Who Is The Head Cook?
The kitchen chief who ruined the saury
The Head Cook appears in the classic rakugo tale Meguro no Sanma as the person in charge of the kitchen at the mansion where the lord is invited. So worried about the lord's health that he ruins a perfectly good saury, he sets up the story's punchline.
In Episode 3, hearing that the lord's favorite food is saury, he orders top-quality fish from the Nihonbashi fish market. But fearing that "the fat may harm his health" and "a small bone may stick in his throat," he steams out the fat and pulls out every last bone. The fish falls apart and turns dry, and the disappointed lord concludes that "saury is best from Meguro." His role creates the story's irony: the higher your rank, the less you know what truly tastes good.
