Hiroyuki

Did I say so? I think I just implied that some non-Japanese people mistakenly think that teriyaki is a dish made with commercially-available teriyaki sauce (which is spicy?, I don't know). *** In Japan, it is rare to grill a whole large fish like salmon. (It is not uncommon to present a whole large fish (still alive) as sashimi, though.) A fish is usually cut into smaller pieces and sprinkled with salt to remove any odor before being grilled.

It is a fact, not MY idea! Salmon are white-fleshed! Your comments remind me of the fact that salmon is not a traditional neta (topping) for Edomae zushi (Edo-style sushi). The chef at the sushi shop I used to frequent still refuses to use salmon because it's too oily. (But what about maguro toro then??!!)

Obviously, it's tsuke men. I don't know of any good link, and I'm not very keen on takoyaki (I'm not from Osaka, wher takoyaki is huge). I simply use pre-made takoyaki flour. As for mentaiko sauce, I bet it's mainly made from mentaiko and mayo plus some other ingredients like lemon juice, cream, and salt.

The tonkatsu plate is unbearably simple. No slices of cucumber or no wedges of tomato? No sunny lettus or parsely? Where is the mustard? Can you describe what their tonkatsu sauce tastes like?

May I suggest trying the Cooking Forum? I have a feeling that the Japanese style is not what you are after. As for the stink, just like Blether pointed out, I suspect that the fish is not fresh enough.

In the 25th Anniversary Edition, Yoshiki Tsuji, Shizuo's son, wrote in "Preface to the 25th Anniversary Edition": I actually considered a proposal for an extensive revision of the work in 1993, but after a careful review I came to the conclusion that there was nothing to be gained and much tht could be lost in such a rewrite. I still feel that way today. (Omitted) (Osaka, 2006) On page 337, however, there is a description of sake grades, tokkyu (special class), ikkyu (first class), and nikyu (second class), but the "toukyuu seido" (grade system) was abolished in 1992. There should be a footnote or something that notifies the reader of this fact. Blether: The latter comment is not only rediculous but also very, very offensive to people like me who live in a mountainous area of Japan!

When you have time can you expand on your comments? What sections of the book do you place in each category - wonderful, not wonderful? Many thanks. Since you ask, here is a list, which is not at all exhaustive. (I'm not talking about sections but specific remarks, comments, sentences, etc.) Page 81 Since this book centers on Osaka cooking, ... This very important piece of information should be placed and HIGHLIGHTED at the very beginning of the book. Page 144 Parboiling (yugaku): This operation is second nature to Japanese cooks, since it is done so often. Good! Japanese cuisine is a cuisine of subtraction. Page 159 When serving sashimi I urge you to avoid frozen fish. It negates the spirit of Japanese cuisine. Simply high-sounding. With modern freezing technology, frozen fish is as good as fresh fish. People who live in the mountains should only eat local freshwater fish. Non-sense. Page 202 Lacking such a rectangular pan, the Japanese omelette is close to impossible to make; a conventional omelette will substitute. What discouraging words! I can make decent atsuyaki tamago in a round pan. Page 235 Section on tempura: No description that to make tempura, you need to use "weak flour" (equivalent to cake flour in the United States). Page 471 (In a recipe for preparing edameme) Add beans and boil over high heat 7-10 minutes. Personally, I wouldn't eat edamame boiled for such a long time. 2-3 minutes should be enough. Edamame should be crunchy. I'm sure many Japanese will agree.

Have you checked out this thread? Nowadays, most Japanese use a pre-installed fish grill to grill fish. People who don't have a pre-installed fish grill in their kitchen use a separate, electric fish grill, a simple, cheap grill (the type you place on the stove top), and so on. I do have a pre-installed fish grill, but I rarely use it because it is so hard to keep clean, as I mentioned in the thead above. I used to use an electric fish grill, and now I use a toaster oven.

I have one copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition of Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art. Some parts of the book are wonderful, while others are not.

You mean Dāoxiāomiàn (刀削麺) in Chinese, or toushoumen in Japanese? Images of toushoumen

I just had to respond to this post of yours! Did I say it was my style?? I like that style, too, and I like that name, ougon chahan (golden fried rice), too. Just like you, I'd say about half half, but I always microwave the rice beforehand. Japanese short-grain rice needs to be reheated before frying. I usually make fried rice for lunch to use up leftover cooked rice.

Just curious, what exactly is "mushroom powder"? Is it a powder made from dried button mushrooms only or from various types of dried mushrooms? I have recently dried a large amount of enoki mushrooms. Dried enoki tastes great by itself. Some say it tastes like dried squid or dried shrimp. I turned some of it into powder, and sprinkled it on my "takikomi gohan" (= rice cooked with other ingredients), which I made with oyster mushroom this time. Dried enoki powder is a great taste enhancer.

Thanks for the links. It's now clear what mukigoma are. White sesame seeds with their hypodermis removed. I usually buy a 1-kg bag because it's economical and I like sesame seeds!

Untosted? In the pictures? What pictures? むきごま = Dehulled sesame seeds, right?

