Hiroyuki

I've been too busy in the Coffee & Tea Forum to answer your question. There are a number of online sources available (in Japanese) for making fukujin-zuke, like these: http://www.webnews.gr.jp/umeko/cook57.html http://www5.hokkaido-np.co.jp/pocket-book/...emono/c003.html The problem that I have when trying to answer your question is that I have never been to that curry shop and cannot imagine what the fukujin-zuke served there tastes like. Is it simply sweet or is it also sour? Typically, a fukujin-zuke recipe includes soy sause, sugar, and mirin, but some also include Japanese rice wine (sake) and/or vinegar.

(Continued) Another thing is that in the second half of the drip process with the Matsuya method, the various unpleasant tastes ( 'zatsu mi' in Japanese) are now less unpleasant. Before I used this system, there was a clear distinction between the first half with flavorful tastes and the second half with various unpleasant tastes. ...(Omitted) In short, it's drinkable. This is probably due to the fact that the chemical change in the inside is similar to that on the surface. The reply continues, but is not directly related to the topic. *** On his website, he admits that his superheated steam technique is not yet completed. He says he has yet to fully understand how much steam to apply to get the best results. He cites several potentials of his direct heat and superheated steam roasting system, although they are still under investigation, such as: Elimination of robusta odor Small-amount roasting (He has succeeded in roasting 200 g of coffee in a roaster with a capacity of 3 kg.) Elimination of smoke

I'd really appreciate it if you could do that and post your comments here.

Here are step-by-step instructions: 1. Fold the paper filter along the machined edge and place it in the dripper. Photo: Folding the paper filter (I strongly recommend that you see the movie. To do this, just access the page http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/2f/2f-6.html scroll down to find the same photo as this one and click the Chinese characters below the photo, and the movie will start. The same goes for five of the seven photos shown here.) Use either water from a water purifier or mineral water. Basically, with the Matsuya method, you don't wet the paper filter. You can wet it, however, if you don't like the papery taste. 2. Place coarsely ground coffee in the dripper. 10 g per cup (120 cc, i.e., 4 oz) For 1 to 3 cups, use 15 g for cup. For more cups, 10 g per cup. With the Matsuya method, you start extraction after making all coffee grounds heavier than water. If, therefore, the grounds were too fine, the water would not pass through. For this reason, you use a coarse grind with the Matsuya method. 3. Make a well in the center with a spoon. Photo: Making a well (See the movie.) Dig a hole, using the back of a spoon. Using the back of a spoon makes the grounds steady. For fresh coffee, dig a deep hole; for old, a shallow one. Determine the depth according to how much the grounds bloom when you pour hot water. (Fresh coffee grounds of 50 g give off 100 to 200 cc of carbon dioxide gas.) 4. Pour boiled water at the center as gently as possible, and when coffee starts dripping into the server, start pouring water to the other portions in a circular motion. Stop pouring when water has spread throughout the grounds. Photo: First pour (See the movie.) (Just set aside the drip pot; you don't have to bring the water to the boil again before the second pour.) 5. Let the grounds settle for 3 to 5 minutes. Put a lid on for a better result. This long-time wetting is a key to flavorful coffee. Photo: 3-minute wetting (No movie for this step) Wetting is a process in which you pour water over coffee to drive out the gas inside the coffee, so that water can enter the grounds smoothly during the extraction process. Fresh roasted coffee loses its inner gas when wetted for 3 to 5 minutes, and does not bubble up the next time water is poured. Fully wetted coffee grounds are heavier than water and sink down entirely when put in water. 6. After the wetting, pour water unevenly, gently at all times. During this time, take care not to produce bubbles and avoid moving the grounds in the paper filter as much as possible. Photo: Second pour (See the movie.) Keep pouring water up to the level of the coffee grounds. The important thing to remember is to always keep just enough water to cover the grounds. You brew coffee by taking advantage of the difference in characteristics between the flavorful and unpleasant components. Characteristics of flavorful components: - Can dissolve even in a dense water solution. - Generally easily soluble. - Can dissolve even at low temperature. - Not easily absorbable. Characteristics of astringent and other unpleasant components: - Can dissolve in a thin water solution only. - Generally not easily soluble. - Not easily soluble at lower temperature. - Easily absorbable. 7. Stop pouring when you have made half the amount of coffee you need. At this point, the flavorful components of coffee have been extracted completely. What comes out afterwards is astringent, bitter, and other unpleasant tastes. Photo: Ending extraction (See the movie.) 8. Bring the kettle on the boil and dilute the coffee with the boiled water to the strength you like. The coffee extraction temperature is about 85 C (185 F), so the undiluted coffee in the server is about 60 to 65 C (140 to 149 F) (for five cups). When you dilute the coffee with boiled water, the mixture will be about 80 C (176 F), which is good for drinking. Photo: Done (No movie for this step) *** You need not feel left out if you don't have all the necessary items, which I mentioned in a previous post. You can always use substitutes. Use your brain. The following link will give you valuable insight: http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~tzr-bass/coffee/matsuya/drip.htm This site discusses a "pseudo" Matsuya method. A wire mesh filter is used for a dripper, a pot with a hole drilled on the side for a drip pot, and a regular paper filter for a conical filter (see the last photo).

