Hiroyuki

Thanks melonpan and Peter Green for their input. No, I've never seen or heard of such things before. Korean cuisine is more interesting to me now, thanks to everyone's comments here. I hope I can take another trip there and report back.

Thanks, nakji, for your detailed explanations! As for the unknown dish, it had a lot of vegetable (Chinese cabbage?) and some eggs (not beaten?), if I remember correctly. As for the saltiness of Japanese cuisine in Kanto: You are not alone! My Osaka-born brother-in-law used to say the same thing to my sister in the initial period of their marriage.

I went to the Shinmai Matsuri (New Rice Festival) again this year. I posted some photos here.

We also got some Korean candies for free, which taste like scorched rice. Can anyone tell us what's written there?

Last night, I went to a Korean restaurant nearby, with my family and relatives. It's run by a Korean lady, and I think the dishes it offers are pretty authentic. Two types of chijimi (pajeon, pa'jon), nira (garlic chive) and kaisen (seafood) Seafood, to be grilled: Complimentary dish: We were also given kimchi for free. Japchae Potato nabe: which contained ox(?) bones like this: Bibimbap: This wasn't spicy. The server brought some gochujang and told us to add it to taste. Dish I forgot the name of: Later, the server put some noodles to the nabe. The noodles looked like this: Tteokbokki: I really wanted to have this. This has been a dream of mine since I learned about Korean mochi from this here. Closeup: Another complimentary dish: I enjoyed every dish, though I often thought, "Everything is just spicy!" Did I have authentic Korean dishes?

No, but they do use Koshihikari rice produced in the Uonuma (not Minami Uonuma) district of Niigata prefecture.

Actually, this festival is part of the campaign that is running in the Shiozawa area (from October 1 to November 3). The name of the campaign: Shiozawa Shinmai Campaign. Here is the cover of the guide to the campaign: Map inside the guide: I'm planning to go to one of the twenty restaurants in the Shiozawa area that participate in the campaign and report back. If you want to see the guide in more detail, here is the web version of it: http://shiozawa.interwindow.net/ Scroll down and click the photo of the cover of the guide. ← Of the twenty restaurants participating in the campaign, I selected Matsui Shokudo That was two years ago. This year, I went to another restaurant, an izakaya actually. I had lunch there. You can see some photos here.

hahaha! this is an old post but its hilarious! i often feel the same way! sometimes when i order tempura udon i get disappointed if the place just dunks all the tempura into the soup... ← As I said in another thread, it's just a matter of variations in texture. I like crunchy tonkatsu, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I like it all the time. Sometimes I like to have katsu drenched in sauce. Suppose you make crunchy tonkatsu one day, you may want to have katsudon the next day.

For me, it's Del Monte, and sometimes Nagano.

I don't think so, not only at a sushi shop in Japan but at other types of restaurants in Japan, unless you find a cockroach or something in your meal. Members in the United States may want to talk about how things are at sushi bars in the United States. We do. That's very common, unless you go to such high-end sushi shops like Sukiyabashi Jiro. I'm not sure but I think there are still some young people wanting to enter the sushi world at the age of 18 after graduating from senior high school (or even at the age of 15 after graduating from junior high), but I'm sure that nowadays, much more people want to go to sushi school, where they can learn about sushi more systematically. I simply don't want to. It's like a little protest against those stubborn sushi chefs who do not want to indicate the prices of neta (toppings) on each business day. Those sushi chefs may want to talk about all sorts of reasons why they don't do so, but none of them are convincing enough for me. I found one site that tells you when each fish is in season.

Great thread, melonpan! Despite the subtitle, I believe that we can turn haters into lovers!

I did some googling and learned it was "ma yu". It's made with garlic, oil, and other ingredients. You can make it by yourself by following a recipe like this (sorry, Japanese only).

For the record, I use soy sauce only. NO SUGAR! I'm a Kanto man, and I think adding sugar is practiced in some areas of Japan (Kansai?, Tohoku?).

