Umami Summit in London - Umami Information Center

Umami Summit in London
Title: Umami Summit in London Date: Saturday, 7th March 2009 Time: 13:00 – 18:00
Keynote speech and demonstration: Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi, Kyoto
Demonstration: Takashi Tamura, Tsukiji Tamura, Tokyo / Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho, Kyoto /
Yoshihiro Takahashi, Hyotei, Kyoto
Panellists: Kyle Connaughton, The Fat Duck, Bray / Ichiro Kubota, Umu, London
MC: Stefan Gates
Venue: LG Lecture Room, Waterstone’s Piccadilly, London
Hosted by: Umami Information Center
Sponsored by: AJINOMOTO CO., INC.
Supported by: Nobu Matsuhisa, Nobu London and Nobu Berkeley
Event outline
The Umami Summit in London was the most recent in a series of successful centenary events held in New York, San
Francisco, and Kyoto in 2008 to celebrate 100 years since the discovery of umami. The London summit was attended by 84 chefs, scientists and food writers, with strong attendance from such Michelin-starred restaurants as The Fat
Duck, Alaine Ducasse at The Dorchester, Rousillon, Hibiscus and Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms.
The purpose of the event was to take a detailed look at dashi, the stock at the very core of Japanese cuisine, which
is lauded internationally for being extremely healthy. It also focused on the umami taste, which is key to delicious
dashi. It aimed to examine the role and potential of dashi and umami in both Japanese and Western cuisine,
and represented an unprecedented opportunity for local chefs and food writers to experience dashi and umami as
interpreted and presented by Japan’s most prominent exponents of traditional
cuisine.
Four chefs from Japan’s leading kaiseki restaurants each demonstrated an umamirich dish. Each chef who participated is the driving force behind one of the most
illustrious establishments in Japan, and each had accepted the challenge of using
unfamiliar local ingredients to adapt Japanese dishes to London seasonality. These
four were then joined by two leading chefs based in the UK to take part in a panel
discussion, chaired by Stefan Gates, on umami, dashi and their roles and potential
in creating healthy, flavoursome dishes, which prompted lively discussion with the
audience. The event also marked the successful launch of Dashi and Umami – the
heart of Japanese cuisine.
Participating Chefs from Japan’s finest Ryotei restaurants
Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi (Kyoto)
Murata is the third-generation chef-proprietor of Kikunoi in Kyoto. Universally
renowned for his mastery of kaiseki, he has also brought innovation to this timehonoured world, incorporating flavours and techniques learnt during his time in
Europe. As Director of the Japanese Culinary Academy, Murata is central in training
a new generation of chefs and communicating the rich heritage of Japanese cuisine
internationally. In 2008, his book ‘Kaiseki: The Exquisite Cuisine of Kyoto’s Kikunoi
Restaurant’ won the Best of the Best Chef Book at the Gourmand World Cookbook
Awards. Murata’s name is now synonymous with kaiseki and the superlative quality
that characterises first-class Japanese culinary culture.
Takashi Tamura, Tsukiji Tamura (Tokyo)
Tamura is the third-generation chef-proprietor of Tsukuji Tamura, located in
Tsukiji near Japan’s biggest fish market, and established by his grandfather.
While displaying his skill on the front line in the kitchen, he has appeared
on NHK TV cookery programmes, worked as a teacher at culinary schools,
published cookery books, all the while championing the cause of food for
ordinary people. Tamura sees the opportunity to help people experience
pleasure, beauty, emotion and the seasons through exquisitely crafted, traditional
d ishes, both in hi s re s tau r an t an d i n the i r ow n ho m e s , as a m att e r o f
superlative happiness.
Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho (Kyoto)
Tokuoka is Head Chef at Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama, established by his grandfather. Tokuoka’s sensitivity to the true spirit of kaiseki and the importance
of hospitality is what marks him out as a pioneering figure amongst Japanese
chefs today. In 2005, he became the first representative of Japanese cuisine to
be invited to Madrid Fusión, and is closely involved with the Italian Slow Food
Association. In 2008, he became the first Japanese chef to take part in the James
Beard Foundation’s Masterpiece Dining series. In the food world, he is active in
educating, vitalizing and learning more – by way of the natural environment – about
the true essence of food.
