White wine is generally thought to go well with fresh seafood.
For example, every Frenchman knows that Chablis wine and Belon oysters go together like peanut butter and jelly. The soil of Chablis is made of the stratum that dates back to the Kimmeridgian age and a unique characteristic is that the soil is rich in fossils of small oysters and shellfish. That is why oysters and Chablis wine are said to be the perfect pairing. However, surely there are Japanese people who sense the fishy odor when having Chablis wine and Japanese oysters (Magaki) together. Therefore, some people say that sake is definitely preferred over wine.
The reason for this is that the types of oysters in France and Japan differ.
Famous for its Belon brand name, the oyster native to Europe has a flat, rounded shell. It belongs to the genus Ostrea. To be honest, Belon oysters aren’t sweet and don’t have a distinguished flavor compared to Japanese oysters, and the salty fragrance of the sea is dulled, so it can seem less flavorful.
Meanwhile, the Japanese oyster is elongated and shaped like a raindrop. It is characterized by a smell like it swallowed the whole ocean. This is the main species farmed in Japan. It belongs to the genus Crassostrea. The taste is as if the umami components of the sea have all been concentrated together in one little shell.
Going back to pairing Chablis wine with oysters, it’s common sense in the world of flavors that items with basically similar components pair well together.
The issue lies in how wine is made. Chablis wine contains lactic acid because it is made through forced mal-lactic fermentation. Because it contains this lactic acid, it is partially fighting against the Belon oyster, which has a high glycogen content. In addition, lactic acid is called “warm organic acid”, and it has the property of becoming delicious at warm temperatures. Oysters are eaten cold, so they aren’t good for taking advantage of “warm organic acids”.
Therefore, it can be said that rather than Chablis wine, it goes well with cold organic acid white wine that is delicious when cooled to 7 or 8 degrees, for example, German Franken wine.
So then, what should be done when pairing oysters with Chablis wine?!
If you insist on pairing oysters with Chablis wine, go all out and add squeezed lemon so the citric acid will work to mask the lactic acid and succinic acid, in turn making the wine taste good even when cold. Citric acid is a “cold organic acid” that becomes delicious when cooled, and oysters rich in glycogen go well with “cold organic acid”. Cold acid-based white wine is abundant in the refreshing “cold organic acids” known as malic acid and tartaric acid. Oysters lack this cold organic acid (malic acid and tartaric acid), so adding the citric acid of lemon creates an exquisite harmony.
However, in France there was a time when a disease spread that caused the death of the Belon oyster, nearly rendering it extinct. Therefore, since the Japanese oyster has been transplanted so many times, it is said that nowadays, at least 90% are Japanese oysters hybrids of Japanese oysters.
That means the question remains among Japanese as to whether the combination of Chablis wine and oysters really is a match made in heaven or not. Personally, we’ve never heard of oysters served without lemon, so the fishy smell really isn’t an issue at all in the end.
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Revision date: January 6, 2022
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Among the many sushi toppings, Pacific bluefin tuna, and actually the Madai (Red sea bream) as well, are toppings that are difficult for an amateur to tell whether it is farmed or wild. However, there is no need to worry about that when it comes to Tako (Octopus). There are no octopus farms to be found in the world, so it is a 100% wild topping.
Amateurs can’t tell the difference between domestic Tako or African imports. However, there is one aspect that even an amateur can use to distinguish between the two. There is one condition for this to work, and that is that at least one of the suckers is in-tact. The suckers are scraped off for most toppings, but in cases where they are sliced by the restaurant, there are often suckers remaining. If the sucker is pure white, it is almost definitely from Africa. Meanwhile, domestic Tako suckers maintain a faint red color in the suckers, even when boiled. The reason the suckers turn white seems to be an effect of the food preservatives added during processing, but this has not been confirmed.
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In recent years, sushi menus have seen an explosion of creative names, many of which begin with the word “Toro.” But what exactly is “Toro katsuo (Torogatsuo),” and does it truly deserve the prestigious Toro label?
Japan leads the world in shrimp consumption by far. Most of the shrimp is imported, but it is a little known fact that shrimp is called “Meki” among importers and sushi restaurants in Japan. It is said to be a remnant from a time when much of the imported shrimp came from Mexico (pronounced “Mekishiko” in Japanese).
