Rick Stein and the Japanese Ambassador

I'm at the Japanese ambassador's residence in London,

I'm about to prepare and cook a banquet

for some of his Japanese and British guests.

I've gotta get it right,

and yet I've had no experience

of cooking Japanese food before,

apart from a bit of tempura.

So to say I'm apprehensive

is a bit of an understatement,

and the only thing that's going

through my mind at the moment,

is a fine kettle of fish I've gotten myself into this time.

As a seafood cook,

I'm constantly asked what I think of food in Japan,

to which I reply, "I'm sorry but I've never been".

"Well", they hmph, "surely it's like teaching French,

"without having been to France, you must go".

So, to cut a long story short,

I'm here in Tokyo

to find out the basics of Japanese cuisine.

This will, I hope, help me create a banquet

fit for their ambassador in London,

and all his sophisticated guests where,

I hope, nation shall speak food unto nation.

The whole thing started rather innocently,

with a day's mackerel fishing off Padstow.

I set out to make sushi for a group of holiday makers

who'd never tried it before.

Damn thing.

And I thought that no one could

get fresher mackerel than this.

However, when the Japanese ambassador

saw what I was doing on the television,

he told a friend of mine

in no uncertain terms, I may add,

that Rick Stein may know how to grill a Dover sole,

but he doesn't know much about sushi.

So what do you think?

Really nice, lovely.

I was just thinking this was about 30 quids worth

of sushi here, all from one mackerel.

Cost, 5p?

Get it on the restaurant straight away.

And that's how this banquet idea started.

I met ambassador Nagami a couple of times,

and soon realised he was a true gourmet

and suggested the idea of going to Japan

and coming back and cooking dinner for him and his friends.

Ambassador what do you think I should be

looking out for in Japanese cuisine?

I think if you could grasp what lies behind Japanese food.

Japanese food is based on seasonality

and we appreciate the quality of produce,

freshness of produce,

and also our food is always very much

closely linked to the seasonal changes.

This idea of cooking the banquet,

I know very little about Japanese cooking,

do you think I'm mad?

No, not at all.

I don't think that

the British audience would like to see

you cooking exactly like the Japanese do,

but the spirit of Japanese cooking.

Cheers.

And so it was that I found myself

in the world of Bill Murray,

in that lovely film "Lost in Translation".

This is where ritual and custom,

and extreme politeness are the order of the day.

Welcome to Japan, Tokyo,

we hope you will have good time.

Right from the start I had an inkling

that I was being made a fuss of.

I'm sure they think I'm terribly important.

More than a TV cook and restaurateur from Cornwall.

But hey, what they don't know won't hurt me.

I suppose there weren't any sultans

or princes staying this week.

Good lord.

There is an old Japanese saying that I've just thought of,

that says the bigger the room,

the less likely you are to find all

the light switches when you turn in,

and there's always one that you left on.

Fantastic, is that the bedroom there?

Blimey, I didn't expect anything like this.

This is unbelievable.

Obviously the Ambassador's pulled a few strings.

Although it was late, and very wet,

I was determined to explore the city.

A friend of mine, an old Tokyo hand,

said don't bother going to all the up-market restaurants,

and even the ambassador said I should try

the little restaurants in the business quarter,

which specialise in different dishes.

These are barbecued chicken intestines,

which taste better than they sound.

And this is deep fried breaded pork,

in a dipping sauce and a bit of English mustard.

Even in the pouring rain

there's a great atmosphere around here.

Little groups of office workers having a few pints

before the long train ride out to the suburbs.

Ah, this is nice.

Look at that kobe beef there,

all done in shiny plastic.

It's such a much better idea

than just having pictures of the food.

And there's some sashimi.

This is eminently collectable, this stuff.

It's so bright and cheerful.

And there's some noodles with seafood in a big bowl.

I've just gotta take these all back to my cottage

and start a collection.

I was looking out of my hotel room on the 18th floor,

earlier on and it just looked like big high-rise

office blocks and a massive city.

But I got down on the street

and I sort of realised it's not like that at all,

there's a whole honeycomb of little streets

leading off everywhere.

I found this place, it's a railway arch,

I can hear the trains going above all the time,

and it's so sort of funky.

I mean, there's lots of people here

in city suits so I mean, it's not downmarket,

but it just looks so informal,

and the food is excellent.

And the beer, Japanese beer is a revelation.

I had a bit of a problem,

trying to come to an idea of what I would choose to eat,

and I was just having a look at the menu,

and I saw a little pig,

a little chicken,

and some kebabs to I just pointed to them,

and then I just said "pickles"

because I know pickles with everything.

And it's a fantastic meal, I'm really enjoying it.

It's really good quality,

and I just love the buzz.

It's one of those places that reminds me

of Spanish tapas bars.

You have a little plate of muscles and a glass of sherry,

and move on to the next little bar.

But I'm running out of time because in a few hours

the biggest fish market in the world, called Tsukiji,

opens for business, and business here,

means a turnover of $20 million of fish everyday.

It was here that I met up with Taka,

who became my indispensable guide.

First we're going to do the frozen tuna.

Before the bidding starts.

Wow.

You know the film the "Alien"?

I always thought it had a bit of a seafood imagery in it

and do you the bottom of the space ship in that film,

with all the pods with the eggs in it,

and that sort of fog hanging.

Well that's where they got it from.

But also I think it looks a bit like a

Second World War aircraft hanger full of bombs

ready to go on the Lancaster.

But just looking at some of these guys here

they're so skillful with the axe.

What they're doing is just chopping a little bit

out of the tail to tell the quality of the tuna.

And somebody will come along a bit later

and just test the tuna to see

how much fat is in the flesh,

and how good the quality of the fat is.

So this is the fresh tuna room,

or hall I suppose you could call it,

just prior to the auction.

Just beautiful fish here.

And it's a really important time

'cause what they're checking here is

the quality of the tuna.

And what they're looking for is the marbling in the tuna,

and the colour,

and the more vibrant and intense the red,

the fresher it is.

And it's just thinking about it,

talking about marbling,

and it's a bit like beef, you know,

I think tuna really is like roast beef to us,

tuna is to the Japanese.

And when you think that they live on fish,

the more I talk to them it's fish and rice.

If this ran out I think it'd be all over for them.

Most of the money that passes through the fish market

if from the tuna sales,

and these fish come from all over the world,

New Zealand, Chile, Africa,

even the Mediterranean.

There's no where the tuna boats won't go.

[auctioneer excitedly speaking in foreign language]

This auction, I think, sums up their fanatic zeal,

and a voracious appetite for this magnificent fish.

Because the tuna's so expensive it goes to specialists