The Mark of Beauty

Edomae Sushi

This episode is about Edomae-zushi, or the style of sushi which evolved in Edo, or present-day Tokyo. It's one of the most familiar forms of Japanese cuisine. The show features a chef who prepares a type of beautiful and richly flavored sushi with tuna, which has been seasoned and allowed to mature for a month. We visit a restaurant which has been around since the days when Tokyo was known as Edo to watch the chefs filleting and preparing a small type of fish (gizzard shad). Sushi often comes with slices of sweet and savory omelet (tamago-yaki). We look at a version that takes five hours to make. And we also look at oboro, the flakes prepared from mashed prawns and white fish, which are well-known accompaniment to Edo-style sushi, and honte-gaeshi, the traditional technique for shaping and pressing the sushi toppings on the beds of seasoned rice. And we look at knife techniques for cutting squid to make it both pleasing to the eye and able to melt in one's mouth.