Quick Bites: The Ora King Race To New Zealand Finalist Yael Peet

Ora King is a sustainably raised salmon from New Zealand, whose story is almost as delicious as the fish itself. Back in early 1900, two avid fishermen somehow managed to bring live King salmon home to New Zealand from a fishing trip to California.

The salmon thrived there and the rest is Ora King history.

Ora King is only available to the restaurant trade, where it’s developed a cult following with top chefs like Thomas Keller and Emeril Lagasse, because of it’s pristine quality and flavor.

Host, Poppy Tooker served as the judge for this year’s Ora King competition travelling to Austin, Texas; Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California to taste the Ora King creations of the three top finalists, Mia Li of Lenoir, Yael Peet of Karasu and Jonathan Granada of Otium. 

On this podcast, we travel to Brooklyn, New York to meet finalist number two – Yael Peet.  To find Yael in her restaurant, Karasu in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, first you have to walk through another restaurant, the brightly lit, bustling Walter’s Food – go down a hallway and then open the door you find at the end. Karasu, a tiny, dimly lit Japanese speakeasy can be found on the other side. There, Chef Yael Peet prepared the dish that got her into the Ora King finals – something she entitled the Sorcerer’s Apprentice after the film short which provided inspiration for the former animation artist.