Snow Country Chef: Kuwakino Keiko [桑木 野恵子] - FRONTRUNNERS

This is the first time I've seen snow in this season. You can eat this in Naga. I think what the locals eat, what people think is delicious, I think it's something that makes sense. I use food that I can understand, so I love everything. I want people to come here. Minami Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture is one of Japan's snowiest locations. It's also home to this auberge-style inn and restaurant, run from a 150-year-old farmhouse. Next one is snow kelp. We have a snow hut outside, so because of the temperature, it makes the kelp more sweeter. The head chef is Kuwaki no Keiko. This is wonderful. We planned our whole trip around coming here. No, I'm serious. Oh, that's so wonderful. All the flavors mixed together were beautiful, but the vegetables really, really shined. A joy to eat because everybody has something to look forward to. Kuwaki no's cuisine, all based around local ingredients, is earning plaudits from around the world, as well as rave reviews from leading gourmet guides. In 2022, her commitment to local produce and culture won a prestigious Travaux Award. Kuwaki no's day begins with a look through the latest vegetable delivery. I very rarely ask for specific things, just approximate quantities, with no idea what I'll get. Just whatever they have. Today's bundle includes various items typical of the transition from winter to spring, including water dropwort, asatsuki chives, and canola sprouts. Today's dinner menu will consist of nine dishes, which Kuwaki no always designs on the fly once all her ingredients are in front of her. Asatsuki roots are a bit tough to eat as they are, so we usually fry them. It's wild, brought down from the mountains, Today, I think I'll pair these with some homemade miso. She decides to lightly braise these asatsuki roots to bring out their sweetness. They're then roughly chopped and mixed with homemade miso prepared using Niigata soybeans and koji. For me, the condiments are key. Of course, the vegetables provide your crucial base, but the condiments are key to evoking that local flavor. The resulting combination is served atop mackerel caught off the coast of Niigata, with an extra layer of local Hokusai cabbage, seared and lightly charred, and finished with a light espuma, made from wild boar stock with local milk and soy sauce. For a dish that showcases the seasonal bounty of Niigata prefecture, both land and sea. But some of Kuwakino's ingredients come from even closer at hand. Not far from the back door of her kitchen is a painted maple tree, whose sap she collects to use in her dishes. It's piling up. It's full. It really is. Look, it's still standing. It's still standing. This is the sap. It's still standing today. I'm going to get more. Even though it's a completely different season, not a single drop comes out. It's already before the end of winter and the beginning of spring. But the sap is still standing. It's amazing. Back in the kitchen, Kuwakino quickly boils down the clear, watery sap. The end result is this thick, amber syrup, used to impart a subtle natural sweetness. Today's next ingredient is kept in a cellar beneath the kitchen. From spring to autumn, Kuwakino collects local shoots and mushrooms, which she pickles and bottles for use in winter. Picked fresh and salted last year, it's another example of using local techniques to showcase the natural flavor of her ingredients. I picked these around late May last year. Two batches of 40-plus kilos, so 80 in all. I picked a lot and there's almost none left. It'll all be gone by the end of March. Another local ingredient, preserved by local means, is found in the yukimuro. Before the onset of winter, residents of this area traditionally build small thatched huts. When snow falls, this creates a natural refrigerator, known as a yukimuro. At 0 to minus 2 degrees, and 99% humidity, you can store vegetables without them drying out. I have some daikon, carrots and Chinese cabbage. Keeping them here really boosts the natural sugars. Farmers typically harvest everything around December before snow falls, and we store it in here. With today's ingredients ready, Kuwakino gets to work. Soaked overnight to ease its saltiness, the pickled bracken is seasoned with mushroom broth, mirin and soy sauce, while the homemade maple syrup is paired with miso dressing for this watercress salad. Meanwhile, the yukimuro haksai is paired with homemade shio koji, along with some locally caught wild boar ham. So much of the region's culinary tradition combined on a single plate. But the highlight of today's menu was caught in the nearby Uono River by expert net fisherman Seki Masatoshi. Kajika, or fluvial sculpin, once prized here as a precious source of protein