On January 21, 2023, we held a cooking class at “Nihonbashi SANO,” a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo’s Ningyocho, where we used a generous amount of ingredients from Kagoshima! Some of the participants from Japan and Taiwan gave us positive feedback. “I was really impressed by how delicious Kagoshima black beef and kampachi (greater amberjack) from Osumi in Kagoshima were,” said a female participant in her 20s. A man in his 20s said “I would like to tell my friends in Taiwan and Hong Kong about ingredients from Kagoshima.” For your next trip, we highly recommend visiting Kagoshima and its delicious food!
* The Kagoshima black beef and greater amberjack from Osumi, which were used in the cooking class, were kindly provided by the JA Meat Kagoshima and Osumi Fishery Promotion Association, respectively.
Kagoshima black beef sirloin steak served with a sauce made with kinkan (kumquat) from Kagoshima
At the 12th National Wagyu Competition (also known as the Wagyu Olympics) held in Kagoshima Prefecture in 2022, “Kagoshima Black Beef” won the championship again, following the previous competition held in 2017 (winning the top awards in 6 out of 9 divisions). Let’s enjoy Kagoshima black beef as Japan’s best wagyu, served with an original kinkan sauce.
■Ingredients
＜Kagoshima black beef sirloin steak＞
Your desired amount of Kagoshima black beef sirloin
★A small amount of sea salt from Kagoshima
A small amount of pepper
A trick to enhance the umami of the fat of the meat is to use natural sea salt prepared by a traditional open-pan salt-making method!
＜Kagoshima kinkan sauce＞ (for 4 servings)
4 kinkan kumquats from Kagoshima
★20 mL of dark soy sauce
50 mL of red wine
15 mL of sake
7 g of sugar
5 g of unsalted butter
■Cooking procedure
＜Kagoshima black beef sirloin steak＞
1. Sprinkle the meat with a small amount of salt and pepper evenly on the whole surface.
2. On a frying pan without oil, cook the meat on medium heat until it turns golden brown.
3. Wrap the meat with aluminum foil and let it sit for about 3 minutes.
4. Slice the meat diagonally into bite-sized pieces, place them on a plate, and pour the sauce over them to serve.
＜Kagoshima kinkan sauce＞
1. Cut the whole kinkan including the skin into thin slices.
2. On the pan that was used for cooking the meat, fry the kinkan from Step 1 for about 3 minutes.
3. Mix the seasonings, pour the mixture into the pan from Step 2, and cook it down on medium heat.
4. Once the mixture is cooked down to the preferred level of saltiness, add the butter, and mix it to serve. (Be careful not to cook it down too much, or it will be too salty!)
A comment from the instructor
This refreshing sauce with kinkan from Kagoshima, which is the second-largest kinkan producer in Japan, is perfect for this juicy steak!
Shabu-shabu with kampachi greater amberjack and Sakurajima daikon radish in Chiran green tea
Kagoshima Prefecture also boasts fish culturing. For this cooking class, we use kampachi greater amberjack from Osumi, which faces Kinko Bay with a perfect environment for kampachi culturing. Sakurajima daikon is a native species of radish that goes really well with fatty kampachi from Osumi!
■ Ingredients (for 4 servings)
240 g of kampachi greater amberjack from Osumi
25 g of Sakurajima daikon
★ A preferred amount of ponzu soy sauce with black vinegar
＜Dashi broth for shabu-shabu＞
800 mL of bonito broth
★ 32 g of sea salt from Kagoshima
★ 8 g of Chiran green tea powder
120 g of naganegi long green onion
■Cooking procedure
1. Cut the Sakurajima daikon into bite-sized pieces and slice them into thin pieces by knife or slicer.
2. Place the block of kampachi with the skin down and the fleshier side away from you. Cut the block diagonally into thin slices.
3. Cut the naganegi long green onion diagonally and put it into the boiling shabu-shabu dashi broth.
4. Briefly immerse the pieces of daikon and fish into the dashi broth. Dip them into the ponzu soy sauce with black vinegar before eating.
A comment from the instructor
The shabu-shabu dashi broth containing green tea not only has a great aroma and color but also removes the fishy smell and kills bacteria!
Fresh takenoko sashimi served with vinegared miso
Benefitting from a warm climate, Kagoshima Prefecture boasts the earliest harvesting of takenoko bamboo shoots in Japan. Let’s enjoy soft takenoko with a great flavor with sumiso vinegared miso, which is one of the major seasonings in Kagoshima.
■Ingredients (for 4 servings)
2 takenoko bamboo shoots from Kagoshima
A handful of nuka rice bran
Water
★An appropriate amount of sumiso vinegared miso
■ Cooking procedure
1. On the evening before cooking, make some cuts at the top of the takenoko and cook it in a generous amount of water with a handful of nuka rice bran to remove the bitterness. (It took 40 minutes in the cooking class. Depending on the takenoko you use, the time required for cooking varies. So, cook until you can poke through the takenoko easily with a skewer.)
2. Turn off the heat and let it cool overnight.
3. Rinse off the nuka, and then cut off the tip and bottom root parts. * Cut them off at the point where it is easy cut through with a knife.
4. Cut it into slices, place them on a plate, and pour the sumiso over to serve.
The ingredients and seasonings above with a star mark (★) are also available at “Kagoshima Yurakukan” in Tokyo!
Kagoshima Yurakukan is a shop featuring the many attractive charms of Kagoshima, from local specialties to tourist information, as a hub to connect the Tokyo metropolitan area and Kagoshima. You can find local specialties and agricultural products from Kagoshima, and there is a tourist information corner on the 1st floor, a restaurant that serves Kagoshima specialty dishes on the 2nd floor, and the display and sales of craft products as well as T-shirts and other souvenirs on the 3rd floor.
Access
2-min walk from Hibiya Exit of Yurakucho Sta. (JR) or short walk from Exit 4 of Hibiya Sta. (Subway)
Business hours
10:00–19:00 for food sales; 10:00–18:00 for tourist information corner; 11:30–21:30 for restaurants; 10:00–18:00 for the display and sales of craft products.
Regular holiday
New Year holidays * Please check the website for hours of operation.
This popular Japanese restaurant is located on the 1st floor of “Ito Ryokan,” an established Japanese-style hotel in Ningyocho retaining the atmosphere of the Edo period. Restaurant owner, Koji Sano, was apprenticed to Rokusaburo Michiba, one of the most famous Japanese cuisine chefs, at his “Kaishoku Michiba” restaurant to become a professional Japanese chef.
Access
3-min walk from Ningyocho Sta. (Subway) or 5-min walk from Hamacho Sta. (Subway)/Suitengumae Sta. (Subway)
Business hours
11:30–14:00 for lunch; 17:00–22:30 for dinner (reservation required)
I was born in Kagoshima Prefecture and have lived in different parts of Kyushu. A lover of food, sake, and hot springs in Kyushu, my goal is to become a “Sen-nin” (hot spring master), the highest rank for those who accomplish the “Tour of the Eighty-eight Hot Springs in Kyushu.” I hope to convey the fascinating aspects of Japan while featuring my beloved homeland Kyushu!
