Hiroyuki

Hm.............. I can only say that some of the paintings are nihonga and the others are suisaiga. Nihonga = 日本画 (Japanese painting) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonga Suisaiga = 水彩画 (water-color painting)

Some people suggests using an ice cube tray to store dashi in a freezer. As for instant dashi, like Kristin said, simply add an appropriate amount of it according to the amount of water. Thus, for 200 ml, add 1/3 teaspoon of instant dashi for 300 ml, add 1/2 teaspoon, and so on.

I can't make tamagoyaki in two minutes. I made it this morning, and it took me about 4-5 minutes. 4 large eggs + 50 ml dashi (instant dashi + soy sauce, no sugar for me). If you want to make tamagoyaki in two minutes, maybe you should consider buying a special gadget like this one. According to the TV show, Tameshite Gatten, many professionals employ this ratio: 3 medium eggs + 80 ml dashi I have tried this ratio twice so far, and the tamagoyaki fell apart each time, like OnigiriFB mentioned. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2006q3/20060823.html (Japanese only) ETA: I don't like using a makisu I like to wrap the tamagoyaki in a paper twol and heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to make sure that it sets completely, which is important especially when you put it into a bento box.

Hi, mesona. I'm not sure what your boiled eggs look like, but have you checked out this post of mine? Are my eggs similar to yours?

As someone has already mentioned, the official website of Ryugin is rather difficult to navigate. Here's some information about the restaurant: (Copied from the NEWS page of the site) First, baby ayu From Lake Biwa have started to come in. At Ryugin, we offer baby ayu for only one month, until natural ayu become available, starting on June 1. "Kara age"ed alive... We have released the new creation, the watermelon and red tade sauce.

Hiroyuki, what do you make of these clams - do they look the same as the hokkigai you have? I have never seen a Japanese word on the labels at my fish market - obviously the seller is assuming the buyers know the word. Do your surf clams come from the Sea of Japan or the Pacific, or both? ← I'm no expert on clams. I did some google search and found that the Canadian variety is more reddish than the one in Japan. http://www.zukan-bouz.com/nimaigai/heterod...gai/ubagai.html (Japanese only. You can at least look at the photos.) I'm not sure if hokkigai can be gathered from the Sea of Japan. Hokkaido is famous for its hokkigai. As you can easily imagine, domestic, high-quality ones go to sushi shops while cheap imported ones go to conveyor sushi restaurants. Besides being used as sushi toppings, they are fried with butter (butter-yaki); cooked with rice (takikomi gohan); and put in curry.

I was amused by the fact that the label indicates the Japanese name, hokkigai, as well as the English name.

The sake is junmai daiginjo made by Miyoshi Kiku Shuzo, located in Tokushima. Website: http://www.macserver.if.tv/cgi/miyoshikiku...les/wordpress1/ Japanese only. The rice variety used is Yamada Nishiki (thought to be the best rice for making sake). Milling ratio: 50% Nihonshu degree(?): +5 Alcohol content: 17 Acidity: 1.5

Thanks. I knew how the episode goes from the official website, but I wanted to know how the miso was actually made. In yesterday's episode (#6), Yocchan makes hamburgers for staff meals: http://www.ntv.co.jp/osen/masterpiece/ Hamburger sauce is: 3 tbsp soy sauce 3 tbsp mirin (golden ratio of 1:1!) 1/2 lemon (Combine them and bring to a boil.) Inspired by this, I made chicken breast tsukune (Japanese version of hamburger) for supper tonight. My son said it was good!

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, the links on the linked page do not work for me. I found this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvuZjqPKdpY&feature=related

I asked the chef's wife if I could provide a link to the blog entry that shows photos of the tuna, and she said yes. So, here it is. Great toro. The last photo shows Uono River, which runs near the sushi shop. The shop offers maguro o-toro nigiri for 630 yen per piece. She says they can hardly make any profit at that price. This is true of most traditional sushi shops. Jiro Ono, who runs a three-star sushi shop in Tokyo, says in Yorimiuri Shimbun that his shop offers o-toro nigiri for 3,000 yen per piece. You may think he rips you off, but the fact is, he loses money for every piece he sells.