Thank your for your reply and your personal message. With the Matsuya method, you make strong coffee and then you water it down--dilute it with an equal amount of hot water. Is this the case with Melitta and Chemex too? Anyway, I hope my next post will clear up any confusion. As for the most common method, you are definitely right--auto dip makers. Do you use one? I don't.

The Matsuya method was developed by Matsuya Coffee in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture, Japan to make clear, flavorful coffee free from astringent, harsh, and other unpleasant tastes. Matsuya Coffee's website (Japanese only): http://www.matsuya-coffee.com/ What distinguishes this method from others is that you first make coffee with half the required amount of water and then add the other half to make complete coffee. Assume that you want 600-cc (20-oz) coffee, then you first make coffee with 300-cc of water and then add another 300-cc of water to the coffee. The following is a translation of part of the page, "Mastering the Matsuya drip method", of Flavor coffee's website. http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/2f/2f-6.html *** Mastering the Matsuya drip method The way you make coffee makes such a difference. Do you think that coffee must be fresh? The degradation rate differs greatly depending on the coffee extraction technique. Explanation of the photo: A: Extracted three days ago with the Matsuya method B: Extracted three days ago with an auto drip maker C: Extracted two hours ago with the Matsuya method D: Extracted two hours ago with an auto drip maker Remark: The type of coffee beans used is Kilimanjaro. Glasses B and D glow whitish because they reflect diffusely the light of the fluorescent tube from above. This is due to the turbidity of coffee. An auto drip maker produces coffee that becomes turbid in about 30 minutes. If properly hand-dripped, coffee does not become turbid for two to three WEEKS. Properly extracted coffee is slow in degradation. The kind of coffee that you can drink when it's hot but cannot drink when it has cooled because it tastes bad is the one that also tastes bad when it's hot, but because it's hot, your tongue cannot sense the taste. When the coffee has cooled, your tongue is sensitive, making you feel it taste bad. Basically, good coffee also tastes good when it has cooled. When coffee has cooled, you will feel its acidity more. This is why iced coffee is made from deep roasted beans with less acidity. We feel cold coffee taste better when it's bitter than when it's tart. I'm going to tell you how to make coffee with the Matsuya method. Coffee made with the Matsuya paper drip method remains clear for a long time. It does not lose it flavor over time. It does not become turbid over time. I'm going to tell you such a professional way of making coffee. You need the following items: Matsuya dripper for five Matsuya paper filter for five 600-cc (20-oz) drip pot Kono server for five *** In my next post, I'm going to provide step-by-step instructions on how to make coffee with the Matsuya method.

For all food sample lovers: http://www.kankou-gifu.or.jp/en/05/03.html I am NOT a food sample lover. How many times have I been deceived by them?

Now I know what you are talking about. We do use the bone part, called naka-bone (literally, middle bone) in Japanese, to make soup, etc. We have two ways of filleting, ni-mai oroshi (filleting into an upper part and a lower part with bones attached), usually used for grilling, and san-mai oroshi (filleting into an upper part, a bone part, and a lower part).

I found a site telling you how to fillet anago: http://www.intmarine.com/monthly/anago.html

Could you tell me what exactly you mean by that? We don't eat the tail...

I don't think there is a collective name for them. I just called them baby ramen when I was a kid. I liked them, as well as other da-gashi: http://www.okashi.co.jp/dagasi/dag01.html

Nakagawa says he doesn't employ the cupping technique. He says that he uses the Matsuya paper drip method (which I'd like to describe later in another post) to examine what flavor he gets at a specific time. The following is a summary of his reply to your post: The greatest characteristic (of roasting with superheated steam) is that it produces strong (coffee beans). The reason for this is, I think, that with ordinary roasting, the rate at which water evaporates from inside the bean differs from that at which it does from its surface, so that it is difficult to cause the same chemical change to the entire bean at once. On the other hand, using superheated steam allows one to quickly get out moisture only. ... (omitted) For this reason, the components of coffee are denser, I think. The characteristic (of superheated steam) of getting water out is very effective to those coffee beans that are hard to get out moisture from, such as hard ones, but is not so effective to soft ones. As you can see, anyone can roast soft beans... Another thing I can say is that a large amount of hot air is required to heat coffee beans. This means that other components (of coffee beans) are also removed when moisture is removed. Superheated steam makes it possible to heat beans with a smaller amount of hot air. And, it has a characteristic of not taking away other components when getting moisture out. Thus, the components of green beans remain unremoved after the 'drying' phase. ...(omitted) The reply continues, but I'd like to translate the remaining part after I explain the Matsuya method.

