Hiroyuki

Is it understood that melon pan usually doesn't contain any melon flesh or juice?

You don't have to learn more . You are absolutely right when you say that. Less pronounced. I described this as "making the mixture milder".

I think I prefer a 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and mirin, which results in an intense flavor. Adding an equal amount of sake gives an additional flavor, making the mixture milder, which I usually use for a sauce for hamburgers and chicken "kuwayaki" (see upthread).

← I agree with Jason, but quite surprisingly, I found one site that suggests either soy sauce only or soy sauce and sugar from here (Tameshite Gatten, a famous NHK TV program) and another one that calls for a 1:1:1:1 mixture of dark soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar and suggests using zarame for sugar. Will I stop cooking when my wife comes home?? Ask my wife!! I think I'll have to continue to cook for another two or three years... or more...

Today, my children gathered some strawberries from our small vegetable garden. SMG boxes The four white bags that you can see at the upper left corner of the photo each contain one satsuma imo (sweet potato) seedling. Planter boxes They also gathered some shiso leaves and lettuce leaves, as I mentioned elsewhere.

My children gathered some shiso (perilla) leaves, strawberries, and lettuce leaves from our small vegetable garden. The lettuce leaves were slightly worm-eaten and were not very appetizing. I boiled them for 2-3 min., cut them, and dressed them with a 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and mirin-like seasoning (30 ml, i.e., 2 tablesoons each) and 4 tablespoons ground white sesame seeds. Both my children liked it! The reason why I used mirin-like seasoning is that it does not contain alcohol and need not require "nikiri" (alcohol removal by boiling). I also made tsukune hamburgers. The dipping sauce is a 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and mirin (30 ml each). We wrapped them in shiso leaves before eating. My daughter said they were "oishii!" (yummy!).

I use both teaspoon and tablespoon. 1 teaspoon = 5 ml 1 tablespoon = 15 ml Thus, 30 ml = 2 tablespoons

Thanks for all the kind words. I think my wife can leave hospital in one or two weeks.

A Japanese dipping sauce is simple: Just make a 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and mirin for an intense flavor and a 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake for a milder one. You can also add some dashi and/or citrus juice.

Cream cheese in sushi rolls sounds good! I've never had such Western-influenced rolls before. I want to try that combination!

I like natto, but I hate natto rolls.

I made simmered kiriboshi daikon for supper today. I used the dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio of 10:1:1, according to the cookbook I mentioned upthread. The resulting dish turned out to be rather sweet for my taste. I think I have to adjust the amount of mirin.

Thanks! But it's all about the presentation. It doesn't look very yummy when presented in the oval plate in the photo, does it?: Anyway, here is the recipe: 30 ml mirin 30 ml sake 30 ml soy sauce (1:1:1 ratio) 1 knob ginger Combine them together. 300 g thinly sliced pork Pan-fry pork with some salad oil until almost done. Add the mixture and continue to cook for 1-2 min. Done! Very simple yet yummy! Edited to add: Grate ginger and squeeze to get juice, of course.

Correction: 45 ml each for two cans. You can adjust the amount in the range of 30 to 60 ml to suit your taste.

I made "buta niku no shoga yaki" (pork fried with ginger juice), with a 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake for today's supper. I also stir-fried onion slices as a garnish.

Thanks, Priscilla! I ordered the book and it arrived today! It's going to be one of my favorite cookbooks. I think I'll try some of the recipes in it and post photos here.

I don't think that warabi mochi tastes like warabi, that is, young shoots of warabi. Warabi powder is starch made from warabi roots. melonpan: I am now quite indifferent and tolerant to what they say about natto and whale meat.

Sake lees are used in some recipes, regular yeast in some, and 'natural yeast' in others. sanrensho, I feel that one of the easiest way to get around your difficulty is to get one of those bread baking machines and follow the instructions. I had no idea that shokupan making is so difficult... It's 食パン, literally "eating bread", that is, bread meant to be eaten as part of a meal, as opposed to kashi pan (菓子パン), such as melon pan, anpan, and cream pan.

As for 1) and 2), I think you are right. You can find photos of them here. Top left: Fukujin zuke Top right: Rakkyo I think Helen has already posted a recipe for fukujin zuke somewhere in the Japan forum. As for a rakkyo recipe, why not PM her to get her recipe? Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by raison pickle.

