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Morimoto continued... Morimoto made a monkfish liver puree with which he made a type of ponzu, squeezing in yuzu juice. Taking more of the raw loin, he sliced it thinly... ...then placed it on a plate, upon which he added chopped chives and some of the skin... ...before finishing it with chunks of liver, the liver ponzu and drizzling some hot oil on top. to be continued...

Morimoto continued... Morimoto started the next dish with dashi in a cast iron pot on the cooktop, then put the egg sac and remainder of the liver in. After straining in miso so that it did not clump, Morimoto poured in heavy cream. The cream was followed by saké and salt, which he added with a resounding "Bam!" before letting it stew. Morimoto added some radish to garnish the top of the stew. to be continued...

Morimoto continued... The saga continued as Morimoto sliced the stomach with the liver inside for another dish. He put the stomach/liver into a bowl along with radish and ponzu sauce. The result was one of the more simply plated dishes of his presentation. I like the symmetry of the green and white radish and the similarly colored harlequin pattern of the plate. to be continued...

Morimoto continued... The Iron Chef moved on to the gills, brushing them down and chopping off the tips. The gills are dredged in flour then deep-fried by Jamison Blankenship. The hot gills are rolled in a spice mix containing cumin, chili powder, coriander and several others. They are served with a flower on top, with the gills to be eaten like chicken wing drumsticks. Unfortunately, I didn't get to taste any of these dishes, but I would have been particularly curious about this one. to be continued...

Thanks for the report. That video is infectious. He showed it at the CIA's Spain and the World table Conference in Nov. 2006. From the New York Times, Adria created a lunch in the reporter's home kitchen. They went out and shopped in Chinatown. The irony is that the reporter, who is Jewish, could not eat any of the meal because of Yom Kippur! Unfortunately for any of who might have dreamt of ever being so lucky in the future:

Morimoto continued... The stomach with its livery contents was now poached and tightened. Morimoto sliced monkfish skin. He then added that to a bowl along with sweet Japanese tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. He sliced the liver, added that to the bowl then began plating a variant of Caprese Sald, by adding olive oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper, nasturtium and yuzu. to be continued...

I don't specifically. I did love the themes of those original Iron Chef shows. I can see how this Morimoto demo reminded you of this fascinating episode.

Moderator's Note: This topic has been split from "The Fat Duck Cookbook" Topic. Will you be getting Albert Adria's Natura? This has been quite the fall for big Technoemotional Cooking books!

Nice photo! I wish that it had been available during the Starchefs ICC. I would have asked Heston to sign it. Now I may wait for a similar opportunity or until I actually get to The Fat Duck. Unfortunately, with today's economic woes, that may be awhile.

I concur and welcome to the eGullet Society, T Raveret!

I would expect that the events will be geared much more to the general public than to culinary professionals with perhaps a few exceptions. Nevertheless, it should be a good party.

Morimoto continued With the liver placed inside the cleaned stomach to contain it while being blanched, the Iron Chef moved on to the fileted loins. To provide umami, he took "natural MSG" containing seaweed strips... ...laid the filet strips on top and rolled them up sushi style. In the meantime, the blank eyes of the carved up monkfish continued to stare out at the audience. Morimoto took the seaweed wrapped filets and placed them on a bed of hot racks spread in a hotel pan. More hot rocks were poured on top of the rolled fish. The pan was placed in a 400º F oven to bake. to be continued...

Thanks for the great report and the photos. A common explanation you will get in Japan is "because they are watery with a moisture content of 80% or greater and the skin is slimy." Peter the eater: Not seven stones but seven tools of the monkfish. ← While that was Morimoto's exact phrase, it may have been stated as such from language difficulties. Morimoto does speak English, though from what I have seen and heard to a fairly limited extent. At least publicly, he does not appear to be all that comfortable with the language. Of course, his English is miles ahead of my Japanese.

Bummer! You should be on that panel.

Thanks, Rona. There is no doubt that my job was made easier and better with my son there and taking notes. I was happy that I had the opportunity to bring him. I very much enjoyed doing this with him. Unfortunately, we had to miss the last day as I had to bring him to start college.

Morimoto continued... With the skin off, Morimoto worked around the head, removing the ribs, the collarbone and then the gills before turning his attention to the internal organs of the fish. This is the back of this Japanese monkfish. Morimoto is cutting in front at this point. His concentration was great, all the while speaking and avoiding distraction from the likes of myself and other photographers milling about trying to get photos of this fascinating demonstration. The audience watched in rapt attention. My son is wearing the yellow shirt with the computer in his lap, dutifully and accurately taking notes. Morimoto's assistants begin to work, cleaning the various offal elements of the broken down fish. They are cleaning the fish's gills. Various fins and internal organs from the fish. The part of the monkfish most of us are most familiar with. More preparation of the gills. Gills. Morimoto Chef de Cuisine Jamison Blankenship looks on to monitor the progress of the gill cleaning. Morimoto begins to remove the last vestiges of the fish. He finally cuts the cheeks from the lightened fish carcass. The delicate and delectable cheeks. The dissection is completed. to be continued...

Morimoto continued then the skin... He started by the mouth. He cut with care. Morimoto edged around the head. His sharp knife held true. Once past the head, he started to pull... ...using more force... ...until he was able to pull it completely down to the end of the tail. to be continued...

Morimoto continued... Morimoto steps to the fish with his knife. First he cuts off the fish's fins. to be continued...

Peter, Thanks for bringing that in here. Those photos are very consistent with what Morimoto did at Starchefs. I will be showing more, in detail.

Masaharu Morimoto - Fish: Head to Tail The presentations from Barton Seaver and Rick Moonen were perhaps the most important, the wizardry of Heston Blumenthal the most magical, the discussion with Michael Ruhlman, Anthony Bourdain and Marco Pierre White the most controversial, but the most entertaining presentation of the two days I was at Starchefs ICC this year easily went to Masahiro Morimoto, who broke down a large monkfish in front of the audience using a single knife, while his staff used the various pieces of the entire fish to craft dishes. Morimoto described the species as "rare" though not "endangered." According to blueocean.org. the monkfish is in the "yellow" zone with "some environmental concerns." The fish was brought out in a large plastic container. It was then hung from a pole. Morimoto said that monkfish "are difficult to cut on a board," because "they don't have enough bones." Morimoto said that in Japan, it is customary to eat every part of a fish, "guts, fins, bone everything." He described himself as "nervous," since he "doesn't do much cutting of whole fish" and didn't "want to make a mistake." This was a large fish and was clearly quite heavy. It ultimately took two men to hang it from the pole. With the fish hung up, Morimoto finally approached it ... to be continued...

A Behind the Scenes Preview of Upcoming Demos:

I don't think Bourdain is with Adria to be an antagonist. Tony is a fan of Adria's. In fact, one can say that Adria helped put Tony on the map as AB's show on elBulli got a lot of critical praise early in AB's television career. It certainly got a lot of play here. Still, it would be interesting to see if the issue of his conversation with MPW comes up and what AB's response will be. I really wish that I could be there for that.

This should be an interesting event, especially in light of all he global economic turmoil. It will be interesting to see if that is glossed over or a major topic as it inevitably will become. The event I am most personally interested in and wish I could be at is the conversation between Bourdain and Adria. I would ask Ferran about his incredible, grueling, upcoming travel schedule. Have fun!

Thanks, Rob. Unfortunately with my current schedule, posts will continue to be sporadic, though I will finish!

This place has only recently come across my radar. Thanks for the report and the photos.