through the winter months, in recent decades it's fallen out of fashion. When you put grilled kajika in hot sake, you get a unique broth we call kajika sake. I could drink that all day! In winter, these fish lurk beneath rocks on the riverbed, which Seki expertly manipulates to chase them into his net. And such first-hand insights into natural cycles are another thing that Kuwakino tries to reflect in her dishes. Back in the kitchen, Kuwakino gets down to prepping these fish. Each tiny fish is gutted and their innards lightly seared in rice oil before sauteeing in sake and soy sauce. The resulting mix is pressed through a sieve to create a special condiment. I love fish guts, the bitterness. I want all sorts of flavors. This has a really nice umami, that real kajika flavor. Deep fried on skewers, the fish themselves are soft enough to eat bones and all, and each receives a liberal dab of the condiment Kuwakino prepared from their innards. Served in deep bowls that evoke their rocky hiding place on the riverbed, these kajika are served with sweet dried persimmon and miso-pickled Jerusalem artichokes for a richly complex taste sensation. This is the prettiest time. Days like this, Mount Makihata tinged with red, such a lovely sight. At 5 p.m., dinner is served. The first dish uses sweet potato from the Yukimuro, followed by lotus root dumplings in white miso soup, and the fresh, pre-vernal shoots of water dropwort and canola, served with grilled sardine and wakame, and at last, the kajika. Tonight's guests include regular Sato Yoshinao, who has dined at Kuwakino's table more than 30 times. It was nice to see what this year's kajika was like, as I've had it here many times before. These multi-layered aromas are her signature. And the main dish is rice, farmed right here in Uonuma. With rice, the turning point from grain to meal has a firmer texture and characteristic sweetness. I always look forward to the different rice textures. You never get bored dining here. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's packed with new discoveries. Born in Saitama Prefecture, after graduating from college, Kuwakino Keiko went to Australia to study aromatherapy. Next, that same focus on health and beauty saw her drawn to yoga. In India, she discovered vegan cuisine based on Ayurvedic principles, kick-starting three years of dedication to studying herbs and vegetables. It was upon her return to Japan that she chanced across a magazine ad for a kitchen job at this auberge. Finally arriving in Niigata in January 2014. I wanted to go home right there and then. I just couldn't stand it. And there was far more snow than I ever could have imagined. It was next level. I just wanted to go straight back home. And with no clear idea of how Niigata cuisine ought to be, she embarked upon a lengthy journey of trial and error. I'd cry every day. Of course I couldn't cry in the kitchen, but every day back in my room. Patrons would pass all sorts of comments and they'd leave dishes uneaten. And I knew I wasn't up to par. It was such a difficult time. But amid those early tribulations, she found support in the community. Do you need help? She's like a mother to me. I couldn't live without her. I ate here all the time. Even if I had a cold, she'd tell me to wait for dinner at hers. Takahashi Tonomi runs this local cafe alongside work on the farms. Today, they're making anbo, braised daikon and carrot steamed in rice dough parcels. And sasa dango, sweet mugwort dumplings wrapped in bamboo grass. It's here that Kuwakino learned first-hand how to make countless local dishes. What do you make? I make soy sauce. You don't use red beans, do you? No, I don't. It's too much work to make red beans. I see. It's my first time. Further support came from another local resident that Kuwakino calls her mentor. Thank you, Tatsuo. It's been a while. Murayama Tatsuo has been driving taxis in this area for 50 years. Also an expert at foraging in the surrounding hills, he taught Kuwakino everything she knows about picking and preserving alpine plants. And to download as much of his knowledge as possible, year-round she joins him on regular foraging trips into the forest. When I was young, I used to pick alpine plants with my eyes, but now I have to look at them with my ears. When I look at them with my ears, I can see them. But that's because you know the plants and their ecology. That's right. If I don't, I can't see them. Look, look, look, look. Wow, that's amazing. Look, look, look, look. There are so many. So this is Kihada? Yes, Kihada. Kihada, or Amur Cork. Does this smell? Yes, it's like citrus. It's a bit bitter. How about that? It's bitter. The name Kihada comes from this yellow. Ki means yellow. You can use the fruit as a spice. It has a citrusy aroma. No citrus