~ ♪ Purulurururururou ... (bird sound)
Can you hear that bird’s strange song? It must be a “Ruddy Kingfisher”.
You can find sparrows or crows in the city. But while you are here, you can hear the song of the Ruddy Kingfisher. Beautiful, isn't it?
You can also hear its song at Tamakiya.
One of Tamakiya's signature dishes is “Snow Carrot and Fukinoto”. Snow carrots are very sweet vegetables that are unique to the Snow Country. It is so sweet because its sugar content increases the longer it stays under the snow. It can even be eaten raw because of how delicious it is. But since Tamakiya’s chef is French, and so a French twist is added to these local ingredients. The carrot is moussed and further sweetened. Next they add "Fukinoto," edible flower buds, to it. It’s a small, intricate plant that is difficult to even wash. So why does the French chef bother adding edible flower buds?
"Without it, what is the point of making food here?"
This is the kind of chef you’ll meet at Tamakiya. The kind of chef that rises to the challenge of pairing Japanese sake with French food made from Snow Country ingredients.
A-Class Gourmet is not just about inheriting traditional Snow Country cuisine. And in fact, it may be just as important to invent a new food culture that will be passed on forever.
※Restaurant Hours are subject to change
Address：13 Matsunoyama-Yumoto, Tokamachi
Phone Number：025-596-2057
URL：http://www.tamakiya.com
──Why are carrots when sweeter when they grow in the snow?
An Interview with Mr. Kuriyama of Tamakiya↓
---What does “A-Class Gourmet” mean to you?
The Snow Country becomes very harsh and isolated during the winter. We have to preserve whatever we harvest in order to survive. I think being “A-Class Gourmet” is partially about preserving this culture, but it is difficult to express this appeal through Western-style cuisine. I’ve only lived here for one year, but I really believe that to be true. Traditional ingredients like miso and soy sauce are very delicious, and of course, we use them in our cooking, but at Tamakiya we incorporate French techniques because we don’t really want to create “traditional” Washoku Japanese food. While we certainly employ traditional techniques, we endeavor to infuse our food with French flair whenever we can. Above all, I just want to serve the kind of food I’d personally like to eat. And sure, traditional ingredients may be best served by conventional preparation, but we also want to show new ways to enjoy food outside the norm.
---How do you incorporate “Snow carrots and fukinoto?”
Everyone says that the wild plants found around the Snow Country are tasty because they’re not too harsh. I haven’t tried the edible mountain plants from other regions, but the ones around here are undeniably delicious. “Snow carrots” are hardy seasonal vegetables that outlast the winter cold, as is the “fukinoto.” Combining the two results in a beautiful dish. The fukinoto is fragrant, but it’s also a bit bitter. Bitterness is one component of umami, but you lose that balance if the bitterness is too strong. So, we keep that balance by adding sweetness to mask the extra bitterness. I believe “fukinoto miso” uses sugar in the same way, but we instead compensate with carrots and sweet northern shrimp for our dish.
---What makes “snow carrots” so peculiar to begin with?
The carrots grow before the snows arrive, and then they’re left under the heavy accumulation through the winter. They are then harvested once the snows melt. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the concept of “freezing-point depression,” but farmers leverage that to enhance the sugar content of the carrots. Put simply, if you dilute sugar into water, its freezing point drops below 32 degrees. The temperature under Snow Country soil often drops below freezing in the same way. It’s no good if the carrots freeze before they’re at peak sweetness, so, in order to avoid that, farmers carefully time when they’re planted and harvested. And it’s not just the snow carrots, but it’s also said that “Yukimuro vegetables” are made the same way.
---I didn’t know such meticulous planning went into just these carrots! Do they use similar methods overseas?
Not that I’ve heard.
---When did it first arrive at the Snow Country?
I’m not entirely sure, but originally, farmers just happened to forget they ever planted the carrots in the first place, until they popped out of the ground after the arrival of spring. I’m sure they were scared to try them at first, but evidently they were tasty enough! (laughs) At any rate, I don’t think they based this method on any scientific knowledge.
---How did you arrive at the perfect way of using snow carrots in Western-style cuisine?
I found that carrots taste sweeter when they’re cooked, and I wanted to make that sweetness so prominent that people would wonder if I didn’t actually add sugar! Moreover, there really is a lack of food and ingredients during the winter. The first things that emerge in the spring after enduring such brutal cold are the snow carrots and fukinoto. When you combine them in a dish, you are tasting the relief that spring brings with it. Yes, fukinoto is quite bitter, but the snow carrots mask that well, and the results are delicious. I think when people think of fukinoto, they only see fukinoto miso or tempura. I wanted to find a new way to experience those ingredients.
---What do your customers think about your signature dish?