A tentative translation: すみませんが、私たちは日本語が話せません。 We apologize that we do not speak Japanese. 私たちは何でも食べれます。 We eat all types of food. できれば、そちらで食べるものを選んでもらえますか。 If it is okay with you, we entrust you to choose our meal. ご迷惑をおかけしてすみません。 We apologize if this causes you any inconvenience. このお店の得意料理を食べたいと思います。 We would prefer foods that are specialties of this restaurant. また、日本人のお客さんに人気のある料理も食べたいと思います。 We would also like any foods that are popular among Japanese customers. 空腹度：　小 -|--|--|--|--|--|- 大 Hunger: not very hungry -|--|--|--|--|--|- starving 一人当たり___________円くらいでお願いします。 We would like to spend ___________ yen per person. I may come up with a better idea later.

At first, I thought it was simply albacore, but I learned that it could also mean escolar.

Like nakji said, it doesn't. Putting cooked rice in the fridge greatly affects the flavor and texture of the rice because it turns part of the alpha starch in the cooked rice back into beta starch.

Good question! The word bento comes from the Chinese word bento (便當), which means convenience. Bento is defined as a meal made so that it is portable. (Let me add that as a native Japanese, I tend to say o-bento, which sounds more polite than bento.) It is said that the reason why bento, or portable meals, have developed in Japan much more than in other countries is that Japonica rice tastes good even when it has turned cool, unlike Indica rice. As you may know, a "shio musubi" (rice ball with some salt on the outside) with some slices of pickle such as takuan can be a very satisfying meal. I'm old-fashioned, and I tend to think of bento as room-temperature cold rice plus two or three side dishes, but with the advent of conbini (convenience store) bento and other commercially available bento, a bento can now be any meal packed in a way it is portable. A "Curry bento", for example, was unthinkable when I was small.

If you want to get a general idea of the description of takikomi-gohan in the Tsuji book, here is a good site: http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=fby2Er0seMMC&pg=PA276&lpg=PA276&dq=tsuji+japanese+cooking+takikomi+gohan&source=bl&ots=K_2O1wzH-m&sig=ttvmjTk_tYu2zLRF7VN6qG6nWtA&hl=ja&ei=IlrcStnuF5vs6AOuqu2dBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

*1 No, that simply means that you want only umami components from kombu and bonito flakes. As I said elsewhere, traditional Japanese cuisine is a cuisine of subtraction, which means that you subtract (that is, extract) only umami components from ingredients (in the case of dashi making, for example) and subtract (that is, remove) bitter, harsh, and other unwanted components from ingredients (in the case of blanching vegetables, for example). *2 Like you said, not all is lost, and that's why secondary dashi can be made from the leftover kombu and bonito flakes. Secondary dashi is weaker in that it contains less umami but can be said strong in that it contains other components.

I have the Tsuji book. It says on page 148: While primary dashi is best suited for clear soups by virtue of its fragrance, subtle taste, and clarity, secondary dashi does noble service as a basic seasoning-for thick soups, for noodle broths, as a cooking stock for vegetables, and in many other ways. It is usually said in Japan that primary dashi is for clear soups while secondary dashi is for miso soups and nimono (simmered dishes). I have no idea what Tsuji meant by "thick soups". Because 80-90% of the umami components of kombu and dried bonito are extracted into primary dashi, it is no wonder that secondary dashi contains much less umami components (thus, weaker) even if you add additional dried bonito.

That was a great dinner! And, thank you very much for providing a nice contrast to this thread. (Maybe this requires a whole new thread, titled something like, "Show us your local sushi!" .) I'm not familiar with Alfonsino or Moreton bay bug! I googled and found that kinme dai is one type of Alfonsino. Kinme dai is often simmered in broth in Japan, and I have never had it as a topping for nigiri! "Moreton bay bug" doesn't sound appetizing at all, but another name, "bay lobster", does sound really appetizing!! I wonder if the roe you referred to as "small fish roe" is flying fish roe (tobiko or tobikko in Japanese) and the "large fish roe" is actually salmon roe (ikura in Japanese). I was interested in the presentation of sashimi. Apparently, the restaurant doesn't use aojiso (green perilla) as a garnish for sashimi. Finally, I was amused to see the beer from Echigo Beer, one of the oldest beer brewery here in Niigata. (Echigo is the former name of Niigata.) I will look for that brand and taste it!

Any bugs in the new software?? The post above is in response to this question:

This is really encouraging. Your home-made nigiri looks sensational. I'm also keen to adopt what I learn from eating out and use it at home. Do you have any tips on what to pay attention to (or ask the chef about) that will make trying things at home easier?

Snorlax: Thank you! Unfortunately, no. I wish I could go there again. For one thing, my wife is not a huge fan of nigiri. For another, going to a traditional sushi shop means that you have to spend a considerable amount of money (and I'm not the richest man in the world ). There are a lot of things that I have learned from the sushi chef. There have been two major changes in my life since I visited the sushi shop: 1) Now I like white-fleshed fish and often buy them (although I still like maguro the most) and 2) I often make nigiri at home, as I made nigiri as I described here. Now that the winter is approaching, I hope to visit the sushi shop again and report on my dinner here! Hard to separate? I'm not sure but I think that indicates the poor knife skill of the sushi chef...