_john

Thank you Martin Yan

Rhum Du Pere Labat - Rhum Agricole de Marie Galante I don't know if you can get this in the U.S.A. but this rum was life changing.

The oxo probe thermometer is terrible. outward design is good but that is about it. battery life is terrible and the probe is not accurate. buyer beware

heat the wok up really smoking hot. put in the sugared tomatoes (sprinkle them with sugar as you would salt). when the edges show signs of being the least bit soft take the tomatoes out and clean the wok. heat the wok up really hot again and add about 4tbs or oil. heat the oil up until it is smoking and then holding the wok in your left hand and chopsticks in the right pour the hot oil into the beaten eggs while mixing with the chopsticks. mix very gently, with a motion almost like folding. let the wok start smoking again. pour the egg and oil mix into the wok followed immediately by the tomatoes. add about a tablespoon of light soy sauce, pouring it around the rim of the wok, and cook until the eggs are runny but the soy sauce is no longer distinguishable.

you are looking for a katsuramuki-ki. korin has one here

when you know where you will be living let me know. i can help you.

don't waste your money on hinoki. in west japan we use Ginko wood cut in the same style. hinoki has a strong smell which transfers to things cut on it. a pure white ginko board, don't oil it, don't cut things that will color it, and it can be your canvas.

Heinz needs to license this technology Japanese dispenser packs The package itself squeezes out the contents. The ones with mustard and ketchup come along with hot dogs and corn dogs at convenience stores.

none of my appliances beep. That's because I've opened them all up and cut out their speakers. In Japan appliances don't beep... They play a song. Everything plays a song...

On cooking school in Japan especially Tsuji: Networking is all important in Japanese kitchens. Even if you went to Tsuji and studied really hard, even if you worked at Semba Kitcho, unless you are introduced by someone who everyone involved knows and trusts it doesn't mean much in my experience. When you enter a new kitchen you start at the bottom. Learning on the job is much more valued in Japan than in America. You learn how to cook that restaurant's food. And while you are busting your ass every day you earn everyone's respect. If no one sees that then it is very hard. Tsuji is full of housewives and rich kids. A quote from an job interview with a Tsuji graduate "So, you probably know how to hold a knife?" Is this restaurant in Nose? if so it is a nice place. The family financing his place must have some major bucks.

Thanks. the Den's tea link is just what I was looking for if not a little overly specific.

Is there a handy chart with the temperatures, weights, times, and volumes for brewing different types of tea? I'm mostly interested in Japanese teas. The ideal chart would look something like this (example): for 180ml: sencha 76°C 2g. 30sec. houjicha 80°c 3g. 4min. genmaicha... etc.

This post was mostly about enameled steel. not for cooking but for storage and prep. Not as cheap as you would think a small storage container cost about US$7.

Recently Muji released a new series of enamel food storage containers. Most people who live in Japan know about the iconic dark green and white enamel ware that has a long history. Now there are only a few companies still making enamel ware in Japan. Most notably Noda Horo I'm thinking of going all enamel ware in my kitchen. Do any of you have experience using enamel ware? Does it have any advantages over stainless steel? The plastic lids/seals commonly used seem like a major weak point. Any enamel ware with a non-airtight lid that that is made entirely of enamel ware? Muji Noda Horo Classic Japanese enamel ware

No one in the industry respects Tsuji or graduates of Tsuji. Culinary schools in Japan are not like culinary schools elsewhere. caveat emptor.

for people who read this thread and are thinking of doing it here is some recommended reading: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/japanese_food_guide01.html

debas are made for chipping. i have mine resharpened to remove all the chips about once a year. it is a utility knife just like a cleaver. there is no reason to buy an expensive one. In a professional setting there is no way to avoid chipping it. breaking down crabs, breaking down bones in fish skeletons, splitting fish heads.

