Hiroyuki

Never been to Okinawa, but let me guess. Awamori and cigarettes? ← Okinawan males of 65 years and older still have the highest life expectancy in Japan, but the younger generations, who don't follow their traditional diet, don't.

They eat more pork than other Japanese, and eat the most kombu and tofu. It should be noted that Okinawan females still enjoy the highest logenvity in Japan, but Okinawan males ranked 26th in 2005. Anyway, the key to good health is to eat everything in moderation, meat, fish, vegetables, beans, seasweed, etc. at least in Japan.

The Japanese know the answer from our own experience. In the 30s of Showa (1955 to 1964), we ate more fish than meat. In the 50s of Showa (1975 to 1984), we ate about equal amoutns of fish and meat. And, now, we eat more meat than fish, and we have become less healthy. In Japan, meals in and around 50s of Showa are said to be ideal. Everyone needs all three, meat, fish, and vegetables.

The soup looks good to me. Was the soup hot enough (boiling) when you added the beaten eggs? Was the heat high enough? Otherwise, the soup will get cloudy. Also, did you use a pair of chopsticks to add the beaten eggs? Bring the bowl containing the beaten eggs in contact with the chopsticks so the eggs runs down the chopsticks and into the soup. And, you also have to move the bowl and the chopsticks in a circle while adding the beaten eggs.

I like to use the marinade liquid (1:1:1 mixture of mirin, soy sauce, and sake) as a dipping sauce. Just put the liquid in a pan and bring to a boil. I also like to use yuzu kosho sometimes. Today, I bought a whole mackerel and a whole young yellowtail for 198 yen each. The former is for miso ni (simmered in miso) and the latter for sashimi. My Global santoku is no good for making sashimi. I really need a good deba. Edited to add: I stopped using the double deep-frying technique long ago. Simply deep-frying for 4 minutes or so.

As I mentioned here, Cocoichibanya, or Cocoichi for short, uses just normal curry roux and one of their secrets is to freeze the curry for one week before sending to each of their restaurants. I haven't eaten at Go Go Curry or Cocoichi. When I was young and lived in Tokyo, Curry no Osama was the only big chain in Tokyo. I had a lot of curry rice, 170 yen then, at the university cafeteria, especially when I was low on money and/or wanted to have a quick meal. In any restaurant, curry rice is one of the fastest items on the menu, which may be one reason why busy businesspeople opt for katsu curry at Katsuhama for lunch. This is a thread on Katsuhama, but unfortunately, they don't provide any information about their curry on their website.

raji says it all. It will grow on you. About fourty years ago, my mother still used S&B curry powder and wheat flour to make curry, but since then, curry roux has become so popular that gloppy curry full of lard has become standard Japanese curry. The concept behind Japanese curry roux was to enable housewives to make curry as easily as they would make miso soup. Also, as raji says, the curry doesn't ruin the crust of the katsu. On the contrary, what you get is a symphony of textures and flavors, which is more apparent when you have katsu-don: crunchy katsu, soft onions, partially runny eggs, and fluffy hot rice. Besides, people want variations in texture. For example, you make tonkatsu one night and you make katsu-don the next night, with leftover tonkatsu. The same goes for tempura. That being said, I must say that I'm not much of a fan of katsu curry. Just too much lard and oil.

Thanks. Your dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio is 400:150 (= 4 + (3 x 2) x 15):105, or 3.8:1.4:1, approximately 4:1.5:1. I can imagine what it tastes like. Similar to my 4:1:1 tentsuyu (dipping sauce for tempura) but a little sweeter.

Hi, yunnermeier, it's good to see you again in the Japan Forum! But, you became nostalgic and made oyako-don, not sushi, sashimi, or sukiyaki? Your oyako-don looks much soupier than mine and those of two other members here. Could you provide some basic data, especially the dashi/mirin (sugar)/soy source ratio? It's good to see beni shoga on the gyu-don!

