MTC - Mutual Trading Company - The Premier Japanese Food Service since 1926

Japanese Food Culture Essence and Spirits

DRAWING OUT THE TRUE FLAVORS OF WA SHOKU

Photo Caption
Hand Cut Soba Into “Square Shaped" Strands
A good “mouth feel" is at the heart of quality soba noodles.

In nowhere else in the world is the flavor of a cuisine so closely associated to the quality of a chefs’ knife. In tasting Japanese foods, “flavors" move onto the actual placement of foods into one’s mouth. From there, a complex sensory experience begins as the nose, lips, teeth, tongue, throat, and ears work simultaneously to register the entire flavor experience. And indispensible to assure that “best flavor" in Japanese food is a well-sharpened and conditioned Wa-Bocho.

USING PROPER CUTLERY AS FLAVOR ENHANSERS
Wa-Bocho, slices through ingredients to create well-defined cuts that correlates directly to how that food is going to feel in the mouth. Taking soba for example, hand-cut noodles made using specialized soba-kiri hocho yields “square shaped" strands far superior than machine-cut or extruded noodles. Upon contact with the lips, the “square shaped" noodles stimulate the senses as they slide over the tongue and reach the throat in a slurp. This mouth-feel sensation is every bit a part “the flavor", along with texture, bounce, and temperature sensory impressions.

PRECISION CUTS & LOCKING IN FLAVORS
Most certainly, with sashimi, a sharp Wa-Bocho insures the well-defined edges that help prop each slice and adds to the aesthetics of the arrangement. A sharp Wa-Bocho yields smooth surfaced incisions which inhibits oxidation onto the foods’ surfaces, thus prolonging the freshness state.

A sharp blade of a Wa-Bocho can glide effortlessly into the foods without applying pressure. With flavor cells ranging 1/100 to 2/100 millimeters, a dull-knife would easily crush the miniscule cell walls and release the fresh umami juices, as well as hasten oxidation. A good example is in mincing green onions with a sharp blade versus a dull one. Green juices full of fresh flavors and aroma would escape when cut with a dull knife. Imagine peeling, slicing, dicing, and mincing with a well-tuned Hocho and how exceptionally delicious the foods will “taste": bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, gobo, daikon, konnaku, kamaboko, sushi toppings and sashimi.

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Sushi Yo Yari Ika

Origin: Malaysia
Stock #:

Geso Tsuki (with squid leg)
#71430 9.1oz (20pc)
#71429 12.6oz (20pc)

Geso (squid leg)
#70443 7oz (20pc)
#70444 10.5oz (20pc)

Fillet Half Cut
#71440 7oz (20pc)
#71441 10.5oz (20pc)

Frozen sushi grade spear squid pre-sliced and ready to use.

Frozen Soft Shell Crab

Origin: Malaysia
Stock #:
#73533 Whale 2.2lbs (9pc)
#73532 Jumbo 2.2 lbs (11pc)
#73531 Prime 2.2lbs (14pc)
#71471 Hotel 2.2lbs (18pc)
#71463 Medium 2.2lbs (24pc)

A delicious gourmet seafood delicacy. Each soft shell crab is pre-cleaned and individually packed for ease of use – perfect for busy kitchens.

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YUZU, a Japanese lemon - lime like citrus fruit, highly fragrant and pleasantly sour.

Most commonly the rind is used to flavor various dishes such as vegetables, fish or noodles. The Yuzu is difficult to find in the U.S. You can obtain bottled juice or dry, powdered yuzu.