With advances in freezing technology, frozen fish is now as good as fresh fish. Among the factors critical to the quality of sushi ("sushi" meaning vinegared rice + topping) are the temperature of the rice and the proper handling of the topping. The rice must be at hitohada (human skin temperature) and the topping must be at lower temperature (but must not be at too low a temperature to savor the flavor). This difference in temperature gives you a pleasant sensation when you put the sushi in your mouth. In most kaiten zushi (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurant in Japan, they use frozen fish, but what is bad about kaiten zushi is that the plates with sushi on them can go round and round for hours*. By the time you pick one plate and eat the sushi, both the rice and the topping may have reached room temperature (and may have dried on the surface). * Some kaiten zushi restaurants have a sophisticated system whereby each plate is automatically removed from the conveyor belt in 30 minutes. In traditional sushi shops like the one I frequent, they usually use fresh fish, and handle each fillet with great care. Great care goes to the rice, too. In this particular shop linked to above, the chef wraps each fillet in plastic wrap and slices it only after he receives an order. (I haven't seen fillets stored this way anywhere else. And, in many traditional sushi shops, they pre-slice fillets to save time.) He doesn't put tuna in the display case, where the light can deteriorate and discolor the tuna. (As for salmon, he buys fresh ones and puts them in the freezer to kill any parasites that may be in them.)

Thanks, DG. Hotaru ika tastes like any other squid, but it's very tender.

I have checked most of the udon houses in Takamatsu (those in the circle) on the webpage linked to by Helen http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/maptakamatu.html I think none of them is closed on Saturdays (except Chikusei, of course) and numbers 21 and 65, which have been closed. Some comments: THE Don does not specialize in curry udon. They specialize in donburi. They also offer sweets http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/shop/don/index.html Mori Seimenjo (#61) looks good. Look at the height of the kakiage! It's only 100 yen (at the time this webpage was created). http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/shop/moriseimen/index.html Ichiban ya (#45) offers a variety of tempura. http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/shop/itibanya/index.html Anyway, every udon house is good in its own way. And, Matsushita (#17) looks good, too. http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/shop/matusita/index.html The webpage says they serve the best hoso men (thin noodles).

Dang! I missed that part! No Chikusei for me. I found Sanuki Ikegami on Google Maps (it's not letting me save the address on the Udon Google Map, I'll try again later) http://www.e-sanuki.com/udon/shop/ikegami/index.html The address is 高松市香川町川東下字高須899-1 That is a very long way out (and about 3.5 kms from the nearest station), not something I can afford to do on this occasion. Perhaps another time. ------ Waraya http://www.shikokumura.or.jp/intro/intro_08.html#waraya It seems to be situated inside a park. Do I have to pay admission for this park on top of the price of the udon? ← What a beautiful park! I browsed through the pages, they do not explicitly say so, but I guess so because the restaurant is in the park. You have to pay admission (at least 800 yen per adult). Edited to add this link: http://s-udon.web.infoseek.co.jp/tikusei.htm Chikusei is open on national holidays.

This Monday, I learned from the chef's wife's blog that they would offer a complimentary item, either one piece of chicken kara age or black sesame seed ice cream, to anyone who ordered lunch this week (May 19 to 23) to celebrate the second year of serving lunch, and I thought I had to go there for lunch some day this week. Another big factor was that an unexpected number of small-size bluefin tuna had recently been caught off Sado Island on consecutive days. I also learned from her blog that they had purchased one of those tuna. According to the May 17 issue of Yomiuri Shimbun, good, fattier, large-size (> 30 kg) tuna were sent directly to Tokyo, while smaller ones were sold locally. The price was > 2000 yen per kilogram. I looked at the show case, as I always do, and found this: Kawahagi (filefish) liver. They say that kawahagi liver tastes better than ankimo (monkfish liver). I must have it some day! Hotaru ika (firefry squids): The chef said they were getting out of season. He said he would stop (buying) them any time soon. I ordered maguro sanmi don: 1,380 yen. Three types of maguro (tuna) in a single bowl: Negi toro, zuke (marinated tuna), and toro. As I said in my first post here, it comes with a bowl of miso soup, chawan mushi (egg custard), salad, and a cup of coffee. Plus, complimentary black sesame seed ice cream today. Compare the toro with the one in the same donburi I had previously: I also ordered two sakura masu (cherry salmon) nigiri and two kohada (gizzard shad) nigiri The chef said that sakura masu was also getting out of season. I feel so sad about this.

