_john

Sorry for getting off topic, but do you call McDonald's Makku for short? I assumed that Osaka people called it Makudo. ← I've heard both. Fellow foreigners sometimes like to shorten words that the Japanese have already shortened so the full name for McDonalds (Makudonarudo) becomes Makudo in Japanese and the foreigners call it Makku. I'm not sure if this is common or it is just something the foreigners I know do. For example all the train stations have been renamed by the foreigners I know, so Tsuruhashi-eki becomes Tsuruhash and Yamato-Yagi-eki becomes Yagz. I personally like to call things by the proper Japanese names but that may be because I speak more Japanese than them .

I hope this helps. here is the recipe garlic pickled in soy sauce which is called Ma nl jang ah jji. Garlic is "ma nil" so if you made it with korean green peppers (which are substituted for jalapenos often in america) it would be called "put go choo Jang ah jji". A word of warning: I am not korean so take this with a grain of salt (and a dab of kimchi).

I saw this yakiniku place today that had a tabehoudai (all you can eat) menu for ~2000yen. As far as I can tell it is a 90 minute limit and you would have to get about 5 dishes to make it worth the cost. They looked pretty busy, and they used real charcoal, which I always prefer. What do you guys think? Is it a good deal considering the time limit and the items you are limited to? Do they usually have different prices for men and women like this? That seems sort of shocking to me.

I saw this on the train today. Spring is fast approaching and Maku it is ready with their ume sauce chiken nuggets. I haven't tried them yet. I don't know if I really imagine chiken nuggets with ume sauce as the "taste of spring"

Evil Jungle Prince - This is a great blog with lots of recipes and pictures. He also talks about growing some korean ingredients.

I drink poricha/boricha (roast barley and corn tea) every day, I love the stuff. I buy it in a big plastic bag of it in korea town from a small shop and the lady says "you like poricha?" every time I buy it . I think she is shocked at how often I buy it, It is a big bag after all. The taste is very unique, I would liken it to chicory. You can drink it cold or hot but it is especially refreshing when you drink it cold on a hot day. does anyone know if there is a different word for poricha that is made with only roasted barley?

I second sanrensho. All the Japanese recipes I read were standard pound cakes that had chopped plums from the plum wine added into the batter, as well as some plum wine. Then they were brushed with plum wine after they had cooled. I think Choya plum wine will be the only one you can easily find that has the plums in the bottom of the plum wine. Good luck!

I can spend anywhere from 300 yen to untold amounts of yen per day on food. On the low end of the spectrum my local market has packages of udon, ramen, soba, yaki soba, and thin udon for 18 yen each. Tofu is only 33 yen a pack and chicken of all types seems to fairly inexpensive. There is also a tempura item deli with most items for 49 yen. I just bought a 10kg bag of rice for 1800 yen, which is cheap in Japan. Iced coffee is 100 yen a liter! I usually glaze over the expensive end of the spectrum but I do know that I get sticker shock when I browse the pre sliced beef and the rice section. certain items are very expensive despite their small size, such as that kimchi. I always cook at home so that saves a lot of money. I actually keep a record of what I spend each month so I will be able to tell you exactly how much I spend this month, and what my daily average is. But keep in mind that my consumption habits are in no way typical and I don't have anyone to feed but myself. I can only imagine how much it costs to feed a family! Let alone feed them interesting and nutritious items with good variety every day. I am very interested to see what others have to say.

I would like to know about more Korean food blogs. The ones I currently know of and read are: ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal Korean Cuisine by Ji-Young Park (also mentioned in the "korean food blog" thread) koreancooking's Xanga site Korea Life Blog - no longer updated but a great resource. FatMan Seoul - also no longer updated, but a great resource as well. Plate of the Day - Korean food posts sometimes appear here. What other Korean food blogs are there? Blogs that post recipies or step by step instructions are best, but general discussions about Korean food are good too. Please post any that you know about.

just to add my two cents to the debate after trying it both ways: the alton brown microwave method didn't really have the same flavor in my opinion. I have tracked the difference in flavor down to the oil. When I make popcorn I do it on the stovetop with a wok. this insures that unpopped kernels are focused at the bottom in one spot, and it has a nice dome lid. The difference in flavor was coming from the oil smoking as the kernels reached the right temperature to pop. this burnt oil smoke flavor is something that I really like. I use about a half tablespoon of olive oil or clarified butter tossed in with the kernels, high heat all the way. as for toppings I have a few favorites: nutritional yeast and curry powder japanese chili oil (rayu) and salt cinnamon sugar brown butter nutritional yeast + whatever is lying around (cumin, oregano, powdered dehydrated tomato paste, crushed sesame seeds) I use my spice(coffee) grinder to make whatever I am using as topping in to a fine powder, I put the salt in there too.

Hmmm I don't think I have had the pleasure of trying it yet, what does it look like and what is it called? My favorite so far is Morinaga Mild Coffee. When I first had it I could have sworn that I had mistakenly picked up a carton of melted coffee ice cream. Now Hiroyuki has me all worried about my sugar intake... Beer, sugar, butter, next thing you know I will find out kimchi is bad for me.

Irwin: the thai pork sounds very interesting, I will seek it out when I eventually get to thailand. I will try anything twice. (okay, maybe three times) as for double smoked bacon, it is amazing on its own and is underused as ingredient in my opinion. I have only eaten it "raw". I partially freeze it and slice it as thin as possible and add it to salads and sandwiches. I haven't seen it in Japan yet though...

