Past Star Chef-Chef Sakai
Tetsujin Chef Sakai
Food & Vine salutes Tetsujin (Iron Man) Chef Sakai for his talent, artistry and appreciation of the finer details that set the tone of his exquisite cuisine. Chef Sakai discovered Salute Santé! Grapeseed Oil, immediately proclaiming it “the next tempura oil”. He loves the light taste and high smoke point, which make it ideal for tempura preparation. The famous Tetsujin Chef Sakai has created a variety of professional recipes with Salute Santé! Grapeseed Oil, boasting that it is very useful for everything from fried and sautéed dishes to cold dressings. He loves its characteristic non-oiliness. He particularly favors the lemon infused grapeseed oil, a flavor profile that enhances his signature seafood dishes so well.
 
"I hope people try this high-quality oil at home. I recommend using these oils as dressings, so that you can enjoy the raw taste directly. It's tasty eating with breads, too, instead of pasty butter," Chef Sakai advised.
Champion Tetsujin (Iron Man) Chef Hiroyuki Sakai of Japan began his French chef training at Hotel New Osaka, before traveling to Australia for a year and a half to improve his skills at Hotel Oriental.
Back in Japan, Sakai spent three years with Tokyo French-cuisine pioneer Fujio Shiki before working as a chef at Aoyama CoCo Palms and John Kanaya Azabu.
More than 25 years ago, Tetsujin Chef Sakai opened La Rochelle, which has become one of Japan’s premier French dining destinations. He also owns Agnes Café in the Ginza.
As his fame spread, Chef Sakai was invited to compete on the “Iron Chef” television cooking contest.
Appearing for the first time in 1994, Sakai went on to become one of the show’s most popular – and successful – Iron Chefs, racking up 70 wins, 15 losses and one tie. Chef Sakai’s lobster steamed with seafood was named one of the program’s ten all-time best dishes, out of more than 14,000 cooked on the show.
http://www.la-rochelle.co.jp/p01_intro/p01_intro02.html
Chef Sakai’s plates are known for their beautiful composition, with colors and decoration influenced by Japanese Kaiseki cuisine and reminiscent of French impressionist painting – hence his nickname, “the Delacroix of French cooking.”

In 2005, the French government recognized Sakai’s contributions to cuisine by naming him a “Chevalier,” or Knight, of the Order of Agricultural Merit.
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Publications include:
"I am a head chef, and sometimes an Iron Chef" by Kodansha Publications
"Enjoy Monsieur Sakai's Original French" by KK Bestsellers
"Hiroyuki Sakai's French Cooking" by Kosadido Publications
"Hiroyuki Sakai's Casual French" by Lettsu Club
FROM MONSIEUR: http://www.la-rochelle.co.jp/p01_intro/column_new.php
Hello everyone! I am Hiroyuki Sakai.
On this page you can enjoy "Monsieur's Ramble Column" in which I will deliver what I see and feel through my daily life.
Small discoveries, daily happenings, small happiness, recommended restaurants, etc...
I am going to jot down whatever that comes into my mind.
Maybe sometimes I may forget the fact that I am a chef?
I hope you will casually drop by and enjoy my writing.
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Morue Poele and Sirako Frite with seasonal vegetables
Cod fish (50g each) - 5 fillets
Soft roe - 100mg
Tempura powder – some
Salute Santé!® Grapeseed Oil – 2 cups for frying
Eggplants - 5
Miniature carrots - 5
Miniature Japanese white radishes - 5
Small tomato - 1
Wheat flour - some
Rape blossoms - a bundle
A : Garlic - 1 clove
Flavored Oil (Salute Sante! Lemon Grapeseed Oil) - 150cc
Small tomato - 1
1. Put salt and pepper on the cod fish fillets. With Salute Santé!® Grapeseed Oil, cook them in a pan.
2. Divide soft roe equally into 5, add salt and pepper, then put tempura powder and fry in Grapeseed Oil
3. Broil eggplants.
4. Peel miniature carrots and miniature Japanese white radishes, and boil them in salted water. Then, sauté them with butter.
5. Divide tomato equally into 5 pieces, add wheat flour, and sauté in a pan.
6. Cut the tips of rape blossoms, add wheat flour and fry in Salute Santé!® Grapeseed Oil.
7. Make a sauce with ingredients of A:. **1 Peel tomato in hot water, take tomato's seeds out, and chop it finely with a knife. **2 Put garlic slices and Flavored Oil in a pot, and heat. When it starts to boil, add **1, salt and pepper.
8. Dish up eggplants (3) on a plate, lay cod fishes and soft roe.
9. Add rape blossoms, sautéed tomato (5), miniature carrots and Japanese white radishes (5) at side. Pour sauce (7) and Grapeseed Oil.
For additional recipes by Chef Sakai please visit http://www.grapeseedoil.co.jp/recipe/sakais.html |