prasantrin

Thanks! Essence is better for caramels, but if I have to, I'll find a way to make juice work (or rather, I'll beg the folks in the Pastry forum to help my find a way ). About 100% yuzu juice (and sudachi and the like, for that matter), can I assume they're better quality than the bottled lemon juice one buys in the US? I'm thinking of using bottled yuzu juice to make some baked goods (yuzu pound cake, etc.), but I'm wary about quality.

Could it be Flavourland? Thanks so much! (And thanks to Kappabashi for having an awesome website!) I'm going to make a trip there today before I leave today, hopefully. . . I hope I hope I hope they have my yuzu essence, and if they do, I'm going to clean them out!

Thailand has similar chiles. They may in fact be the same, but I don't know enough about either of them to say. From http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/Ingredients/...hili_pepper.htm Also, from another topic in eG, Fuchsia Dunlop writes:

Way back when, my dad would go on business trips to TO and bring back certain dishes from Young Thailand (or my mother would bring some back for my dad). His cooking was usually better (some of their food sucked from a Thai point of view, but some of it was OK), but I guess it was nice for him to have decent Thai food he didn't have to cook himself. Or was it Bangkok Gardens? Now I think I want to go to TO just to try these Thai places again.

oops. . . The flap cut at Costco was some kind of kata-something. I can't remember which part, though. I'll check it again the next time I'm there. It was very lean, though, so I don't think it's the cut I want for my corned beef. The meat guy sells large cuts of point brisket unbrined, but his smaller cuts (1kg) are already brined. I may just end up going with his brined brisket, even though I'd rather do it myself. Another question. . . I am getting desperate!! I'm in Tokyo right now, and have been searching everywhere for yuzu essence by Asaoka Spice. I know I bought some less than a year ago, but it seems to have disappeared from the shelves. I used to get it at Meidiya and Tokyu Hands in Kansai, but TH no longer has any on the shelves. I haven't been able to check out Meidiya in Kobe, yet, but I've been going to every Meidiya and TH I pass by in Tokyo and I have yet to find my very special yuzu essence. I've even checked out National Azabu, Isetan depachika, etc. etc. However will I make my yuzu caramels now? I have looked online (Kikuya, Tomizawa, Amazon.jp) and done a general google search, but nothing has turned up except Asaoka Spice's website. Has anyone seen yuzu extract/essence anywhere??

