Why the best cuisine in the world is coming out of Japan
Hi there,
Shokunin.
In Japanese, it describes a maker who dedicates their entire life to mastering a single discipline. Not a career. A life. The shokunin soba maker in Osaka has been making the same noodle for forty years. He is not bored. He is getting closer. Anyone who has seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi knows what I am talking about.
What has happened over the past decade, though, is that ethos has expanded from Japanese culinary tradition to a global food focus, and it's incredible.
The seventh-best restaurant in the world right now, Sézanne, is a French restaurant. It's in Tokyo. Chef Calvert spent years training in France, came home, and made French cuisine more precise and enriched by the local influence. Sean Brock, a Made In customer and one of the most serious American chefs alive, just opened a Japanese pizza concept in Nashville, because he became obsessed with Japanese pizza dough in Osaka. People argue, sorry Tri-State area, sorry Italy, that the best pizza dough in the world currently comes from Japan.
Sézanne - Marinated sanma fish with caramelized onions and green olives built with extreme precision
That's what I was thinking about when I walked into the knife factory with Chef Achatz to work on an upcoming project and watch the craftspeople at work on our
Damascus Steel Japanese Knife line. The man hand-sharpening every blade that comes off our line and into your homes has been doing that exact job for over 30 years. The process is slow and exact. The edge geometry is ground to a thinness that most Western knives never approach.
Shokunin.
Why I'm so proud of our Japanese Knives is because we blend this shokunin with some modern techniques and designs. Most Japanese knives have almost no bolster. We asked a different question: what if you took the thinness and the cutting precision of a Japanese blade and gave it the balance and feel of a Western chef's knife? An angled bolster. A slightly heavier heel. A profile that lets you rock through an onion without changing your grip. These craftsmen adapted their expertise to the new process and worked on it until it was perfect.
This Japanese knife sharpener has been honing his craft for over 30 years.
The result is the knife I've been reaching for every single day since I got home. It's not trying to be a traditional Japanese knife. It's not trying to be German. It knows exactly what it is. Shokunin, applied to a knife built for the way most of us actually cook.
One more thing, if you missed Episode 1.
The
Sudachi Citrus Salt we earlier this week, harvested in Japan, made in very small quantities, is the kind of thing you finish a piece of fish with, or zest over a slice of beef before it hits the table. It came out of the same trip. If you haven't grabbed it yet, it's still available, and it pairs naturally with everything these knives are going to do for you.
Thanks for tuning in,
Chip, CEO and Co-Founder
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