Hiroyuki

200 g sugar! Your "mix" must be very sweet! Do post a photo of your tamagoyaki or something! Question: No kombu in your recipe? I know you were in Osaka before living in Kanto, and no kombu? I hear that kombu is huge in Kansai.

Personally, I like to make it with firm momen dofu (= tofu). Check out the China... Forum, and you will find a thread on mapo tofu, where some say they like to use soft tofu. So, that's really depends on your preferences. I used to use a premade mix (Marumiya's) for decades, but now I prefer to make it from scratch. Again, check out the China... Forum, you will find a nice thread on making mapo tofu.

Sorry, Helen, the kiwanos were from the United States, not from your native country. One of my regrests there is that I spent most of my time in the fish section, and I was unable to sample all of the fruits in the "Fruits in the World" section. (Probably they were not very generous in offering free samples because of the prices of these fruits.) I managed to sample two or three, but I found none of them very appetizing.

Unfortunately, this is an annual festival, and is only the fourth this year, according to the flyer. I'm not sure if you can shop there any day of the week. My city is quite small, with a population of about 62,000, and that reflects the size of the wholesale market. No one has mentioned the absence of meat in the wholesale market. No meat there! (I'm sure there are some meat wholesalers somewhere in the city.)

The sushi shop buys fish and other seafood from two sources. One is the local wholesale market, where a festival was held on November 11 this year, as I reported here, and the other one is Kisaburo Shoten (Japanese only), a family-run fishmonger located in Sado Island. Now I want to have more fish and seafood caught in the Sea of Japan, especially those caught off Sado Island! The time is right! The winter is just around the corner!

Thanks everyone for their comments. Domestic Goddess: It took me hours to select and post all the photos, but my report is nothing to compare with your recent one on the rice festival.

First the apologies: I don't know why, but most of the tuna photos came out rather blurry. Posted here are better ones than others. The 80-kg bluefin tuna being cut by the master: The bigger one, 100-kg. Even the five professionals had difficulty placing it on the cutting board. The master used three knives to cut it: the long one that looks like a Japanese sword, the smaller one, and the serrated one used to cut off the fin. He showed a back side cut. The back side also had some fat in it. They gave the spectators all the nakaochi (flesh on the backbone). They were very generous! And the nakaochi was super tasty. (Sorry, not a good photo) The belly side: O-toro!!: I wanted to buy some tuna, but the long line of people was quite daunting, so no tuna for me. Crabmeat soup, 100 yen per bowl if I remember correctly: This is all that I bought at the festival: Top: Amaebi, 500 yen per bag (very inexpensive!) Bottom left: Nigiri, 500 yen per pack. I bought two of them. Center: Chirahi, also 500 yen per pack. Right: Cod roe, 1000 yen. Looks very delicious. I've never bought such big ones.

Before the maguro kaitai show, anko tsurushi giri (hanging and cutting) show was held at 9:10. Anko (monkifish) hanging on a bar: One thing you must be aware of is that anko is highly valued in Japan. Belly side: Anko soup, 500 yen a bowl: 200 servings only. I just had to have one. More anko flesh than I imagined! The show began. He was like a comedian, entertaining the spectators as he proceeded. Skin: Towards the end The final cut Needless to say, none of it will be discarded. Clam and sanma (saury) tsukamidori for 300 yen each What they grabbed once with their hands was what they got. Bananas and pineapples They were very generous, providing huge amounts of free samples. Some more to come.

One of the major events on the site that I wanted to see: Maguro kaitai (= dissection) show 80-kg bluefin tuna lying on the long two cooking boards. The box on the floor contains a bigger one, weighing 100 kg. I had to wait until the show began at 9:30. I went to the fruit and vegetables section of the building. Nameko mushroom. In Japan, almost everyone likes nameko. Cauliflower and nozawana (often pickled) Daikon (sorry, blurry) Other vegetables Posters on the wall Fruits in the world. What are they? Here they are: Durian: Shinko nashi (pear) I sampled all of the four or five varieties of apple: I liked the Sun Jona Gold (the leftmost one) the best. It was sweet and a little tart. I also sampled all of the four or five varieties of mikan. I forgot which one I liked the best. Probably the Arita mikan. Flowers and other plants I returned to the fish section. Boards showing different species of tai (left) and ebi (shrimp and prawn): Salmon and trout: Maguro and katsuo (bonito): Still more to come.

