Hiroyuki

Good topic!!! I've often wondered why some Westerners are so intolerant to some Japanese foods like fish sausage. helenjp explains her aversion to fish sausage here and torakris agrees with her views. That's really mysterious to me.

Mass media often play things up, but in this particular show, they made up ficticious data, and I think it's very absurd. ← Here is what I heard in California about it: Last week a TV show created an instant rush on natto when it broadcast a report that said that, based on hard data from the U.S., eating natto twice a day would lead to losing 2-3 kg per week. Although natto does have various health benefits such as reducing blood clots and lowering cholesterol, the show's fabrication of actual data was another example of the Japanese media's love of "yarase" or faking on the air to get good ratings. Is "yarase" a common pratice? ← I will be brief because I don't think this is food-related. I'd say yes, they would do anything for a good rating. I don't watch much TV these days. I only watch programs that I believe are good, but even when I watch them, I tend to take them with a grain of salt.

Kanzuri Shichimi togarashi Sansho

Thanks, torakris and GlorifiedRice. I found one farm in Japan that grows WallaWalla, but the site does not provide any price information.

Now that you mentioned it! Oh and it's actually great that you brought it up, because it reminded me of a question I wanted to ask. What kind of ratio did you use for ginger:garlic? Mine was pretty much 1:1 for ginger:garlic and a bit more beef than onions. ← I usually use only one knob of ginger. I do like ginger and I could use two or more, but then my daughter couldn't eat the gyudon. (That actually happened when I used a large amount of ginger to make "butaniku no shoga yaki" (pork fried with ginger)). I rarely buy fresh garlic because I usually let it go stale before I can use it up. (I don't like garlic very much, and Japanese cuisine doesn't make much use of it anyway.) I use dried garlic slices instead. For gyudon, I usually use 6-8 slices. For the beef-to-onion ratio, I use about 300-500 g of beef with 2 big onions (8-10 cm in diameter). I didn't specify the amounts of garlic and ginger to use in that recipe of mine, because I thought that everyone had their own preferences.

Do you get Vidalias, WallaWalla, Oso Sweets or Maui Sweets (onions) in Japan? ← I haven't yet found them if they are here.... ← GlorifiedRice and/or torakris, how do you use these varieties? Are they sweet? How are they different from the onions available in Japan?

You can see some photos of kanso here. It's too unique for me.

Bottled yuzu juice is available from almost all supermarkets, I think. Be sure to tell her that you want 100% yuzu juice. As for sugar, why not ask for wasanbon?

Thank you, Christian. Yours really looks like gyu-don. Mine looks more like onion-don . I like cooked onions because they are so sweet and tasty.

OK, GlorifiedRice, I don't share your interest in konvini, but searching for konbini-related info was interesting, and made me realize that konbini come and go! Here are some results: JC (JR Convinience) Formely called JC and now NEWDAYS,run by EAST JAPAN KIOSK http://www.ej-kiosk.jregroup.ne.jp/cgi-bin/index_new.cgi Snackpia No info. Is it really a convine chain? Timesmart Now a subsidiary of Shinozakiya http://www.shinozakiya.com/ THREE EIGHT run by Poplar http://www.poplar-cvs.co.jp/ KURASHI HOUSE also run by Poplar Seikatu Saika (生活彩家) is also run by Poplar. Heart-in run by WEST JAPAN RAILWAY DAILY SERVICE NET COMPANY Co., Ltd. http://www.dailyservice.co.jp/ Daily-in is also run by the same company. RIC Mart Apparently, they don't have a website. Camel Mart Once run by Camel Mart Japan, which transferred some of their stores to Family Mart. Some Camel Mart stores are still run by individuals. Hiromaru Chains Purchased by Poplar. Hot Spa http://www.hotsparcvs.co.jp/ Sunevery, No website. "Yamazaki Daily Store" and "Sunevery" are being switched to "Daily Yamazaki". http://www.daily-yamazaki.co.jp/index.html http://www.daily365.net/index.html Kurashi House Group, Same as Kurashi House? Everyone, http://www.kyushu-cvs.co.jp/every/index.html Timely, Now part of Yamazaki http://www.yamazakipan.co.jp/ Tic-Tac Now a subsidiary of Poplar. KCS (Kanto Convenience Society), http://www.kcs-hp.com/ Shop and Life, Purchased by CICO MART CO., LTD., which went bunkrupt in 2005.

