OT: Tsukiji pics

[mfern32]

thanks for the post thats friggin cool quess i gotta put that on the list of places to visit but where the hell can i get some big ass knives like that it would take no time at all chopping up a big ol fish

[Kamo Gari]

Originally Posted by Lucky Duck

Here are a few from our trip last year. One of the most awesome travel experiences of my life!

Nice shots of the auction. Note that there are cuts displayed near the tail for buyers to see the quality. You will sometimes see buyers take small pieces of individual tuna flesh and mash it in their hands. Guys like that are extremely well versed on tuna quality and fat content, and can discern quality this way--by feel.

Tsukiji is a must see for any fisherman, IMO. You can tell the gaijin fishermen in the market. They're the ones walking around with the sh*t eating grins and drool running down their shirts. I make it a point to go every time I'm over. That one pic I posted of the sushi joint is at the front of the main market entrance. Unreal quality, and highly recommended if you make it back. It's hard to miss: it's the one with the line running down the street...

As to the tuna 'swords': they're called oroshi hocho, and designed solely for taking large tuna (and I assume some other biggies, though have only seen them used on tuna) apart. There are smaller versions, called hancho hocho, used for smaller fish as well (I posted a pic of one in action). Unfortunately, these specialized tools are not trinkets one picks up on a whim, as a low end oroshi hocho will cost several *thousand* dollars. Even best quality sashimi knives will run a couple grand. Anyway, glad people enjoyed the pics.

Oh, and to the gent who compared Tsukiji to FFM, here's a blurb for you:

"Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest in the world. In 1995 it reportedly "moved about five million pounds (2,268,000 kilograms) of seafood every day--seven times as much as Paris's Rungis, the world's second largest wholesale market, and 11 times the volume of New York City's Fulton Fish Market, the largest fish market in North America. In dollar terms, that comes to [U.S.] 28 million dollars' worth of fish. Per day."

With over 450 different varieties of seafood and imports from 60 countries on six continents, if you don't like seafood, you shouldn't be here! Tsukiji is a commercial market. The customers here bulk buy for restaurants, supermarkets and fishmongers."

FFM is cool, but just can't hold a candle to T. It's another world. In many different ways.

[Dads Dream]

1. love that sushi sword
2. they seem to eat everything from saltwater
3. your pics and detailed explanation are awesome
4. thanks for sharing and opening our eyes
5. can't believe the big octo legs are delicacy too
6. that's a whole lotta tuna being eaten
7. you didn't get BAGGED taking all those photos??

[Kamo Gari]

Originally Posted by Dads Dream

1. love that sushi sword
2. they seem to eat everything from saltwater
3. your pics and detailed explanation are awesome
4. thanks for sharing and opening our eyes
5. can't believe the big octo legs are delicacy too
6. that's a whole lotta tuna being eaten
7. you didn't get BAGGED taking all those photos??

1. Me too.
2. Um, well, if it tastes good, then most Japanese don't care if it seems weird to others.
3. Thanks!
4. You're most welcome. I enjoy taking the shots and sharing.
5. Octopus is called 'tako', and sliced thin and served as is or on nigiri sushi, is good eats. BTW, it's not eaten raw; like egg and shrimp (most shrimp and egg, that is--some are served raw ) sushi, it's cooked then chilled before serving.

It takes some folks some getting used to, as it's somewhat rubbery, but I enjoy it very much. As do Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and many other people all over the world.
6. I read somewhere that Japan's population makes up something like 2-3% of the world's human bean numbers, but consumes something on the order of 80% of the world's seafood. Datsalotta feesh per capita!
7. As long as you don't meddle, don't act like they're there to humor you, interfere with their business or act like an idiot and start grabbing their products to take pics of (I was shocked at the number of people who did this--all gaijin [foreigners]). In short, people are welcome to shop, browse and take pics. Just don't act like a jackass, and generally stay out of their way, and it's a non-problem. That said, a couple years ago a ban on tourists/photographers was put in place in some parts of the market as a result of people pissing off the folks whose livelihood depends on actually selling fish and wares, not humoring tourists who have no intention of buying anything. The ban was lifted shortly after, but hopefully the point was taken.