I was never into iced coffee until I moved to Japan. In Japan you can get iced coffee with milk and sugar already added in cartons just like milk. 1 liter of iced coffee is 99yen (less than $1) at my local market! I find myself buying a carton and drinking the whole thing in one day. I don't know if torakris (a fellow iced coffee addicted japan resident) shares this experience. I don't have a coffee machine (or even room for one in my small apartment) and it is just so much cheaper to buy it already made as opposed to buying the coffee, filters, milk and sugar separately. As for the taste... it is really good actually, I swear there is something strangely addictive about it, dangerous stuff. No ice for me thanks, I drink it right from the carton!

A few days ago I bought a big package of hachimitsu umeboshi that was on sale. They are very sour, much more so than normal umeboshi. I wanted to use that sourness in some sort of cooking so I tried to think of good ideas to highlight the flavor of umeboshi. I finally decided to attempt a hachimitsu umeboshi sorbet! I used standard sorbet technique and made a simple syrup to which I added honey and paste made from the hachimitsu umbeboshi. I used a 1:1:1 ratio (by weight) of sugar/honey, water, and umeboshi paste. It is currently hardening in my freezer after I stirred in the initial ice crystals. A taste test suggested it will be pretty tasty. I will post a picture of it when I serve some (waiting for guests, or a warm day maybe.). Im thinking of serving it on top of an akashiso leaf. Has anyone ever had frozen umeboshi based items before?

I recently went to a takoyaki party where we made many variations. Most included the standard beni shoga, sakura ebi, a little cabbage, and tako. notable variations included: cheese mochi, kimchi pork, and kimchi cheese (really good). As the night went on we tried many experimental takoyaki fillings, we attempted a "sauce in" version with the sauce in the center that was interesting (it would have worked if we used frozen cubes of sauce). I often see vendors making something sweet smelling in what looks like takoyaki molds, I think it involves walnuts? It smells just like taiyaki but is in balls, haven't tried it yet. I am considering picking up a stovetop takoyaki grill to experiment at home.

do you know the name of this Thai dish? Raw pork has an offensive odor in my opinion, did the preparation minimize the smell? It is exciting to learn about these variations! I need to sneak off and nibble some raw bacon.

Let me see if I can gather a good list of which dishes are exactly in the running for this world cup steak tartare, France (is it originally from France?) yuke, Korea kitfo, Ethiopia gored gored, Ethiopia gyu no tataki, Japan bo tai chanh, Vietnam carpaccio, Italy Are only cubed and mixed raw beef dishes in the running? In terms of conventional dishes I would have to put my vote on Yuke as well. I really enjoy partial freezing skirt steak and grilling it over and extremely hot charcoal fire, chilling it, chopping it, and serving with a little lime and salt. ::drool::

Torakris, I have only seen fresh octopus in the korean area of town where they have big tanks of it. They have it frozen at some super markets as well. I watched a spanish show that showed them putting octopus in what looked like a laundrymat dryer with large rocks and running it for 2 hours. They showed how tender the finished product was by cutting it with a fork. Seems like a lot of work, but then again I enjoy the chewyness.

That's strange. I bought some last week in my local large supermarket (kansai super). They had two types and full shelves of each.

You can learn a lot about a person based on how they position themselves in relation to food. How they cook and how they eat can be expanded broadly on to how they view consumption in general. This has been very important for me when choosing friends, lovers, and general acquaintances. In my experience someone who will try anything once, who respects the land where their food is grown and the animals they kill to consume, who realizes that food nourishes the body but that too much of a good thing can hurt, and who is always curious about new tastes is just the person for me. When I meet someone new I am always excited and apprehensive about that first meal together. Short of asking them point blank "So do you have any issues? / What's your deal?" I have found it to be the most telling barometer about a person. Granted, I don't put all my faith in dinner table interactions, conversation is still the best way to get to know someone. Times of crisis, the bedroom, the dinner table, and the inner spaces of deep conversation seem to hold very interesting insights into what makes a person tick in my experience. On that note I recommend anyone to go to their local video store and rent Tampopo.

Lindt 82% It is like a good smoke. That being said, I have to be in the mood for it, when not in the mood it can be too "grainy" as the lack of cocoa butter causes it not to coat the mouth with its good flavor as well as lower percentage chocolates.

I'm guessing that if a place specializes in bibimbap they will most likely have yuke hwe bibimbap. I have seen just straight yuke hwe (without rice and accompaniments) at "korean bbq" places that specialize in grilled meats. how do you call this sort of place in hangeul?

That is called Jufran if I recall correctly. good stuff.

I have had a few savory dishes that included bananas (not plantains) as an ingredient. The most notable was a smoked pork chop with a salty/spicy banana chutney. This got me wondering about other possible uses for bananas. I went home, peeled a banana, sprinkled it with a very small amount of kosher salt, and ate it with a fork. It was amazing! A whole new experience. I would recommend anyone to try it. Have you had any encounters with savory bananas? ideas for use in savory dishes?

I checked out the thread and it says "The reason for this extra first boil step is to remove the 'cloudiness' in the soup, which is caused by impurity and blood." I know that this sort of blanching is common in stocks where clarity is important. I wonder if any ramen-ya have cooking classes? Or do they want to protect their trade secrets? I would love to apprentice at a ramen-ya but I don't think this type of work is available to a foreigner.