_john

Helen: You definitely get more bite with the high protein flour but it takes more time to work with the dough because it needs to rest. When I have time I roll it out by hand with a flat rolling pin called a menbou (麺棒 not 綿簿 ). The rest of the time I use my pasta machine to roll it to the correct thickness. If I use the pasta machine I don't have to let the dough rest when rolling it because of the brute force of the machine. MoGa: There are two ways to do the egg. One way is to put the drained piping hot noodles with no broth in a bowl and then put a whole raw egg over the top and mix for some time until it thickens slightly. This is essentially udon carabonara. You add some dashi and soy sauce and top with negi. This is called kamatama. One point when making this dish that makes a real difference is to heat to bowl with the boiling water before adding the noodles. You don't have to heat it long but you won't get the right texture if the noodles are cooled down too much. The second way is to put a coddled egg onsen tamago over cold noodles. This is usually seasoned with a little soy sauce and the ever present negi. I have a method for making the onsen tamago that I will post in the egg thread. Flour production companies produce what is called "flour for handmade udon". some famous brands are: suzume スズメ、ahiru アヒル、tsubaki ツバキ. The problem is these flours are sold in 25kg bags. Your best bet would be to ask an udon shop if you can buy flour from them. ojisan: It depends on the size of the individual niboshi. I did some experiments and found that if the niboshi weigh less than one gram each you do not need to remove the head and guts. Over one gram I would remove the head and guts and use 30g of cleaned niboshi for one liter of dashi.

I made some salt recently. 2 liters of sea water turned into about 1 cup of salt. The salt crystals are fairly uniform and small. Everyone says that it is not safe to make your own salt because of pollution but I wonder if this is really true. Next time I am going to use a large flat black tray to slowly evaporate it.

I use the highest protein flour I can find in super markets in my area. I can tell you the restaurant use brands that are used in Japan but I don't think that would be very useful. Use bread flour, not all purpose flour in the U.S. Their recipe is almost the same as mine with a little less salt. And they call for all purpose flour. The salt makes the noodles firmer I'm told. This recipe calls for very little resting of the dough which is probably because they call for all purpose flour. With high protein flour it is impossible to roll it out without resting, it just springs back. It says that using water that is too cold will make the noodles tough. I thought that was the point? And not washing noodles for hot broth, hmmm. I was always told do it for hot and cold. This was to remove nebari stickiness.

Thanks for your detailed report. What interests me the most is the ingredients of your kaeshi and their ratio. I have made kaeshi once, using only three ingredients: mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. 20 parts soy sauce? ← Yes 20 parts usukuchi soy sauce. I have been told that kaeshi should be 100% usukuchi shoyu to 10% mirin by volume. Other additions vary. My kaeshi is sort of a combination of different things I have heard/researched. I am still changing this recipe which is why I didn't put it on recipe gullet. It is pretty close to udon shop udon but still not quite there. Maybe it's the atmosphere.

All those people lined up to eat takoyaki are tourists who think that Osaka is all about takoyaki. When I go on dotonbori I can see that about 70% of people there are tourists. The people they are following who are caring flags is a dead giveaway . Good shot of Kinryuu, their ramen is pretty good. The other really famous ramen shop Kamukura is just around the corner. And near the sumo stadium is one of my favorite ramen places Ippudou. The street with tools and plates is called Doguyasuji. I try not to go there too much it is bad for my wallet.

