How the Japanese Craft the World’s Hardest Food
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Katsuobushi is a unique and essential staple of Japanese cuisine. For the uninitiated, this seafood delicacy amounts to dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna that is used as a shaved condiment over many traditional dishes. And while it is ubiquitous in Japan, katsuobushi is not something people make at home. In fact, it takes nearly six months to make, and is most often produced by artisans and small factories. Takashi Suzuki is one such artisan, who has been making the fish product for the past 30 years. In his Yaizu-based factory, he continues to uphold traditional methods of production in the belief that a bit of extra care and attention can make the most delicious katsuobushi.
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It seems no matter what job a Japanese person does they are proud and do it to best of their ability.
This is 100% true. A very accurate observation.
Unlike their government...
I mean, you can say that about those people and their jobs that are showcased by UA-cam videos. There is also huge issues with depression and suicide in Japan, which in sure some is work related.
This is true. Even janitors and fast food workers take pride in their job, I noticed this when visiting Japan.
@@drqazlop Not just those on YT. Japanese devote themselves to perfecting their craft whatever it is, it’s part of their cultural DNA.
It looks pretty "meh" to most people but i'll tell you, these flakes packs a punch when it comes to flavor. a must if you ever gonna eat Takoyaki
They are great for making soup stock and miso soup. Cat loves the smell of the bonito flake. My room mate's cat got a whiff of it and devoured the entire bag when I wasn't looking. lol
It's an umami bomb. Fermented fish is used across a lot of oriental cultures to enhance a soup base's flavor.
On Takoyaki is one of my favorite ways to eat it.
The way the flakes melts in the mouth
I would imagine that it has a very strong fish flavor, similar to seaweed or fish sauce. Is my guess close?
Man, food fights in Japanese schools must be intense...
By the time it is served it is either in soup stock or shaved into those fine flakes.
DrGeneralkumar82 ... Do Japanese even have food fights?
Dream Cardigan
Food wars
Dream Cardigan Wait, food fights are a real thing?
Louisa Jäger truthfully, I don't believe they exist.
In my country we literally call it "wood fish", it actually taste very good and has a nice texture once you cook it
Where are you from?
Ikan tongkol ? Or Ikan kayu
@@adshameen west Malaysia - ikan tongkol
East M'sia - ikan kayu
I just love it when it "dancing" on hot steamy food
IKR!! I love it on tofu!!
So that's what those dancing flakes were... I thought it was some sort of plant :p
We went to a sushi restaurant with some friends and when i order this food and it was nice and steamy , and it start moving :3 they got scared because they thought it was alive haha
It spooked me when I was young
They say that the flakes move because are showing the souls of the rice grains which are sad and angry because they're about to be eaten
Someone actually made a knife out of katsuobushi, it was very very sharp.
That's the exact video I came from just now, lol
that's why I'm here lol
I've always admired Japanese loyalty and dedication. They're truly incredible people.
It's always refreshing to see some one dedicated to keeping a tradition alive like this.
I love the way Japanese value their traditions and give their best in keeping up even minute details of it intact.
At first I thought is was how to make the hardest WOOD
same here! lol
Hardness close to quartz
ENTER NAME .. just by seeing the thumbnail. i thought they were making some sort of weird bruised hard banana... i am ashamed of myself *facepalm
ENTER NAME me 2😂
Same here. But why? So many of us did!
One of the best food moments of my last trip to Japan was having a simple bowl of white rice with freshly shaved katsuobushi on top. Sublime.
Gotta love how their traditions are very minimalist but still greatly capture the essences of things.
I'm Japanese, I love Katsubushi!
It's really delicious 😋
I am not Japanese, It's a must on my steamed rice.
Japan’s food is number 1
@@avarmauk The fact that they also work hard to produce these types of food production
7 yr old me remembers seeing it on pizza and it was moving by itself and i was spooked
Angel Sparkles my 10 yr old me was also spooked by moving flakes on my food
Angel Sparkles I remember seeing it on my chilled tofu with some weird sauce and my mother wouldn't eat it because she makes weird meatless mondays so she wouldn't eat fish, pork, or just any meat out there. It was only a bit of it but my mother was like: NOPE
Haha yes
If you become vegan in Japan you'll be missing out on so much
Otherwise Zen Buddhism would be too easy to practice.
but if you happen to be a pesco-vegetarian, Japan is a paradise since they have lots of amazing seafood!
