Naturally Preserving

At a recent master class for chefs at New York's James Beard Foundation (organized by the Gohan Foundation -- thanks to both for the invite), Chef Toshio Suzuki of Sushi Zen introduced Japanese vinegar and talked about its uses. He covered a lot of fascinating ground but to me the highlight was his treatment of mackerel. Simple but so subtle and delicious.

Atsushi and I hit the Union Square farmers market a few times during his stay. On Saturday and Wednesdays fishermen from Long Island's North Fork sell pristine seafood. On one of those mornings we spotted a majestic whole bonito on ice. We quickly snapped it up.

As he cooked, Atsushi often repeated a central tenant of traditional Japanese cooking: motai nai -- don't waste. He demonstrated this philosophy by preparing tsukemono, pickled vegetables, from the leaves of turnips, daikon and radish, leaves that are often cut off their edible roots and thrown in the garbage. The leaves taste quite sharp fresh, but the pickling mellows them out. As Atsushi prepared the pickles, I noticed him automatically picking up every stray bit of ingredient. A force of habit -- a force of motai nai.