Cheers,

KG

[Taz575]

I have a Deba knife that works great on Tuna! The Japanese knives are available, but as was mentioned, can be very pricey! There are a few places online you can go for information:

www.japanesechefsknife.com Japanese suppliers of kitchen and regular cutlery, shipping takes about 3 days from Japan, usually for under $15!

www.epicedge.com imports japanese knives, good "ins" with some high end Japanese craftsmen who may be able to point you to the large stuff!

http://knifeforums.com/forums/showfo...dcb57eff28581/

http://www.foodieforums.com/ Good resources explaining the various types of knives and a forum to ask questions

I have several Japanese kitchen knives and they are all awesome. A Deba, 2 Gyuto's, 1 Nakiri, 1 Santoku (real one, not a Rachel Ray special!). They are usually a thinner, harder steel that takes a wicked edge, but aren't meant to bash their way through a coconut or something very hard. I use waterstones to sharpen them and they get incredibly sharp and hold the edge for much longer than a Henkels would!

Some of the more common types of japanese knives:

A gyuto is a chefs knife, Nakiri and Usuba are a double bevel and single bevel veggie knife, Deba is a single bevel fish breaking knife, Honesuki is a single bevel poultry breaking knife and general boning knife. Yanagiba is a single bevel fish slicer, Sujihiki is a double bevel "carving" knife.

I have a Deba for breaking down larger fish. It worked great on tuna, mahi, etc. The Yanagiba or Suji would work well for fish, too. Just remember, with the single bevel knives, sometimes us Americans like to cut away from ourselves, so order the lefty versions! The Deba I have is a righty, and to skin something, you lay the fillet skin down, and the bevel on the skin and pull towards you. Works awesome! If you want to do the more normal cut away, get the left version so the bevel is on the correct side for you. The Japanese knives are designed for precision slicing and by cutting towards yourself, your arms are coming in closer to you where you have a higher level of control.

I want to get a larger Deba, and a 9 or 11" Yanagiba and Suji for fish. The Deba I have I think has a 7" blade and with larger tuna, it's not always enough! Plus it's so wide, it's hard to lay the bevel down. Lefty 9" deba and a lefty 11" Yanagiba would be sweet for Tuna, Mahi, etc. the Deba I use now makes short work of fileting and quartering out fish. I used it on a 70# YFT w/o a problem, including cutting the head off! On the smaller YFT, I would actually filet the tuna with this knife, yup, it went thru the short horizontal bones easily!

If you guys have any questions about the japanese knives, just let me know!

[Kamo Gari]

Good stuff. Thanks for the additional info.

[Taz575]

Nice pics! On the last pic, most of the ones on the top row are Deba's. The 2 on the far right are Honesuki; they are kinda triangular shaped. 2nd row down on the left look like Yanagiba's, followed by some Gyutos and more Deba's. 2nd to bottom row looks like more normal cutlery, Gyuto and Santoku's, some Nakiri or Usubas on the right side, and on the lower left hand corner of the bottom row!

In Japan, the knives are very often specialized. One knife for poultry deboning, a different knife for slicing the meat. Fish, they have the breaking knife (Deba), then the slicers and all of the specialty long knives, odd shapes, etc. They have cutlery and the use of it as an art form and it shows! One knife may be designed for 1 task and 1 task only, and to do it as efficiently as humanly possible! There are some videos on Youtube of them breaking down the tuna and you should see some of the blades and how they use them! Incredible!

[Kamo Gari]

You're good! I should have taken pics of the knives inside the cases, but I think I was too busy drooling and considering whether my wife was going to toss a left look or a straight right at me if I pulled out my wallet...

[KAISER]

Kamo, you just need to duck and weave to avoid thoses punches!

I have hadd a small amount of instruction in sharpening Japanse carpentry tools from a master carpenter from Japan and the edge that can be acheved is crazy. western toling usualy stops wth 1000 grit wet stones. We went to 6000 grit.
It is said an average Japanse carpenters tools are 10 times sharper than a store bought razor blade.

The hammer forged , layererd steel, blacksmithing for knives and carpentry tools is very close in concept.

Cool stuff!

[dunn6253]

Awesome pics, I hope I will get to visit that place one day. Maybe follow my own fish over......