Tetsu Kariya > Quotes

“What a pretty color...
A kind of goldish-green, with an emerald tint to it...
Mmm...!
A sweet, gentle, slightly bitter flavor with a soft aftertaste...
It's as if a breeze from a mountain stream has just blown through my body...
I probably wouldn't have understood this flavor if you had just given it to me the moment I arrived here after walking under the sun.
It's all because I drank that hot hōjicha first...
Now I get it! You made me walk under the scorching sun so that I'd understand the flavor of this tea...
This house... the mild breeze from the rice paddies... the sound of cicadas... the dragonflies...
What luxury..."
"This gyokuro is the last thing I've prepared for you today."
"Ōhara, I'm going to get angry if you give me anything else.
I've just had a taste of real Japan. The spirit of Japan.
As long as the Japanese do not lose this spirit, they'll be fine.
This is that essential ingredient all those expensive feasts were lacking.
So what more could I ask for?”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“The sweet taste, the crunchiness... it's the core of the cabbage chopped into thin sticks!"
"Oh! And the sauce on it is puréed raw tomato!!
I've had this tomato before too!!"
"A... fully ripe tomato grown using the Ryoken farming method..."
"It's amazing! This cabbage core goes way beyond a unique dish--- it's incredible !"
"It's like we'd forgotten how spectacular the taste of nature can really be! A cabbage as good as this merits a cooking method that highlights the quality of the vegetable.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Vegetables

“Hōjicha is a variety of tea created by roasting green tea leaves over a charcoal fire. It has less caffeine and a mellower, richer taste than regular green tea.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“Gyokuro is one of the highest quality (and most expensive) green teas in Japan. The major difference between the processes of growing gyokuro and regular green tea is that the gyokuro bushes are shaded with clod or reed screens for several weeks before harvesting, which gives the leaves a sweeter flavor and more intensely green color.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“I think that the essence of the tea ceremony lies in how sincere you are toward your guests.
Human life is a fragile thing. We may be alive and kicking right now, but we could die at any moment. That's why you have to put your heart and soul into the way you treat your guests, and conduct yourself as if it's the last time you'll ever see them.
The tea ceremony is a practice through which you show your consideration to others. The manners and utensils are all part of that.
That's why I think people who brag about how expensive their utensils are, or who take pride in the fact that they know the right manners, do not understand the spirit of the tea ceremony.
Putting your heart and soul into it means you must get rid of all vanity. And that's why the governing aesthetic of the tea ceremony is to get rid of what's non-essential, in order to pursue the essence of things.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“Sake is the best when it comes to pairing with seafood. It's often said that Chablis and raw oysters go well together, but I've got my doubts about that. I find a strong off taste lingers after I eat raw oysters and drink Chablis."
"Why is that?"
"Wine has a lot more sodium in it compared to sake. The sodium compounds are part of what gives wine its fine flavor.
But at the same time, I think one of those compounds brings out the fishiness of the seafood.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Sake

“In France, caviar, truffles and foie gras are considered to be the three major delicacies.
And when the French eat caviar, they don't drink wine with it.
The French aren't stupid. They're more than aware that no wine goes well with caviar.
That's why they drink vodka with it. But they don't know about sake."
"You're right. Vodka's usually served with caviar."
"But vodka really isn't a drink to have during a meal."
"It's not just caviar--- I don't think wine goes well with any kind of seafood.
It doesn't matter whether the fish is grilled, simmered, raw or in a bouillabaisse. And it's completely out of the question for things like raw oysters, karasumi and sea urchin.
Wine contains far more sodium than sake.
And some of those sodium compounds do not mix well with the fats in the fish, so that distinctive seafood flavor ends up being emphasized even more.
On the other hand, sake has hardly any sodium, so it doesn't bring out the fishiness.
And the sugars from the rice starch enhance the flavor of the food."
"Hmm."
"Come to think of it, shiokara tastes a lot better when you eat it with rice than when you eat it on its own. I guess this is the same thing.
It's the power of rice.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Sake