I made katsu-don for lunch today!! I never thought about making it until I found from today's flyers that tonkatsu (breaded port cutlet) was on sale at a local supermarket, 155 yen per piece. I decided to buy some and make katsu-don for supper. But, rather than waiting for my children to come home and asking if they wanted to have it as katsu-don, I decided to make katsu-don for lunch for myself first. Tonkatsu, other ingredients, and utensils: I decided to try the 7:5:3 ratio for my katsu-don. Thus, 45 ml dashi 30 ml mirin 20 ml soy sauce I decided to use green peas for a topping. 1. Combine the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce in the oyako nabe, bring to a boil, add the onion in the oyako nabe, and simmer for 3 min. (I put the lid on.) The aroma filled the kitchen! 2. Put some rice in a donburi. 3. Add tonkatsu (previously cut to bite sizes) to the oyako nabe, pour bean eggs, put on the lid, and cook on high heat for 30 seconds. Again, never beat the eggs thoroughly! 4. Transfer the contents of the oyako nabe to the donburi. 5. Top it with some green peas. Incredibly good!! It was gone 3 minutes later. A very satisfying lunch!

Montreal, Quebec, maple , Japanese cooking? Wow, this is going to be a cool blog!

I haven't heard anything about Milky Queen for years! Probably it can never be popular nationwide because it's not yet widely cultivated in Japan. The same goes for Koshiibuki (a relative of Koshihikari), which is an early variety recommended by Niigata prefecture, and is almost as good as and cheaper than Koshihikari. I can get it easily because I live in Niigata, but it seems hard to come by in other areas of Japan. Take a look at the chart here. Koshihikari still has the largest planting area. As for the regulations, I hope Kristin and Jason can provide some useful info.

I'm curious how long it takes to cook rice in a microwave. I ask this question because it takes about 20 minutes to fully turn beta starch in rice into alpha starch. I know of a microwave method, but I haven't tried it.

Considering the fact that sugar is twice as sweet as mirin, the ratio you mentioned translates into a dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio of 9:4.5:3, or 3:1.5.1, which is quite similar to mine. In Japanese cooking, sugar and mirin are often used in combination, the former providing an acute sweetness and the latter providing depth because it contains nine or more types of sugar. As a Kanto man, I really don't think that the use of both light and dark soy sauces is necessary for making a donburi dish. Lastly, the beaten eggs should be partially runny!

The oyako nabe is not necessary but preferred. The beauty of the oyako nabe is that it's so shallow you can transfer the ingredients to a donburi as a whole, without impairing the shape. Sorry for having confused you again. Here's a better version: Oyako-don for 1 serving 60 ml dashi (or water and instant dashi) 20 ml mirin 20 ml soy sauce 100 g chicken thigh, thinly sliced 1/4 onion, thinly sliced 2 eggs Options: Mitsuba, cut to 3-cm lengths Sansho, to be sprinkled by each diner immediately before eating 1. Combine dashi (or water and instant dashi), mirin, and soy sauce in a shallow pan, preferably an oyako nabe, and bring to a boil. 2. Add chicken and onion and simmer for about 3 min. 3. Put rice in a donburi. Set aside. 4. Beat 2 eggs lightly in a bowl. 5. Pour the beaten eggs over the chicken and onion. 6. Put on the lid, cook on high heat for 30 seconds to 1 min. depending on the desired hardness of the eggs. 7. Transfer the whole ingredients to the donburi. 8. Dress with mitsuba. Oyako-don for n servings Simply multiply each ingredients by n. 1. Combine dashi (or water and instant dashi), mirin, and soy sauce in a pot, and bring to a boil. 2. Add chicken and onion and simmer for about 3 min. 3. Put rice in a donburi. Set aside. 4. Beat 2 eggs lightly in a bowl. 5. Transfer 1/n of the chicken, onion, and broth to a shallow pan. 6. Pour the beaten eggs over the chicken and onion. 7. Put on the lid, cook on high heat for 30 seconds to 1 min. depending on the desired hardness of the eggs. 8. Transfer the whole ingredients to the donburi. 9. Dress with mitsuba.

I just watched it! I can't believe I was drooling over rice!! I only wish that had focused more on other local foods as well instead of showing foods from all over Japan to be eaten with the rice... ← Thank you for watching it. And, you are quite right. There are some interesting local foods like kagura nanban... *** On NHK Channel 1, they will feature Rosanjin on October 3, 22:00 to 22:43 p.m., in a TV show called Sono Toki Rekishi ga Ugoita. http://www.nhk.or.jp/sonotoki/sonotoki_yotei.html

First of all, I made some additions in bold to the poorly written description above. Almost all recipes call for dashi, i.e., Japanese bonito and kombu dashi. I did find one recipe that called for chicken broth, though. As for store-bought vs. home-made, I'd say home-made is better, but it's also time-consuming and costly. Store-bought dashi is stronger in flavour because of the SMG it contains, right? That being said, I must admit that I almost always use instant dashi. I'm not sure what you mean by dashi in block form. I use instant dashi in powder form, 1 tsp per 600 ml of water.

