1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (206 page)

“It was a brave man who first ate an oyster,” said Jonathan Swift. What then would he have said about the person who first ate a sea urchin? It would be hard to imagine less prepossessing candidates for gourmandise than these stiff, spiky balls that may range in color from black-green to emerald and even to tints of red and lavender. And should a swimmer step on one, a visit to a doctor to have the painful and sometimes poisonous quill extracted might put him off his feed for quite a while.

Yet, ever on the prowl for a new treat, some courageous and curious ancient gourmand spliced open the spine-covered shell and tasted one of the five small, quivery, bright orange-red lobes within, and the rest is gastronomic history. Apparently, the first taster was beguiled by the lusciously silky texture and the teasingly salty, slightly astringent flavor—somewhere between caviar and the coral roe of female lobsters, although the edible parts of the urchin, described as tongues, are not roe but the sex glands.

Known to have existed for 450 million years, the shellfish were dubbed “urchins” by some, “sea hedgehogs” or “curls” by others, and there are between 700 and 800 varieties around the world. Two of the most highly prized for flavor and texture are
Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis
, which inhabits the North Atlantic, including the English Channel and the coasts of Norway and Maine, and
Paracentrotus lividus
, which lives in the Mediterranean. Oddly, the North Atlantic urchin is rarely eaten by locals. Rather, it is exported mostly to Japan and other parts of Asia, where local supplies cannot keep up with demand.

The Japanese mostly eat
uni
uncooked—its sunny hue and deep-sea essence make it a favorite atop sushi. In fact, it is doubtful that a conscientious Japanese chef or home cook would serve fresh sea urchins any way but raw. However, at Soto, one of New York’s finest sushi restaurants, chef-owner Sotohiro Kosugi fries
uni in a thin, delicate tempura batter that he finishes with his homemade dehydrated uni powder for an extra belt of flavor. And bottled, lightly cooked sea urchins are sometimes blended with egg yolks, along with sake and mirin, for an intensely yellow mayonnaise. But Shizuo Tsuji, author of
Japanese Cooking
and former proprietor of Japan’s foremost professional cooking school, advised, “As delicious as this dressing is, do not waste fresh sea urchin on it. Eat fresh sea urchin raw!”

The Mediterranean variety is a longtime favorite of the Spanish (who call them
erizo de mar
), the Italians (
riccio di mare
), and the French (
oursin
). Those who love them most like to eat them close to shore, split (with or without a special slim, curved opener), and rinsed with seawater and perhaps squirted with lemon juice. Italians also cook them up into pasta sauces, and the French sometimes lightly boil them like a coddled egg, or puree them into mayonnaise-type sauces.

Despite their long history as European delicacies, sea urchins really became well known in the U.S. as
uni
, and the Japanese name has prevailed.

Where:
In Tokyo
, Sushi-Jiro, tel 81/3-3535-3600,
sushi-jiro.jp
; Daiwa Sushi, 81/3-3547-6807;
in New York
, Soto, tel 212-414-3088; for ravioli with sea urchin, Sandro’s, tel 212-288-7374,
sandrosnyc.com
; élan, tel 646-682-7105,
elannyc.com
;
in Boston
, O Ya, tel 617-654-9909,
oyarestaurantboston.com
;
in Washington, DC
, Sushi Taro, tel 202-462-8999,
sushitaro.com
;
in Atlanta
, Taka Sushi, tel 404-869-2802,
takasushiatlanta.com
;
in Houston
, Uptown Sushi, tel 713-871-1200,
uptown-sushi.com
;
in San Francisco
, Izakaya Yuzuki, tel 415-556-9898,
yuzukisf.com
;
in Los Angeles
, Nozawa Bar, tel 424-216-6158,
nozawabar.com
.
Mail order:
For fresh uni packed in trays, Catalina Offshore Products,
store.catalinaop.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Sushi-Making at Home
by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani (2014);
Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking
by Masaharu Morimoto (2007);
epicurious.com
(search sea urchin mousse with ginger vinaigrette);
foodnetwork.com
(search uni risotto with seared japanese scallops);
saveur.com
(search chilled sea urchin and farro pasta).
Special event:
Teuri Uni Matsuri, Teuri, Japan, August,
seaurchinfacts.com
(click Sea Urchin Facts Festivals).

The Japanese beef so revered for its marbling and purity.

There are two basic principles for a truly great steak: The fat must be white and sweet, and the meat must retain its juices. Finding both qualities in one piece of meat is a rare thing indeed, which is why Japanese beef, with its tender, fine-grained texture, soft juiciness, and sweet, almost graceful flavor, is so revered (and also so expensive).
Wagyu
, the term used to describe premium Japanese beef from a special breed of cattle, contains fully three times more fat than U.S. prime (the best grade of American beef), and its high quality is attributed to that incredible marbling. But the marbling itself results from a culture of animal husbandry with almost preposterously high standards.

The most famous wagyu may be Kobe, derived from a centuries-old strain of Japanese Black cattle from the Hyōgo Prefecture. These are the pampered cows rumored to be treated
to daily massages as a way of distributing surface fat within their muscles and producing that classic marbling. It’s been reported that the cattle are fed a steady diet of beer in order to fatten them up, and that is partially true: They are fed high-fiber foods like hay, wheat bran, corn, and soybean byproducts—sometimes with a weekly beer or two thrown in. (The rumor that the cows get to hear Mozart while they’re eating and drinking, however, is false.)