“Main ingredients: rice, distilled alcohol, brewing saccharides...' what's that all mean?"
"During the second World War, something called sanbaizōshu was created as a way to make sake from a small very small amount of rice."
"'Sanbaizōshu'?"
"Essentially, you take sake made the proper way but then dilute it until it's three times its original volume.
Besides water, the main additive is distilled grain alcohol, followed by malt syrup, glucose, and MSG to fix the flavor."
"What? You add a completely different alcohol that wasn't created during the brewing?!"
"Monosodium glutamate? I can't believe they'd add such a thing to a drink!"
"You're right. This isn't real sake. Although we now have an abundant supply of rice, the big beverage companies still make sanbaizōshu since it's an easy way for them to make a profit."
"But I trusted them because they're popular brands..."
"It's the other way around. Most of the large companies with huge advertising campaigns on TV and whatnot use this method."
"Then what about this bottle with "Junmaishu" on it?"
"It's from a small brewery in the countryside, a sake made from nothing but rice, kōji, and water.
This is the kind of sake that should have an ingredient label so that people can see that it's truly pure. It's a tragedy that we have it the other way around here in Japan.
Is there any other country in the world that's degraded their traditional drink like this?It's an important part of our culture and it's almost been destroyed.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Sake

“I believe that sake and wine are the only drinks in the world that have achieved the level of being forms of art.
Wine is made from grapes. Grapes have a lot of sugar in them to start with.
Although it's a gross simplification, if you crushed the grapes and put them in a barrel they'd naturally ferment and turn into wine.
But that's not the case with sake. In order for fermentation to occur, the starch in the rice has to be converted into sugar.
And that involves a far more complex and difficult process than what's involved in making wine.
In the entire world, no other country has developed such a refined drink out of cereal grains.
What you usually get out of cereal grains is something like beer, which has a low proof...
... or a distilled liquor like whiskey, which has a high one.
I want you to understand what a wonderful and unique thing sake is...
... and to appreciate the amazing skill it takes to create a drink that is practically an art form out of plain rice.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Sake

“Kombu is a species of edible kelp (Laminaria japonica) that thrives in long streamers about a palm's-width wide that can reach up to thirty feet in length. Along with katsuobushi, it is the other main ingredient for making dashi. Kombu contains a high level of the amino acid glutamate, which is the source of the "fifth taste", umami, and a precursor to the flavor enhancer MSG. Japan consumes about 50,000tons of kombu a year--- about half wild, and half farmed--- most of it harvested off the coast of the northern island, Hokkaidō.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“The word gochisō not only means "feast," but also...
... "to run" or "rush." The host rushes around to gather the ingredients, get them ready, and then cook the food.
The vegetables and chicken were homegrown...
... and you must have sought out the halfbeak and quail yourself.
Miyasato sensei expended a lot of time and effort to treat us to this meal.
The dishes we had are all common ones so that we'd easily be able to compare them with versions we've eaten before.
For the wakame and green onion with miso, you pulled the onions out of your own vegetable patch, and you also used fresh wakame and homemade miso.
And that's why it tasted so much better than usual.
The care you've put into getting all these dishes ready...
... is what made this a real gochisō.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“The Chairman ignores the individual personalities of his workers and uses them like cattle or horses. That's the basic principle of capitalism, you know.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“This is an item used in Chinese cuisine. It's made from the same beans you use to make Chinese vermicelli, but it's been formed into a thin sheet instead of into noodles.
Because it's tasteless and odorless in itself, we're obviously meant to focus on the mouthfeel, enjoying the firmness with our teeth and the silkiness with our tongues. As far as the taste goes, the important thing is the dressing...
Hmm... the dashi is perfect, and the balance of flavors is well done too. There's vinegar in it, but the strength of the vinegar has been skillfully toned down.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“If you draw the full length of the blade through the fish in one gentle sweep, the resulting cross section is smooth and the cells are cleanly cut.
But if you force the blade down on the fish to cut it, the cross section becomes ragged and the cells are squashed.
If the surface of the slice is rough, more of the fish is exposed to air, and so it oxidizes faster and its flavor deteriorates.
This becomes even more apparent with water-chilled sashimi. The ragged surface of the slices allows the water to penetrate the fish and leech out its flavor."
"That's why the sashimi becomes watery and tasteless.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“Katsuobushi is dried bonito, or skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis). Chunks of the fish are smoked and dried into hard blocks, which keep for several months. Along with kombu, katsuobushi is the other main ingredient used in making dashi. Throwing the whole block of fish in the water won't work; it must first be shaved into flakes with a tool that resembles an inverted carpenter's plane. However, almost no one actually prepares the flakes by hand anymore; home cooks buy bags of them at the grocery store or use instant powder preparations instead. Although bonito is the most popular type of dried fish for making dashi, many others are used as well, such as mackerel (sababushi), bluefin tuna (magurobushi), and sardines (niboshi).”
― Tetsu Kariya, Japanese Cuisine