While talking with the chef of this sushi shop, I told him that I wanted to visit the wholesale market that he goes to every business day to get fish and other seafood for use in his shop. He informed me that a festival would be held there on November 11. What a good opportunity to visit the wholesale market! So, here is a report. The festival was held from nine in the morning until noon. I arrived there around 8:30. People were still making preparations, and there were few visitors yet. The main building of the market: Stalls in front of the main building: Kombu, herring roe, cod roe, migaki nishin (gutted, beheaded, and dried herring), among others Salmon, shirasu (baby sardines), sujiko (salmon roe still in the sac), ikura, among others At the entrance, they sold taiyaki, anbo, sasa dango, and other sweets. Inside the main building, they sold: Trimmings of tai(?) (sea breams) and buri(?) (adult yellowtails) Boiled octopuses Kamasu (barracudas) Meji maguro (young bluefin tuna) (left), buri (adult yellowtail) (right) Inada (young yellowtail) Kama (collars) of hon maguro (bluefin tuna) Left: Ayu (sweet fish) with roe in them Middle: Ma aji (Japanese jack mackerel) Middle bottom: Seashell (what is it?) Right: Shirako (sperm sacs) of madara (Pacific cod) Left: Kinpachi (English name?) Right: Inada (young yellowtails) Left: Madara (Pacific cod), very expensive, 5,000 yen! Right: Cod Fresh salmon Left: Fresh cod roe Right: Madara hiraki boshi (Pacific cod opened and dried) Sorry, not a good photo. Left: Ama ebi (sweet shrimp) Right: Aranami (what does it mean?) Zuwai gani (queen crab, snow crab) More photos to come!

Peter Green, taisho does have a number of meanings. Captain is just one of them. As a native Japanese, when I hear the word taisho, I first associate it with the leader of a group of boys. Unfortunately, such taisho are now disappearing. prasantrin, don't worry. A native female Japanese never calls her husband Goshujin. When talking to someone else, she refers to him as (watashino = my) shujin (without go-), danna, etc., etc. Go- is a suffix as in go-han (rice).

I would be offended if I were a sushi chef and someone called me "Otosan". I call the chef "Goshujin" and the chef's wife "Okamisan". I will never call him "Taisho". ← I'll let her know. Or maybe it's a Kansai thing? What does "Taisho" mean? I normally just say, "Sumimasen" because I don't know what else to say, and I figure "Sumimasen" is pretty safe! ← I had this stupid video in mind when I wrote it. "Taisho" means general, boss, and so on. Warning: Don't believe anything in that stupid video, which is linked to a number of times here on eGullet!! Kuitan calls the chef "Oyakata" (親方) in this episode. I call this particular chef "Goshujin" because his sushi shop is family-run, and his wife is always there. His mother joins them at dinnertime.

I would be offended if I were a sushi chef and someone called me "Otosan". I call the chef "Goshujin" and the chef's wife "Okamisan". I will never call him "Taisho".

Was the kohada suzuke? or are there other ways of preparing it for sushi neta? Admittedly, all the kohada I've had have typically been too sour from the overuse of vinegar ← According to the chef, salt is sprinkled on kohada first, and then the salt is washed away with a special vinegar, and finally the kohada is soaked in a regular vinegar. I don't know what those special and regular vinegars, though. I don't know of any other way of preparing it.

I remembered to ask the chef today, and the chef and the okamisan (chef's wife) replied. To summarize, that really depends on the fish. For example, as for tai (sea bream), smaller ones are better. As for ara, for example, big ones are better and more expensive. If you know any interesting stories about smaller fish, post them here.

John, you remind me of something I have forgotten for decades: Roasting nori! We used to do that when I was small, but not any longer. Pre-roasted nori is so prevalent these days. I know how to roast nori, but I can't say I'm particularly good at it. High-quality nori is a must, of course. Black and thick. Green and thin ones are no good. Place a clean fish grill free from odor, which you can get at a 100-yen shop, on the burner. Set the heat low. Start roasting a sheet of nori, first at a distance, say 20 to 30 cm above the grill, holding two diagonal corners of the sheet with your both hands, constantly flipping it upside down. When it's dried enough, bring it near the grill, holding one corner of the sheet with one hand, again constantly flipping it upside down. Keep roasting until the black nori turns nice and green entirely. Some people roast two sheets of nori at a time. Maybe you should ask someone around you, they will be willing to tell you how.

I went there for lunch today. I asked the chef what the white fish was today. He replied, "Ainame". This is the 1,050 yen nigiri zushi lunch set, the same one as that my son had the other day. As I said, this included salad, miso soup (with nanban ebi heads often used for dashi), chawan mushi, and a coffee. I asked the chef to make these: Left to right: Nodoguro: 300 yen Hiramasa: 250 yen Mebaru: 200 yen Shime saba: 150 yen I'll add more comments later and answer questions later. I have to finish my job first. Edited to add: Ainame: Greenling, Hexagrammos otakii Nodoguro (aka akamutsu): Black throat, Doederleinia berycoides Nodoguro is often referred to as "shiromi zakana no toro" (fatty white fish). I didn't find the nodoguro shown in the photo as fatty as fatty tuna. The hiramasa was much fattier than the nodoguro. The chef said the hiramasa slice was near the belly (harami). Hiramasa: Flat amberjack, gold-striped amberjack Mebaru: Rock fish Shime saba: Vinegar-pickled mackerel. Edited again to include price information.

