Hiroyuki

Some memorable scenes from the battles so far (1 through 9): 1. Battle 7, around 5:05 Mera, a Japanese cuisine chef, uses his 57-cm (22-inch) blade yanagi knife to cut yellowtail. He is a leading expert on houchou shiki (knife ceremonies), in which the chef cuts a fish with knive and chopsticks, without touching it with his hands. The ceremonies date back to the Heian period. 2. Battle 6, around 17:17 Nagano, a sushi chef, makes shari (vinegared rice) artistically. Also intriguing is how Team Red makes three different sauces, spinach espuma, sudachi juice espuma, and tomato water powder in a Tasmanian berry candy balloon, which starts at around 19:54. Shown at the top of the streaming video window are (left to right): 全画面で再生: Full-screen replay 標準 (shown in orange): Standard 高画質: High image quality 超高画質: Ultra high image quality

Do you call them stuff? I'm going to make my versions for lunch, with other stuff.

The two chefs said the combination of fruit tomatoes and Chinese cabbage kimchi was really good. The cause of the custard (chawanmushi) failure was too much kombu/katsuo dashi and shang tang. By the way, the theme ingredient of the eighth battle was not ordinary eggs but kefir eggs (eggs laid by hens fed on kefir yogurt). *** Forgot to mention the following in my first post here: The length of each battle is two hours. The official website of Senjo no Restaurant is updated every Thursday.

Interesting question! I've never thought of that. I'll ask them. As for the subtitle, they replied to my inquiry that they have no such plans yet.

You mean the black device shown at around 10:00? I'm sorry I don't know. The narrator simply referred to it as a machine...

One week ago, I started a thread on Senjo no Restaurant*1 (streaming video) in the Japan Forum. It's a cooking battle show you can watch on the Internet, free of charge. The producer of the show is Keiichi Tanaka, the very person who produced Iron Chef. *1 I sent them an inquiry, asking whether they have an official English translation of the title, and they replied that there was none. I initially translated the title into Restaurants in the Battlefield, but after carefully listening to the narration, I thought Restaurants as Battlefields would be more appropriate. To avert this translation problem, I have decided to use the Japanese title itself or its initials, SNR, throughout this thread. In August 30, 2005, a new food culture group called Chojin Chef Club was formed with 100 top-class chefs across the country. The chairman of the club is Yukio Hattori, the regular commentator on Iron Chef. Chojin means superhuman. SNR, started on December 8, is the first major project of the club. Each week, two teams of two players of different cuisines are selected from the 100-member club. At their respective prescribed restaurants, the two teams first receive a box containing the theme ingredient. In five minutes, they receive another box containing two sub-ingredients. In another five minutes, they receive the third box containing two plates or similar objects. Each team must collaborate to create two dishes using the theme ingredients, must use the sub-ingredients at least once during cooking, and must place the dishes on the two plates. The same two dishes as the ones created by one team are offered for 2,500 yen (consumption tax included) at a specified restaurant for one week. To make a fair judgment, a judge must go to two different restaurants and spend 5,000 yen in total to eat the four dishes in total. Anyone can become a judge provided that they apply for registration as a member of Senjo no Restaurant. A judge is requested to vote for the team who he or she thinks created better dishes. The results are announced on the website two weeks after the battle is released on the website. Official website of Senjo no Restaurant Official website of Chojin Chef Club Grand Formation Ceremony of the Club I hope you enjoy the show, despite the language barrier.

Have any of you ever tried hanabira take? I bought a pack for the first time today. I think I'll make takikomi gohan with it. Will report on it in that thread. I found this interesting streaming video showing how wild hanabira take is collected: http://homepage.mac.com/shimoji69/iMovieTheater11.html

Coincidentally, yesterday's edition of Hanamaru Market featured kinmedai in its Tokumaru section. http://www.tbs.co.jp/hanamaru/tokumaru/060214.html full of information, but in Japanese only. I learned that Shimoda city in Shizuoka prefecture is a city of kinmedai. Be sure to have some kind of kinmedai product when you visit there.

Just "pajun", I guess. See this post.

In general, "Nagasaki kasutera" is used to refer to not only that specialty of Nagasaki prefecture but also any cake made with the same method. It provides a moist texture by using mizuame (maltose), and there are variations flavored with milk, matcha, kurozatou, chocolate, cheese, and so on. Other types include kama kasutera, also known as Tokyo kasutera, which is made by putting in a mold and baking in an oven, has a light texture because it does not use mizuame, and is said to be close to the original kasutera), mushi (steamed) kasutera, kasutera manju, roll kasutera, and ningyo yaki. Pan, see also the English page for Castella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castella I still like Bunmeido's Kasutera. It's dense and moist, and has zarame sugar at the bottom.

from here ← Hiroyuki (or Kristin, or whoever), could you please translate that or give an English summary? ← OK, a quick summary: Nagasaki kasutera has a moist texture because it contains maltose. Kama kasutera, also known as Tokyo kasutera, is molded and baked in an oven. It has a light texture because it does not contain maltose. I'll provide a more detailed translation later.

