The salmon looks divine. Shimmering pink-orange and gigantic, thick enough to engulf the cutting board. It’s borderline criminal. But that’s not the real story. The finesse, that’s the real story. His cuts come in Tommy gun bursts, fast and effortless, but with a certain patience to the work. A maestro conducting his comestible orchestra. Soon the once-monstrous slab of fish is pared down to a more modest serving of belly meat. It’s the fattiest part of the salmon, he notes, wiping off his blade, and thus the tastiest. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about cooking, but somehow that makes sense to me. And I must say, truly, this is the perfect cut of salmon. A salmon of the gods.



Justin Loo tugs on his backward UFC hat, then grins. He has seen these kind of hungry eyes before. It’s a scorching Thursday in the desert, but inside the behemoth kitchen of the UFC’s Las Vegas headquarters, Loo is in his element. Heaping trays of eggs and...