Ryuji and Takeshi Takeshima Make 11 Dishes Using Only Local Ingredients at an Old Japanese House in Ehime

First, they shop at a market selling local fish. The two are surprised at how completely different the products are depending on the place. Fish are sold whole, with wild sea bream and horse mackerel lined up. The wild sea bream cost 500 yen, and they asked to have the scales, gills and innards removed.

For seasonings, they focus on Ehime soy sauce. Saying that Ehime soy sauce is apparently on the sweet side, they chose a sweet one. This sweet soy sauce becomes the core of the seasoning in many of the later dishes. They also bought large garlic, local chicken, Malabar spinach and mandarin juice, and were surprised by how many kinds of mandarin juice were on the shelves. They also bought chili peppers said to be "delicious just grilled."

When they arrive at the lodging, they first toast with the Ehime sake they bought. Delighted that it has a citrus aroma, they decide to proceed while making snacks to go with it.

The first dish is stir-simmered hijiki made with fresh hijiki from Ehime. One carrot is stir-fried in about 1 tablespoon of oil, then the fresh hijiki is added. Ryuji says that this is about right for a first snack.

Niboshi (dried sardine) powder was used for seasoning. Ryuji says that with niboshi powder there's no need for umami seasoning, so it won't be used today. By Ryuji's own explanation, it isn't used when the ingredients are good. The soy sauce has strong umami, so it alone is enough, and about 1.5 tablespoons go in. About 2 tablespoons of ground sesame also go in, since it's better with plenty. Saying that dishes like this are all about speed, and that you want to eat and drink quickly, Ryuji finished it swiftly.

Ryuji explains that Ehime is famous for sea bream and apparently ranks first in the country for farmed sea bream. In parallel, Ryuji first makes namero with the horse mackerel. Along the way, there was an exchange in which Ryuji stopped Takeshima from using a frying pan, telling Takeshima to use a bowl since there were so few frying pans.

The knives were supposed to be delivered to the lodging later, and while waiting, Ryuji kept working, saying "namero is fine." For prep, Ryuji explained that scraping out and washing the bloodline thoroughly removes the fishy smell. The fish is filleted into three pieces using the daimyo oroshi method. Ryuji explains the origin of the name: daimyo oroshi is a luxurious way of filleting in which flesh is left on the bone.

The aromatics are 5–6 shiso leaves, myoga, and about 10g of ginger. Young ginger was used. Namero is normally seasoned with miso, but this time it is finished with salt and olive oil instead of miso. Ryuji's reasoning is this: making Japanese food authentically requires a lot of seasonings. That's why Italian food is very well suited to cooking while traveling. Miso has its own richness, but salt alone doesn't produce richness. Olive oil makes up for that. The finished dish was named "salt namero made with olive oil."

The other remaining horse mackerel was made into sashimi at Takeshima's request. Takeshima says they just want to eat it simply with the soy sauce bought earlier. Cut into chunks and eaten with the sweet soy sauce, it was judged to be like basashi (horse meat sashimi) because the soy sauce is sweet. Served with julienned young ginger, it isn't harsh since it's young ginger. On handling fish, Takeshima also says it's better to have the shop remove the innards, since they make it smell.

Next, the chili peppers bought at the market are stir-fried with seseri (chicken neck meat), said to be Ehime chicken. The seasoning is simple, just black pepper and salt. Dashi kombu and about 2 tablespoons of sake are also added. Ryuji explains that adding kombu and sake makes it very deep in flavor, and jokingly calls it "a dream collaboration of all-Ehime." The chili peppers, labeled as spicy, turned out to be hardly spicy at all when eaten. Takeshima remarks, "It's like a restaurant."

Ryuji, who says they had been seeing nothing but karaage since arriving, mentions that this area is famous for yakitori and the chicken is apparently delicious. So the local chicken was made into simple karaage.

The seasoning is 40cc of sweet soy sauce (2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) and about 30g each of grated garlic and ginger. The local garlic was large, described as being like an onion, and its aroma was called mild. Ryuji's karaage isn't marinated. Since only a small amount of soy sauce is added to the chicken, the liquid gets into the meat right away. About 7 tablespoons of potato starch. Ryuji explained that because the soy sauce is sweet, neither mirin nor umami seasoning is needed.

While it fried, Takeshima talked about family. After Takeshima began appearing with Ryuji, their family found out about their YouTube channel. Takeshima hadn't told anyone until then, and had denied it the one time they were asked.

Ryuji says that when cooking at a place like an Airbnb, efficiency is what matters most, and introduced it as "karaage you can only make in Ehime." Because it's 100% soy sauce, it takes on a nice color. On tasting it, the two were surprised that soy sauce and garlic alone could produce this flavor, and raved about Ehime soy sauce.

Here Takeshima starts using bankan, a local citrus. When tasted, it is said to be like amanatsu. Saying they want to eat sour things in summer, Takeshima made something like ponzu by adding the bankan's acidity to a ratio of roughly 2 parts soy sauce to 1 part mirin, plus kombu. This was poured over seared bonito topped with aromatics. Ryuji said, "Takeshi has finally shown what they can really do," and praised it as ponzu made with local mandarins. Takeshima also says they get excited when new ingredients like this come out.

Next, Takeshima says they want to make tai somen, a local specialty of this area. For that, only one side of the sea bream is filleted, and since Takeshima wants to eat the other side raw, it is made into carpaccio. Sea bream has thick skin, so it can't be peeled by hand like horse mackerel.