Another, less-known type of premium Japanese beef, considered by some to be even fattier than Kobe (though that is a hotly disputed point), is Matsuzaka, from a town of the same name in the Mie Prefecture. Because Matsuzaka cows are in far shorter supply than Kobe, their meat has never been sold for export. Those lucky enough to have tried it—a feat currently impossible outside of Japan—say that it’s like Kobe only more so, with even more tenderness and denser marbling.

Over the years, a very small number of wagyu stock made their way to the U.S. for breeding. Inevitably, the presence of domestic cows has led to a predilection among some American chefs for mixing small amounts of wagyu into trendy comfort foods like burgers or meat loaf, largely for the purpose of cashing in on the high prices diners are willing to pay for the exotic, top-notch beef.

In Japan, however, they take their beef very seriously, and it’s no surprise that they apply the same exacting, spare yet elegant aesthetic to its preparation as they do to that of raw fish. Like sashimi, wagyu may be enjoyed raw and thinly sliced. It may also, of course, be grilled on a
teppan
grill or
yaki
grill to make sukiyaki, or dipped into hot pot broths as in shabu-shabu (see
listing
). Whatever the presentation, the point is not to obscure the meat’s flavor behind spices, herbs, and sauces, but to make the most of its inherent beauty.

Where:
In Kyoto
, Kobemisono Kyototen, tel 81/75-255-2981;
in Osaka
, Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M, tel 81/6-6221-2917;
in multiple locations in the U.S. and Asia
, Gyu-kaku,
gyu-kaku.com
;
in New York
, EN Japanese Brasserie, tel 212-647-9196,
enjb.com
; Morimoto, tel 212-989-8883,
morimotonyc.com
;
in Washington, DC
, Bourbon Steak, tel 202-944-2026,
bourbonsteakdc.com
;
in Houston
, Uptown Sushi, tel 713-871-1200,
uptown-sushi.com
;
in San Francisco
, 5A5 Steak Lounge, tel 415-989-2539,
5a5stk.com
.
Retail and mail order:
For American wagyu,
in New York
, Lobel’s Prime Meats, tel 877-783-4512,
lobels.com
;
in Chicago
, Allen Brothers, tel 800-852-2205,
allenbrothers.com
.
Mail order:
DeBragga,
debragga.com
; Japan Premium Beef, tel 212-260-2333,
japanpremiambeef.jimdo.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Japanese Grill
by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat (2009); American Wagyu Beef Association,
wagyu.org
.
Tip:
Remember that all American wagyu is not created equal—you could be talking about a steer that’s 75 percent wagyu blood versus one that’s 97 percent.

Although seaweed has been eaten for thousands of years by everyone from the Irish to the Aborigines, it will forever be associated with Asian food, and specifically with Japan. What most Westerners are just beginning to appreciate is that beyond the dried nori used to wrap sushi lies a whole world of flavors, textures, and colors. Whatever its form, seaweed is rich in glutamate, the amino acid responsible for the mysterious and magical umami flavor that lovers of Japanese food forever tout.

There’s wakame, the glittering green-silver seaweed that grows in shallow water near Japanese shorelines. Chewy and tangy, it’s the kind often featured in seaweed salads. Kombu are the very chewy dark strips of kelp that grow in deep ocean waters and are the main ingredient in the traditional Japanese broth known as dashi. Agar is the intricately branched, thin, and wispy red sea vegetable that grows in deep, dark waters and is used as a gelling and congealing agent in a host of foods, including clear Asian noodles.

Today’s scientists prefer to call seaweed a sea vegetable, and they’re not wrong: Of the hundreds of types of marine algae found in our global waters, many are edible, nutritious, and delicious. High in vitamin B, magnesium, iron, calcium, and other minerals, they’ve been embraced by homeopaths as vital ingredients in “healing diets” good for cancer patients and people with extreme food allergies.

Where:
In New York
, Hatsuhana at two locations,
hatsuhana.com
;
in Atlanta
, Taka Sushi, tel 404-869-2802,
takasushiatlanta.com
;
in Houston
, Uptown Sushi, tel 713-871-1200,
uptown-sushi.com
;
in Seattle and environs
, Uwajimaya Asian Market at four locations,
uwajimaya.com
;
in Brentwood, CA
, Takao Sushi, tel 310-207-8636,
takaobrentwood.com
.
Mail order:
Mitsuwa Marketplace,
mitsuwa.com
; for kelp,
edibleseaweed.com
;
wholefoodsmarket.com
(search eden organic sea vegetables).
Further information and recipes:
Vegetables from the Sea
by Jill Gusman (2003);
The New Seaweed Cookbook
by Crystal June Madeira (2007);
saveur.com
(search pickled seaweed salad; crab wrapped in seaweed).
Special event:
Seaweed Festival, TawiTawi, Philippines, September through October,
localphilippines.com
(search seaweed festival).

If the bright, neon-green, strongly flavored paste on your sushi platter looks almost unnaturally tinted, it may be—though the color won’t actually be an indication of quality. As vibrantly green as its imitators, fresh wasabi is made from
the root of mountain hollyhock, or
Eutrema wasabi
, a perennial herb that grows wild along the banks of cold mountain streams in Japan. Known for a strong, head-clearing heat that quickly fades into sweetness and leaves almost no aftertaste, wasabi’s flavor is most often compared to that of horseradish and mustard.