- We basically just put this kombu in the water.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
- I know, look at me making dashi,
not me making dashi with the master.
Hey guys, we're outside of n/soto restaurant,
the beautiful brainchild of chefs Carole and Niki Nakayama.
The new restaurant is an is an izakaya-inspired
Japanese restaurant and we are gonna talk all things donabe.
I'm so excited.
Let's go.
(adventurous music)
- So this is a donabe.
- What does donabe mean for those who have not experienced?
- "Do" in the donabe means like earth or like clay.
So basically it's, "nabe" is pot.
So clay pot,
but donabe kind of serves its purpose
as like the finishing rice course.
- So in the style of donabe cooking,
is there one stock or liquid that's used throughout,
or does that vary based on the flavor profile?
- In Japanese food, you can't cook without dashi.
So you're probably familiar with kombu, right?
I mean this is basically
like the heart and soul of Japanese cooking.
- Bonito flake and kombu.
- [Carole] Yes. - [Nyesha] Yes.
And bonito flake is?
- It's usually a skip jack tuna
that's basically been dried,
goes through like 12 or 15 steps of drying and smoking
and repeating that process over and over and over.
- It's almost like fish jerky in a way.
- It is, yeah, totally. - Mild, elegant.
- That's exactly what it is. - Sure.
- We got a nice cold pot of water.
That's key.
Like you always have to start with cold water.
- Cold water.
- So, if it's a little too big,
we can kind of bend it a little bit or snap it,
and then you're gonna turn the heat up.
'cause we want this to come up to temp slowly,
'cause you don't want it over extract,
'cause then you'll get that fishy, unsavory flavor
that will get imparted.
You never want it to boil.
Now that the kombu's been steeping for a long time,
and we pulled that out,
we basically just put this
into that kombu broth,
and that combination of the two,
is what's gonna give us ichiban dashi.
So you wanna give it a hand?
- Yes. - Okay.
- Oh, it's so interesting how it just melts.
- [Carole] Yes.
- So does it just off the heat, sort of steep now?
- Yeah, off the heat.
Just let it steep.
Here, we do it for maybe about five minutes.
- Okay.
- 'Cause we want a bit more concentrated smokiness
from that katsuo. - Wow.
- And then we'll strain it out.
(fast-paced music)
- Okay. This is Tasmanian ocean trout.
- Wow. - From Oceania.
- Nice to meet you sir.
Or ma'am. (Yoji laughs)
- So let's get scales off. - Okay.
- [Yoji] Usually we don't touch
raw meat side because hand is so hot.
- So the body heat raises the temperature of the flesh
when we touch the body.
So we wanna avoid that.
- Yes. So, (scaler clatters)
you want to do half?
- Sure.
Thank you Chef.
Chef, is that, what is the Japanese name
of this ocean trout?
- Oh, masu.
- So just wash.
Inside too.
- So this is already the guts taken out, clean.
Excellent.
- [Yoji] So I just cut head, okay?
- [Nyesha] Okay.
Just behind the gills.
Do you always use the deba knife for this?
- [Yoji] Yes.
- [Nyesha] So we're going to remove the flesh
from the bones?
- Yes. So I always do it like this,
and make sure the bone is downside from my knife.
If you cook, taste more good.
Better than some.
You wanna try?
- [Nyesha] Sure.
How would you say this fish reacts to heat?
Is this one of the best fish to cook in terms of flavor?
You know, fat content for this donabe dish.
- Oh. Because we try to use salmon,
but salmon has some flavor,
another flavor, a strong flavor.
But this is a delicate flavor.
So when you touch bone,
hold it like this. - Yes.
- [Yoji] So we have to do,
I, I'm always doing like this,
one finger to make sure debone the whole,
- So we don't damage the flesh?
- Some people like this, than messing for bone.
- Absolutely.
- So like this much we.
- Okay. Like an ounce and a half,
two ounces.
Two ounces.
- So now's process going to chef Carole.
- This is the rice we're gonna be using to cook this donabe.
- What style of rice are we using today?
- So this one is Tamaki rice, that's the brand,
and it's koshi hikari green.
- So we start off with the washed rice.
- Yeah. - Into the donabe.
So as I'm placing the fish,
and what should I be looking for
in terms of where I'm placing this fish?
- [Carole] As much as possible,
try not to overlap them,
letting them all touch the surface of the rice.
So that, that way when it's cooking,
the heat is distributing more evenly
and then it's also penetrating into the rice evenly.
So then the last step
before we get it on the stove top is basically
taking that dashi that we made earlier.