They ask me “Where can you buy the ingredients?” not just for the Snow Carrots and Fukinoto but for other dishes, and I tell them where they can go. I feel very happy when customers come in from other regions and walk away with a deeper interest in these ingredients. Even if you know the way they’re grown, I don’t think you can fully grasp how sweet and delicious these carrots actually are until you eat them. When you try it, the method will really click for you. It doesn’t matter how many gourmet ingredients we use; if we cannot convey them correctly to the customer, it’d be rude to the farmers who endeavored to create them.
---Is this your first spring in the Snow Country?
You could say it’s actually my second spring. The previous spring I was too busy to look outside my window, but this year I was able to see the fukinoto come out while driving around town, and I really enjoyed that.
---What are your thoughts after living here for a year?
I came to understand that there are lots of delicious ingredients in Niigata. Asparagus, for example, is delicious. A simple way to say it is, it’s more flavorful than other asparagus. There are lots of ingredients like that, with complex, deep flavors and scents. I can’t easily convey it in words, but I hope I’m able to do so through my cooking.
---Right. And this signature dish is made with that hope in mind.
Yes. We create a jelly from root vegetables and top it with a carrot mousse and lightly season it to bring out the flavor. I’ve heard from many people that don’t like fukinoto that they enjoyed this dish. The bitterness of the fukinoto is one part of the umami flavor, and if you conceal it correctly, that umami really comes out. I hope people enjoy this dish as well.
---Now, we have a challenge for you, to find the right sake for Mr. Kuriyama’s dish. Mr. Yamagishi, what kind of sake would you pair with “Snow Carrots and Fukinoto?”
I pick sake based on the customer’s preferences. For example, for this dish, I would choose the “Kakurei Junmai Oginjo Snow Aged 5 Years” from Aoki Brewery. The taste of Japanese sake pairs well with the umami of the fish, and the aging adds complex notes that complement the fukinoto quite well.
---What do you mean when you say it “compliments” the fukinoto?
Fukinoto has a very peculiar characteristic where its flavor emerges when paired with that aged aroma and flavor you get with Japanese sake. However, aged sake’s an acquired taste for a lot of people. It’s a lot like how an amateur wine drinker might not appreciate the taste of an old vintage, so for customers like that, I try to pair with a sake that’s easier to drink. One of these is the “Katafune Junmai Oginjo” from Takeda Brewery. It’s a slightly sweet sake with a banana fragrance that complements the sweetness and creaminess of the carrot mousse.
---How do you pair sake with different textures?
It’s less about matching the texture as it is about the “lingering impression.” When you have a good meal, what sticks with you is not the food or drink, but the memory of it -- your lingering impression of that meal.
---The sweetness of the snow carrot mousse is impressive, but what “lingers” really is the creaminess.
Right, and I think there are many ways to leave that lingering note, especially for French cuisine and Japanese sake. The right sake changes depending on where the main point is for pairing the sake within the meal itself. We’ve been talking about sweetness so far, and the Katafune Junmai Oginjo has about the same degree of sweetness as the snow carrot. If you went the opposite way and picked an elegant, dry sake, the bitterness would cancel out the sweetness of the meal. All you would taste is the sake.
--- You straddle a thin line when it comes to the sweetness and aroma of a meal’s “lingering impression,” huh?
Yes, besides sweetness we consider acidity, temperature, and many other complex factors. While the food and drinks are delicious by themselves, when you pair them correctly, they’re both elevated further. The thing is that Japanese sake has umami, whereas wine does not. The food already has umami, but when you pair that with even more umami, you create a truly delicious synergy. It’s really neat.
---It figures that you would naturally pair local ingredients with local sake, right?
Yes, it’s said that the local sake of any given region complements the local cuisine well. In regions where the local food culture revolves around miso and soy sauce, the sake reflects that by foregoing “dry and elegant” flavors in favor of something with strong umami notes. That tends to mean that they don’t stray far from the sake they normally drink, but still, I think that ordinary sake is precisely what makes the pairing really pop.
Maybe it’s because of innovators like Mr. Kuriyama and Mr. Yamagishi.
As Mr. Kuriyama walks through the Matsunoyama Hot Spring town, he calls out to an old lady that was passing through “Toshi-chan!” She raises her downcast head and breaks out into a smile as she looks at him. “I just went to pick up some of these,” she said, raising a plastic bag filled with wild vegetables.
“They’re growing like crazy, huh! Take me along next time!” said Mr. Kuriyama.
They continued the conversation. Mr. Kuriyama may be only in his second year at the Snow Country, but that is exactly what gives him such a fresh outlook as he learns more and more about this region.
“The locals love this vegetable. They call them ‘azuki greens’ because they smell so much like azuki beans. I haven’t tried to pick them myself so I can’t tell them apart. That’s why I asked her to take me along,” he explained.
This is how Mr. Kuriyama learns about the Snow Country. Now, it’s your turn. Your trip has only just begun.