“Chicken meat, gizzard, chicken skin and chicken wing.
This time, I added about 10 percent more water to the Takazasu I gave to you...
...and let it sit for about a week to blend the alcohol and flavor together. And I've warmed it just like the last one so that it will be 118 degrees when poured into the cup.
If the temperature is any lower than that, the sweetness of the sake becomes too distinct and it loses its lightness."
"Hmmm! This one tastes so light, even though it's the same temperature!"
"After eating for a while, people tend to start getting a bit tired. If you warm this sake up to the right temperature, it helps you continue to eat."
"That's right. And this sake is not only light, but it also has a strong, rich taste...
... so it can capture the fatty parts like the chicken skin and chicken wing and boost their flavor."
"This way, you can continue to eat, and you'll never get tired of drinking.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“It's thanks to synthetic preservatives that you can buy so many kinds of prepared food, making life easier for housewives.
And that supports the participation of women in society."
"That's not true. The food companies use preservatives because it makes it easier to manage their products and keep them edible for a long time.
It's the discriminatory attitude of the Japanese men that is hindering the participation of women in society.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Vegetables

“This is the skin and fat of the salmon's stomach!"
"The skin is crisp, and when you bite on it the sweet fat comes seeping out..."
"A long time ago, there was a lord of a large clan in the Hokuriku area who just loved to eat salmon.
That lord especially liked to eat salmon skin, but salmon skin is very thin. Even if you had all the skin of a salmon, it still didn't satisfy him.
So one day he said, if there was a salmon with a skin that was one foot thick, he'd be willing to exchange it with ten square miles of land...
That is how good the skin of a salmon is. And the meat of a salmon with a lot of fat in it is exceptionally good too. This dish has grilled just those two best parts of it.
First, you cut off the dark meat from the belly meat. Then you sprinkle salt onto the skin and the meat and refrigerate for two to three hours. After that, you grill it over charcoal.
Being careful not to tear the skin, you roll the skin around the belly meat and pin it with a toothpick; this one is the salted one.
On the other hand, this one hasn't been salted; instead, it's been marinated in soy sauce and sake overnight."
"Hmm... he used the best part of a salmon and grilled it with salt or with teriyaki sauce."
"You can't really call this a proper dish at first glance, but its flavor is definitely supreme!”
― Tetsu Kariya, Fish, Sushi and Sashimi

“Oysters release their eggs from around August to September. So during this time, they are small and don't taste good. They gradually start to put on weight again after that.
And when the snow on the mountains melt and the water flows into the sea from the river, the oysters taste even better. Snow melt is rich in nutrients, and the plankton grows on that. The oysters eat the plankton and grow larger.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“The filling for the rice ball is the wasabi leaves and stem marinated overnight in soy sauce.
You make that into a rice ball using sushi rice...
... and wrap dried seaweed around it to create a rice ball the size of a ping-pong ball.
Meanwhile, you create a barazushi. Ingredients like grilled saltwater eel with sauce, kohada marinated in vinegar, kanpyo, steamed shrimp, steamed abalone and others...
...are all chopped up...
...and mixed into the rice.
Then use the small rice ball you made beforehand as the next filling...
... to create a larger rice ball.
And then you coat it with thin strips of grilled egg.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“Shiokara is a dish made by fermenting finely chopped seafood (usually squid) in a mixture consisting of salt, rice malt and the creature's own internal organs.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“Ruibe is a traditional Hokkaido dish using salmon or trout. It uses frozen salmon, thinly cut into sashimi slices. The fish is not thawed, but eaten frozen with soy sauce and wasabi. The origin of the name for ruibe is from the Ainu word ruipe in which ru means "melt" and ipe means "food.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Fish, Sushi and Sashimi