I'm sorry I don't. I guess you mean the concept of the application of superheated steam to coffee roasting in particular, and I don't think there are sites that offer such information. Nakagawa says in his bulletin board that he doesn't know of any either. He adds: The existence of the inversion temperature seems to be well known. Besides, it seems to be well known that due to its film condensation heat transfer, it (superheated steam) can offer a more efficient heating system than dry air. Here I provide some links related to superheated steam in general, as well as some excerpts: The following is from this site: http://www.mec.ua.pt/_deptenglish/tema/unit/reslines7.html Drying of Materials The drying of materials with moist air and with superheated steam is also being worked. It was shown that the steam is more effective as drying agent above a critical temperature and that the moist air is the more effective drying agent below that temperature. This temperature is known as the vapour inversion temperature. Some research work is needed to well understand why the vapour is the most effective drying agent above the inversion temperature, as well as why the inversion temperatures reported in the literature are so different. Another excerpt from this site: http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/produc...osti_id=6103139 The rates of evaporation of water from a horizontal water surface into a turbulent stream of hot air or superheated steam at different free-stream mass fluxes and modulated temperatures were experimentally measured.^The pressure of the free stream was atmospheric.^For steam, the experimental results are mostly within 10% of the available analytical results.^Two previous experimental results about 50% and 300% higher than the analytical results.^For air, the measured evaporation rates consistently higher than the analytical results.^An estimate of the conduction heat transfer from the walls of the test section to water was made for several air tests.^If the conduction heat transfer were subtracted from the total heat transfer, the measured evaporation rates are actually quite close to the analytical results.^The present experiment also confirms the existence of a temperature, called the inversion temperature, below which the water evaporation rate is higher in air than in steam, but above which the opposite is true.^The inversion temperature is in good agreement with the analytical prediction.^The results for both air and superheated steam show that a certain scaled expression for the evaporation rate is independent of the free-steam mass flux, also in agreement with the analytical prediction. An interesting passage from http://www.rsc.org/lap/educatio/eic/2002/clifford_mar02.htm (Note, however, that this is a description of superheated water, not superheated steam.) During any extraction, some of the components may undergo reactions, which may or may not be advantageous. In the extraction of explosives, for example, from decontaminated soil the explosives are degraded to benign substances.11 For plant materials at lower temperatures, oxidation and hydrolysis occur to a minor extent, which may be acceptable and even improve the product. The most interesting results are obtained with green Java coffee beans. Extraction with superheated water at ca 200°C produces a brown liquid, which has the aroma of coffee. After extraction the beans are whole and homogeneously dark brown: water appears to have permeated throughout the individual beans, they had expanded to about double their initial size. Analysis by head-space gas chromatography shows that the 'coffee' obtained has a much more concentrated extract, but the components and their proportions are very similar to those found in conventional coffee. Thus a process similar to roasting is occurring for the green beans. These experiments may give rise to a process for producing coffee flavours for the food industry. Superheated steam drying technologies (pdf file): http://www.ageng.ndsu.nodak.edu/asae/rrv/RRV03-0014.pdf Another site on superheated steam (also a pdf file): http://www.engr.usask.ca/societies/csae/c9914.pdf

I'm pretty sure that Helen, the Queen of Pickles, has a recipe. Right, Helen?

In another thread, origamicrane wrote: hi there while we at it is there a link on how to fillet eel unagi? as i got one in the fridge and plann to use it in a bbq but don't want the kids to have trouble with the bones. thnaks *** Links first, some comments later (when I have more time): http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/2654...pa/shokunin.htm http://www.ikiuo.net/cook/unagi/#t

Somehow, the first link that torakris provided is broken. Here are several others: http://www.sakana.ne.jp/cooking_ajisaba.htm http://www.agri.pref.chiba.jp/nourinsui/12...en/orosi03.html http://www.lico.co.jp/home/cooking_note/wa...ashoku_007.html http://www.suisan.n-nourin.jp/oh/osakana/c...y/aji_saba.html http://www.og-cookingschool.com/sakana/index_02.htm (Look under B.) http://www.marinelabo.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp...hiraki/aji.html

How about spinach? As the name implies, aona refers to any type of green vegetable, like spinach, qing-geng-cai (Chinese green vegetable), komatsuna Komatsuna: http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/homecook/series/komatsuna01.html Good luck! Any more requests?