I'm glad I don't have to face that at the end of a long day. I want to make some of these recipes for my family when I go home for christmas, but you made me realize that it might be difficult to get the right cut of meat. Thanks! I'll look for it at the supermarket. I wouldn't feel so bad about spending that much on mirin - I bought a bottle of marsala last week for the same price, and I'm sure I use that much less often. Chicken nikkujyaga sounds delicious, is the meat thinly sliced as well, or do they use cubes? ← I have never made or had chicken nikujaga, but as long as I look at these photos, I think the latter is true. Besides, thinly sliced chicken doesn't sound very appetizing, does it?

Forgot to mention: Ask people in Aichi prefecture in Central Japan what meat they use to make nikujaga, and some (many?) of them will answer, "Chicken". As you may know, Nagoya, the capital of Aichi prefecture, is famous for the chicken variety called Nagoya Kochin.

My mom makes beef nikujaga, but in her defense, her family is from Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kagoshima. I didn't know it could be made from pork until I started reading Japanese cookbooks. Speaking of home cooking... Hiroyuki, I made your foolproof takikomi gohan recipe tonight, and it's very good. I used white buna shimeji mushrooms instead of oyster mushroom. 3 of my 4 kids cleaned their bowls entirely. ← Thanks! The beauty of my recipe is that you can keep the mushroom fragrant and firm by not cooking the mushroom in the rice cooker. My recipe is based on this one, if you are interested and can read Japanese, which uses four different mushrooms, maitake, buna shimeji, fresh shiitake, and enoki. As for me, I don't like to use that many types of mushroom in takikomi gohan. I'd rather use enoki in miso soup together with tofu, and pan-fry buna shimeji and fresh shiitake or heat them in a toaster oven.

Don't worry. If I ever buy it, I think I'll drink most of it as an aperitif and try only a small amout of it in cooking.

So, everyone likes beef nikujaga? Don't tell Kanto people about this, or you will get a or look. nakji, I can't recommend a good brand, but Takara produces a wide selection of mirin and mirin-like products, like this one: http://www.takarashuzo.co.jp/cooking/honmirin/index.html What I really want to try is this 10-year mirin: http://www.hakusenshuzou.jp/can/kokomirin.html 500 ml, 2,000 yen (tax included) Looks very good, doesn't it?

Hi, milgwimper, have you found a nice sushi restaurant in your area? The kohada had a right level of saltiness and sourness, and you might call it fishy. Kohada is considered an essential neta (topping) for edomae zushi (edo style sushi). Kohada (gizzard shad) are relatively cheap, but they are almost inedible whether grilled or simmered because of their numerous fine bones. Sushi chefs turn them into tasty neta (toppings) with their utmost skills. In fact, you can tell a lot about a sushi chef by looking at his kohada. The kijihata (white-fleshed fish) was tender and had a subtle flavor. It's not fatty. It's assari (opposite of fatty)! When fresh, kijihata is rather tough and is good as sashimi but not as sushi neta. I'm not sure if you can have kijihata nigiri in a traditional sushi shop in Tokyo.

My fifth visit to the sushi shop (four visits at lunchtime and one at dinnertime so far). One of the features of this family-run traditional sushi shop is that they employ a "meiro kaikei" 明朗会計 (roughly, clear accounting or payment) system, not a "jika" 時価 (current price, market price) system: In other words, the price of each type of nigiri is clearly indicated on the board. And, that means you don't have to worry too much about the cost of your meal. A poster on the wall: The sushi shop is located near Urasa Station on Joetsu Line and Joetsu Shinkansen, and is also near the International University of Japan. This poster may be useful to non-Japanese customers. But, okamisan (chef's wife) has created an English menu, full of photos. I first ordered chirashi (shown upthread). The chef usually doesn't accept nigiri requests at lunchtime, but I asked him to make some nirigi. I have developed quite a liking for shiromi (white fish, white-fleshed fish), thanks to the chef, so I ordered kijihata (red-spotted grouper), as well as kohada (gizzard shad). The green stuff around the kohada nigiri is a strip of ooba or aojiso (green perilla leaf). Gari (pickled ginger) is placed between the kohada and the shari (vinegared rice). The chef says that kohada goes very well with gari. I'm thinking of going there again next week or the week after next. The chef said that kan buri (adult yellowtail caught in winter) would arrive soon! Edited to add some more comments.

As I mentioned here, 90% of mizuame is made from corn starch in Japan. If you want to know more about mizuame, click here. ← I had already read the Wiki article, but it didn't tell me if it was the same as, or interchangeable with, corn syrup, and that's what I really want to know. ← OK, from http://konny.fc2web.com/info/ingredient_e.html