This is a sister thread to convenient eats. The latter thread is fairly interesting, but the problem for me is that I don't frequent convenience stores, and I do like going to supermarkets for a change. Thus, this thread. The other day, I decided to go to a local supermarket with my two children, buy some premade meals, and eat them at the place in the supermarket they call Cafe. I bought this pack of sushi for 698 yen: My son picked up a pack of two rice balls, and my daughter a fish burger. So, what are your favoriate premade meals that you get from a supermarket?

Hiroshimayaki is a type of okonomiyaki. In Japan, we have two types of okonomiyaki, Osaka style and Hiroshima style. Wikipedia page on okonomiyaki

Mass media often play things up, but in this particular show, they made up ficticious data, and I think it's very absurd.

The ammonia smell becomes a problem only if re-fermentation occurs. The smell is not noticeable provided that the natto is kept refrigerated and consumed by the expiration date. As I implied earlier, the best way to eat natto while avoiding its smell is eat it while it is still cold. If you put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before you eat it, you really won't think it's stinky.

That's a great shoyu, budrichard!! It's a product of Marushima Shoyu. The ingredients are soy beans, wheat, and salt only , and are brewed in cedar barrels, as you say. The second label says: 穀醤 (Koku Hishio): Product name 古式伝統醸造: Ancient, traditional brew 瀬戸内海　小豆島: Shodo Shima (Shodo Island), Seto Nai Kai (Seto Inland Sea) 超特選: Super select I've never had a shoyu that good!

Hey Hiroyuki? Im making Sea Chicken Onigiri tonight, HOWEVER, what else do you put in it besides mayo? ← For me, sea chicken plus mayo only.

That should be easy, although I've never made them before. (I hate runny eggs!) Recipes vary, especially in boiling time. Some say to boil eggs for 3 minutes, while others say for 7. Anyway, boil eggs for 3-7 minutes, constantly rolling them in the pot to make sure that the yolk is located at the center of the egg. Cool them in cold water. Remove the shell. For the soaking liquid, mix 3 parts water, 1 part soy sauce, and 1 part mirin in a pot, bring to a boil, boil for some time to remove alcohol, and turn off heat. Let it cool. Soak the eggs in the liquid for 1 day.

I found this great webpage, "Prefecture-by-prefecture market share details", created by an individual not by a corporation. According to this, in 2000, Sun Every has a market share of 0.64 in Japan (16th place) (based on the number of stores), and Timely 0.37% (19th place), but it has a large share of 16.5% in Gifu prefecture. Neither convini has any stores in Niigata prefecture; no wonder I know nothing about them. Top page of the site

This is not made by me, but I just wanted to post a photo of it: "Tara no me", shoots of the tree called "tara" (Aralia elata in English). I'd like to post a photo of "fukinoto" (butter bur sprout) tempura in late March or early April.

Left one: MMK stands for multimedia kiosk. I didn't know anything about it, I googled and found it's not a conbini but a multifunctional information terminal. from here. Middle one: I din't know anything about Timely, either. I found you can find their stores in and around Aichi. Right one: Conbini called Sun Every. I found this map, which shows the ratio of their stores to all conbini in each prefecture as a percentage. So, what are those signs supposed to mean to you??

Sorry, no. It's way too expensive for me to buy... What do you mean by "shortcut"? Tamari shoyu takes three years to make, while koikuchi shoyu takes six months to make. How long does it take to make those "shortcut" shoyu? ← someone told me that by using chemicals the process be shortened to as few as 2 months. This is just hearsay so I'm not entirely sure. ← I think I know what they mean, and I managed to find one source of information: http://mrs_yang.hellokitty.ne.jp/blog/d/10108567.html This blogger visited the Kikkoman plant in Noda city. She had read the comic book "Oishinbo", in which "sokusei" (accelerated?) soy sauce was mass produced using defatted soybeans, which was unsavory and flavorless because it wasn't brewed, and she thought that Kikkoman would make shoyu the same way. She was wrong. They took as long as eight months to make shoyu. She later learned that in the postwar period until the 1980s, they seemed to produce shoyu in a similar way, but in the 1990s and after, they stopped making such inferior shoyu and started to make efforts to make real, savory shoyu. ← that makes sense. I actually consider kikkoman soy sauce to have quite good flavor. I've read the first 10 volumes of Oishinbo I wonder which volume is about soy sauce. ← 55, if I remember correctly. ← Correction: Episode 5 in Volume 3, according to this site.

