uh, thank you for coming. anthony: why did you do such a hard thing? yasuda: uh, this city, uh, tokyo, this is kind of the the mecca of the sushi. so, i just want to be the sushi chef in tokyo. anthony: yasuda is a friend, and my master in the sense that he s taught me pretty much everything i know about sushi over the years. he s a very, very interesting and complex man, who constantly surprises. yasuda: tony-san, this wasabi is one of the most expensive wasabi. so, i wait, wait, wait. uh, finally, this one goes to the, uh, discount box. then, i bought this. anthony: that s very french of you. [ laughter ] so many things separate yasuda-san from other japanese
always ready for the next move. most people who don t understand sushi, who go to a sushi bar and say, oh, i had the best sushi last night. the fish was so fresh. it was right out of the ocean. yasuda: uh, the freshest fish, there is no taste. it s just chewy, just hard. and, uh, people think, oh, freshest should be good. but, it, it wasn t. anthony: yasuda s menu changes constantly with what he finds in the market. and like thousands of other sushi chefs, he heads every day to tsukiji, tokyo s central fish market. where nearly 3,000 tons of the world s best seafood arrives every day. but unlike most others at his level, who arrive at 4:00 a.m. to cream off what they perceive as the best and freshest, yasuda-san arrives later. he does not buy the ridiculously expensive otoro, the fatty belly meat of the blue fin tuna, that people have been known to pay hundreds of dollars a pound for.
yasuda: uh, welcome to new place. uh, thank you for coming. anthony: why did you do such a hard thing? yasuda: uh, this city, uh, tokyo, this is kind of the the mecca of the sushi. so, i just want to be the sushi chef in tokyo. anthony: yasuda is a friend, and my master in the sense that he s taught me pretty much everything i know about sushi over the years. he s a very, very interesting and complex man, who constantly surprises. yasuda: tony-san, this wasabi is one of the most expensive wasabi. so, i wait, wait, wait. uh, finally, this one goes to the, uh, discount box. then, i bought this. anthony: that s very french of you. [ laughter ] so many things separate yasuda-san from other japanese sushi masters. the most noticeable is his
the, uh, discount box. then, i bought this. anthony: that s very french of you. [ laughter ] so many things separate yasuda-san from other japanese sushi masters. the most noticeable is his hands. they re huge. look at the knuckles, enormous from years of pounding cement walls during repeated daily practice in kyokushin karate. he first trained and competed in tokyo. and when he came to new york, he continued to practice. often, in underground, bare-knuckle matches, where you fight until someone gets beaten to the ground. this style, yasuda practiced, was about beating your opponent as quickly and as aggressively as possible. speed. every second is important. rice is getting cold.
sushi chefs, he heads every day to tsukiji, tokyo s central fish market. where nearly 3,000 tons of the world s best seafood arrives every day. but unlike most others at his level, who arrive at 4:00 a.m. to cream off what they perceive as the best and freshest, yasuda-san arrives later. he does not buy the ridiculously expensive otoro, the fatty belly meat of the blue fin tuna, that people have been known to pay hundreds of dollars a pound for. instead, he buys tuna from the heads, using his knife skills to go for qualities that most others miss. removing every bit of sinew from what would otherwise be a difficult piece of meat. in tow, it s well, perfect. and he cures the results, actually cures it. breaking down its molecular structure in a desirable way by freezing it quickly in a medical-grade blast freezer, where it will stay for a week or longer at minus 82 degrees celsius. he pioneered this technique years ago in new york, where, if you bothered to ask, he would ve proudly told