OK, here it is: Oyako-don Ingredients for 1 serving: 100 ml broth Combine: 60 ml dashi 20 ml mirin 20 ml soy sauce that is, dashi, mirin, soy sauce ratio of 3:1:1 You my want to try other ratios such as 4:1:1, which is for ten tsuyu (dipping sauce for tempura), and 7:5:3, which results in a sweet broth. 100 g chicken thigh, thinly sliced 1/4 onion, thinly sliced 2 eggs Options: Mitsuba, cut to 3-cm lengths http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptotaenia Sansho Ingredients for 3 servings: Eggs are not shown. Sansho is in the small bottle. You will need a special pan called oyako nabe (16 cm in diameter) and a lid: I got mine from a 100-yen shop (100 yen each). At a restaurant, the pan is used from start to finish for one serving at a time, but I made a short-cut by first cooking the chicken and onion for three servings with the broth in a pot for 3 min. Ingredients for 3 servings, cooked for 3 min.: Put 1/3 of them in the oyako nabe, and add beaten eggs. Caution: DON'T beat the eggs thoroughly. The beaten eggs should look something like this: Put the lid on, and cook on high heat for 30 seconds (or for up to 1 min. depending on the hardness of the eggs you want): Put some hot rice in a donburi, and transfer the whole ingredients on top of the rice. Put some mitsuba on top. My two children both said it was good, and I liked it, too. Edited to add: I found this video showing how to make oyako-don: http://www.manma-miya.jp/recipe/2416/2416.html To view it, click it, scroll down, and click PLAY. Not exactly the same as what I did, but close.

Hahaha well the recipe I followed was according to this blog --> http://cookingismypassion.blogspot.com/200...-katsu-don.html in fact, I dont remember using dashi ← What a recipe! It's more like chicken teriyaki donburi with beaten eggs... And, add sushi vinegar to rice!? Do you want to make oyako don or katsu don (donburi with breaded pork cutlets and beaten eggs)? I will post a photo of my oyako don when I make it. I can't promise when I will do it, though.

YES! There is a general agreement here on eGullet that an IH rice cooker makes better rice. Sorry to hear that. The increase is lower here in Japan, say, 10,000 to 15,000 yen.

I'm not Gabriel, but what is your recipe, especially the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio? As I mentioned elsewhere, the 7:5:3 ratio results in a sweet donburi. I can see from the photo that yours is much less soupy and the beaten eggs are cooked too much.

Sanyo did it again, releasing yet another high-end rice cooker. Manufacturer's recommended price: 130,000 yen. The inner pot is made of copper with a purity of 99.9%. A story (Japanese only) If only I had enough money...

Looks delicious, kbjesq! Takikomi gohan of any kind makes my mouth water. Just one suggestion: Add an oily ingredient like abura age (fried bean curd) or chicken, and the oil will make a thin coating on each grain of the rice, which makes it even more delicious. I, for one, think that abura age is the necessary ingredient of any takikomi gohan, and I think many Japanese will agree.

Supper last night Kinpira with a soy sauce and mirin ratio of 1:1 (40 ml each) Komatsuna no goma ae with a sesame seed, soy sauce, and sugar ratio of 4:2:1 (4 tbsp sesame seed, 2 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 1/2 sugar) (I wanted to buy spinach, but it was 198 yen a pack, so I bough komatsuna instead, which was 98 yen.) Chicken thigh teriyaki with a soy sauce, mirin, and sake ratio of 1:1:1 (40 ml each) I bought nama (raw and unseasoned) ikura for my daughter, who is the only one in my family who cares for ikura. I didn't know that nama ikura was not seasoned . When my daughter tasted one, she said, "Mazui" (not tasty). So, I had to season it . I googled and found a number of ratios for "ikura no shoyu zuke", and decided to use a soy sauce, sake, and mirin ratio of 3:1:0.5. My daughter tasted it this morning, and said it was delicious.

Bread is not the only food item that is canned. Oden in a can (oden kan) is very famous. Since the success of oden kan, other items have also been canned, such as ramen, niku-jaga, and chikuzen-ni. A related story (Japanese only)