After discovering the natural wasabi flavor in Brussel sprouts last year this next dish is a bit of an obvious yet also very justified progression.

Wasabi is naturally associated with sushi/sashimi and Japanese cooking in general, so it makes sense to do a bit of an eat meets west theme.

I got some amazing Otoro (the very fatty part of tuna belly) and seared it in a tataki style which gives you both the benefits and flavor profile of cooked and raw. So I tried a simple test of eating the brussel sprouts (in the same method as mentioned in the December Brussel sprouts post) with the Otoro Tataki. The result was amazing as the brussel sprouts provided the wasabi which I love to eat with raw fish and also it added an extra crunch which complimented the soft melting texture of the otoro. But still something missing from this complete picture.

I ordered some Salsify and decided to try and cook it at a very low temperature in vacuum with a mix of Soy sauce and water. This would add the last part of the Sushi/sashimi theme.

When I cut the salsify it actually looked like little logs as you can see in the above picture. This added another Japanese idea to the dish which is the use of wood and natural elements in the presentation of Japanese food.

On each piece of the tuna I added a different oil (Sesame, Peanut and sechuan pepper corn) to give a different taste in every mouthful, this is an unexpected discovery for your guest as they all look identical and it is up to them to interpret and discover the flavor within.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 11:47 and is filed under Food, Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.