In Japan, when you order a tempura course at a tempura restaurant, you are often asked whether to finish the course with tendon (tempura donburi) or tencha (a bowl of rice with tempura on it, over which tea is poured). Other than that, tempura is usually eaten with hot rice or cold soba (buckwheat noodles) as accompaniments or with hot soba as toppings. In that case, you just round out the tempura meal with hot green tea (plus some fruit or other). (I wonder if I answered your question properly...) As for your next question, the inside (belly side), to prevent curling. You may want to make shallower cuts on both sides too to make sure the shrimp does not curl at all. Tempura is surely different from other fries. Tempura making is difficult even for native Japanese. No wonder there are restaurants specializing in tempura in Japan.

Special ingredients for tonight's dinner: Flower shrimp (right), which are a type of kuruma ebi, and special soba containing fu-nori (a type of laver), a specialty of my region in Niigata prefecture. Thin batter: 2 cup (= 400 ml) cold water 1.5 cup (= 300 ml) weak (cake) flour 1 yolk As you can see, it's very lumpy. I made shrimp tempura (ebi ten), kaki age, sweet potato tempura (imo ten), and chikuwa's iso age in that order. Chikuwa are tubular surimi products, and iso age is tempura made with batter containing ao-nori (a type of laver). Piece of shrimp tempura, deep-fried for about one minute, and cut in half immediately. As you can see, it's still raw inside. Considering the size (diameter) of the shrimp, I think I should have deep-fried for about one and a half minutes. Anyway, I tasted another piece, and found it was very hot and tasty. They all look good, light and crispy. I asked my wife to start eating, together with the kids, but she said she'd wait. By the time I finished making all tempura, the shrimp tempura turned cool. My wife said it had no flavor. I thought so too. I was convinced that this type of tempura should really be served hot. Chikuwa's iso age: Add some ao-nori to the batter. Results: Conclusion: Tempura restaurant style shrimp tempura is real tasty, but requires a special setup in which you are devoted to making tempura and other diners are devoted to eating it as soon as it is served.

I submitted a chicken kara-age recipe here on RecipeGullet. *** Kara-age (から揚げ, 唐揚げ, 空揚げ) is very similar to tatsuta-age (竜田揚げ). I wasn't sure how they differed, so I did some googling. Here are some of my findings: 1. Tatsuta-age does not use garlic as a marinade ingredient. (Garlic is little used in traditional Japanese cuisine.) 2. Tatsuta-age uses only starch as its coating, while kara-age uses only starch in some recipes and both starch and flour in others.

Chicken Kara-Age Recipe Serves 4 as Main Dish. Here is a recipe for chicken kara-age, which is a favoriate of almost all Japanese. Marinade ingredients 2 T soy sauce 2 T mirin 2 T sake grated ginger juice garlic Main ingredient 500 g boneless chicken breast or thigh Coating Equal amounts of flour and starch (such as potato starch (katakuriko in Japanese)) Deep-frying Vegetable oil 1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl. 2. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and add to the bowl. 3. Marinate for 15-20 min. 4. Mix equal amounts of flour and starch in another bowl. 5. Pick up each piece of chicken from the bowl, using chopsticks, and coat it thorouthly. 6. Deep-fry at 180 C (356 F) for about 4 min. until brown. Notes: 1. You can omit grated ginger juice and/or garlic, if you prefer. 2. You can change the flour to starch ratio from 0:1 to 0.5:0.5 depending on your preference. 3. You may want to try the 'double frying' technique: First deep-fry at 170-180 C (338-356 F) for 1.5-2 min., remove from the fryer and let stand for 3-4 min. Then, deep-fry again at a slightly higher temp. for 30-40 seconds. This technique is supposed to yield kara-age that is juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. You can discuss kara-age here in the Japan Forum. Keywords: Easy, Chicken, Japanese, Deep Fryer ( RG1922 )