Hiroyuki

Thanks for your idea and links. I'm all for it, but I can see a problem. For that to happen here in the Japan Forum, we need a specialist. We really have to recruit one! In the meantime, I'll see what I can do. I'd like show you some local dishes here in the Uonuma district in the Niigata prefecture in the near future.

You may also consider services like this once the customs problem is solved. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to help. I just thought you would feel more secure with a commercial service like that.

I sent an inquiry to an online shopping site, and they gave me a reply a while ago, which says that the delivery of alcoholic drinks to the United States is restricted, and they are confiscated at customs. Is this true? Edit to add: I can't believe we posted at the same time, donbert, about the same subject: customs!

I went to one of the biggest sakaya (sake store) and found them! This single shelf is devoted to Suntry's Hermes and other liqueurs. Apricot and others: Green tea and others: Suntry's other brand: I later learned from your foodblog that you actually wanted some of the Hermes brand liqueurs. Well, I can send you some, if you are willing to pay the hefty shipping charges. Just take a look: http://www.ems-post.jp/index.php?lang=en&l...%A7%BB%E5%8B%95

I have no idea. In fact, I didn't know anything about them. I don't go to the liquor section of a sakaya (sake store). I'll go shopping today and find out!

As I clarified in my previous two posts here, I really don't expect the average person fully understands Japanese cuisine or any other cuisine for that matter. As you implied, Japanese cuisine has undergone considerable changes, especially since World War II, and I can say it has changed for the better for the most part. Whether it is important to learn a particular cuisine largely depends on whether that cuisine is worth learning. As I wrote in my last post, I believe Japanese cuisine is worth learning.

Thanks SuzySushi for your detailed reply. You are a great person, learning new things even today. I'm still learning too about my own and other cuisines, mainly on eGullet. Learning is fun! I should have added this question when I started this thread: Do you think that Japanese cuisine is worth learning? I do believe so. I believe that Japanese cuisine has so much to offer to the rest of the world. For instance, the hierarchical structure of a Japanese meal with rice at the top and the wide variety of ingredients especially fish and other seafood.

Thanks smallworld for your reply. Needless to say, I don't expect that the average Canadian fully understands Japanese cuisine. While I appreciate any comments, I'm interested to hear what you thought of Japanese cuisine before you came to Japan, how you learned it, and any suggestions for those who wish to learn Japanese cuisine.

I'm not qualified to answer this question, but I think such Benihana-style acrobatic performances by chefs are purely American. You must be an exceptional American.

It's really unfortunate that "sushi" is mistakenly considered to mean only a combination of vinegard rice and raw fish. Such word combinations as "sushi/sashimi" sound quite strange to native Japanese like me.

By "the former Yukijirushi's Nature", I meant MEGMILK's Megumi. Was it that good? I thought it was the same as Nature...

My wife consumes 80% or more of the yogurt we regularly buy. Last night, I asked her which brand she liked the best (of Meiji's Bulgaria, Morinaga's Bifidos (sp?), and the former Yukijirushi's Nature (sp?)). She replied, "Bulgaria". I asked why, she replied, and today I just can't remember exactly what she told me... I found this questionnaire survey results: http://www.imi.ne.jp/blogs/research/2004/07/post_56.html Meiji's Bulgaria is the most purchased yogurt in Japan. My wife and I usually buy one of the three brands that is sold at the lowest price for that day.

Thanks, Helen. It may be a good start, but lukewarm, not piping hot, rice served at many inns immediately turn me off...

Culinista wrote here -Few people understand the internal logic of Japanese cuisine, particularly the importance of rice and seasonality. Japanese restaurants in the west serve the same menu all the time. raji wrote here Thanks! Yes I try to edumacate people in the US. I think Japanese food is the #1 misunderstood food in America. Especially when most Americans think that Japanese food is sushi (and usually bad ones) And Cheeko wrote here I'm at a disadvantage because of the unavailability of many of the recommended California brands and Japanese imports in my area. I can mail-order them, but the shipping costs will kill me. I would buy this rice again for special occasions but I would reserve it for guests who really like rice by itself - not as a side dish and not as a part of maki sushi. (All emphases are by me.) All of these posts bring me back to the same old question, "Is Japanese cuisine understood?" Rice has a dominant presence in Japanese cuisine. It's the staple, the king, soup (often miso soup) is the companion (the queen), and other dishes (okazu) are the humble subordinates (the servants) no matter how they may be good by themselves. In fact, the reason for being of okazu is to enhance the flavor of rice. This most striking aspect of Japanese cuisine may not be apparent to you if you eat kaiseki meals and sushi only and think that they represent Japanese cuisine. Do you understand Japanese cuisine? Any comments will be much appreciated.