Citrus juice is squeezed over it, finished with salt, a little lemon and olive oil, and the citrus peel is finely chopped and scattered on as orange peel. The two judged that the citrus really comes alive. Takeshima says it's the first time combining a dish with fruit, and Ryuji responds, "Sounds like it'd make you popular." Takeshima also mentioned the next idea: wanting to make it into a sauce for grilled fish.

Ryuji uses raw octopus. Ryuji explained that raw octopus needs to be rubbed with salt and washed well. It's stir-fried with asparagus, garlic, chili peppers and olive oil, peperoncino style. When an occasional spicy bit comes along, it makes the drinks go down easier. On tasting it, the two agreed that this goes better with wine than with sake.

There is also Japanese flying squid from Ehime Prefecture. Ryuji shows where the bone is and says the rest can simply be cut into chunks. The explanation is that Italian cooking is done boldly, and even without cutting finely, it falls apart on its own. Ryuji also says it's meaningless unless the ingredients are local. A little kombu goes in, and Ryuji judged that since this squid is small, it probably wouldn't get tough when simmered. Malabar spinach was also added, so as not to waste it.

When eaten, it had become thick and sticky. The two speculate that this was due to the Malabar spinach. Despite containing tomato, it tasted quite Japanese, and the only seasoning was salt. This made 7 dishes so far, and Ryuji kept going, saying it couldn't be helped since it was their own sponsorship.

The wild sea bream had been prepared with the innards and scales removed. Saying sea bream can handle a fair amount of salt, Ryuji salts it. For 2 cups of rice, about 600cc of water, 5–6g of kombu and 2 tablespoons of sake. The kombu is soaked in the water for a bit before cooking. Ryuji says this is how they always cook at Airbnbs.

When it's done, Ryuji shows off "perfect okoge" (crispy scorched rice). The sea bream flesh is flaked and mixed in, and aromatics of ginger, myoga, shiso and scallions are added. Upon tasting, the two pointed out the crispy okoge, the right level of saltiness, the delicious aromatics, and how well the sea bream flavor came through. Someone also said, "I can't believe this was 500 yen."

Since they had opened the front door and gone straight to cooking in the kitchen, the two hadn't seen the rooms yet. Leaving the cooking to Takeshima, they look around the rooms here.

The first floor has the living room where they ate, a clean bath, and a drum-type washer-dryer. Towels and a hair dryer are provided, and the toilet is so spacious that someone joked "one person could sleep in here." The second floor has a room that's like a balcony. There's also a garden, and they say it looks like you could play putt-putt golf. However, since there are houses around, you can't be too noisy. According to the host, there is apparently a very good hot spring about a 3-minute walk away.

From here it was described as "Takeshi's one-person show," and Takeshima grills cutlassfish. Butter goes in, and tomato is added for color. Saying it's not interesting to just grill it and be done, Takeshima makes a sauce. Takeshima says it's completely improvised. The bankan juice is reduced so that it emulsifies with the fish's umami and the butter. Wanting umami, Takeshima adds soy sauce, sprinkles pepper, and finishes with lemon, making it taste like "orange soy sauce."

The finished dish was named "Sautéed cutlassfish with Ehime mandarin sauce." The two praised both the cutlassfish and the sauce, and remarked that mandarin and soy sauce go well together.

Takeshima starts on tai somen with the remaining sea bream. Along the way, Takeshima jokes that good sea bream have clear eyes, and that for both people and fish, the ones with clear eyes are the good ones, leading to banter with Ryuji, who was wearing sunglasses.

The broth is made from kombu dashi with 200cc of soy sauce, 100cc of mirin, and sake. The bones also release the sea bream's umami. However, the two worried that it might turn out sweet since the soy sauce is already sweet. According to Takeshima, tai somen contains shiitake mushrooms and thin strips of egg crepe, so both are added. Ryuji made the egg crepe strips. A whole sea bream is used, aiming for visual impact. Once it boils, the kombu is removed since it would release bitterness, and ginger is also added. They also say it would really be better to score the sea bream so the flavor soaks in more easily.

When they took out the noodles, the package said "hiyamugi." The two laughed, but since the broth is strong, they figured thicker noodles would suit it better and boiled them as is for 4 minutes. Getting the flesh off the sea bream was as hard as a claw machine.

After tasting, Takeshima says they personally would like to add a bit more soy sauce, as it's a little sweet. That said, Takeshima added that everyone can adjust it as they like. The dashi came through well, and there was also the remark that the soy sauce here really is amazing. The two say it's surprisingly easy to make, and that although they used a big sea bream this time, one that isn't that big would be plenty. There was also the opinion that hiyamugi is better for the noodles.

They made 11 dishes in total, and although they thought there would be leftovers, almost nothing remained. The two say that whereas at a hotel you'd go out to eat, being able to have fun cooking and eating together is something unique to Airbnb.

The next morning, the group plans to travel from Ehime to Takamatsu in Kagawa, and since the trip is long, Ryuji makes breakfast. Rice is cooked in a frying pan, and stock is made from the sea bream trimmings and bones saved from the day before. The only ingredients are water, salt, kombu and fish trimmings. The sea bream flesh from the previous night was also flaked and saved. Ryuji says they save it like this because it would be a waste otherwise. The night before, they had gone out to a local snack bar, had a lively time with locals, and were drinking until 11 p.m.

The leftover hijiki and the jakoten bought at the market were also served. The staff and the two who ate the sea bream ochazuke said "it's like being back at my parents' home," and some even said they were about to cry. The jakoten was also well received, and it was rated a perfect 100-out-of-100 breakfast. Saying "this should get us to Takamatsu," the group wrapped up their stay in Ehime and headed for the next city.