[posted in part elsewhere] I've been in Tokyo for a couple of days, and have been making the rounds. I'm trying not to eat too much (I'm only here for a few days, after all), but when your eyes are bigger than your stomach, it's hard not to buy too much! First stop was A Tes Souhaits. It's a bit out of the way, but since I was sort of in the neighbourhood, I stopped by. They have a few tables, but it's primarily a take-out place. I got some kind of caramel cake. The bottom layer was praline, I think, and then there were alternating layers of cake and buttercream. I like this cake a lot. It's not too sweet, and the praline layer adds a nice bit of texture contrast. The caramel flavour is pronounced, but not overwhelming, so it's a nice cake if you like caramel. I also got some vanilla caramels (not yet tried), a couple of florentines (not yet tried), and a very good kouign aman. I liked the kouign aman a lot, except it had a bit of a cinnamon flavour to it. Wasn't crazy about that part, but aside from that, it was excellent. Later that evening I had dinner at L'Atelier Robuchon, so I shopped at the bakery first. Here I picked up a couple of savoury breads (one with olives, the other with sun-dried tomatoes), three macarons (caramel, citron, and praline), a kouign aman, and a salted caramel tart. The caramel tart wasn't quite what I expected. It was good, and not too sweet, but I would have preferred a thinner crust. There was also a thin layer of chocolate between the crust and the caramel, and I would have preferred that chocolate not to be there. It interfered with the enjoyment of the caramel, I thought. And his kouign aman isn't that great. It's not bad, but not really good, either. Just ordinary. Yesterday my only cake stop was Hidemi Sugino. I arrived bright an early at 9:20, knowing the line-ups would be long by the time the shop opened at 10. I was the fifth person in line. Score! But imagine my surprise when passing by the shop, I noticed a sign in the window stating the shop would not be opening until 11. . . With nothing else to do until 1, I stayed in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes until they opened. Only in Japan would something like that be acceptable. I can't imagine any other country where, unannounced, a store could open one hour later than usual and people would still stand around waiting. By opening at 11, by the way, there were about 50 people or so in line. They've got some very strict rules about shopping there. About 15 minutes before they opened, a staff member came out to explain about shopping there. You have to line up a certain way, and then you're only allowed 2 cakes to eat in, and 6 cakes to take out (or maybe 6 cakes max in total, with no more than 2 for eat-in--I couldn't hear very well because some annoying women who also cut in front of me kept jabbering away while the rest of us were trying to listen to the announcement). Some cakes can't be taken away, but must only be eaten in the cafe area. I got a bunch of little things (madeleines and the like), and then got one cake to eat in, and two cakes to go. My eat-in cake was Arabique, I think. It was coffee-flavoured, and could only be eaten in the shop. The first bite was powerful. If you like coffee, this would be a good cake for you. After a few bites, however, I could no longer taste the coffee flavour, or any other flavour for that matter. I could only "taste" the richness of the cake. This was a mousse cake with layers of coffee jelly and another kind of mousse inside (a lighter, creamier, more pudding-like mousse than the rest of the mousse of the cake). It was very very soft. So soft that whenever I took a bite, it reminded me of how when you have a cold and you try to breath in through your nose, the mucous sometimes slides down the back of your throat. Not that I've ever had that happen to me, but if I had, that's what the texture of this cake would have reminded me of. I took out the Bresilienne (sp?) which was coffee and caramel, and his version of black forest, called something like charme (with an accent aigu on the e). I didn't particularly care for either of them. The black forest is just sweet to me, and the Bresilienne was more coffee than caramel. And it, too, was very much like a soft mucousy mousse. I know Hidemi Sugino is famous in the world of pastry, and his cakes are very good, but I don't think I'll be standing in line for 1 hour and 40 minutes ever again for them. Or even 40 minutes. Ten maybe, but I think that would be my max. And contrary to what some people seem to believe, his cakes really are pure French in style. There's nothing really special about them, except the quality of execution is quite high. Tons of macarons have been purchased, as well. To follow-up on my caramel macaron taste test last spring, I've tested last year's winner with some other untried ones, and my usual caramel. The contenders are Chez Cima (last year's winner), Henri Charpentier (my go-to caramel macaron), Laduree, Sebatian Bouillet, and Joel Robuchon. None were necessarily bad, but if I had to choose an order of preference, it would be: Henri Charpentier Chez Cima Sebastian Bouillet Robuchon Laduree Henri Charpentier has excellent filling:shell ratio, but it's got a very pronounced caramel flavour, leaning more towards burnt caramel. I like that, but if you don't, you won't like these. The filling is caramel, not buttercream. Chez Cima has a pronounced salt flavour to its salted caramel macaron. If you like chewy caramels, these are a good choice, as the shell is thicker than most. Buttercream filling in these, I think Sebastian Bouillet has a very buttery flavour to it. it's not very chewy at all. It's got a caramel filling. Robuchon has a good salted caramel flavour (buttercream filling). It's a wee bit chewy, and it has a bit of an odd aftertaste. It's not quite an artificial flavour, but I can't pin it down. I liked the saltiness of the filling. Laduree was the least caramelly of the bunch. It's mostly just sweet, and the almond flavour is more pronounced than the caramel flavour. That's why these are in last place. I still have some other Laduree macaron to try (mango, praline, and citron), and a couple of Robuchon left (praline and citron). Today went to Le Chocolat de H just to look. Really, it's true! But I ended up buying some little things--madeleines, florentines (can you tell I have a thing for madeleines and florentines?), some kind of chocolate covered cake thing that looks like it comes in a lipstick box, some caramels, and another caramel macaron!! The caramel macaron was a bit of a disappointment. I think I should just stop buying macaron from chocolate shops. I have the same complaints about the LCdH one as I did about last year's Jean-Paul Hevin macaron--they taste almost nothing of caramel but almost entirely of chocolate. I tried to go to Toshi Yoroizuka, but the line up was quite long (just for take-out, too!) and after yesterday's long wait at Hidemi Sugino's, I just wasn't up to it. I might try again tomorrow--I've got a long day before the night bus leaves! On my way back to my hotel I stopped by Isetan, my favourite depachika in the world! I stocked up on Henri LeRoux CBS tarts and caramels. I also picked up some omiyage from a place called Yokohama Francais Patisserie. They sell chocolate covered millefeuille-like bars. And I got some leaf pies from Confectionary West for my mother. I also got another kouign aman from BE-Japon (boulangepicier--a branch of Alain Ducasse's bakery/cafe). It's my second favourite, and has a good amount of caramelized sugar. I think that's all I bought today. Of pastries, that is. . . (National Azabu has a sale on Thai and Filipino mangos, so I couldn't resist! Now to get them back to Kansai without too much bruising. . . )

In that wiki, there is this: implying that facing heaven chiles are different from Sichuan chiles. Of course, that doesn't mean they can't be used interchangeably, but they're not the same.

Are you referring to this question you asked earlier? It's a little difficult to answer your questions without a context--what recipe did you see them in? I don't recall seeing them in any mabodofu recipe here (though I have not looked at all of them). Regardless, perhaps http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-p...ystientsin.html will suit your needs?