Sorry for a late response. I think Chikusei is a good choice. (I found that the udon ya I had in mind were not in Takamatsu city. ) Have you decipher the basic information about Chikusei? It opens from 11:00 to 14:30, and it closes on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays. As someone has already mentioned, it's very famous for its tempura, especially soft-boiled egg tempura. Some blogger says it serves the best sanuki udon in Takamatsu, while another says that their tempura is great but the udon is just so-so. (Well, every review is personal and subjective.) Chukusei mostly specializes in kake (normal, light, hot broth), not bukkake, tsuke, or shoyu. Let me introduce Ikegami Seimenjo, run by a now very famous lady, Rumi Baachan. http://www.sanuki-ikegami.co.jp/ It's in Takamatsu city, but you have to take a taxi to go there. This particular seimenjo (noodle manufacuturer) has become very famous since that TV show, "Docchi no Ryori Show," introduced it. One type of udon house I'd like to visit some day.

I've watched all the episodes of this drama, except the second, which I missed. It's been fascinating, all the beautiful dishes, the setting (old, wooden house, etc.), and all the fabulous kimonos that Osen-san wears. Again, highly recommended! Don't miss it! ← I can only watch TV for two of the evenings I will be in Japan (29 & 30 May - also 28th, bit only after 11pm) Thursday and Friday What day of the week and time is this show on? (And which channel?) I have been learning to wear kimono - combining ryori and kitsuke seems like an irresistible combination to me. ← Unfortunately, every Tuesday, 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. on Nittere (NTV), that is, channel 4 in Tokyo.

Gokurou sama deshita (Thank you for your great work)!

So, have you decided which restaurant and which type of sanuki udon to try, MoGa? If you could provide such info, as well as other preferences (how far from the station, seimenjo (noodle manufacturer) vs. high-end restaurant, etc.), I think I can provide you with some additional information. Anyway, have a nice trip to Japan!

I looked at the linked photos, and I found they were bracken fern fronds, not ostrich fern fiddleheads. A lot of edible wild plants are eaten in Japan. For more info, click here.

Isn't it possible that in some restaurants in the Unites States (and other countries), raw fish is handled in an improper way? Raw fish sliced one minute ago is different from that sliced one hour ago.

I've watched all the episodes of this drama, except the second, which I missed. It's been fascinating, all the beautiful dishes, the setting (old, wooden house, etc.), and all the fabulous kimonos that Osen-san wears. Again, highly recommended! Don't miss it!

I assumed from your first post here that the kitchen was equipped with basic condiments. Do they include soy sauce, sugar, and miso, etc.? Soy sauce is essential to Japanese cooking. Mirin is not. Simply replace it with sugar and sake (1:1). Vinegar is preferred (if you want to make sunomono (vinegared dishes), so is miso. You can't make miso soup without miso! From my experience, any instant dashi sold in Japan is OK. You may think Hon Dashi is the best, but it does contain MSG, just like any other. How about a tube of wasabi, just in case you are lucky enough to get some fresh local fish from kind local people?

Whale meat: As I said elsewhere, back in 1960s, when I was small, whale meat was the cheapest source of animal protein in Japan. It is now one of the most expensive. The reason? I can't talk about it without violating the eGullet guidelines!