Now I know what Tokyo Kasutera is. I didn't know that! from here

In preparation for participating in the most recent Cook-off in the Cooking Forum, I made my first batch of kaeshi (kaa-eeh-shee) on January 25th, and have used it for a variety of purposes so far. Unfortunately, the kaeshi is a little too sweet for my taste, and I think I'll make another batch when I'm finished with it. Anyway, I followed the recipe here. The ingredients were: 500 cc soy sauce 100 g sugar 50 cc mirin (well, fake mirin, in my case) The next time, I think I'll use much less sugar. There is surprisingly little information on kaeshi on the Internet in English. This is probably the only English-language source that provides some useful information on it. So, let me explain it briefly. Kaeshi is the pride and joy of any decent sobaya (buckwheat noodle restaurant). Each sobaya has its own secret recipe for kaeshi, which is the "flavor" of that sobaya. There are three types of kaeshi: 1. Hon gaeshi (not kaeshi) All three ingredients (soy sauce, mirin, and sugar) are heated. 2. Nama gaeshi Mirin and sugar are mixed together and heated, the heat is stopped, and then soy sauce is added. 3. Han nama gaeshi Mirin, sugar, and part of soy sauce are mixed together and heated, the heat is stopped, and then the rest of the soy sauce is added. Of the three, hon gaeshi seems to be the most popular because they say it is mellower than the others. Once you make kaeshi, you have to let it sit for at least two or three days, usually for at least one week. It is said that hon gaeshi can keep for half a year or longer. (My first batch was hon gaeshi.) To make a dipping sauce for soba, just mix one part kaeshi with three parts dashi. The sobaya uses kaeshi in other dishes, with different kaeshi-to-dashi ratios.

Come to think about it... I often see boiled and vinegared tako, but what about fresh ones? Hmm... I will check the next time I go shopping.

I can't believe we posted at the same time about the same subject!

Do you know how to tenderize tako? The Japanese way is to place it on a cooking board and pound it with a wooden pestle or daikon! Anyway, good luck!

So, you mean you had what you might call "tako no goma-age"? (tako = octopus goma = sesame age = deep-fried) I googled to find some recipes for "goma-age", but unfortunately, no recipes for "tako no goma-age". Here is an example of a goma-age recipe for mackerel. http://www.e-recipe.org/regulars/251/030814_2.html Marinate mackerel in 2 tbsp sake 1 tsp mirin 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 tsp ginger juice in ten minutes. Coat half the mackerel with white goma and the other half with black goma. Deep-dry at 160 C. Does the recipe sound right??

I remember that my school lunch yakisoba (almost 40 years ago) used to be quite greasy, but I liked it all the same. Why do you think the school lunch version is terrible?

Welcome to Japan! Fukuoka is famous for its tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen, mentaiko (spicy cod roe), and yatai (food stalls). The Softbank Hawks has its home field in Fukuoka. Just google with Fukuoka and yatai, and you will get lots of hits.

I'm a fan of Bunmeido Kasutera, for no particular reasons, simply because it's what I grew up with. A list of Bunmeido shops can be found here (Japanese only, though). It's impossible that you can't find a shop selling kasutera in Tokyo. Even station kiosks (well, not all of them) sell it!

I'm glad that all school children were safe...

I can tell what it is. Cream puff flavor (oh, sorry, flavour ). Top row: Chocolate, strawberry & milk, cream puff flavor Middle: Honey milk, strawberry & milk (handy pack), familiy pack Bottom: Regional, available in only the Chugoku and Shikoku regions, 4 packs in series (strawberry (& milk?) and chocolate)

I did a quick search and found two ranking charts: http://kuchiran.jp/enta/foodpark.html http://ranking.goo.ne.jp/ranking.php?C1=051ki&C2=foodpark There should be more others. I hope your Japanese friends can help you with the translation.

Honestly, I can't see where the problem is. I have an oil container in the kitchen. After deep-frying, I put a sheet of oil filter paper on top of the container and pour in the oil. I reuse the oil for deep-frying, stir-frying, and so on. If the oil gets extremely dirty, then I put it in an empty milk carton and dispose of it like other raw garbage. (Of course, in Japan, it is prohibited to discharge oil into sewers.) Some people use Katameru Tempuru (sp?) and similar products, which coagulate oil for easy disposal. So, you mean you usually don't have an oil container, oil filter paper, or any of those oil coagulants in your country?

I found another recipe for milk mochi, which uses tapioca starch. Ingredients include: 150 g tapioca starch 1/2 cup (i.e., 100 ml) sugar 1 pack (i.e., 1,000 ml) milk