How a Master Sushi Chef Butchers a 250 Pound Bluefin Tuna — Omakase

We always try to get a whole fish because we can utilize all different part of meat. Typically, there's a Akami, Chutoro, and Otoro. But if you get a whole bluefin tuna, it's more variety of the bluefin tuna. Irasshaimase. So personally, I think bluefin tuna is really important in Edomai sushi. Today, our bluefin tuna is from Kochi area. We normally get a bluefin tuna once every two weeks. Usually, it's about 200 to 250 pounds. I'm gonna use two different knives. So this is a Deba. It's a butchering knife. And also, this is a Sujihiki. Sujihiki, I need a little flexible knife, so we're gonna use this one. So we cut bluefin tuna to five different part called Gomai Oroshi. Two back part. Two belly part. And one center part. So I got this model from Tsukiji Market. We show this model and explain about a whole different part of bluefin tuna to our guests to let them understand what they eat. One of our guests really loved it, and then he was looking for this bluefin tuna model, and they found the tuna model price is $5,000, which I never paid at. I'd rather buy real whole bluefin tuna. We usually order bluefin tuna from Toyosu Fish Market. For us, it's better to have a whole tuna, price-wise and flavor-wise. Then first thing we cut off is a Kamatoro. This is a Kamatoro. It's a colored part of bluefin tuna. Very rare item. The overrated part of bluefin tuna is a Kamatoro. It's really fatty and unique texture, but for me, it's a little bit, sometimes a little bit too much fat. So out of 200 pounds here, you can only get one to two pounds of Kamatoro. So that's why this part is most expensive. On the bottom is Otoro, belly side of bluefin tuna. Otoro is only from the belly side of bluefin tuna, so also a very rare part. So next expensive part. A lot of guests love fatty bluefin tuna. Whenever I cut it, I make a Saku. I imagine happy face about the guest. So inside the body, around the center bone is Akami, lean part of bluefin tuna. For me, most underrated part of bluefin tuna is Akami. I always looking for red color and silky and nice texture. The layer of the muscle is this way, so we cut through the layer so it's make it more softer. In bluefin tuna, I enjoy Sanmi, which is acidity of the meat, and also umami flavor and also fat flavor. So here's Akami, lean part. It's the inside of body, and then outside is a fatty part. Here's a Chutoro and the Otoro. Akami has a lot of umami and Sanmi flavor, Otoro, less Sanmi, but more umami and then fat content. My favorite part of bluefin tuna is a Chutoro. Chutoro has both Sanmi and umami and also fat content. This is a Chutoro, very fatty and almost Otoro. This is a Otoro. Here is a very close to Kamatoro. Then since we get a whole tuna, we also get a whole bones. Meat on the bone is always tasty part. I'm gonna scrape the meat on the bone, so we call Nagaochi. You can also see lean part and also here fatty part. We usually get two to three bowls of the Nagaochi from the tuna. Our monkfish is from Hokkaido. In the sushi restaurant, butchering whole monkfish is not usual because in Japan, there's a special monkfish restaurant. Inspired by monkfish restaurant in Japan, we try to get whole monkfish and utilize whole different part. So we hang it because it's a slimy and the shape is very flat. So monkfish skin is very thin and slimy. We use a cloth to take off the skins. So Anko, monkfish, is a single group of the fish. So there's nothing like that. So this is a monkfish gill. We use it for make it nabe. So monkfish tail meat is firm and then nice chewiness. It's like a texture of the lobster. Here's a Ankimo, it's a monkfish liver. The monkfish liver from Hokkaido is a pretty big size. We have the Ankimo separate because when we get the fish from Japan, to keep the freshness, they cut off the inner part, everything, and then make it separate. Monkfish, you can enjoy seven different part. Tail meat, skin, and stomach, wing fin, and liver, gill, and ovary. Here's a Kodai, the young sea bream from Mie, Japan. Ko means a baby, dai is a sea bream. I was born and raised in South Korea, very southern part called Daegu. It's really near Busan. When I was young, my parents run a restaurant for their entire life. From teenager, they let me help the work in the restaurant. So I see a lot of restaurant things and then my parents also really inspired me to do this. Rice is very important in negiri sushi. So at the shelter, we blend four different type of vinegar and making two different type of seasoning rice vinegar. So we use a light sushi rice seasoning vinegar for our white fish or shellfish, like ikka, squid, or scallop. The dark seasoning vinegar, we use it for stronger, richer flavor fish, such as bluefin tuna, toro, or hikari mono, like a silver skin fish. Bluefin tuna, hon maguro, akami, lean part. This is a otoro, belly side of bluefin tuna. There's a hon maguro, chu toro, medium fatty bluefin tuna. Love always drive my life. I love all the ingredients I use. I love all the people I work with and I also love all of my guests. Kodai, young seabream. I love my work because I believe the food and restaurant experience can heal people. There's anko, monkfish karaage. I hope people come to our restaurant and hopefully they can heal.