NHK’s documentary "The Two Gods of Japanese Food: The Last Promise" tells the story of two "Japanese food gods" competing against each other.
"The God of Sushi" Jiro Ono, 92 years old, started making sushi at the age of 26.
My dream is to collapse and leave at work at the last moment. I hope that the last sushi in my life will be pickled fish in vinegar.
"The God of Tempura" Tetsuya Saotome, 71 years old, started frying tempura at the age of 15.
My dream is that Mr. Ono Jiro lives a longer life, so that I can have a chance to surpass him.
If you also fall down while working, plan to plunge into the batter first, and then jump into the oil pan. You must not lose.
As old friends who have known each other for thirty years, they rarely talk to each other, and they have even barely spoken to each other for about ten years.
Their way of getting along is to constantly visit each other's shops and taste each other's most thoughtful dishes.
As rivals who have been competing for thirty years, they eat instead of all communication.
In silence, feel the other party’s refinement of the original flavor of the ingredients, as well as the life attitude and aesthetics hidden in the cuisine.
That is a world that only two people can understand.
There, they encouraged each other while relentlessly honing their craft.
I have heard many stories about these two people. When I saw this film, what struck me the most was their way of getting along with time.
Facing the flow of time, he always maintains a calm and elegant posture.
What an enviable state.
I saw two pairs of eyes staring at time, their gazes as deep as seeing the sea, without a trace of anxiety.
They have already determined what they want to do well in this life.
The only role of time is to help them accumulate experience and pursue perfection in every detail that is so small that it is imperceptible.
Jiro Ono improves his sushi every day, making the simplest food have a deep taste.
Traditional Japanese cuisine pays attention to the order in which dishes are served. The most flavorful dishes are served last, and the dishes should have a certain rhythm.
In order to incorporate this concept into cooking, Onojiro thought hard for ten years before he found the best order of tasting.
His "Edo-mae Ultimate 20" tastes like a concerto, gradually progressing to reach the final "purpose".
The shape of each sushi is made with all your strength.
The power is concentrated on the surface, and with a quick grip, the middle of the finished sushi will be soft, and every grain of rice will be in a suspended state.
The moment it is placed on the plate, the sushi will sink gently due to gravity.
Tetsuya Saotome pursues an excellent taste by calculating the different ingredients and accurately controlling the oil temperature and frying time.
For fresh shrimps, it is common sense in all stores to fry them for a full minute. But Tetsuya Saotome figured out a new method, keeping the oil temperature at 220 degrees and frying for 27 seconds.
The tempura made in this way is crispy on the outside and half-cooked on the inside. The tongue can feel the sweetness of the shrimp to the maximum extent.
This precision comes from Tetsuya Saotome’s unique understanding of “oil”.
In the first twenty years of his work, he thought oil was used to heat ingredients. After more than ten years, he slowly realized that oil is a kind of energy.
He said that frying is actually about controlling the moisture and steaming and baking at the same time.
I saw that time can do nothing for two people who are too focused on their own world.
Fifty or sixty years have passed.
Ono Jiro’s only change was to quit smoking. When Tetsuya Saotome had free time, he still looked at beautiful girls and went to the pachinko parlor to play a few games. He said that after so many years, he didn’t feel that Japan had changed much.
The outside world has undergone tremendous changes, but for them, the passage of time seems to have stopped.
Every day, they stand there, facing a bamboo table and a pot of oil, holding their breath.
Every day, I repeat the actions I have done tens of millions of times, with the same pursuit of excellence and the same motivation.
The only thing that can temporarily interrupt them is the one that slowly comes to the door——
Aging.
When he was nearly 90 years old, Ono Jiro was admitted to the hospital.
His sensory functions deteriorated and his heart ached. The doctor's advice made him seriously consider retirement.
Tetsuya Saotome went to eat sushi every Wednesday as usual. She couldn't see the old man more and more often, and she knew that the situation was not good.
He sighed to reporters: "If he dies, I will never be able to catch up with him."
As he spoke, he turned around and cried silently. .
He decided to use his own way to inspire Jiro Ono:
When we were anxious about turning 30, they made this final agreement.
Ono Jiro put on his apron and returned to the store.
The contest between the two began again.
Tetsuya Saotome often has a word on his lips:
"Life is hanging on the line."
In Japanese, these four words mean, Try your best to do something.
Ono Jiro’s attitude is the same:
You can also make better food.
The two of them thought this way, climbing the peak that has no end at all.
Day after day, we are climbing up steadily.
It will be no different at one hundred.
This is so different from us.
We are anxious about turning thirty, anxious about the end of each year, and even anxious about the arrival of each day, always looking for the secret to peace.
For Jiro Ono and Tetsuya Saotome, who have decided to chase people their whole lives, this is a non-existent worry.
In the face of time, only by being determined can you be calm.
This is the simple belief of a craftsman. If you are willing to spend time honing yourself, your skills will definitely improve.
The things you do every day may be the same, but your inner self is always changing.
A day is just a day, a counting unit of life.
Its specialness is not just a day when you are twenty, or a day when you are eighty.
What matters is how hard the core of your life has become during this day.
The meaning of life lies in the thing you insist on the most.
Our focus will always shift from things that cannot be changed, such as the passage of time, to cultivating ourselves.
Diligence is far better than frivolous change.
I’m very happy. When I see this documentary, I can remind myself:
Don’t panic, dive deep, dive to the deepest part of your heart, and see what life has to offer. The kernel is located.
On the road of discovering yourself, never give up.