eat nigiri. start from white fleshed fish, move to akami (tuna or katsuo but not toro or chutoro), then "blue" fish (mackerel, sardines, etc). this is the standard progression. try some non nigiri dishes. drink the tea. eat the pickled ginger. if you want to know if a restaurant is good or not just sit down and order the least popular thing on the menu. if it's fresh and delicious then they are probably not taking short cuts. but this is hard to know when you have never had the fresh high quality version of what you are eating. as a rule of thumb as long as you are happy eating what is being put out then it is a good restaurant for you. the quality of the fish has little to do with the skill of the chef and everything to do with the the skill of the person buying the fish. chawanmushi and other dishes with cooked fish are often ways of recycling old fish. ate at Sebo in San Francisco recently. admired their spirit but was not impressed with the sushi. didn't really like the fact that you pay for the jet fuel used to get 95% of their fish from japan to the restaurant while it slowly degrades in quality in the process.

my guess is that the cloves are put on skewers and marinated/pickled in miso mixed with sugar, soy sauce, mirin, and probably sesame oil. when someone orders they are pulled out of the marinade, some of the marinade lightly wiped off and then grilled. i've also never had this dish. I bet if you threw the cloves in a tub of ssamjang it would be really good.

unfortunately there is no english translation of this page on wikipedia right now but here is a list of regional cuisine (kyoudo ryouri) based on prefecture for people who read japanese. 日本の郷土料理一覧

here is an easy way to make soki soba if you live in north america. buy cross cut spare ribs and an equal weight of unsmoked ham hocks. if you have a pressure cooker put the spare ribs and ham hocks in and cover with cold water. cook until the ham hocks are falling apart. discard the ham hocks and strain the broth. season the broth with salt and msg. put the short ribs in a pot and just barely cover with dashi. into the dashi add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, awamori in a ratio of 1:0.3:0.3:0.1 . bring to a boil and let it sit in the refrigerator at least overnight. buy the thinnest dried udon you can find. boil the udon and then rinse it under running water. add it to the bowl and then add the pork broth. top with some of the seasoned rib meat. add benishoga and negi.

it takes about a year to make usable katsuramuki. you can use a usuba or a thin western style knife. if you are interested in mukimono (decorative and practical vegetable cutting) then you might want to buy a mukimonobocho. here is a good book that comes with a dvd: むきもの入門

salt charcoal real wasabi mac n cheese eggs hot rocks nut oil based salad dressings

the best ratio for takikomi gohan or kamameshi I have found. I have tried over 10. dashi:shirojyouyu*:mirin 18:1.5:1 *shirojyouyu is usually translated as "white soy sauce". It is soy sauce made entirely with wheat (as apposed to a mix of wheat and soy beans) In professional washoku restaurants in kansai seasonings are lined up in front of the cooking area in the following order. left to right: koikuchi, usukuchi, mirin, sake. on a seperate shelf if possible there are: ajinomoto, fine salt, sugar. These seasoning are taken from the stainless steel containers using a small ladle which I think is called a kanagae. The size of the ladle is based on the traditional Japanese system for measuring volumes of liquids. At most restaurants they use ladles of these sizes 1-seki*, 2-seki, 4-seki, 8-seki, 1-gou. *The term seki is used in kansai, the proper term is shaku. One shaku is approimately 18ml 1-gou is about 180ml. The ratio for kansai dashi maki: for every three eggs: 4:0.5:o:o dashi(one 4-seki ladle) : usukuchi(0.5seki): pinch salt :pinch ajinomoto

I have used eggshells and rusty nails before. Both seem to work. Like Helen said using the smallest amount of water possible is the key. I have used both tanba and hokkaido kuromame. In the past kuromame from hokkaido were the most popular and I think they are just as good as the tanba beans. Unless you put them side by side it is hard to tell the difference especially when they are cooked. I always use LL beans. One thing that I was taught to do was to throw a bean as hard as you can at the wall. When it sticks to the wall instead of bouncing off it is soft enough.