Hiroyuki

i really love all the diagrams! amazing, the time someone spent! ← I'm more interested in all the money she spent

Thanks! So, it's your very first post here on eGullet! Quite impressive. Thanks again.

I saw such a chef on TV shows several times, but it was a long time ago, probably in my twenties if I remember correctly. I don't know how he did it either. I did a quick google search but found no information.

My google search for mont blanc has led to this old thread. My question is: Is it worth ordering? Mont blanc cakes are huge in Japan, as suggested here in the Japan Forum. Thanks in advance.

My previous post here was quite misleading. I happened to watch the mont blanc edition of Saturday Night Chubaw, where all three kyoshou (masters) used baked meringue as the base, so I vaguely thought that expensive mont blanc cakes used baked meringue. Angelina in Paris sells mont blanc cakes. I can't find the official website of Angelina, but I found one blog describing its mont blanc with a photo. I also found this website (Japanese only), which shows cross section photos and views of many mont blanc cakes (seven pages in total). Those of Angelina's mon blanc cakes can be found here.

In Japan, a mont blanc is a French-style pastry whose basic components are sponge cake, whipped cream and a cream made from chestnut paste. The main flavor component is chestnut paste. It is a wildly popular pastry in Japan. ← Ah, now I see the light. Thanks for that! I'll have to give it a try. ← Are you suggesting that mon blanc is entirely Japanese? I thought there were similar cakes in France. Cheap ones use a piece of sponge cake as the base, as sanrensho mentioned, but expensive ones use baked meringue as the base. Here is one recipe, if anyone is interested: http://www.tbs.co.jp/chubaw/en/rec20011103.html

I used to think so, but I find this milk miso soup and milk miso sauce quite appealing, and I even saw milk miso ramen and milk curry miso ramen!

Other possibilities include nijimasu, yamame, and iwana. Sorry, too busy to find good photos of them. You can find some photos of ayu dishes here.

How about this one? Karei no nitsuke (simmered flatfish) We don't ate it whole, however.

Processed cheese. I think natural cheese is no good because it melts so easily. Has anyone tried natural cheese?

If the Tokyo shichimi is the type you want to get, you have an opportunity to get some at this event, to be held on the seventh floor at Kintetsu Abeno from March 30 through April 5.

There are three major shichimi manufacturers in Japan. 1. やげん掘中島屋 Yagenhori Nakajimaya http://www.norenkai.net/shop/yagenhori/yagenhori.html located in Asakusa, Tokyo. 2. 八幡屋礒五郎 Yahataya Isogorou http://www.yawataya.co.jp/index.html located near the famous temple, Zenkoji, Nagano. 3. 七味屋 Shichimiya http://www.shichimiya.co.jp/ located in Kyoto. A list of Shichimiya shops can be found here http://www.shichimiya.co.jp/tenpo/index.html (Japanese only). 1 is piquant (goes well with Kanto soba), 3 is aromatic (goes well with Kansai udon), and 2 is somewhere in between and contains ginger to make you warm, unlike the other two. I'm familiar with 1 and 2, but not with 3. I don't think S&B shichimi is bad at all. from this post:

Hmm... You are speaking in riddles... What do you think of these items, for example?: http://www.hcg-choice.com/katachi/meshi.html Good or bad? Who said that? I prefer wooden chopsticks with enameral? coating, which I think are the most popular in Japan. OK. Why not start with the very basics - hashi (chopsticks), chawan (rice bowl), and owan (miso soup bowl), plus yunomi jawan if you drink green tea. Then you can start to expand your collection. What do you think?

For now, I can answer this question of yours only. Yes, chawan 茶碗 ちゃわん are used as rice bowls. We use 湯飲み茶碗 yu-nomi-jawan (not chawan) for green tea and カップ kappu (which means cup) for coffee and tea. Don't confuse kappu with koppu コップ, which means glass as in a glass of water.

Sorry, I must admit that I was a little emotional when I wrote my last post here... , but I really love beni shouga on top of gyuudon, and that's the main reason why I like Yoshinoya! There you can have as much beni shouga as you want! A friend once laughed at me, saying "It's not gyuudon but beni shouga don!".

Wait, wait, wait!! Did you spinkle beni shouga (pickled red ginger) on top?? I love beni shouga. Gyuudon can never be complete without it - a lot of it.

In the early Meiji period, there were two million farmer households that produced "doburoku" (white cloudy sake), but the Meiji government started to restrict homebrewing because liquor tax revenues were a large source of income for the government. Eventually, the government totally banned homebrewing in 1899. That year, the government succeeded in raising the liquor tax revenues to about 30% of the total revenues. Today, liquor tax revenues accounts for only 2-3% (according to one source) or 5% (according to another) of the total revenues, but the government has no intention to change the obsolete Liqour Tax Law. In the famous "Doburoku" case in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the law banning homebrewing was constitutional and the defendant, Toshihiko Maeda, the author of the book titled "Doburoku wo Tukurou" (Let's Make Doburoku), was guilty. As part of the structural reform program, the Koizumi government has approved several doburoku tokku (special zones for doburoku), but this does not mean that everyone in the tokku is permited to homebrew. It's only that a farmer or an agricultural group who runs an inn (minshuku) or restaurant is allowed to produce doburoku, subject to severe restrictions, such as the need to use self-made rice.

I think so. People here often talk about "One Point Advice" ワンポイントアドバイス and "One Point Hinto (Hint)".

It does help. I think it's kiri kombu.

Note: This is my personal opinion. Maybe you could ask colleagues and friends the same question, and possibly get different answers. 1. Garlic. Any dish containing garlic makes me think it's a stamina ryouri. 2. Innards. Have you ever tried horumon (hormone?) yaki? I hate most types of innards... 3. Eels. They contain a lot of vitamin A. I like them! You are going to experience natsu bate (getting weary from the summer's heat) for the first time this summer. I think the summer in Osaka is more unbearable than that in Tokyo. You may feel the need to have eels then. 4. Meat. "Meat ?," you may ask. Yes, meat! Thirty to forty years ago, when I was small, Japanese consumed less meat than they do today. I still have a tendency to regard any dish containing a lot of meat as a stamina ryouri.

Natto tempura. A favorite of my son's. It's flavorful, but the scorching natto smell fills the entire room/house when you make it.

I wonder if you mean kiri kombu 切り昆布. If you do, google with 切り昆布 and サラダ (salad), and you will get some recipes such as: http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/cgi-bin/homecook...i?numb=00001232 http://www.misbit.com/recipe/mid00915.html

You did it! No ? is necessary. With chopsticks. Did you notice the "One Point" video after the recipe video? That video says overcooking beef will make it tough, so separate the slices with chopsticks to cook them quickly. I wonder if you have a pair of cooking chopsticks called saibashi.

I've tasted many different types of natto in Japan and the U.S. and as far as I can tell they are the same. I am speaking from a west coat perspective, I have had natto that is imported into LA and San Francisco, and then natto in the Kansai area of Japan. Somehow hot or warm natto is not as appealing. I have made fried rice with natto but it just slimed up all the rice and it was not that good. Maybe by washing it first it could be used in different ways, but then you would lose a lot of the flavor. ← And you would lose a lot of nutrients of natto too.

Well, as I suggested somewhere else, amazake usually has an alcohol content of less than 1%, and it's not illegal to make amazake.