ɓʆuiรɦ ɦuɳtʀɛรร exactly why I wanna go to Japan
So you see why there is no vegan shit in Asia(not just japan). So many gooood fooood mate...vegan has no life in Asia
Vegan only a lot happen in the west because there are much people that over eating meat and junk food so they got obesity. So that system created some people to be vegan to counter measure the consumption. In the east we are always make sure to have good portion of meat and vegetable because our main food need that two thing to become more flavourness. That's why vegan is scarce in east. So its funny to see how nature and god regulate us human to show that we must balance thing.
i think it is hard enough to use as a melee weapon 🐟
Someone made a knife from it
Yeet it at someone's face
Kūsōka that guy also made a knife out of rice
That guy also make knifes from smoke and tofu
Englishman want to fight a Japanese man with a English accent using katsuobushi in the meantime the Japanese man want to kill the man using a Excalibur for bluefins tunas
Mmmm this goes awesome with takoyaki!!!
Edited:Looks like you all agree with me.
true
Merliongaming XD never knew it was actually dried fish lol
OMG what did you think it was then? I'm so curious! O_o
A-Mei U ginger. Like one of those you can get in a sushi store
DoubleU_43 OMG really!? You know, as a Japanese, I've been wondering. Like a transparent soup made out of dried fish and dried seaweed... is that weird?
I thought it said "worlds hardest wood" at first and was really surprised when they started putting it on food.
I love it when it is served as the Takoyaki toppings~ Always request to add more on my Takoyaki 😄
Look like those nostalgic snacks you eat during your summer afternoon
Reminds me of Norwegian cod-based stockfish. It's still widely used in the mediterranean region, as people there still know good food, but even then it's a diminishing trade.
Why do videos about Japan the best?
Dont know.. Why ?
Merliongaming XD Because they're unique (almost weird). They just don't really into the pop culture that was so popular around the world
*_it's because they have culture xd_*
they are sometimes really weird especially that anime shit
tigarasab784512 We aren't proud of anime here in Japan. It's just something you watch on a weekend and think nothing of it. The weird stuff you see is from westernized weebs
eating world's hardest food may give one harder stool
SAGAR_G made my day
You don't eat it whole, you shave it into flakes. As a result, they dissolve easily in your stomach the way meat does.
Katsuobushi ：Mohs hardness 7.0～8.0
*The Faceless Man knows.*
WadEpsilon
So what is the boner's hardness?
If you found this interesting you should watch the episode about katsuobushi from begin japanology!
hey thanks for the recommendation, that vid was cool and informative!
funny enough, it's on the side on the recommended videos... :D
Be warned,those videos are like pringles. Once you start you can't stop!
i like katsuobushi so muchhh
I am trying to find some in central Texas. No luck so far :/
voyagerenthusiast you might have some luck ordering online as a last resort. Unless you stumble upon a Japanese store,
Japanese people are hardworking, intelligent , yet modest, polite and humble. I've always been a big admirer. If we Indians could be like them, we will for sure become a super power. Love from India
Japanese strive for innovation and excellence in everything they do. Lot to learn from them.
Is there a lot of differences of taste between traditional vs machine made katsuobushi?
Not really. Taste depends more on quality of bonito and time left drying.
the traditional made has more depth of flavor, but to normal people, they rarely taste it if you have it raw, only when you make dashi stock out of it, you feel that depth, that's why most of the traditional ryoukan in japan still use the old one, they create great soup stock :)
The video showcases a producer who's targeting the mass market with lower prices-
Machines don't make things less tastier if done right; it's how you make it that counts i.e. the quality of fish, the draining of blood, the full preparation of the fish, the quality of the mold, the smoke process, the time that is allowed to age before hitting the market
"Nowadays only a very small percentage of katsuobushi goes through that entire process. The simpler kind, called arabushi, is simply smoked for thirty days. As we see with many other foods and drinks like cheese and wine, the longer aging and fermentation processes are reserved for the most expensive, high-quality product, which goes under various names including hongarebushi, karebushi and shiagebushi."