Yoshihiro Takahashi, Hyotei (Kyoto)
Takahashi works alongside his father, Eiichi, the fourteenth-generation ownerproprietor of the much-admired Hyotei, in Kyoto, which was established 400 years
ago and is acclaimed as one of Kyoto’s great sights. Takahashi was active in founding
the Japanese Culinary Academy, which educates new talent in the rigours of Japanese
cuisine, and promotes Japan’s culinary heritage. He is also keen to enhance his own
repertoire with other culinary traditions. Particularly interested in French cuisine,
in 2008 he helped to celebrate the 150th anniversary of French-Japanese Exchange
with an exclusive evening at Beige Alain Ducasse Tokyo. Takahashi embodies the
new generation of chefs upon whose shoulders the future of kaiseki lies.
Panel Discussion Participants
Stefan Gates, Master of Ceremonies
Stefan Gates is an award winning presenter and writer who travels the globe using food to
understand the world and its people. His acclaimed TV series include Cooking in the Danger
Zone, Full on Food and Gastronauts, the first food show on the CBBC channel. His books
include Gastronaut, In the Danger Zone, and 101 Things to Eat Before You Die, out later
this year. He is currently filming Feasts, a new BBC2/4 series about festival cuisine.
Ichiro Kubota, Umu (London)
Ichiro trained at the acclaimed Tsuruya, in Kyoto, then at Hassun, where his father is chefproprietor. In 2002 he moved to France, where he gained experience in cuisine other than
that of his native Japan, working at Michelin-starred establishments. He moved to London
in January 2004, to oversee the opening of London’s first Kyoto kaiseki restaurant, the
Michelin-starred Umu.
Kyle Connaughton, The Fat Duck (Bray)
After training in Southern California, Kyle enrolled on the California Sushi Academy’s
Sushi Chef Program. His studies took him to Japan regularly, where he learnt the language.
After several years working in top restaurants in Japan and the US, he took up his current
position at The Fat Duck in 2006 as the Head Chef of the Development Kitchen.
Programme
13:00 Opening
Greetings from Kumiko Ninomiya, Director, Umami Information Center
13:10
Keynote speech and demonstration by Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi, Kyoto
- The role of dashi and umami in Japanese cuisine
- How to make dashi – kombu dashi and ichiban dashi
- Soup dish using dashi and local ingredients
14:10
Healthy umami-rich dishes using local ingredients from Japan’s finest ryotei restaurants
- Simmered dish by Takashi Tamura, Tsukiji Tamura, Tokyo
- Rice dish by Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho, Kyoto
- Grilled dish by Yoshihiro Takahashi, Hyotei, Kyoto
15:55 Panel discussion chaired by Stefan Gates
The four chefs will be joined by two UK - based chefs with extensive knowledge of Japanese cuisine, Ichiro Kubota of Umu and Kyle Connaughton of The Fat Duck.
16:20 Break
18:00 Book signing
Close
Keynote speech and demonstrations
The keynote speech covered the history of dashi, its culinary and cultural significance, and its main ingredients,
kombu (kelp) and flakes of katsuobushi (blocks of dried, moulded, filleted fish flesh). This combination is key, since
it merges the glutamate of the kombu with the inosinate of the katsuobushi to create a virtually zero-calorie, delicate
stock that can infuse dishes with a powerful umami taste. This ability to make possible food that is satisfying without
overloading on fat, butter, salt and oil is attracting increasing numbers of chefs to Kyoto – the heartland of Japanese
cuisine – from all over the world.
Guests were able to taste samples of dashi made from kombu alone and from kombu and katsuobushi, allowing them
to experience the synergistic effect that is the secret behind healthy Japanese cuisine. In fact, combining two or more
different umami-imparting substances, such as glutamate, inosinate or guanylate, creates an intensity of umami taste
that is six to eight times stronger than that of individual ingredients. Chef Murata stressed that dashi was not the only
way to achieve this synergistic effect; other combinations - such as tomato and cheese, or kombu and bacon – can
achieve the effect just as well, although not necessarily with as few calories as dashi, which also contains no fat and no
gelatine. This allows dashi to draw out such pure tastes from ingredients, without masking them in any way.
Chef Murata’s kombu dashi is made by simmering pieces of kombu at 60°C for one hour; this can be turned into
ichiban (primary) dashi by turning off the heat, adding a handful of katsuobushi, leaving them in for ten seconds,
then straining the entire mixture. He emphasised, however, that each chef, each restaurant will have its own recipe for
dashi, using different types of kombu, and variations on the katsuobushi theme, to create a unique recipe that may
also change according to the season.
Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi, Kyoto
Clear Soup with Yuba and Lamb’s Leaf (20 kcal per serving)
This dish uses ichiban (primary) dashi, intensely umami-rich from its refined balance of glutamate from kombu and inosinate from katsuobushi, as its base. Clear
soups invariably use ichiban dashi to ensure that the exquisite aroma can be enjoyed
to its full. It then combines delicate strips of soy milk skin, local lamb’s leaf and
bright flashes of yuzu skin.
“Dashi is the heart of Japanese food, and umami is its central taste. Everything
else – sweet, bitter, salty, sour – flows concentrically around this essential core”.
Takashi Tamura, Tsukiji Tamura, Tokyo
Simmered Duck and Vegetables (440 kcal per serving)
This dish used six different types of vegetable, konnyaku (devil’s tongue jelly) and
succulent duck meat, selected to bring a variety of colours, textures and tastes to the
dish. Each ingredient was sliced or cut according to its texture and the direction of
its fibres; in other words, in whichever particular way would allow the dashi – and
therefore the umami taste – to be best absorbed. They were then gently cooked in
niban (secondary) dashi to imbue each ingredient with a powerful umami taste.
“Umami’s true power is its ability to enchant and excite the tongue, despite
being invisible to the eye”.
Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho, Kyoto
Kombu Dashi Risotto Topped with Bonito Flakes (150 kcal per serving)
This dish was designed to bring out the natural taste of rice, an ingredient intrinsic
to Japanese cuisine, using kombu dashi and infinitesimally-thin flakes of katsuobushi to create the synergistic effect that so heightens the umami taste. Since the
umami taste alone is not enough to make a dish delicious, the umami-rich risotto is
combined with a variety of toppings, diverse in texture and aroma, to stimulate all
the senses and enhance the overall eating experience.
“Cooking is not about memorising recipes; it’s about learning how to work with ingredients. People need to experiment until they find their own unique expression of umami”.
Yoshihiro Takahashi, Hyotei, Kyoto
Lightly Grilled Beef Strips with Seasonal Accompaniment (250 kcal per serving)
Although this dish did not use dashi, its signature synergistic effect was instead
achieved by sealing strips of beef, rich in inosinate, overnight in air-tight bags with
a glutamate-intense mixture of smashed sun-dried tomatoes. The dish was inspired
by the traditional kombu-jime method of ‘marinating’ inosinate-heavy fish flesh
between strips of kombu to infuse it with glutamate. The dish represented Chef
Takahashi’s efforts to merge his rich culinary heritage with Western influences and
ingredients to create an innovative dish especially for the occasion.
“Dishes rich with umami leave a lovely afterglow in the mouth, and a lasting
impression on the soul. They are best expressed, I think, as warming or calming.
I hope that this dish soothes and satisfies”.
Bento boxes containing a serving of each chef ’s dish were
prepared and handed out for tasting. Guests were delighted
with the menu, which was visually stunning and very satisfying, despite being low in calories, fat and oil.
Clear Soup with Yuba and Lamb’s Leaf ...................... 20 kcal
Simmered Duck and Vegetables .............................. 440 kcal
Kombu Dashi Risotto Topped with Bonito Flakes ......150 kcal
Lightly Grilled Beef Strips ........................................250 kcal
Total: 860 kcal per bento box
Panel Discussion
For the panel discussion, the four chefs were joined by Kyle Connaughton, Head Chef of Development at the Experimental Kitchen of Michelin-starred The Fat Duck, and Ichiro Kubota, Head Chef of Michelin-starred Umu, the first
restaurant in London to serve truly authentic Kyoto-style kaiseki cuisine.
The discussion began with Stefan Gates asking each chef how dashi could be best defined.
“Dashi is the soul of Japanese cuisine. Without dashi, we’re not talking about Japanese cuisine anymore”.
Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi, Kyoto
“I think that dashi can be defined as the foundation of deliciousness in Japanese cuisine; it creates a sense
of relief, of relaxation”.
Yoshihiro Takahashi, Hyotei, Kyoto
The panel then discussed the differences between Japanese dashi and the stocks used in Western cuisine.
