After making rice for a couple of weeks it became so routine to me I could’ve done it with my eyes closed. Although, I don’t think any human being could get used to the pungent odor of the vinegar rice combination that could turn your stomach in seconds. Back to the point, while making rice everyday I always silently watched the sushi chefs and their creations. We sold quite a bit of the Americanized sushi rolls but to me, those weren’t interesting. I was particularly fond of one of the chefs style. He didn’t know a lick of English and it was always humorous watching him try to communicate with the servers or the occasional customer. His dishes were so simple yet elegant.
3, maybe 4 ingredients is all that he used. Fish, rice, some form of sake or vinegar based sauce, and usually a pickled vegetable of some sorts to garnish. What I liked the most about this particular chef was his respect for the plate. You’d think that such a simple dish with little to no cooking involved would be cake, but this man took his time and always made sure to perfect his playing twice over before sending it to the customers. He always treated the fish as if it were still alive and molded the rice like it was made of glass and could shatter at any moment. I didn’t know then that this would carry on inside of my head for the remainder of my culinary escapades.
A Chef's Journey 