Let’s start with a discussion about tempura...

Eggplant-kun: “Isn’t tempura fried prawns?”

Mr. Cucumber: "Actually, it's not as delicious as the fried sweet potatoes from Lao Wang's house next door..."

Empress: "When will you stop me from worrying about your future! You bastards! Let me popularize them all." Tempura knowledge! 45℃ can make people cry, okay? ”

Today, the spring is beautiful, and the mushrooms suddenly become popular, so I decided to tell you a story:

Once upon a time, there was There is a place called Britain. The food here is not very delicious, but the people here have a positive heart and are always changing their food. One day, they discovered that fried food is delicious, so a fast food restaurant selling various fried foods was born in Scotland. The signature of the store is fried chocolate bars... (Oh, I can't go on anymore! Hey! Fried food.) Can you order something serious? Give me a fried dough stick to calm down the shock~)

So~ Although it doesn’t quite follow the rhythm of dark cuisine, fried food is really a kind of delicious food~ For example, Japan One of the representative delicacies is tempura. When it comes to tempura, one must not forget Tetsuya Saotome, also known as the "God of Tempura".

Tetsuya Saotome was born in a family that runs newspapers. He learned to be a "social person" by delivering newspapers since he was 5 years old. The great god’s father was a legendary figure who delivered the morning newspaper until 3 pm. His ability to observe and understand things in detail was passed on to the great god through words and deeds. At the age of 15, Saotome graduated from a social university called "Father", and with the encouragement of her parents, she came to Tokyo to pursue her career.

In fact, the master’s original dream was to open a sushi restaurant. After arriving in Tokyo, under the intentional arrangement of my family, I walked into "Tenso" - a famous tempura shop on Ueno Hirokoji. Because the boss (chi) (fan) loves (mei) talent (you) and the heart (gei) is keen (qian), he has an indissoluble bond with tempura here.

Tetsuya Saotome is quick with her hands and feet and has extraordinary talent in cooking. After 2 years, he was promoted to work at the frying station. Although he would tremble and even sweat in front of customers because of his timid side, this personality also made him more sensitive and good at detecting the subtle expressions of customers, so as to understand how to fully satisfy them. taste. He even developed a unique skill of "listening to sound to identify the position", relying on the sound to grasp the state of the ingredients and the cooking time.

The Gemini Saotome not only has a talent for cooking food, but also has ambitious dreams. After entering Tianzhuang to study, he said to everyone he met: "I want to open a shop before I am thirty!" So after 15 years of "life-threatening (meaning hard work in Japanese)" practice, in Showa 51 , two months before Ogami turns 30, Miyako Sanju officially opened (so if you have a dream, you must shout it out loud, maybe it will come true~).

Speaking of which, let’s first sit down at Daishen’s store in Fukuzumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, and then talk about life and ideals~ This store had received one Michelin star before the old man withdrew from the selection, and the per capita consumption The price is around RMB 600-1200. It is open from 11:30 to 13:30 at noon and from 17:00 to 21:00 in the evening every day. (Sama Ono Jiro, the protagonist of the previous article, asked to insert an advertisement: "When it comes to tempura, I will never go to other restaurants, this is the only choice." Laugh.)

I don’t know if that’s true. Some people simply think that tempura is a kind of vegetables wrapped in flour and fried (you are not very good at chatting~). But in the eyes of masters like Tetsuya Saotome, frying is actually a cooking method that involves steaming and roasting at the same time. A tempura can be cooked in hundreds of ways (keep your chin in check~).

Different oil temperatures, flour shapes, moisture, and cooking and frying times will produce different tempura, and the texture and taste will be very different. Therefore, absolute precision is required in both time and temperature control.

For example, with shrimps, the human tongue is most sensitive at about 45°C. Therefore, when Master Saotome fried the shrimps, it would not take more than 23 seconds from the time they were cooked to the time they were cooked. In this way, the shrimp core is kept at exactly 45°C, which brings out the freshness and sweetness of the shrimp meat.

However, conger eel, an ingredient with a strong fishy smell, needs to be fried for more than 2 minutes to fully dry out the water before you can taste the delicious taste (that is, you need to know more than others every day) A little~). It is self-evident how much effort and effort is required behind such precise control.

But Master Saotome never shows this side to his customers. Standing across from him cooking delicious food, he always looks calm and composed. This is his style.

Saotome has an innate sense of art, and all the menus in the store are drawn by him. Although he claims that "I don't specialize in practicing painting, I might as well go to the game room if I have time", the pictures on the menu are vivid and detailed (yes, I am so proud~).