Here is an English translation of John's ratios. I hope John doesn't mind. ratios にくじゃが meat-and-potato stew 8　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy 大根煮 simmered daikon 8　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy 煮魚 simmered fish 5　1　1　1　1 water:dark soy:mirin:sake:sugar 炊き込みご飯 takikomi gohan 12　1　0.75　0.5 water:dark soy:sake:mirin 炊き込みご飯２ takikomi gohan 2 12　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin 炊き込みご飯３ takikomi gohan 3 12　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin 麺つゆ noodle dipping sauce? 4　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy ぬるめん lukewarm noodles? dashi 12　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy 天丼tendon dashi 2　1　1　0.5 dashi:mirin:dark soy:sugar 牛丼 beef bowl 10　1　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin:sake 豚生姜焼き pork fried with ginger 1　1　1　 dark soy:mirin:sake さっぱりドレシンッグ refreshing dressing 1　1　0.5 dark soy:vinegar:sesame seed oil おでん oden 15　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin 鳥のからあげ chicken karaage 1　1　1 dashi:mirin:sake:ginger:garlic すましじる clear soup 1　3　160 salt:light soy:water 丼物の地 donburi base? 7　5　3 dashi:dark soy:mirin 醤油ごま和え dish with soy sauce and sesame seeds added 4　2　1 sesame seeds:dark soy:sugar 照り焼き teriyaki 1　1　1 dark soy:mirin:sake いくらの醤油漬け salmon roe marinated in soy sauce 3　1　0.5 dark soy:sake:mirin きんぴら kinpira 1　1 dark soy:mirin 海苔の付け地 nori sauce? 1　1 dark soy:mirin 八方だし 8　versatile dashi 1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin ひじき hijiki seaweed 10　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin 切り干し大根 kiriboshi daikon 10　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin おから okara 10　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin 小松菜の煮浸し simmered komatsuna 10　1　1 dashi:dark soy:mirin レモン醤油ドレシンッグ　lemon-and-soy dressing 1　1　1 dark soy:mirin:lemon 漬け pickling liquid? 1　1　1 dark soy:mirin:sake 里芋煮っこ路がし simmered taro 8　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy 吸い物 soup 1　3　160 salt:light soy:dashi すし飯 sushi rice 1　4　6 salt:sugar:vinegar そばつゆ buckwheat noole dipping sauce 6　1　1 dashi:mirin:dark soy 天つゆ tempura dipping sauce 7　1　1 dashi:mirin:light soy おひたし boiled vegetable dashi 8　1　1　dashi:light soy:mirin 野菜含めdashi 6-15　1　1 dashi:mirin:light soy 吸い物２ soup 2 30　1　0.2 dashi:light soy:salt 雑煮 zoni (soup with mochi) 30　1　0.5 dashi:dark soy:sake 煮魚２ simmered fish 2 3　1　1　3 water:mirin:dark soy:sake 小鰯 small sardines? 4　1　1　2 water:mirin:dark soy:sake:ginger:umeboshi 加減酢 kagen-zu 8　1　1 dashi:light soy:vinegar 二杯酢 ni-bai-zu 1　1 dark soy:vinegar 三杯酢 san-bai-zu 1　1　1 dark soy:mirin:vinegar 甘酢 sweet vinegar 2　1　0.2 vinegar:sugar:salt Translator's note: The last four are used in sunomono (vinegared dishes). Most of John's ratios are quite similar to mine.

I don't bother to peel kabocha before simmering. I know that most recipes say to partially peel kabocha with a knife, but the skin is full of beta-carotene! When I make kabocha potage, I cut kabocha into smaller pieces and put them in the microwave. That way, the skin can be separated by hand very easily. I don't throw away the skin. My family eat it as an okazu (side dish) or a snack.

OK, OK. You should feel grateful for that simple sauce recipe I made myself. Search around, and you will find most other recipes are simply stupid, requiring all sorts of ingredients (canned tomatoes, consomme, etc., etc.) that I don't think are necessary. Now you know the power of soy sauce and mirin combined!

Enoki mushrooms contain a hemolytic substance (a type of protein) and, therefore, should not be eaten raw. When heated, the protein is decomposed and is safe to eat. I emailed the sponsor about this today, and I hope that the error will be corrected soon. i dont know who the sponsor was but i hope they got your mesg! ← Thanks for your concern. I sent an inquiry to a laboratory in Niigata, and they gave me a reply. Then I sent the information to that sponsor. Again, I hope that the error will be corrected soon. Some of the facts that I learned from the laboratory: 1. The name of the toxin in enoki mushrooms is flammutoxin. 2. White button mushrooms should not be eaten raw, either, because they contain agaritine.

You don't know akebi or akebia in English? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akebia It's slightly sweet. When it's ripe, it will crack open by itself. You have the whitish substance (which contains black seeds) inside the shell. I mean, you just put the substance in you mouth, enjoy the somewhat jelly-like substance, and then spit out the seeds.

I thought they were akebi. Images of akebi Were they as heavy as sweet potatoes? If lighter, they may be (or should be) akebi.

Sorry for a late reply. There are just too many of them to mention, and we make it a point to have only those mushrooms that we (well, my son, actually) can identify. Just let me give you one example. We often see poisonous mushrooms of the tengu take family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_pantherina

Today, my son and I went mushroom gathering. Partly because of my son's elaborate plan and partly because of the weather (we had rain the day before yesterday), we were able to gather a lot of mushrooms. Hanaiguchi (Suillus grevillei) Hanaiguchi (same species as the above) A tree stub with an incredible number of naratake (honey mushroom), commonly known as amandare in the Uonuma region of Niigata prefecture We cleaned edible mushrooms and put them in dense salt water to get rid of worms.

Hiroyuki will confirm, but it's very likely 350g total. Japanese recipes often specify a ground mixture of pork and beef (as one ingredient). Plus 700g is a huge amount for a typical Japanese recipe. Enough to feed a family of eight. ← Sanrensho is correct. 350 g in total. Thus, if you choose the beef-to-pork ratio of 7:3 (which is said an ideal ratio for hamburgers in Japan), 245 g beef and 105 pork. I must confess that most hamburgers that I make are 100% pork (or chicken).

Yogurts that are in the fridge right now: Of them, I like the bottom left one the best because it's light and less sweet. The top left one is sour (which I like), and the top right one is rather sweet. The bottom right one is actually what we call "nomu" ("drinking") yogurt. The one shown here is made by Yasuda, which makes a number of high quality (and expensive) yogurt products.

That reminds me of another interesting product from the same company: Souramen. The product feels like somen and tastes like ramen. Just out of curiosity, I bought it once. Verdict: Interesting, but not worth the price.

Not plain ground beef but a mixture of ground beef and pork as I described here. And, yes, simmer in the sauce after cooking both sides of the patties.