www.tofugu.com/japan/katsuobushi/
Japanese people say it does. I really doubt people can taste the difference though :)
Japanese people like to grade everything.. you can go to Tsukiji or any specialty food store and try out the different grades (prices vary tremendously) and they do taste differently if you taste one after another (I think any average person can taste the differences; it comes down to whether one cares or not) If you are someone who puts ketchup or mayo on everything, then quality of food doesn't mean anything
A comparable example is cheese i.e. Parmigiano Reggiano aged 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months do taste different: texture, saltiness, depth of flavour, sweetness/fruitiness, nuttiness etc. Go to a local cheese shop, buy them all and compare; it's easy to taste the differences if you care
I'm eating it right now. The umami of the flakes is just next level..
Even for a fish factory that place looks so clean. Japan is the cleanest place I’ve been to.
I feel like the 1st guy to make this thought of all the ways of preparing a fish and combined them into one and got this. Looks interesting 👌
Who's here after watching Jujutsu Kaisen?
"Bonito flakes"
- Inumaki sempai
Damn. You got me. I've had these before and they are really delicious. It's interesting to see the process of how they are made and just how much time it requires.
I want to go to Japan and watch and try alot of these old crafts from rod making to Bonito flake crafting to soy sauce it's good and bad that thens are being mechanical operated but it's the little group of hand makers that we need to keep alive
This man keeps the Japanese tradition on!👏👏
This dude has a fabulous walk i swear
Yep.. 👍
Are we just gonna ignore that man’s passion with his job...
Fish: World's smelliest food (surströmming) and now hardest food.
Japan's spirit of craftsmanship is so inspiring.
That was a great big video
Watching things like this make me miss living in Japan... Its so yummy
For those who never tried Katsuobushi, you need to. It tastes amazing on almost anything especially Okinimiyaki.
But the shavings of it is not as hard as they say. It's so soft to eat.
Honestly it sounds delightful, not like I can request it in Scotland but really, I love Tuna and I love fish. If I could get this I would.
Its soft because its sliced very very thin like paper.
Fun prank! Poke the fish allergy kid with this with a sharpened tip
900 tons dry would be about double that weigh of fresh caught fish, and that's just what is produced by that one factory. If the ocean isn't stripped bare within out lifetimes, I'll be amazed.
Truly interested with the mold they use to make this. In my region, they only boil the fish then fry it to give it a hard, fibrous texture… which goes well with some chilli paste made with fermented shrimp paste.
I love the taste and texture of katsuoboshi so much. It's pretty delicious. No takoyaki, no delicious okonomiyaki without the flakes...
Delicious and multipurpose yet so hard to make and quick to be eaten....
And when you put it on Okonomiyaki or Takoyaki, when you look closely it's like the flakes are moving even if there no wind to do it :)
I wish these videos were longer!!!
Katsuoboshi goes with anything, literally anything.
umami through such a creative process
I like that all Japanese are kind of 🐟 person and how mush they are dedicated about 🐟
dear Great Big Story, I love your videos so much. They are short, clean, and they all tell good stories that I need to hear beside all the politics and conflicts that I see on a daily basis. Thank you.
Tradition is always the best
Imagine the smell at the factory...
This channel is giving me the good vibes thank you very much :)
When I went to Tokyo Ive had this over okonomiyaki, it was divine!!!
Basically what I'm getting at the world's hardest food is just fish that is processed into a certain way smoked and steamed and dried
Oh my. The grated Katsuobushi seems delicious to me!
me finding a song i like: 0:11
The dancing sheet on top of my okonomiyaki 😀😀
Great Big Story logo looks like food packaging, so tasty, lol!
This makes me wanna go to Japan just for the food
I love this stuff
I wish Japan realesing some baby tuna to make up for such a massive scale hunt
I grew to like Katsuobushi
That flakes is heaven itself
Whole documentary would have been a good one to know more about it.
Japan: Katsoubushi is the hardest food in the world
Every Southeast Asian Countries: Hold our Bamboo shoots.
what bamboo shoots you eat lol?the skin of bamboo shoots?we only eat the soft part here
@@xiiaohon5304 not the skin of the bamboo shoots but the internal part of it which is hard. Here's our preparation of it.
