Ageing Fish With Mould [vol.2]

I've made a video showing the process of purchasing fish, inoculating it with mould, and aging it. Since this is still in the experimental stage, I hope you’ll continue to watch as it evolves.

Heavy!

Can I put it down now?

Smells good!

Yeah!

It's so fluffy!

Fluffy!

Day 1 (July 18)

Alright!

How are you?

Not great.

You're not doing well?

That's fine, don't cut the tail off.

Here you go.

Thanks!

To the lab

Thursday, July 18, 12:30 PM.

I bought some fish to try
a new way of ageing them.

First, the fish need to dry for a few days,
so I'll start with prepping them for that.

Here are the fish I bought.

Japanese Amberjack

Greater Amberjack

White Trevally

And a Sea Bream.

They're all farmed.

This is a Japanese Amberjack.

Already had its brain spiked and gills cut.

I put the fish in a bag to keep the ice
from touching it and brought it home.

Here's a custom fish scale remover!

Let's scale this fish
with the suki-biki technique.

We'll eat the collar part but not the head,
so let's cut the head off.

Let's remove the guts.

OK!

OK!

Now, let's dry it in a storage unit
set at one degree Celsius.

Next up, the Greater Amberjack.

Let's scale the fish
with the suki-biki technique.

For the other side,
let's use this fish scale remover.

Custom fish scale remover!

And now, the White Trevally.

Finally, the Sea Bream.

Let's hang and dry this fish too.

This is how the storage looks.

Let's dry these fish for 2 to 3 days first.

Day 3 (July 20th)

Visited Kame's house to get some mould.
For more details, check out the previous video.

Day 4 (July 21st)

Let's check out the mould we got.

Here's the skin of the meat matured by Konno.

What's on the surface is the mucor mould.

Of course, you can use this.

But I also got a culture of just the mucor mould.

It smells super nutty!

Such a great smell!

I love the smell of nuts, so I really like this!

Let's put this aside.

Let's check this one.

Here it is.

This one has a bit of blue mould mixed in it.

So let's check out this one.

This is the mucor mould that grew nicely.

We'll put this on the fish.

When we use this on the fish,
it runs out quickly.

So, at the same time,
we'll use agar to grow the mould.

Grow mould (July 21)

This is the mucor mould Kame cultured.

It's so clean.

It should grow more fuzzy hair
but it's still at this stage.

There's no mucor mould growing here at all.

This is agar.

I haven't seen this since college classes.

I hated those classes.

That's enough.

I have no knowledge in this field,
so I don't know if I'm doing it right.

I'm gonna study hard!

So, with this, we can grow mucor mould at home!

We'll grow a lot and age a lot of fish with it!

What a messy lab!

Put this one with a fully closed lid here.

And put this one with a slightly open lid here.

Next, let's cover these fish with mould!

Cover fish with mould (July 21)

Alright, let's get ready
to cover these fish with mould!

Spoon from the convenience store #1

Spoon from the convenience store #2

Purified water

Pour this into the spray bottle.

Spray the fish (July 21)

Spray inside the belly thoroughly.

Do the same for the Sea Bream.

So exciting!

Alright!

Looks good.

Lastly, we have quite the fish left.

Is it okay to do this?

Ta-da!

It's a Longtooth Grouper!

Let's do this!

I want to spray
the fatty part of the collar too!

Let's spray the whole thing!

Let's do all of it!

I perfused this fish with a flavoured solution,
so it's already seasoned.

Day 15 (August 1st)

Heavy!

Can I put it down now?

Smells good!

We sprayed mould on them on July 21st.

Since then, these fish have been ageing.

This is my younger brother,
who grew the mould.

Let's eat together!

Let's eat!

Hey, look!

There's so much mould growing!

Amazing!

Incredible!

Do I have mould on me too?

It's so fluffy!

Let's eat this part.

And since there's mould here too,

let's eat the meat
from the back side as sashimi.

The mould is growing best on the grouper.

The other ones are not so good.

For the Japanese Amberjack,

there's mould only deep
in the abdominal membrane.

