On the subject of salmon, there was a Planet Money episode a while back about Norway’s campaign to sell salmon to the Japanese. Salmon was not traditionally served raw in Japan due to parasites, but Norwegian salmon didn’t have this problem. However, the Japanese were initially reluctant to give it a try. The Norwegians could of course have sold salmon to Japan as a fish for cooking (which was familiar to the Japanese), but fish intended for sushi/sashimi commanded a higher price.
Long story short, Norway was successful and their salmon started being used for sushi/sashimi in Japan 20+ years ago. I can personally testify that I did encounter both salmon sushi and salmon sashimi when I was living in Japan about 10 years ago, although my experience is only with cheaper sushi joints – I didn’t make enough money to go to fancy places with famous sushi chefs.
Where are most CPUs and associated electronics manufactured now ?
And America, which did not ‘invent’ rockets, presently relies on Russian rockets to propel them into the vasty deep of space.
Not that I disagree, but I think I see where the OP’s coming from. It seems like a lot of it is more of a vetting process than a real learning experience, and that’s what’s baffling to a lot of Western people, I suspect.
I mean, it takes 4-5 years to get a degree in a subject, and typically only a small portion of that coursework is spent actually learning how to do the typical tasks that the holders of that degree perform, with the rest being advanced theory, basic concepts, and ancillary knowledge. And you graduate qualified for entry level positions, but not much else.
I wonder if there’s also maybe some degree of misunderstanding, in that what we might consider as several segments of someone’s career- culinary school and then being a line cook, sous chef, etc… on the way to being the head chef in a restaurant, are all rolled into this “apprenticeship” method in Japan.
There are certain dishes which simply just contain more depth than others. Most dishes, a well trained chef can master in less than a month and, after that, barring a change in the actual recipe, it’s going to remain roughly the same quality no matter how long they remain cooking it. But there are some dishes which you just keep on getting better and better at making over the course of many years or decades. The improvements slow down over time but never stop and you never feel like you can gain true mastery over the dish.
Barbeque is one of them, so is pizza and so is sushi. What you find is that these dishes with depth draw in obsessives who are prepared to dedicate their life to mastering just a single craft which you don’t find with other dishes. Other examples from around the world include tempura, ramen, peking duck, hainan chicken rice, fresh pasta, bread, wine, roast chicken, omelettes, fried chicken, pie, the BLT and countless other examples.
You made a post. So you had some point you were trying to make. Unfortunately, it was not clear what your point was, so someone asked you to clarify.
You obviously have the choice to not clarify, and let people think you just posted nonsense. But, if you wanted to make a point, it would probably be a good idea to explain what that point was.
While you don’t need approval before posting, a post that consists entirely of a link is generally frowned upon. It’s much better to give some explanation of why you’re posting the link, or a summary, or whether you agree or disagree, or how it’s relevant to the discussion.
I just thought I’d add that in this case, it’s even a little more than that. The linked article was pretty poor and led with a misleading headline that implied that “sushi” was a source of parasites, and only a reading of the text revealed that they were really just talking about salmon (and only wild salmon, at that), which is exactly what I had just finished saying. There were also some reader comments after the article that were uninformed and absolutely wrong. So dofe was well justified in pointing out that the link added nothing to the discussion, and in fact detracted from it.
I just got back from Japan and offer a little more perspective.
The Japanese are really big on rote repitition. They use apprentices for scut work like everyone else, so apprenticeships are long. But repetition also plays important roles in Zen, Japanese philosophy and etiquette, and is considered similar to healthy meditation.
Respect is very central to Japanese life and infiltrates all social interactions and most Japanese spoken outside of bars or izakaya.
The cheap sashimi bento lunch you buy on the train from a trolley with cheap coffee and chocolates is better than any sushi I can buy in my hometown. And it is a mass produced thing made with fresh fish.
The sushi from decent but relatively cheap chains in Tokyo was phenomenal. Sushizamnai, for example, had skilled chefs and beautifully presented plates. Fish was always bought that day from Tsukiji market. Open 24 hours, seats by the fish usually available, the tuna lunch for $15 ($30 at dinner) was to die for. They had about 80 types of fish, including salmon.
Japanese cooking is about fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. I met several Japanese who had lived in Canada who loved it in sushi since it was the best fresh fish available. In Japan, it is used, clearly considered and priced as an average sushi, more often used with sesame-miso paste or escabeche.
At great sushi restaurants like Kyubey, chefs have likely gone through very rigorous apprenticeships. Prices are high, quality is excellent, somewhat better than the excellent Tokyo chains but usually due to more complex preparation, rarer fish, etc. The rice is different. A different meal from excellent Tokyo places, and better, but not earth shatteringly better.
Best sushi in Tokyo is considered Jiro. Would love to try it.
Item 5 is meant to be about the use of salmon in sushi.
Japanese also eat a lot of smoked fish on rice as a convenience food, which is also tasty.
It is easy to pay more for Kobe or wayguu, and it is very tender but I expected a bigger beefy flavour. I found the beef expensive, tender but not exceptional. Most I paid for a large steak, dry aged 20 days, was about 30 dollars. Had I spent that on Canada the steak would have been fairly similar.
There’s a high end steakhouse in Tampa where you train for a year in the restaurant stations and on their farm BEFORE you have 8-12 weeks of training in the dining room. Then and only then are you allowed to serve guests on your own.
Fabulous meal. Ivylad and I went there for our anniversary.