Hiroyuki

I'd like to know a curry recipe that takes a whole week. The simpler the better.

You've never heard of it? What a shame! It is absolutely good! I wouldn't call it educational, but it's highly informative, fun, interesting, entertaining, and intriguing. I haven't read all the volumes of Oishinbo, but I watched almost all episodes of the TV "anime" version.

I'm intrigued by the price tag. 230 yen per 6 pieces. That's a good buy.

I haven't. I only know that white curry originated from Hokkaido, just like soup curry. Try it today and report back, will you?

Thanks Cheeko. The gyuuhi recipe is quite interesting. By the way, have you checked out this thread in the Cooking Forum?

You mean tenmusu? Here's a picture of them: http://www.grappee.com/recipe/tokai/mise/tenmusu.html Barrel shaped? How cute! Do post a picture some day.

Talking of fu, don't forget about fu-gashi, one of the dagashi that make you nostalgic for the 30s of Showa .

I gave up translating the text long ago. For one thing, translating it can never convey the real meaning of the word chinmi. For another, translating that silly Japanese text is quite a chore. After all, there can be as many definitions of the word as there are Japanese, so I think I should provide my definition of the word. For me, the word is closely related to "otsumami" おつまみ (something to nibble while drinking alcohol) and "sake no sakana" 酒の肴 (or simply "sakana" 肴). I mean, chinmi is almost synonymous with the other two, but its usage is different. I usually don't say things like "This is a chinmi; please help yourselves." to my guests. I use the word otsumami or sake no sakana instead. And my guests may say as a compliment, "This is a chinmi!" I also feel that a chinmi is something that is rather expensive and is supposed to be consumed in small quantities, but then again, otsumami and sake no sakana can also be expensive.

Fascinating story, Cheeko. (I must confess that every time I write Cheeko, it reminds of my wife, whose name sounds like Cheeko .) I've never made wagashi in the microwave, but I've made purin (Japanese pudding) so many times in the microwave when my children were smaller. The tip is to heat it several times, say, for 4 minutes first, then 2 minutes, and then 30 seconds, while keeping an eye on it so that it doesn't boil over. This also applies to heating mochi. Heat it several times, say, for 40 seconds first and then 20 seconds, while keeping an eye on it so that it doesn't explode and then turn flat on the plate.

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.

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.

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?

Thank you, Cheeko and tantan. It's little surprising that everyone here seems in favor of sankaku tabe and kouchuu choumi. I did some googling again and found this thread (Japanese only), which asks "Do you do bakkari tabe?". Several women, one in her 30s and others 23 and 38 years of age respectively, said yes. It seems that old habits die hard, and that's why I have to keep telling my kids about the proper way of eating a Japanese meal! P.S. Cheeko: I visited your blog. How interesting! Are you a kitty geek or something?

Corn! As for kyohou, is it possible that they were seed-less ones? My father grows kyohou (and other varieties of grape) and makes them seed-less by using some chemical.

mishidy, thank you for your knowledgeable comments about other cuisines. It is now almost certain that sankaku tabe and kouchuu choumi are not peculiar to Japanese cuisine. But I'd like to point out that Japanese cuisine is systematic and hierarchical in that rice (plain white rice, to be more exact) has a dominant presence in almost every meal, there are two types of okazu (side dish), namely, shusai and fukusai, and a meal typically consists of rice, soup, and three okazu (one shusai and two fukusai). A shusai is usually a protein-rich side dish the main ingredient of which is meat, fish, and so on, while a fukusai is usually a vitamin-rich side dish the main ingredient of which is vegetable, mushroom, and so on. As you may know, this meal configuration is called "ichi-juu san-sai" (one soup and three side dishes). Japan's new food pyramid, which is actually a spinning top, clearly reflects the hierarchy of Japanese cuisine. http://www.maff.go.jp/food_guide/eng_reiari.pdf Note that in this chart, "vegetable dishes" is a translation of fukusai, and "fish and meat dishes" is a translation of shusai. My point is that this aspect of Japanese cuisine calls for sankaku tabe and kouchuu choumi more than any other cuisine in the world.

Jason, your favorite dish will be called "nasu no miso mayonnaise yaki". "xx no miso mayonnaise yaki" is surprisingly popular, but xx is often the name of a fish, like sawara, hokke, and sake (salmon), and maguro (tuna). You can call it nasu dengaku, but the name is somewhat misleading.

I'm still not a fan of eggplants. I can eat them, but not with relish. Do you have any specific varieties that you like? Niigata prefecture happens to be an eggplant kingdom, with Japan's largest planting area of 724 hectares, and Niigata people love eggplants. Among others, they grow kinchaku nasu, suitable for simmering, and juuzen nasu, suitable for light pickling. Here is a photo (first one) of juuzen and another of juuzen light pickles: http://jp.air-nifty.com/umetoko/2005/07/post_8b6f.html My father, who comes from Nagano, grows maru nasu (ball-shaped variety) because he likes a specialty of Nagano called oyaki, which is usually made with this variety.