in snow country. Back home, Murayama's wife, Masayo, uses the day's pickings to prepare a local favorite. It's called mogura-jiru, or mo' soup, after the affectionate local name for naratake mushrooms. I'm so happy. It uses alpine produce, including naratake, bamboo shoots, and fiddleheads, boiled together with chicken and pork. I always ask questions about how she makes stuff, but mine never turns out like hers. She shows me the way, but it's not so easy, so I have to come and ask again. It's an oral tradition. For Kuwakino, Masayo has been a fountain of knowledge on local vegetable dishes. Around here, you forage things to eat. That's the culture. When I was little, my mother took me out into the forest, so that's where I learned all this. Six years after moving to Niigata, Kuwakino finally received Murayama's seal of approval as an upholder of tradition. It's like the seal of approval. I was so happy. I'm the only one who got it. You're the only one who can do it. I'm so happy. It's more like the seal of approval than any other award. It's the seal of approval. Yes, the seal of approval. My master gave it to me. And with fewer and fewer locals taking the time to absorb Niigata's culinary secrets, Kuwakino sees upholding this tradition as part of her life's mission. It was in 2018, four years into her stay, that Kuwakino's mastery of Niigata cuisine saw her appointed head chef. When it comes to traditional recipes and the food that local people eat and enjoy, I feel there are guiding principles behind it all. But it's not really my place to focus on traditional dishes. That's an established tradition, and it's full of insights and inspiration, which I filter through my own sensibilities as a chef. But it's those local traditions that underpin my cooking. I don't think I could have made it as a chef in Tokyo, so I really think I owe everything to this region. I'm so glad I came here. In mid-March, a cold snap brings another wave of heavy snows. But in Kuwakino's kitchen, the heat is on. The local tourist board has arranged a special event at which leading chefs from Niigata and Shizuoka will prepare meals using Niigata produce. Participants include in-demand Shizuoka chef Sugiyama Daigo, vegetable grower and expert Imazu Ryo, and rising Niigata culinary star Sato Sho, alongside Kuwakino herself. Collectively, we need to work out how to use this Niigata produce. We haven't decided the menu yet. On the day of the event, guests from all over Japan are treated to a pre-meal taste of the traditional winter bonfire custom, don-to-yaki. The trip is a chance to sample both Niigata's winter and culinary traditions. All the chefs are here, right? Please come this way. I managed to make a menu a few hours ago. In the kitchen, the crack team of chefs gets to work. It's a genuine collaborative effort. We don't have the same preservation techniques in Shizuoka. They were born of necessity, in a region where you can't find food year-round. And I think that's so cool. It's just fascinating. Kuwakino-san is like a magician. She uses a totally different approach from the rest of us to showcasing the same qualities in the ingredients. It's so interesting. This dish uses fermented soybean tempeh, topped with hair crab and canola shoots. While here, we have freshly caught shrimp with asiabell roots and turnip. There's also rice mixed with yukimuro carrot and fermented amberjack rolls with watercress and pot herb mustard. Among the guests are famed Thai chef Bo Songwisoa and her husband and collaborator, Dylan Jones. Tonight's dinner is really interesting. It's got a lot of ingredients that I've never heard of and also a lot of ingredients that are really famous already. But the way it was presented and cooked, the flavor is so amazing. By early April, the snows have begun to recede, bearing the hillsides once more. It's the cue for Kuwakino to join Murayama for another seasonal foraging trip. Murayama knows that this sun-facing slope is the surefire site of the earliest spring shoots. I'm so thankful we can do this every year. Dogtooth violet. This is a good one. The nicest, gentlest sweetness of all the mountain plants. Some mugwort. It can be quite astringent, but at this time of year, it's soft enough to eat as it is. I just can't stop nibbling. So what is it that motivates Kuwakino Keiko as a frontrunner in her field? I want everyone to come here. Of course, there's great food, but there's more than that. Like the bitter shoots and so on. It's just so rich and complex. I want people to experience these dishes that showcase the true power of vegetables. But as I carry on spreading the word, it's okay if I'm just one cog in the machine. I just hope I can help take things to the next level in providing delicious experiences for our guests.