- [Nyesha] Yes. - [Carole] The ichiban dashi.
And this is just a ratio of 10 parts dashi,
one part Usukuchi soy sauce.
And then there's a little bit of mirin
to add a little sweetness,
but just undertone of it.
- [Nyesha] Essentially, this is all of the seasoning
we're adding to this donabe? - [Carole] Yes. That's it.
- [Nyesha] Amazing.
- So are you familiar with nuka?
- I will say no.
- Okay. (Nyesha laughs)
- So this is like a super traditional way of pickling.
It's rice bran. - [Nyesha] Yes.
- So they used to take that outer rice bran layer off
of the rice when they're milling the rice,
basically turning that into a fermenting bed.
You can smell that funk.
- Yes, absolutely.
(smack lips) - Mmm.
- [Cameraperson] Tingly? - Tingly.
(both laugh)
Never met a probiotic I didn't like.
- Essentially you take rice bran, water, salt.
In the beginning stages,
you put like leafy parts of vegetables or you know,
the outer outer layers of cabbage or whatever,
and you bury it in there
and then you keep changing it out,
changing it out.
And as you're doing that and,
and stirring it,
all those, like, healthy bacteria
will start fermenting in there.
Creating this, which is what we call a "nukadoko".
The nuka bin.
- How long would you say this one's been alive?
- I guess this one,
it's not too long, but maybe almost a year.
- Wow. And how long could they go potentially?
- I've heard of people back in the day,
like, passing it on to the next generation.
It's like passing on your sourdough starter.
So this has been in that nuka pot for a day.
- Okay. - Overnight.
- [Carole] You can tell they're a little bit flimsy feeling.
They're not quite as crisp and hard.
- [Nyesha] Yes.
They've released some of their water.
- [Carole] Yeah, some of that moisture's been drawn up.
- [Nyesha] Absolutely. And, and so what does the purpose
of the pickle serve in the, in a dish like the donabe?
- Well, Japanese people love pickles in general,
so it's pretty much served with every meal.
But in particular with the donabe,
just adds a nice crunchy accent,
nice vegetal accent because the the rice is so moist,
and comforting, and warm,
and you just kind of want a little acid to offset that.
- Totally.
So that sort of takes you on a journey,
having that like foreground-background flavor.
- Back and forth. - Absolutely.
And you can cut a sort of architect your perfect bite
as you enjoy the donabe.
- All right, Yoji-san's back.
He's gonna help us with this.
- Yay. Welcome back.
Oh wow.
- [Carole] Yes. - [Nyesha] Oh my gosh.
The aroma, it's like intoxicating.
I mean the kombu and the bonito,
it just, it plays so elegantly with the ocean trout.
- So now we're gonna top this
with this beautiful ikura,
which is roe. - My fave.
- And it's gonna add just that little bit
of like saltiness
and little pops of you know,
salty, delicious umami.
And then this is mitsuba.
- Mitsuba.
- Yeah. Have you had this before?
- I think this is my first mitsuba experience.
- So it's just adds a nice delicate,
like green, almost like parsley-like, chervil-like.
- [Nyesha] Very parsley-like, chervil, yes.
- And then once it's dropped tableside, then,
of course we would open it back up
and all that nice steam would come out.
Just mix all of this in.
- Wow.
- The idea is just to, like, stir it,
so that you're getting all the ingredients melded together
and then it's ready to eat.
- And so everybody gets their own perfect little bowl.
- Yeah. Everyone gets their own bowl.
But we're, you know, enjoying it together.
- Absolutely, communally.
(bowls clank) Enjoy.
- We say "itadakimasu". - Itadakimasu.
- (together) Itadakimasu. (laughs)
- [Nyesha] Yum. My favorite part.
Wow. It's just so cool.
I love eating like this because it's like, you know,
one pot, but then based off of the individual,
they can all sort of customize it
and design their perfect bowl.
- Exactly.
- What an incredible experience
being able to add to my repertoire
and my tapestry of creation
and getting to see different techniques
around the world and slow cooking right in a clay pot,
it's like an incredible experience.
- Japanese food has so much like mysteries surrounding it
and there's just all this like technical precision
and this that always gets so talked about.
But, as you saw today,
there's nothing hyper technical about this, you know?
And it's really about the deeper meaning
that I really want people to get
from n/soto and Japanese cooking.
It's about the heart that we're putting into the food.
It's about the heart that the craftsmen
put into getting these ingredients to us
and sharing that
and having people just be happy and enjoy it.
(elegant music)