Sea bream soup

This clear fish soup is a popular dish in Japan. There‘re two reasons why I decided to present this soup.First, we believe that red sea bream brings good fortune. Although I couldn’t get the red one, I wish for my luck of this year. Second, to be a chef, I must know how to cut fish. Thus, this opportunity is the best for me to practice it and enjoy to eat a local dish.

RECEPE

Preparation time: 1hour     Yield: 1L

Cooking time: 30minutes

Quantity	Unit of measure	Ingredient/specification
1	ea.	Whole sea bream
5	g	Kombu
2	tsp	Sake
1	tsp	Soy sauce
	to taste	Salt

Preparation

1. In a pot with 1L water, add kombu and leave for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Remove scales, gills, and the guts. Cut the head and Fillet the fish into three pieces. Set apart small piece of bones.

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3. Add salt on the head and bones to remove odor.

4. Cut bones to a proper size. Then roast them in the oven 15 minutes until lightly browned.

5. Add roasted sea breams in the pot and bring it to boil.

6. Remove the kombu before boiled and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove scam.

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7. Insert a few skewers between body and skin.

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8. Parboil the fish and cut evenly. 

9. Strain the stock and add sake, salt, and soy sauce in order.

10. Julienne leek. Serve the fish and the leek in a bowl. Then, pour the fish soup in the bowl.

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sensory evaluation

The stock shows very clear and slightly golden. Then, the body is rich but not thick. The aroma has slightly sweet scent of rich sea bream and sake but it doesn’t have any odor. Last but not least, the flavour has mild and rich sea bream taste at the beginning. Then, the umami flavour which comes from kombu boosts the taste richer. 

Impression of others

I also served the soup to a French women and she described that the taste is simpler than French style fish soup because they add vegetables in the stock and add butter in it. However, it’s flavourful and the aroma is unique due to some Japanese ingredients such as sake and soy sauce.

Conclusion 

This’s my first time to cook seafood dish from scratch in Toronto and it’s hard to get a fresh whole fish in my location. In addition, I’ve never clean the guts before, thus it’s the most challenging part in this cooking. I think this dish was almost succeeded but there’re two issues that I need to improve for next time. First, I used a black coloured sea bream instead of a red one. I think the black on has more flavour than the red but it has more fat. As a result, the soup was a little bit too richer than what I expected. Hence, I would add daikon or carrot for garnishes to reduce the richness. Second, we usually add yuzu skin in  the soup to give better aroma and bring out the flavour. Since I didn’t in the market, I need to find another option. So, if I have a chance, I wold try to use a meyer lemon or a Kaffir lime. Overall, It’s a great experience for me to practice to cut a whole fish from a scratch and reviewed cooking methods which I’ve learned in the classes. Then, I’ll continue to find another marriage between Japanese and Western ingredients so that this knowledge will help in my future culinary experience. 

Reference

All pictures are taken by Takashi Ohara