I just asked my daughters (3rd and 5th grade at a Japanese elementary school) if they knew sankaku tabe and neither of them had heard the word before.　My husband (Tokyo born and raised) commented that he didn't know the word either. When I explained it he said he knew the idea but had never heard that word before. Is there possibly another thing it could be called? My husband came up blank. ← Inazuma (thunderbold) tabe is almost synoymous, but it implies eating a bit of side dish and a bit rice alternately (in a zig-zag manner). I can't think of any other term at the moment. According to this thread (Japanese only), which asks if you know the term "sankaku tabe", most people know it, even those Japanese in their early 40s. I myself did not hear the word when I was little.

Thank you for your very insightful reply, raji. ← Kouchuu choumi is a bit of a jargon, but I think that sankaku tabe is an everyday word for small children going to elementary school and for their parents. Visit any Japanese elementary school at lunch time or talk to a Japanese elementary school student or an adult having such a child the next time you come to Japan, and you will know what I mean. I would have told you the same thing. To be more precise, I would have added an explanation of the difference between okazu and sake no sakana: Okazu (side dishes) are designed to be eaten with rice and seasoned accordingly, while "sake no sakana" are designed to be eaten with sake and seasoned accordingly. Some okazu are also good as sake no sakana and vice versa, while others are not. For example, niku jaga (meat potato stew) is good both as an okazu and a sake no sakana, but yakitori is usually considered a sake no sakana only (but I must admit that I can happily eat it as an okazu.) Generally, okazu require heavier seasoning than sake no sakana.

OK, let's do it if eGullet still exists then. I'm not as optimistic about this as you are, but I hope that it's "something that most grow out of". Cadbury: I've always associated sankaku tabe and kouchuu choumi with traditional Japanese meals of rice, soup, and one or more (typically three) side dishes, so I found your comments quite interesting. Probably sankaku tabe is applicable to Western meals as well. Sankaku tabe is usually encouraged by elementary schools at lunch time (and even enforced by some), but I really don't think it appropriate to teach school children to do sanshoku tabe when many school lunches actually consist of bread (not rice), milk (not soup), and a side dish (and some schools still use ill-famed sporks ).

sanrensho: I can't recall how I ate a meal back then and how my parents taught me the proper way of eating it. Even if I did bakkari tabe then, I think it was just incidental. I didn't give a thought to all this until I noticed my son's strange eating habit a couple of years ago - finishing a bowl of miso soup, finishing side dishes, and starting to eat rice and wanting furikake on it. My wife and I told him to eat side dishes and rice at the same time. He said he couldn't. Many children nowadays, including my son, hate the way a side dish and rice are mixed in the mouth. They want to eat a side dish separately from rice, and they want furikake and other flavorings on rice. Kris: Kouchuu choumi is considered part of sankaku tabe. I think you do them both in the same meal without knowing it.

Thanks Kuma and sk_ward!! I never expected to receive such immediate replies from anyone. Some say that the current situation is a crisis in Japan's food culture. I wouldn't say so, but I have to keep telling my children that theirs is not a proper way of eating a Japanese meal. One reason why kouchuu choumi is becoming less popular is that many side dishes are now so lightly seasoned that they can be eaten without rice.

This topic is peculiar to Japanese cuisine; people living overseas may have no idea what I'm talking about. First the definitions: Sankaku tabe (triangular eating) 三角食べ: A method of eating a Japanese meal consisting of one bowl of rice, one bowl of soup, one or more side dishes in which the diner eats a mouthful of each meal component sequentially, starting with, for example, one side dish, followed by rice and soup, rather than finishing the meal components one at a time. The opposite of sankaku tabe is bakkari tabe ばっかリ食べ (roughly, one-dish-at-a-time eating). Kouchuu choumi (taste adjustment in the mouth) 口中調味: Putting a mouthful of one dish in the mouth (and chewing it a little), putting a mouthful of rice in the mouth, and chewing and mixing the dish and rice together. Most Japanese people of my age (I'm 45) take it for granted that sankaku tabe, combined with kouchuu choumi, is the only way of eating a Japanese meal of rice, soup, and side dishes. An increasing number of younger Japanese people have learned to follow bakkari tabe, including my children . So my question is: Do you practice sankaku tabe and kouchuu choumi?

You must be the first non-Japanese that has ever tried that recipe! Hope you find real jinko or a good substitute. They say that cornstarch and potato starch are not suitable for akashiyaki and that what's good about jinko is that it won't harden when heated.

Do you remember the name of the ramen shop? Was it Jigoku Ramen Hyottoko, located in Ebisu? http://www.hyorori.net/ramen/shop.asp?shop=174 Unfortunately, this shop closed in 2003. There are other ramen shops that claim that theirs are the hottest, like Kita Kitsune in Yushima http://portal.nifty.com/koneta04/11/29/01/ I searched for a recipe, but in vain. I think that most sensible way to make such a ramen is to get the hottest instant ramen you can find and put as much chili pepper powder as you want...