Hirame is a high-quality fish that goes for at least US $50 per kilogram. It can even exceed US $80 per kilogram, depending on the timing and the fish’s body.
Ishigakigai is a shellfish found from Kashimanada northward, Hokkaido, from the Kuril Islands to the Aleutian Islands and even on the west coast of North America. It lives off of plankton in the shallow sandy mud bottoms of the sea at depths of about 50 meters.
It starts to become common at the market when the Japanese rainy season ends, at the beginning of summer every year, which is around the end of the Torigai season. It then disappears from the market at the end of summer. A number of sushi restaurants start using it as a substitute for Torigai all at the same time, so Ishigakigai nigiri sushi suddenly started appearing on menus. Frankly, it is somewhat conservative as a nigiri topping but is known for the crunchy texture when biting into it. It also has strong sweetness and umami, which goes exquisitely with Shari. The sushi chef slaps the meat in his hand directly before serving to stiffen it–a way to increase the crunchy texture characteristic of shellfish. Naturally this texture is evidence of its freshness.
It goes without saying, that each type of fish has its very own scientific name. However, in places like the Toyosu Fish Market, there are seafoods that end up sharing a name.
One type of shrimp that is used for nigiri sushi when still raw is Botan ebi. Needless to say, it is an extremely new addition to the Edomae sushi topping list. Interestingly, there are two types of domestic shrimp that are called Botan ebi in the Toyosu Market.
One is called by its Japanese name, Toyama ebi, with a length of 25 cm, lives in the sea at depths of 100 to 400 m, and is normally caught in Funka Bay of Hokkaido on the Japan Sea side. It actually isn’t caught in Toyama very often despite being called Toyama ebi. At the cheapest it still costs US $20 per kilogram, and in rare cases can exceed $200 per kilogram. In the Toyosu Market, it is called “Torabotan” because of the tiger stripes on the shell (“Tora” is Japanese for tiger).
In Japanese, when a compound word is made out of two individual words, and the first consonant of the second word changes from a “clear sound” to a “fuzzy sound”, it is called “Rendaku”. For example, Edomae (江戸前) + sushi (寿司) changes to Edomaezushi (江戸前寿司). However, the correct pronunciation is only generalized among Japanese people, so in this book we chose the most commonly searched version of each compound word.
Out of the five types of Amadai that live in Japan, Aka-amadai, Shiro-amadai and Ki-amadai are the three types offered in the markets.
The main characteristics of Aka-amadai are its overall red body, the bright yellow color under the eyes and how part of its fin is a shiny cobalt blue color. Aka-amadai is called “
Shirakawa is considered to be the finest of the Amadai and can cost more than US $100 per kilogram. Aka-amadai costs around US $40 per kilogram. Shirakawa always ranks in the top three fish for market price. Shirakawa has more elasticity than the other two and has rich fat, making it perfect as sashimi or a sushi topping. The umami is so strong that even when served raw, the customer sometimes thinks it’s been prepared using kobujime. The fat between the meat and the skin is sweet and the skin is delicious in its own right, so it can even be eaten as sashimi with the skin left on. The famous production sites include Tsushima in Nagasaki Prefecture and Yawatahama in Ehime Prefecture. They are in season from autumn to winter. However, they say in a catch of 1,000 Amadai, you can only get one Shirakawa, so it is a rare item you won’t often see, even in a high-end sushi restaurant.
You probably already know this, but “toro tuna” is not the name of a type of fish. “Toro” is the name of a fatty part of the tuna. The fat content and attributes of the belly side of the tuna are completely different from that of the dorsal side. Toro is the name of the part near the head, mostly on the belly side.
The Donaldson trout is farmed throughout Japan and is used as toro salmon and aburi salmon at conveyor belt sushi restaurants. Since they are supplied directly to the processor (of the salmon) from the farmer without going through the market, they may be sold cheaper than the import price. Just like the imported salmon, this farmed salmon is also fed artificial coloring. There are also already new variants improved from the Donaldson trout being bred. Trout made from breeding Donaldson trout females and steelhead males are called Donaldson steelhead, for instance. They grow even faster.
Few foods manage to captivate the senses as completely as salmon. From its vivid orange color to its buttery texture and gentle sweetness, salmon is beloved around the world—in sushi bars, on breakfast tables, and at fine dining restaurants. But what makes this fish so irresistibly delicious?