Not only the menu, but also the decoration of the entire store exudes artistic atmosphere. On the wall is a spring willow painted by Professor Toyofukujo, and above the head is a huge metal Italian hat-shaped range hood made by craftsmen. Outside the store is a picture of Sugiura Yasu The sculptures of Yi and the tableware in the store are made by more than 100 contemporary Japanese masters, such as cloisonné spoons from the Qing Dynasty and lacquer bowls by lacquer artist Noda Yusaku. In a word, luxury~

Master Saotome describes herself as an "awkward person". He loves his career and has never asked for leave for more than 50 years because he would be frustrated by the slightest flaw in the cooking process, but he also hates his job the most. During normal off-duty hours, he would go to Jiro Ono’s shop to taste sushi, then go to a teahouse for a drink, or go to support artist friends’ exhibitions, living a comfortable and unrestrained life. He respects the fighting spirit of his father and Mr. Jiro Ono, but he also enjoys his "lazy" life.

Since its opening, Miyako Sanju has welcomed and delivered guests all day long. The most special diner here is undoubtedly the "God of Sushi" Ono Jiro. Sama Ono used to come twice a month, but as she got older, it became once a month, but sometimes she couldn't eat because she couldn't make an appointment. Saotome, who always has a seat at Sukiyabashi Jiro, said: "Because I go every week~" (As expected of a Gemini~)

Although he and Ono Jiro have been together for more than thirty years Good friends, but their styles of hospitality are completely different. Master Saotome likes to chat and joke with guests, and she almost always refuses requests for photos. So you guys sitting across from each other don’t wander around, don’t hesitate~ If you have fun chatting, it’s possible for the master to draw a pair of shrimps and sign them for you~

But it’s important to be able to chat, for example, Saotome The master once gave a valuable cup to a customer because she praised the tableware for its beauty (didn't I mention before that these are all famous and beautiful dishes!). But those friends who are so cute that they can only say "It's delicious~" can only listen to the master's excited attack: "Nonsense, of course it is delicious, so I put it out for you to eat!"

Miyako is the signature dish of Sanju. In addition to the prawn tempura and conger eel mentioned above, there are also sea urchin rolls with perilla leaves and sea urchin rolls that are fried and fried to remove the smell. , as well as squid that has been cooked and fried with special knife techniques until it is tender and sweet. In addition, sashimi, oxtail, and fried scallops are also good choices~ In addition to the main restaurant of Sanju, there are two sisters of Mikan in Roppongi and Kayabacho. The store is run by the master's wife and son respectively.

If you can’t come to Tokyo to taste the craftsmanship of the tempura god, don’t regret it. Zhang Xuewei, a direct disciple of the God of Tempura, also opened a tempura shop in Beijing - Xuewei. You might as well go there and have a feast, it must be delicious food from the stars~

Joking with the guests Master Saotome's definition of professionalism is unambiguous: "If you are praised by customers, you will keep working hard in that direction." His ideal is to study hard until he is 130 years old.

This talented chef who can instantly create a new type of tempura that even babies can eat because his customers are too old and have bad teeth has his own cooking philosophy: "If you want to be outstanding, You have to be able to withstand hard work." This is also a true portrayal of his more than 50 years of cooking tempura~

Our restaurant: Minako Yamaju

Address: 1-3-1 Fukuzumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Telephone: 81-3-3643-8383

Sister store: てんぷらみかわKaabacho store

Address: 3-Kaabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 4-7

Telephone: 81-3-3664-9843

Sister store: 天ぷらみかわけやきsaka store

Address: Roppongi 6-, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 12-2

Phone: 81-3-3423-8100

Store: Tianzhuang Hirokoji Store

Address: Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 3-41-5

Phone: 81-3-3831-7056

Store: Sukiyabashi Jiro (Sukiyabashi Jiro)

Address: Tokyo, Japan 4-2-15 Ginza, Tokyo Central District

Phone: 81-3-3535-3600

Store: Xuewei

Address: Chaoyang District, Beijing, China Room 109, 1st Floor, No. C2, Workers' Stadium East Road

Tel: 15321285714

"People who have to fry 40 bombs a day can no longer evaluate tempura very well..."

"The so-called tempura is better to go to Xuewei's shop and eat it before making it."

"If you really want to make it well, there are different requirements for food processing, oil temperature and batter. Different ingredients are used to fry different foods."

"Northeastern Famous Fried Potato Box"

"Tempura, all kinds of food are wrapped in starch and fried! ) Tempura must have fried broccoli"

"When I was a child, I ate fried cucumbers wrapped in flour made by my mother. That was the first time I ate tempura -_-"

"By the way, Chinese people in the United States call tempura sweet or spicy. Try it out."

Eggplant: "Fried chicken wings, fried bananas, fried eggplant, fried pork chops... .It turns out we are so close to tempura."

Mr. Mushroom: "But as foodies, shouldn't you and I have more ambitious aspirations... Eating delicious food is the way to go! ”