“With stock, the hard part happens once you’ve got all the ingredients together; it takes considerable time to
turn these ingredients into stock. With dashi, it’s the opposite. It takes a long time to prepare the ingredients
for dashi, but once you’ve got them, the dashi itself can be prepared in an instant. And dashi needn’t be just
from kombu and katsuobushi. You can play around with different combinations of shellfish and vegetables,
or try making a dashi from kombu and chicken. There are innumerable possibilities: that’s the joy of dashi…
Modern systems of distribution make possible such combinations as glutamate from Japanese kombu and inosinate from chickens reared in Europe. But at the same time we need to educate our children, to get them used
to these new tastes. I think it’s important not just to plough forward for the sake of any-old ‘newness’; instead,
we need to be thinking about exactly what it is that food – without which we cannot survive - means to us as
individuals and as nations”.
Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho, Kyoto
Talk then turned to the potential difficulties of expressing the umami taste when cooking Japanese food
specifically for British people?
“Japanese cuisine must use dashi, so of course I use dashi when I prepare the dishes at my restaurant. I also
teach occasional cookery classes, where I take the opportunity to show how important water quality is in making dashi: umami can’t be drawn out properly in soft water; the water must be soft”.
Ichiro Kubota, Umu, London
The masterclass and panel discussion had clearly established that dashi is used in Japanese cuisine to impart
dishes with the umami taste. Now, the chefs were asked to explain their thoughts about umami itself.
“Other countries have not had the same concept of umami as Japan; this can make it difficult for non-Japanese to
understand what we mean when we talk about umami. But I actually think that everyone – all peoples, all cultures
– has been making use, however subconsciously, of the umami taste that exists throughout all of nature. Japanese
people were consciously aware of umami, and began to use it quite specifically, and now I want to communicate this
wonderful knowledge to the rest of the world, and encourage people to enjoy a healthy, rich and varied diet”.
Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi, Kyoto
The participating chefs were asked about how using umami could help them to create healthy, fulfilling food.
I think that ‘deliciousness’ is an extremely complex concept. It is something that is only achieved when multiple factors combine in a certain way. People need to intake certain elements in order to survive; in the same
way, sometimes they need sensual, exciting food that will motivate them to get up the next day and work just
as hard again. Sometimes they even need fatty, rich food. But it’s not good to only eat certain things all of the
time. So it’s important to get a balance – sometimes your food should be bitter, other times sour. This balance
is something that people, everywhere, have managed to achieve, quite naturally, in their everyday diet. So I
think that now is an optimal time for looking, once again, at the foods and resources that our local environments provide us with. And traditional cuisine provides us with incredible hints as to what it is we should be
eating, since traditional recipes have only survived the test of time because they reveal to us what is truly delicious, truly satisfying. Kunio Tokuoka, Kyoto Kitcho, Kyoto
Finally, the discussion turned to umami’s potential: in what ways can it be utilized in conventional cooking
methods to enhance taste and boost health?
At The Fat Duck we are working on a collaborative project, with university scientists amongst others, which is
looking at how umami can be used to improve the food intake, gustatory satisfaction, and interest in food amongst
patients and old people who are recovering from illness and need sufficient nutrition to properly heal”.
Kyle Connaughton, The Fat Duck
Audience comments
“I have been looking at boosting umami and flavour in every part of my cooking for a while and to hear it
from ‘the horse’s mouth’ was an honour. The use of kombu was also a real eye-opener”.
Daniel Cox, 2008 Roux Scholar
“Attending the Umami Summit was like someone turning the light on… Watching the chefs’ demonstrations and
tasting their dishes gave me a clear understanding of what umami was and how crucial it is to me as a chef to understand, study and embrace umami in order to move my own cooking skills to the next level. I found the whole day truly
Andrew Fairlie, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie
inspirational”.
“The summit represented an excellent, educated introduction to umami from the very knowledgeable Chef Murata”.
Claude Bosi, Chef-Proprietor, Hibiscus
“I was fascinated in the demonstration by the absorption of different flavours into the umami and how this was utilised, for example, with the citrus notes in the broth. I was also intrigued by the concept of using texture to bring out
the subtlety of the umami taste, such as with the risotto”. Sybil Kapoor, Author, Citrus and Spice: A Year of Flavour
Enquiries: Umami Information Center London Office c/o Cross Media Ltd.
Att.:Yukiko Takahashi (Ms) / Mary Moreton (Ms)
Tel: 020-7247-9388 Fax: 020-7247-9387 Email: info@umamiinfo.com