As you suggest, none of those items are necessary, and in terms of gas vs electric, it's not what you have, but what you do with it that counts. Growing up, a rice cooker was very convenient in my family because we cooked rice twice a day, and it allowed us kids to cook rice in preparation for our parents' arrival home. The only thing not on your list that I really do like having is one of those mesh strainer things. It looks like this http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spider_(cooking).JPG It's great not just for when cooking Chinese dishes, but also for making any kind of fried food.

At my friend's restaurant, they used to just make it like one would make ginger tea--boil some fresh lemon grass with water. She uses simple syrup to sweeten it.

Get an ice crusher--Waring professional is a good one.

After 10 years of living in Japan, I've never seen a baked or fried maki zushi. Ever. That doesn't mean they don't exist, but I wonder where you've had them. My rule is "Anything fried is good!"

Holy smokes! You're doing an amazing job! I hope aside from taking notes, you're also taking some super doses of vitamin C and other cold-preventatives. It's after a stressful period that you're most likely to get sick, and I imagine you're going through a lot of stress right now! I'm glad you have good staff! They make everything easier, don't they?

Back to my German exchange student, yesterday she told me that she gained 5 lbs before coming to Japan, just in case she didn't like the food here (so she'd have a bit of cushion). One month later, those 5 lbs are gone, and she doesn't have much more than she can safely lose. It's going to be a long year, not to mention that I have very little patience regarding picky eaters (but I never have to eat with her, so it's not so bad).

I'd go if it were more of an afternoon tea thing, but probably not after dinner (or lunch for that matter). Where are you located? I could see something like that being more feasible in larger cities with established "fine dining" scenes, but not so much in smaller markets.

GlorifiedRice found this service http://japanesetradition.net/shipping/ . It's not cheap, but should all other options fail, it may help.

Many moons ago (OK, 2 moons ago), tsquare posted about the blog of once prolific eG poster, Lorna (aka Ling). I visited, loved it, and volunteered (perhaps "begged" is a better word) to test some recipes. Every recipe I've made so far has been a success (even with no adjustment to sugar content, my Japanese co-workers loved loved loved her lemon pound cake with sour cream glaze), but her buttermilk onion ring recipe is really outstanding. Even if you're not one who deep-fries, you've got to try this recipe. I've already made it twice, and I'm already planning to make it again! (And the leftovers actually stay crispy the next day!) But I guess you'll have to wait till her cookbook comes out, or beg her to let you test it!

You've probably already seen this website selling vanilla butter powder. If you haven't already contacted them, you can ask them about their distributor. They might be willing to tell you (unless they ship to Canada and want you to buy from them).

It's not double. It's Y454/pound (Y1000 per kg, 2.2 lbs per kilo). It may actually be a little cheaper in Japan on some days if you take the ever-dropping yen into consideration!

Thanks for the update! It's helpful to hear from people involved. I hope your family's mango crop is better next year, so they can help supply us mango-deprived folks. (had a not-so-good Filipino mango the other day--Y300 down the drain!)

Have you tried Brooke Bond? If you end up having to go to loose tea, you could get some do-it-yourself tea bags. Use loose tea when you're making it yourself, but prepare some tea bags for when others will be making it for you?

So Y2000 for 2kg really isn't that bad in terms of price! Can't wait until November when I can try to order them again. Didn't quite make it to Seijo Ishii, but I'm trying again today! ETA: None of the three Seijo Ishii stores in my area carry Meyer lemons. Woe is me! Poor Kansai--we never get anything here! And to top it off, Tokyu Hands doesn't have yuzu extract any more! However will I make my yuzu caramels?

Ditto on emphasizing creativity and the satisfaction of knowing you've created something beautiful and delicious. Add a bit about why you got into the business in the first place--despite being burnt out now, there must have been something to drive you into the business. I'd throw in some personal anecdotes about happy clients. If you're allowed to bring samples, you can bring some crappy supermarket stuff, and some of your stuff and have them compare, so they can understand how quality makes a difference (and then you can talk about how quality is important in the life of a chef). That's kind of positive, isn't it? I'd skip the fame and fortune stuff, personally. So few people attain that level of success (if you consider it success), why focus on it? Most kids will focus on that, anyway, and regarding the food world, most kids only know about the fame and fortune bit. If you do the sandwich routine--positive, negative, positive--you could probably get away with not sounding too negative.

Nevermind. . . I should read more thoroughly the first time!

I was at Sarah's last summer, and didn't think their stuff was anything to write home about. It was good, but just good, not spectacular or even special. There was something, however, that I really enjoyed, if only I could remember what it was. I think it might have been the pecan square, but I could be wrong. Now that I think about it, I must not have enjoyed it that much, if I can't even remember what it was.