You really are asking too much! Anyway, the following is a quick translation of 1) Capein Marine with Vegetables http://www.seafoodfromnorway.jp/recipe/rec...?strRecipeId=59 Ingredients (four servings) 8 to 10 Norwegian capelins 1/2 onion 1/2 pack aona (green vegetable) 2 sliced radishes 3 tbsp white wine vinegar 1/3 small tbsp (i.e., 5/3 cc) salt Pinch of pepper 1/2 tbsp sugar Juice from 1/2 lemon Lemon slices (cut into slices and then into quarters), as many as you please 6 tbsp salad oil Adequate amount of flour How to make: 1) Mix white wine vinegar, salt, sugar, lemon juice, and salad oil in a bowl, and add soup. 2) Slice onion, soak in water, drain. 3) Boil aona (green vetetable), drain, and cut to lengths of 2 to 3 cm. 4) Lightly flour capelins and deep-fry until crispy. 5) Put 1), 2), and 4) in a vat, sprinkle radish and lemon slices, and let it cool. 6) Serve in a dish and garnish with 3). NOTE: I don't know what the 'soup' is in step 1)! Edit to add: Maybe 'add soup' is a simple mistake and should be deleted. I can never be sure, though.

He recalls why he has succeeded in completing his system while large companies have failed. (He says that there are a large number of companies working on the idea of applying superheated steam to coffee roasting.) He was different right from the start. Unfortunately, he was unable to produce superheated steam at high temperature, and he focused on increasing the humidity in the roaster at temperatures higher than the 'inversion temperature' (170 degrees centigrade). On the other hand, large companies focused on the greatest property of superheated steam, high heat transfer efficiency, which means that they thought of using superheated steam as a heat source. He attributes his success to devoting himself to controlling the moisture in the beans at will while keeping their other components in. Some other information later.

As I briefly mentioned in another thread, Masashi Nakagawa of Flavor coffee in Aichi prefecture, Japan, was the first to succeed in roasting coffee beans by applying superheated steam. In what he calls the direct-heat and superheated steam roasting system, he applies superheated steam to coffee beans over direct heat in the drying phase (phase before the first crack) of the roasting process. He says that this allows him to control the humidity in the roaster, thereby controlling the moisture in the beans at will while keeping other components in. This has been just an introduction to his unique system. In my next post, I think I'll provide some more information about it. I'd like to talk about a unique paper drip method called the Matsuya method later. Masashi Nakagawa: Flavor coffee: Direct heat and superheated steam roasting system, with a super steamer on the right: Edit to add Flavor coffee's website (Japanese only): http://www.flavorcoffee.co.jp/index.html

Unfortunately, I cannot find any source that clearly describes 'how risky' it is. My personal opinion is that we should refrain from eating them raw as long as there are certain risks involved in this. The same goes for all other freshwater creatures. About the lung fluke: http://www.seerecht.org/wegelein/course/gr...phics/fluke.htm http://www.ehendrick.org/healthy/000540.htm A site in Japanese (just in case the restraurant owner and/or manager doesn't understand English): http://www.mmjp.or.jp/wakeikai/kiseityuu.htm

You are talking about something like this one? http://az.nifty.com/cgi-bin/shopgoods?SCD=...10&GNO=00000425 Why not start a new thread in the NYC Forum?

I myself have never eaten sawagani raw, and every website on sawagani in Japanese warns against eating them raw because they are a secondary host to the parasitic lung fluke. I cannot find a site on sawagani in English, but here is a related one: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/zoology/crab/ An excerpt from this site: In the Orient, the mitten crab is considered a delicacy and is consumed uncooked. This could present a health hazard to the human population as the crab is a secondary intermediate host for the lung fluke, Paragonimus westermanii. I suppose the sawaganai you ate were cultured ones, but I want you to be on the safe side...

Well, anyway, judging from a reply to my inquiry from Mr. Nakagawa, who has tried deep-frying coffee beans, deep-frying coffee beans is not worth the trouble. The following is a summary of his reply: Deep-frying coffee beans at a low temperature (about 180 degrees centigrade) is no good at all because the beans absorb oil. Besides, if the water (in the beans) is fully replaced by oil, you cannot roast them well because cracking, which occurs due to the expansion of water, does not take place. At a high temperature (about 250 degrees), the expansion of water occurs before the water is replaced by oil, allowing the beans to crack fine. Because, however, roasting is done in a short time, chemical change does not take place, resulting in insipid coffee. After all, roasting coffee beans is causing chemical change to them and, therefore, time is a very important factor. Deep-frying coffee beans at such heat that cracking occurs in 14 minutes, which is required for chemical change to take place, is no good because all the moisture in them is replaced by oil.

I meant 'a probable story'. I didn't know that the expression 'A likely story' has the opposite meaning.