PicoBlog

i’ve been in Tokyo since Mar 8th. why?

i’ve been staging at a restaurant here called SUGALABO, run by chef/owner Yosuke Suga. it’s a fine-dining tokyo french cuisine restaurant, that’s also invite-only. If you want to read more on where i’m interning at, here are 2 links:

World's 50 Best - SUGALABO, Tokyo

Tablelog - SUGALABO, Tokyo

i also did an episode in my vlog series on Suga-san’s pop-up in LA

h woo vlog episode 2

anyway, i’m here to learn as much as i can here. throughout my stage, i have been taking notes rigorously to understand their techniques, their recipes, and their operations.

and, there will be vlogs on this stage too!

with that said, here’s the first recipe i wanted to showcase at SUGALABO.

• Kinki (Channel Rockfish) from Abashiri, Hokkaido

• Fugu Shirako (Pufferfish Milt/Sperm Sac)

• Fuki, of Japanese Butterbur (imagine a milder/sweeter celery root)

• Daikon, Braised

• Roasted Kinki Bone Dashi

• Piment d’espelette, Olive Oil

• shaved black winter truffles

Everyone knows “nobu’s miso black cod”. That technique is called Saikyoyaki, and saikyomiso is the miso marinade the cod sits in. 

For the 8th course on the SUGALABO menu, they did saikyoyaki kinki and saikyoyaki fugu shirako. So they marinated the kinki filets and the shirako portions in saikyo miso for several hours. 

Kinki is a super fatty fish, amazing grilled. Doing saikyomiso for kinki was genius to me. And they also marinated the shirako (fish sperm sac) in saikyomiso too.

this is fugu shirako, aka pufferfish milt (sperm sac). it’s a delicacy that i particularly enjoy.

The sauce is a kuzu starch thickened dashi. Dashi is made out of the bones of kinki, and seasoned with dashi shoyu and ginger juice. 

Kombu Dashi

60g of Kombu to 1 L of Water

- Soak a big ass piece of kombu in cold water for about an hour

- then turn the heat up slowly to 60C, it should take about 30min

- once at 60C, for a big piece of kombu keep it there for 30min, but if it’s a small piece then 10min, depends on size of kombu

- then remove

Kinki Dashi for Service

• first, soak the bones & heads in cold water to purge of blood/impurities (no eyeballs though)

• roast in oven for about 15-20min

• steep in kombu dashi and gently simmer for about 1-2hrs

• skim off fat/impurities

• strain, and add katsuobushi and let steep

• season with salt, dashi shoyu, ginger juice, and thicken with kuzu starch slurry

The fuki is such a pain in the ass to prep tbh lol. it’s rolled in salt, blanched in boiling water (with salt and baking powder) for a few min, and then shocked in ice water.

then, individually, i have to use a paring knife and peel the skin off each fuki stalk. the pile on the right took me 75 minutes bruh.

then it gets cut into spears, steamed and served on top of the kinki for the dish.

anyway, i hope this was informative and educational!

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