I made chicken tsukune for supper tonight, just for you. Ingredients are minced chicken, chopped and microwaved onion, grated ginger, whole egg, and salt. I mixed them well and added potato starch to adjust the hardness. I then put it in soup full of vegetables and mushrooms, one spoonful at a time. Result: Well, it may not look yummy, but it is! I have never made fishballs (tsumire) because I can always get decent ones at a supermarket.

Wow! That's like a pizza stone deluxe! Maybe I need that one, instead...it's a lot more, though (a set of 2 8" stones is about Y3000). But I could use it as an extra oven for baked potatoes while I'm roasting in my regular oven. Hmmm....must think more.... ← Baked potatoes...? Is it understood that the three photos in the link above show three different kitchen items for cooking rice, baking pizza, and roasting sweet potatoes, respectively?

You're right! If your grill is of a type that has a burner on top only (katamen yaki), then preheat the grill for 5 minutes, bake pizza for 1 minute, turn it over, put toppings on it, and grill for 3 minutes. If your grill is of a type that has burners on top and bottom (ryomen yaki), then preheat it for 2 minutes and put pizza in it and bake for 3 minutes and a half. Alternatively, how about this item?: http://www.bidders.co.jp/pitem/4455231 Put it on the gas stove, and you can bake pizza at 300oC or higher.

If your kitchen has a fish grill, why not forget all about the idea of using an oven to make pizza and try to use the fish grill instead. I've wanted to make pizza in a fish grill ever since I learned about it from the NHK's program Tameshite Gatten, but never had the chance to do it so far. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/gatten/qa/archive/pizza.html (Japanese only) (Actually, this webpage contains three recipes for making Neapolitan, American, and Roman pizzas, using a fish grill, oven, and frypan, respectively.) Won't you try that recipe before I do?

Although I'm a huge natto fan, I can't understand why some people, Japanese and non-Japanese, want to use it as an ingredient of a dish. I don't like natto in miso soup, and I don't like natto sushi rolls (natto maki in Japanese). I usually eat it as an okazu for breakfast, and I eat it with hot rice quickly before it gets hot and stinky.

Japanese meatballs are usually made with minced chicken, and they are called tsukune. Google "tsukune recipe" and you'll get some recipes. One of the first ones I ran across is: http://www.foodreference.com/html/tsukune-72306.html Japanese fishballs are called tsumire, and are often made with sardines. Unfortunately, I failed to find any recipe by goggling "tsumire recipe". By googling "つみれ　作り方", however, I can find a number of recipes like this one: http://www.misbit.com/recipe/mid00502.html Get a good translator to translate it.

Lucky guy. I've never had them. I learned about them only recently from a TV show called Tabegoro Manma. They are best eaten raw or as light pickles. I think Helen has something to say about how to pickle them right. I found one recipe for カルパッチョ http://recipe.gnavi.co.jp/recipe/2761.html (Japanese only) Enjoy!

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I'm a Kanto (Eatern Japan) man, born and bred in Tokyo, so when I hear the word niku (meat), I associate it with pork. In Kansai (Western Japan), people associate it with beef. There are many cultural differences between Kanto and Kansai.

Very good job, ChryZ, as usual. Any particular reason why you reduce the broth that much? Sorry to hear that. I can eat eggs raw, like most Japanese. By the way, have you ever tried tanin don (pork used instead of chicken)?

I made takikomi gohan, miso soup, and stir-fried mushroom, all with the two chunks of maitake that my son picked off from the yard. Like I usually do, I boiled maitake in a pan for a short time, with some water, soy sauce, mirin, and sake, drained, and put the liquid in the rice cooker pot, set aside the maitake. When the rice was done, I added the maitake. This is a good way to keep the flavor and texture of maitake intact.

It was on September 18th that my son noticed small chunks of maitake poping up from the soil, and then we kept on watching them grow carefully every day, and today we decided that they had stopped growing. I let my son picked them off. Closeup of the two chunks: Underside: The texture is quite like that of Ishizaka maitake.