- All right.
(clap) Hey guys, it's me, Jasmine.
We are here at Sushi Ginza Onodera,
a two Michelin star restaurant.
We're gonna speak with Chef Yohei
and he's gonna show us a little bit about aging fish,
a super, super traditional process
that dates back to 200 years ago.
Let's go check it out.
(drum banging)
Like a party in my mouth.
- Oh, enjoy party (speaks in foreign language)
(laughter)
- Americans are obsessed with fresh sushi.
We want the fish to be caught, prepared,
and placed on our plate all on the same day.
But in order for that delectable piece of toro
to go from boat to tongue, it has to travel a long way.
So how do you preserve that fresh taste that we all crave?
Well by freezing it.
(speaks in foreign language)
- There are many ways to age fish
but the four main techniques in Edomae sushi
are one, konbujime, salted seaweed marinade,
two, shoyu-zuke, a soy sauce marinade,
three, sujime, a pickling vinegar marinade,
and four, nimono, cooking the fish.
(drum beating)
First, seaweed is rehydrated using sake until soft.
(upbeat music)
Then the filet is salted and wrapped in the seaweed
like a blanket, then left to age for four days.
Kochi is a white fish
with similar texture to the puffer fish.
(speaks in foreign language)
- Mmmm.
(speaks in foreign language)
- That was so good.
There's like a bounce to it,
like Christmas every 30 seconds.
(drum beating)
The salmon is quickly poached
in a bath of hot water and cooled in an ice bath
to prevent cooking all the way through.
Then the filet is placed in a marinade
of homemade soy sauce, mirin, and dashi,
then aged for one night.
(calm music)
Mmm.
Melts in my mouth.
And I know it's aged, but it just tastes so, so fresh.
- Thank you much.
(drum beating)
- After the fish is fileted,
it's placed in a strong salt water bath
for 10 minutes to remove that strong, fishy smell.
The skin is torched very slightly
and placed in a bowl of vinegar for 30 minutes.
After, the skin is scored and topped with
original Japanese tiger shrimp powder.
(speaks in foreign language)
Mmm.
I don't even know how to describe that.
Like a party in my mouth.
- Yeah. Oh, enjoy party, (speaks in foreign language)
(laughter)
(drum beating)
- The eel is fileted then placed in hot water
to remove slime on the skin.
Then it's cooked in a soup base for 30 minutes.
The soup base is kept and used over again each time
enriching the flavor and thickness of the broth.
Mmm.
So different.
- Yes. - But so delicious.
(speaks in foreign language)
- Taking in the entire process,
it doesn't just start here, it starts with the fishermen.
And then you come and prep and do
all this beautiful stuff in between.
And you say that the process ends with
the customer eating it.
It's like a whole story.
And you were saying how it's like an open book.
We see everything.
So seeing the love and care that goes into
each single piece of fish,
I think that really makes it,
that sets it apart from everything.
(speaks in foreign language)