“Kabayaki-style means brushed with sauce, skewered on sticks and then grilled over charcoal. For a Tokyo-style eel kabayaki, the eel is split open from its back, grilled without the sauce, steamed and then grilled again with the sauce. For the Kansai-style, the eel is split open from its stomach, and then grilled right away without being steamed.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“The stewed offal here is motsunikomi. It can also be translated as "stewed giblets." It is made by stewing beef or pork giblets with ginger and vegetables, and flavored with either soy sauce or miso.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“Sardines have been considered a low-grade fish since the old days. Unlike sea bream, left-eyed flounder and sweetfish, they're never used in first-class restaurants.
They've always been used as fertilizer in the fields or food for fish farms. People treat them as the lowest fish there is."
"Hmm..."
"Recently the size of the sardine catch has decreased, so people have begun to value them. But the chef here has been making sardine dishes since back when people thought of them as worthless.
You could almost say the chef here...
... has staked his life on this fish.
This place may seem shabby compared to a luxurious ryōtei that takes pride in using expensive ingredients...
But the food here is sincere and earnest. This restaurant is far more attractive to me than the average first-class ryōtei.
It may look shabby, but his spirit is noble. That's because the chef believed in himself and created this place from scratch by his own effort.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“Good eggplants are hard to find these days. It's because the eggplants don't get fully ripe because of the pesticides and herbicides."
"This isn't just about Hitoshi. Anybody who eats this bad eggplant...
... will come to think that eggplant doesn't taste good at all.
Eggplant and oil are a perfect match. Let me make you a dish that even the greatest eggplant hater will like.
Pour sesame oil into the wok. Eggplant soaks up a lot of oil, so pour a lot in.
Once the oil is heated, cut the eggplant into thin slices of about a quarter inch.
You want to carefully stir-fry the eggplant trying to make every slice soak up the oil, but you also have to be fast at it. Keep the flame at high heat.
It's done when the eggplant starts to get soft and brown.
If you cook it too much, the skin gets hard, so be careful.
Now you pour some soy sauce on top of it.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Vegetables

“Tsukudani is a condiment for rice made of seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice

“Sardine sashimi. It tastes better when you eat it with ginger instead of wasabi."
"Look at the shine on that skin! These sardines are fresh!"
"They're small but fatty."
"And they don't smell fishy at all. As a matter of fact, they have a nice scent."
"Marinated sardines. You half-dry the sardine with the backbone still in it, and then marinate it in vinegar. Then you add small amounts of sugar, soy sauce and chopped red chili...
...and leave it in the refrigerator for a day."
"Hmm... it feels nice biting into the firm flesh."
"The spicy and sour flavor goes well with the fatty sardine."
"Fried sardine fish cakes. You mash the sardines after removing the head and the organs, add chopped spring onions, ginger juice and salt for the flavoring...
... then make them into an oval shape and deep-fry them."
"It's very crisp, and it must be nutritious since the bones have been mashed inside it too.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Izakaya: Pub Food

“Umeshu, often translated as "plum wine," is spirit made from steeping ume plums in shochu with sugar.”
― Tetsu Kariya, Vegetables

“The first one is stewed hard clam. You stew the hard clam in soy sauce until it's rather salty...
... and then you place it inside the rice ball...
... and wrap it with dried seaweed."
"Huh, stewed hard clam?"
"Stewed hard clam is what you eat in sushi, right? Why's that the future?"
"Next is a matsutake rice ball. You cook the matsutake you picked during the season and simmer it until it's salty...
... then preserve it. That becomes the filling for the rice ball."
"The scent and flavor... it brings back the joy of being Japanese."
"It's good... but why is this the rice ball of the future?"
"The last one is a katsuobushi rice ball. You shave a katsuobushi from makurazaki as thinly as possible...
...then you flavor it with soy sauce...
... and place it into the rice ball.
Finally, wrap it in dried seaweed.”
― Tetsu Kariya, The Joy of Rice