Ive eaten a lot of udon at what are considered the best shops in Osaka. I finally decided to try and make restaurant quality udon at home. I thought I would share what I found out. For me the best udon combines the noodles of Sanuki with the dashi of Osaka. So that was what I aimed for. Sanuki udon noodles are described in Japanese by saying koshi ga aru. I think the best translation for this is that they have some bite to them, they are firm. Making the noodles is the easy part. Here is the condensed recipe: For ever 1 kilo of flour: 450ml of water with 50g of salt dissolved in it. Combine and let rest 30 minutes. Knead by stepping on the dough between two vinyl sheets. Spread the dough out with you feet, roll it into a cylinder and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat this processed at least 6 times resting 5 minutes between turns. Mature the dough for at least 4 hours, I mature it overnight. Separate the dough into 200g balls and wrap with plastic wrap. You can freeze what you don't need immediately. When you want to eat udon start a large pot of water to boil and roll out the dough into a square sheet. Fold the dough like a letter and cut noodles that are as thick as they are wide, a little smaller than a pencil (they will expand when cooked). Sprinkle the noodles with flour and separate them. Boil for 10 minutes and then chill in cold running water. You can reheat them for hot noodles or eat them cold. There are two components to udon "dashi". Dashi is actually a kind of ambiguous word because it can mean a pure extract from one or more sources or a broth that has been seasoned. Udon dashi is made from kaeshi, the seasonings combined and matured, and dashi taken from fish and kelp. This is how to make the kaeshi: usukuchi (light) soy sauce 20 sake 3.5 sugar 3 mirin 1 salt 1 Combine all the ingredients except the soy sauce in a pot and bring almost to the boil. When you can no longer smell alcohol evaporating from the mirin and sake turn off the flame and let it cool. When the mixture is cool add the soy sauce and store in the refrigerator. Most shops make a large amount of this at one time and mature up to one month before using. I matured it a week and the flavor definitely changed from when it was fresh. The broth component of the dashi is the most difficult part. This is not the orthodox method but one I developed based on my cold dashi experiments. In Osaka the broth always seems to be based on katsuo. A lot of shops use sababushi, dried mackerel flakes, and urumebushi, herring flakes. Because these are ingredients that you cant buy at a normal supermarket I use niboshi, small dried sardines, and katsuo bushi. This is how I make dashi: For every 1 liter of water: niboshi 45g konbu 5~8g thin katsuobushi 10~20g Combine the niboshi, konbu, and water and let it sit over night in the refrigerator. The next day remove the kelp and heat the liquid with the niboshi to almost boiling. Add the katsuobushi and let it steep for a few minutes. Strain the dashi and chill it. The niboshi and konbu give the umami and the katsuobushi gives the aroma and further complexity to the dashi. For hot udon in broth: Prepare noodles as above. Heat some dashi and add some kaeshi. I don't have an exact amount you should add, this is up to you taste. I add it until the color seems right and if the flavor is weak I add some salt. The "right" color for Osaka is a deep golden color. Reheat the noodles in the dashi or the boiling water and then put them both in a bowl. I put sliced negi, green onion, on top. Other toppings include ten kasu (tempura bits), and shichimi togarashi (a seven spice mix based on red chili) For cold udon: Place the chilled and drained noodles in a bowl. Top with raw egg, soy sauce, and negi to taste. Cold udon is also great with: grated daikon, tsudachi, ginger, more negi, shredded nori. If you don't like raw egg you don't have to use it. If you have been thinking of trying to make udon I'd say give it a try. It is pretty easy and doesn't take that long to make. Because you can freeze the dough and dashi you can enjoy udon any time.

Osaka seems to have fairly soft water. I don't boil the water before I use it, just straight out of the tap. I agree that water is very important in cooking but I'm not sure what is the best type of water for different situations. I have been continuing my experiments and I have some measurements. For katsuo dashi I use 30g of thick cut katsuo and 8g of konbu for 1 liter of water. for niboshi dashi I used 45g of niboshi and 8g of konbu for 1 liter. I have now been taking out the konbu after the first night. I don't think the flavor improves by leaving in the materials longer than the second night so you can strain them out if you want. Right now I'm working on my sanuki udon recipe so here is a picture of my niboshi dashi and one tama not yet rolled into noodles. Is there an udon thread?

I'd be very interesting to hear more about did the sharpening. I currently have a few knifes that I would love to put a convex edge on along with a mirror-polish on along the blade edge. Did you simply dragged the blade through the mousepad, letting the foam doing the work, or did you have to use a rolling motion to coax the convex edge? What exactly is this pink 3M sandpaper? Did you have to use any compound? ← I don't use any compound but I do start with fresh paper each time I sharpen a knife. You have to drag the knife with the edge trailing along the surface of the sandpaper and foam rig. You hold the angle steady and the way the foam gives under the pressure creates the convex curve. I don't know what the pink 3M paper is exactly but it is a very high # abrasive applied to plastic sheet.