No recipe to share. sanrensho, I don't understand. I assume you can read Japanese, so why not just google and get some recipes that sound good?

Thanks for your reply, BarbaraY. I knew you would respond because you were the one who responded to this post of mine in the nimono thread. It should be noted that these and other ratios are applicable to not only home dishes but also restaurant dishes. It's no exaggeration to say that the Japanese are addicted to soy sauce-based flavors, especially soy sauce and mirin-based flavors, which really appeal to the palate of the Japanese! Most ofukuro no aji (mother's flavor) dishes are seasoned with soy sauce and mirin. I myself find these and other ratios very useful, and that's why I started this thread in the first place. Now I don't have to refer to cookery books again and again, and I feel very confident in seasoning Japanese dishes. I can tell what a dish will taste like before I actually taste it, and I can fine-tune the ratios to suit my taste very easily when I want to. I'm sure that these and other ratios will be very useful to those who wish to learn Japanese cuisine but are not very sure what Japanese dishes should taste like because of limited exposure to the cuisine.

The Japanese on the package was ambiguous, so I had to google for confirmation. Basically, it's warabi mochi, but unlike regular warabi mochi, it contains konnyaku powder. It's made from sugar, starch, konnyaku powder, and warabi powder. Simply eat it with the supplied kinako (roasted soybean powder). What a disgusting remark about warabi mochi and kinako!

For those of you who can read Japanese, here are links to some nice webpages on this subject: Kikkoman's webpage on recipes using a soy sauce and mirin ratio of 1:1. Aji no ogonhi (Golden ratio for seasoning), which discusses that the golden ratio for seasoning is a soy sauce and mirin ratio of 1:1. Aji no tane akashi (Revealing the tricks for seasoning), which describes happo (versatile) dashi (8:1:1 mixture of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin) and more. Here is a book devoted to this subject: Wariai de oboeru wa no kihon, written by Yoshihiro Murata.

As many of you here already know, Japanese cuisine very often employs seemingly monotonous combinations of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin (and sake and sugar). I'd like to summarize the ratios that I actually used to make Japanese dishes here. Niku jaga (right) Dashi:soy sauce:mirin = 8:1:1 The other day, I wanted to have something light for supper, but I knew that my children wouldn't care for niku jaga, so I decided to make both niku jaga and curry. I simmered carrots, onions, potatoes, and pork for 10 minutes, and transferred one half to another pot to make both of them at the same time. Simmered daikon (right) Same as above (8:1:1) An 8:1:1 mixture of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin is called happou (versatile) dashi because it can be used for variety of dishes. I checked various recipes for happou dashi, and found it must be made with light (not dark) soy sauce. I'm a Kanto man, so I will stick to dark soy sauce. Nizakana (left) Water (not dashi):soy sauce:mirin:sake:sugar = 5:1:1:1:0.5 One recipe calls for the 5:1:1:1:1 ratio, but I wanted to make mine less sweet, so I settled on 0.5 instead of 1. Later I found another recipe that does not call for sugar, thus the 5:1:1:1 ratio. Takikomi gohan (lower left) Water (not dashi):soy sauce:sake:mirin = 12:1:0.75:0.5 One recipe calls for a dashi (not water), soy sauce, and mirin ratio of 12:1:1, and another recipe calls for 14:1:1, but I prefer the ratio above (without dashi and with sake). Dipping sauce for noodles Dashi:soy sauce:mirin = 4:1:1 I also use this ratio to make dipping sauce for tempura. Soup for hot noodles Dashi:soy sauce:mirin = 12:1:1 My special furikake Soy sauce:mirin = 1:1 45 ml each per mackerel can. Tendon sauce Dashi:soy sauce:mirin:sugar = 2:1:1:0.5 Tendon sauce should be sweet. Gyudon Dashi:soy sauce:mirin:sake = 10-12:1:1:1 May gyudon recipe can be found here. Japanese sauce for hamburgers Soy sauce:mirin:sake = 1:1:1 Chicken and negi "kuwa yaki" (chicken coated with wheat flour and pan-fried) Same as above. Made some corrections.

Hi, Chufi, it's skin (and fat). Whale skin is now such an expensive delicacy (600 yen or higher per 100 g). It is used in whale soup (kujira jiru in Japanese), a specialty of Niigata prefecture. 40 years ago, when I was small, whale meat was the cheapest of all meats...