Hiroyuki

John, how long have you kept your ume in the bottle? What is the alcohol content of your spirit? How much sugar did you put in the bottle?

You seem to have read all of my posts about rice, Koshihikari, and those sommeliers! I know how you feel about sommeliers, but I can't think of any other group of people who can possibly have that capability. I wouldn't mind at all if you would be the first one to send me some. And many thanks to sanrensho, who provided useful information.

No, it isn't. The representative Japanese curry is curry roux in solid form. Kinkei curry! What a nostalgic word for those Japanese like me who were born in the 30s of Showa! I didn't know it still existed.

GlorifiedRice, are you alergic to instant dashi powder, too?

When you live in Japan, supermarkets will tell you what fish is in season at any given time of the year. Sanma (saury) are in season now. 1. Ootoro (you mean "hon (or kuro) maguro" right?): Autumn, winter, spring 2. Megajiki: Autumn and winter 3. Aji: Summer 4. Fugu: Winter 5. Unagi: Winter (not summer, although they are consumed the most in the summer, especially on "Doyou no hi") 6. Anago: Summer Warning: Different people will give you different seasons for each fish. For example, this table slightly differs from that table.

Good going, nuppe! But I have a feeling that smelly is such a strong word. I would also like to note that kombu (inosinate) and katsuobushi (glutamate) are now used together in both Kansai and Kanto for a synergetic effect. (Am I right, Osaka-based members?) Natto!! My brother-in-law comes from Osaka. He couldn't have natto before he married my sister, but now he can. Do you have anthing to add, Helen and Osaka-based members?

First of all, have you checked out this post by Fat Guy on page 1 of this thread? It's impossible to answer your questions because they are hypothetical; there are hardly any Japanese who have tasted the Koshihikari rice grown in California. I guess that rice sommeliers should be capable of telling the difference because they can tell the difference between rices grown in different parts of Japan. As for your second question, that depends on how you define the average Japanese person. Some are not particular about the taste of rice and are satisified with the cheapest rice, while others are particular about it and buy specific brands. The latter may be able to tell the difference. I think I can tell the difference between domestic and foreign rices, but again, I can never be sure because I have never tasted the latter. Anyone?

Quite frankly, I don't know. I even didn't know that Takara produces umeshu. All I can say is that Choya is best known for its umeshu, Mercian for its wine, and Takara for its shochu and chu-hai. By the way, it's surprising to know that you can find Takara umeshu in California!

I wonder what types of surimi products are available in France. I understand that fake crabmeat sticks are popular in North America, but what about in France and other European countries? For those who are not familar with surimi, here is an entry in Wikipedia. Visit this kamaboko thread in the Japan Forum to view photos of all sorts of surimi products.

That umeshu is simply called "Kakurei no umeshu". Kakurei is the name of a brand of the local brewery here in my area. You can take a virtual tour of the brewery from here. I don't think you can find one where you live, though. It's produced in limited quantities, and last year, it was sold out three months after released. Besides, it's not shipped overseas. Besides the one I posted, there are quite a few shochu-, brandy-, and sake-based umeshu in Japan. I think I'll try one of them after my wife and I have finished that bottle. Have you ever found Mercian in your area? A member says he prefers Mercian to Choya here.

I'm not sure because this supermarket opened October this year, but I think that's because of the "fair". I think most supermarkets in Japan usually carry the two types, Beni azuma and Kintoki. Beni azuma: Cheaper Kintoki: Expensive but tastes better. They say Kintoki tastes better than chestnusts.

I'm afraid that this is quite an exaggeration.

from here. It is a mutant of Nijjuseiki! Edited to add: We had one of them after supper and found it wasn't sweet at all!! I must make a complaint to the producer. ← I got a reply from JA Shirone, which says that mine were probably shipped by an individual farmer. At JA, pears are measured for sugar content one by one before shipment.

Cod: 1. Grilled 2. Simmered with sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and dashi (nitsuke) like this 3. An kake (coated with flour/potato starch, deep-fried, and served with sweet and sour sauce thickened with potato starch on top) like this Salmon: 1. Grilled 2. Ishikari nabe (salmon and various vegetables in miso-based broth, often with butter) like this I don't know about haddock or tilapia. Probably I would cook haddock like cod and grill tilapia like sea bream.

Just came back from a trip to the supermarket. Kintoki (金時), 2L size, 158 yen per piece (not bag): Other varieties are more expensive, 398 yen per bag: Beni azuma (紅あずま or 紅東) is the cheapest, 158 yen per bag of three: Beni azuma, sold individually, 78 yen per piece: Now you can see that Kintoki is two to three times more expensive than Beni azuma.

Just so you can see the price of things here in the Philadelphia Area I scanned some of my reciepts the past month... http://i15.tinypic.com/2ed85rn.jpg ← But don't expect me to do the same thing. I'll provide some info about the prices of satsumaimo here in Japan later.

So, you mean you usually buy the variety beni azuma (紅あずま)? The variety that tastes like chestnuts is kintoki (金時), right? I sometimes buy it, but it's usually much more expensive than beni azuma.

Do you mean you have noticed them for the first time since you came to Japan? They have been around for decades!

They don't provide an ingredients label? If you find the word うるち米, it means nonglutinous, ordinary rice. If もち米 or 餅米, it means glutinous rice. I can see two mistakes from the photos upthread: 1. They use the term "toppokki" (トッポッキ) to mean Korean mochi. 2. Ten minutes of dipping in water!? I found one important note: Don't deep-fry them in oil. (Do they explode if deep-fried?)

I didn't know that!! What a name for a dish!

Come to Japan just to take a look at kamaboko?? Since you asked, 1. Chikuwa 2. Sasa kamaboko (or sasakama for short) 3. Tsumire (usually made from sardines) 4. Satsuma age 5. Hanpen

How do we taste it? In that TV show, they used some measuring instrument to determine the difference. Let me give you some more details: In the Edo period, Hokkaido was a major producer of kombu, and the sea route via the Sea of Japan was more developed than the Pacific route, so kombu was mainly delivered to Osaka but not to Edo (former Tokyo). Besides, as I said in my first post here, kombu matched the soft water in Kansai. In Kanto, on the other hand, katsuobushi was highly valued because of its similarity in sound to "win man bushi" (勝男武士 in Kanji). Katusobushi was fishy and required more soy sauce when dashi was made than kombu.

← I didn't know about it either until I saw this TV show, Me Ga Ten.

You are not alone, GlorifiedRice (what a screen name, by the way). I googled 油で揚げない　大学芋 (not deep-fried in oil daigaku imo), and found some recipes like: this one, which uses a microwave and this one, which uses a rice cooker (I don't want to try this one because it may damage the inner pot of the cooker).

The main reason is that the water in Kansai is softer than the water in Kanto. The softer the water, the more dashi you can get from kombu. Another reason is that Kansai culture is that of noblemen, who did little manual labor and therefore did not require much salt, whereas Kanto culture is that of bushi (samurai), who did a lot of manual labor and therefore required much salt.