would be happy if people could visit Shizuoka and Niigata, which are home to great nature, and discover a different landscape than the one they saw today."
west chef
``We had detailed discussions with the chefs and even climbed Mt. Fuji together to think about it.The dish was decided at dawn, and we all worked together to make it.I think it was a dish that put a lot of emotion into it.''
Chef Kuwakino
"It's snowing today in Niigata, and the weather is completely different from Shizuoka. I thought that even in the same country, Japan is so different. I worked hard until dawn on the dishes, wondering what kind of chemical reaction I could create with these unique chefs. I learned a lot.”
Chef Kobayashi
"It was an event I'll never forget. I've been to many different events, but this is the first time I've seen something so passionate. I feel like I'm about to fall over at any moment."
Mr. Maeda
``I came here thinking that by being mean to the chefs and pushing them to the ultimate limit, a new sensibility could be born.Shizuoka is the place with the most ingredients in Japan, with 439 ingredients.Today, we will introduce 4 In addition to other chefs, chefs from the book hotels Hakonebako and Noh+ (Nautis) and vocational school students also came to help.We hope to continue to evolve and create better dishes. I wish I had.”