For the White Trevally,
there's mould near the front.

The mould is growing around the kidney.

This is the Greater Amberjack.

This one has mould growing deeper inside.

This has only a tiny amount of mould,
but I think it'll keep growing little by little.

Nice smell!

The other ones aren't mouldy yet,
so let's eat the grouper.

Let's do that!

Super fluffy!

Fluffy.

Let's open it up!

We'll further age the rest with mould!

This one too?

Yes.

Let's put this on the fish.

Let's sandwich the fish
between two pieces of skin!

Catch you later!

It smells amazing!

The skin is burnt!

This will taste the best, I think.

Let's cook the rest a bit more.

Tasting time!

Welcome back!

Nishida, the manager of "Tsuri Sen" fishmonger

What did you buy?

McDonald's?

We're about to eat grouper!

I'm not eating your fish!

Salt.

Alright!

Is this mould?

Today, Nishida just happened
to come over to my place.

Hey there!

So let's eat together!

Nishida's opinion is really helpful.

Should I do it seriously?

Please.

So let's eat together!

Let's eat!

You're gonna put soy sauce on, right?

Yeah.

Let's eat!

Turns out later, the delicate nutty aroma
of the mould disappears when you add soy sauce.

But no one here knows that fact, just yet.

I'm scared.

I don't get it.

I can't detect the smell of mould.

I can't detect the nutty aroma either.

But you remember that nutty aroma
from the BBQ we had, right?

I think grilled fish would be easier
to understand.

If you were told the mould was there,
you might be able to smell it.

Looks tastier than a Big Mac!

Next, I'll try some with salt.

I can smell the nuts!

Really?

This one!

But only people who went to the BBQ
would notice.

I'll try it without salt.

Isn't the flavour as soon as
it hits your mouth amazing?

It's just so good!

Exactly.

Delicious!

Super delicious!

Maybe it's the nutty aroma
making it taste so good.

I don't smell any nutty aroma.

I think I kind of sensed a slight nutty smell.

I'm not sure.

But it's delicious!

The result of this experiment
is that it's just delicious.

Can mould really give
a nutty aroma to fish?

Kame!

The experiment continues.

Of course!

Bonus: White Trevally aged for 58 days with mould

Here's the White Trevally Kame brought us,
aged for 58 days covered in mould!

I'm going to slice it.

You sliced it really well!

Thanks!

Fresh White Trevally!

Let's dig in!

It smells like ham.

I'm gonna try this thick slice.

Compared to the last one,
it has a slight mouldy smell.

It's still regular sashimi.

I think it could age for another half year.

The texture isn't like ham yet.

It's still sashimi.

But, is that even possible?

It's already been aged for 50 days.

Maybe I want to add some lime juice.

That's how you eat sashimi!

Everyone, give it a try.

It has a crispy texture.

Is it okay to call this sashimi?

Eat at your own risk,
but go ahead if you want.

No one wants to try?

I'll give it a try.

Go ahead.

Is this farmed?

Yes.

Does it smell like farmed fish?

Yeah.

It's like ham!

The texture's like ham!

Delicious!

Hey, you in the back, wanna try some?

You're not coming closer at all!

Maybe if we add some salt,
it'll taste like ham?

Yeah, it's definitely lacking salt.

That's it!

But the goal isn't to make ham, right?

So, what's the goal of this experiment?

Let's try eating it with some salt!

Adding salt really brings out the fish flavour.

Delicious!

Super delicious!

You wanted to eat this,
didn't you, Kame?

The skin? Yup.

Nice sound!

I want a whole bag of this stuff!

Tastes great.

You're really enjoying it!

It sounds just like the snack we ate earlier!

We've still got lots more fish ageing.

I want to try them after making them fluffier.

Kame, I'm counting on you again.

Of course!

Today, I happened to join an experiment
where we aged fish covered in mould.

How should we wrap this up?

Today's results were so-so,

but it helped us figure out
what to improve.

I think it was successful for the first time.

Fluffy!

So, everyone,

Fluffy!

Fluffy!

Feels like the ending of an NHK show!