I would like to grow some heirloom tomatoes on my roof this year in containers. I am starting from seeds. Any tips from veteran gardeners? This is my first time to grow tomatoes. Are there any other vegetables that would be good in containers in Japan's climate?

Recently I have been experimenting with a cold brew method of making dashi. I don't know if this is an already known method or not. I got the idea from the Toddy cold brew coffee method. I put the katsuobushi and kombu in a large pitcher and fill it with water and stick it in the refrigerator. I don't filter anything out unless I am pouring it for use. It makes a sort of concentrated dashi that I can use little by little. One liter lasts me about a week. I will measure how much raw ingredients I use next time I make it. The flavor is pretty good in my opinion. Has anyone else tried this?

I cook bread in mine like a la cloche. I use it in the oven a lot. It also makes great Japanese style rice. The advantage with the rice is that temperature changes are gentle and it keeps it warm for a while after it is finished cooking. For bread I heat up the pot, put in the dough, bake with the lid on for some time, and finish with the lid off. The advantages with bread are increasing the thermal mass of your oven and the great crust that steam baking develops.

It was a book about hamburger places in Japan. Lots of listings in the Tokyo area and Sasebo of course. It might have been this one.

was it slimey?

That burger looks great. Has anyone else seen that hamburger mook (magazine book) at book stores recently? I tried to take a picture of it but the staff made a big batsu sign over his head

when you have sushi what do you drink? It is refreshing to see the more traditional sushi. I went to a kaiten sushi restaurant recently and they had hamburg steak gunkan maki . I also finally had kanburi this season. I had been waiting like you for my local place to get it but the prices were so high this year.

What is your price range for "must eat" places? Could you give me an example of a restaurant you really enjoy in your home area so I can make better suggestions?

finally a blog I can relate to! Ive never seen "loaner" umbrellas but you can buy an umbrella for less than $1 so it is no big deal. Do you have certain staple meals that you eat a lot? What do you like to eat when you eat out?

In Japan there is a famous home cooking dish called niku jaga. Niku means meat and jaga refers to the potatoes used in the dish which have the full name jaga imo. In western Japan the meat is understood to be pork. In the eastern half it is understood to be beef. I live in western Japan however when I hear niku in Japanese I think of beef first.

I use this system with my knives and it works great. Best edge I've ever gotten on my knives. I use 3 grades of sandpaper when converting a non-convex blade to a convex one. When I am just touching up I use the last two grades and sometimes this pink 3M paper which gives a mirror finish. I "go through" one piece of paper, which I cut from a larger sheet to fit my foam, each time I sharpen. I spend about $5 a year on sharpening this way. Just remember: edge trailing stroke, not to hard not to soft.

Is there any good pho on the Big Island? I'm looking for S.F. bay area style pho. Tendon, tripe, hoisin and sriracha on the table, eye of round raw, etc.

I watched it. It was a pretty good program. I wish they spent more time on his tools. It left me wanting to know more about how he made the money to open his own restaurant, what visa he was on in France, and how long he studied French language and cooking. When you use such top quality ingredients and you know all the best producers and distributors it is no wonder that he is so highly praised. How do you build a network like that! Obviously I'm a little jealous but it was also pretty motivating to see such a young chef at a high level.

On the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2008 topic a few people mentioned Osaka. Which restaurants do you think are star worthy in Osaka?

Takoyaki flour is probably takoyaki mix. It will have other ingredients other than flour. Something along the lines of katsuo extract, salt, msg, baking powder. You probably have to add egg. Here is a simple takoyaki batter recipe: flour：５０ｇ　 egg：１ dashi：２５０ml

I think it is nigari solution? just a guess

I've seen bigger takoyaki but they were always called something generic like "jumbo takoyaki". In the restaurant supply district of osaka they have a few sizes of professional takoyaki grills. One I saw recently doesn't require the balls to be turned with a pick. There is a second matching grill that folds over the first one like closing a book and then they are flipped into that one. It seemed a lot faster. The guy said it can produce a really liquidy creamy center. Here is a takoyaki ranking for osaka. I've been to most of the top ones but none of them are worth the wait in line in my opinion. And some of them are quite expensive!