1.) skinned the bamboo shoots first and rinse it on water
2.)after that chopped it into fine pieces and rinsed it on water again
3.)then boil, after boiling drain the water.
4.) May eat it with soy sauce or can be used as main ingredients on other meals.
Can't help but think at the amounts of fish harvested (70 tons a month!). The sea is too generous... 😓
The Japanese culture is so interesting.
>For the uninitiated, this seafood delicacy amounts to dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna that is used as a shaved condiment over many traditional dishes.
But we are initiated, aren't we, Bruce?
The same thing is produced in a group of islands in India called Lakshadweep islands they are known as 'Mas' they do similar curing process in a smaller scale naturally and it's used from chutney to making biriyani
Hardest food? Harder than jawbreakers? Harder than 2-day old baguette in a fridge?
The only thing I could think of is the smell of that factory
after molded and dried for 4-6 months, the bonitos become so tough as to hit nails with it. the 6-month molded and dried ones r the highest grade products. they sell 1kg of bonito with a clean plane (lol) at usd 200-300. if u use a plane to make a wooden board, you get many wood shavings. the highest grade hotels and the japanese restaurant buy them.
what is the name of the mold ?
Can you imagine biting into it as a whole piece and not in flakes?
Your old videos used to have bigger subtitles which were easier on the eyes for me anyway
1:15 truck-kun
pro-tip: you can get similar "fish salt" from grinding up the Eastern Europeans' big bags of dried fish; I do like the flakey texture of bonito, however. It's fish-chipped beef.
I love the dried spiced fish with sesame that you can heat in the airfryer easily. In the south, it's much too humid to have such a good tradition and thusly, fish, oyster, shrimp sauce is the anchovy paste of their culture. One simply cannot escape the secret ingredient of flavor.
_At least it's not fennel pollen!_ But simply some spices/ingredients are more like cheat codes. Fish salt is one of them. Exquisite flakey fish salt... _oh yes._ I believe smoked peppers are another food hack. Most people already know about smoked paprika but each good pepper has that same potential when smoked or roasted it transforms. Such as Central American Yellow Peppers, dios mios. Or their black mint is pretty excellent, too.
I remember when I first watched a video about Banito. I hadn't read the comments or the description. I thought they were shaving some kind of wood very thinly so that it could be eaten 🤣
I was like , Damn! Asians can turn anything into a meal!
The easy way to win food fights.
This is made in many parts of Asia, not just Japan, for many centuries
of course it's not supposed to be eaten as a whole block XD. Most people grate it into a powder or shave it into very thin sheets and make soup stocks or eat it as a topping. If you've had takoyaki, Japanese octopus balls, you'll have seen it on top; it's the very thin brown sheet.
I used to think it was grilled dried squid because the flavor and color was very similar but after I learned about Japanese cuisine I realized it was fish.
Those flakes on takoyaki it’s actually from a FISH 😳 wow!! This is new to me😅 Takoyaki is soooo delicious🤤🤤🤤
Yes, keep the old tradition going. Foods don't turn it tasting the same when it made by machines.
when I was young, he told me that these were dragonfly wings (since it was moving)
Looks like a Banana,
Basically a mummified fish,
Perfect stealth weapon,
Has Unbreakable enchantment,
Made in Japan
Delicious!
Respect 30 years of his life
OMG I HAD A AD ABOUT GREAT BIG STORY AND ONE OF IT'S STORIES 😂
bonito flakes do go pretty hard
How to make foods strong and hard...................... FREEZE ‘EM!
Karuvaadu... 😊😊😊😊
Like this hard food "Dried fish" have been eaten in maldives for centuries.
We also eat this in Sri Lanka. So good. We call it Maldive fish.
Hard bread entered the chat.
His head fits so well in the ice cream
Reminds me of my favorite Japanese street food Takoyaki!
I swear to god. The japanese language is art.
My cat just broke into my katsuobushi bag and ate quite a lot.
Sustainability, even survival, of the sole 'ingredient' seems to have been overlooked.