jkonick

Bacon could be hard to come by in an Israeli joint...call it a hunch! ← Don't be so sure: http://telavivis.ags.myareaguide.com/detai...=232780&SSC=427 ← I'm pretty sure there's even a kibbutz in Israel where they raise pigs for food, although I don't remember seeing any pork the entire time I was there. This definitely warrants a trip to Vancouver though, I have been absolutely craving shawarma since I got back from Israel and you can't find anything close to authentic in Seattle. Now if they had lemonana there I think I'd pretty much die...

Soon dubu has been a recent favorite of mine, also been making a lot of bulgogi as I bought a ridiculous amount of pork recently. I also discovered Korean style nori, with sesame oil and salt. I think it's pretty much the greatest thing ever, I eat it plain constantly... Maybe if I can wrangle one of my roommate's cameras I will take some pictures next time I make soon dubu.

Last summer when I was in Israel, shawarma became one of my favorite foods, and in the two weeks I was there I ate about a year's worth. One of my favorite things was all of the the condiments and pickles, and I usually just told them to put everything on it. Can anyone tell me what some typical condiments are, and how to make them (or find them)? It seemed like it was mostly pickles, tomatos, tehina, but I'm not sure of the exact stuff. Thanks!

Thanks for posting this recipe Kent! I have an eel in my freezer right now so I'll have to try it. A few questions though. I've used that same brand of eel, and for some reason to me it doesn't taste like any eel I've had before. It had more of a tuna like consistency, as compared to the almost lobster-tuna consistency of eel I've had before. Is "yellow" eel a different kind than is commonly used, or did I just cook it wrong? Also, why do you leave the skin on? You can't eat it, right? It's so tough. Do you just take it off when you eat it?

I think this is actually one of my favorite kinds of korokke... I had it for the first time in a restaurant, and today made some of my own with a mixture of about 3/4 kabocha, 1/4 satsuma imo on the outside. They turned out really well! What do you usually use as condiments with korokke? I like a combo of Japanese mayo and tonkatsu sauce. That chutney looks like a good idea too.

It is hayashi, not hiyashi. I'm slowly making my way through Uwajimaya's (hte biggest Japanese grocery store in Seattle) selection of roux bases. The picture on the package looked like beef stew so I figured the flavor had to be similar. I think I'll have it tomorrow night for dinner and report back..

I tried the aformentioned soymilk and corn cream stew the other day, and I've gotta say, in a weird way, it was pretty good! The flavor of the roux mix is very, very artificial tasting (think watermelon or banana "flavored" things) buttered corn. I used some kabocha, satsuma imo, broccoli, diced onion, garlic and deep fried cubes of tofu. Had it with rice, and it turned out really well. I'm interested in trying it with seafood, or maybe adding some real corn in. The thing I love about Japanese stews is that you can basically add in whatever you have on hand. I also bought some Hiyashi roux mix. I have no idea what it is, it just looks vaguely brown

I tried some milk and honey flavored pocky the other day, which I've never seen before. It was actually really good, didn't have a very strong flavor at all, and actually tasted a lot like real milk and honey.

These are all great ideas! I just bought some matsutakes too, so I'll have to try that soup. I also have been meaning to make saba shioyaki, so it could come in handy there too...

Yesterday I picked up a sudachi at my local Japanese grocery store. I know I've heard of them before, but I have no idea how to use it. Can it be used like yuzu? Thanks!

Personally I would love to see a cookbook of just izakaya dishes. Some basic ones, and maybe even going to izakayas and getting recipes for signature dishes. It seems like there are so many different possibilites there, and unique dishes that aren't even made at home a lot. I think an even larger undertaking, but something that would GREATLY interest me is if someone did English versions of Japanese food magazines. I always see them at a bookstore that's connected to a Japanese market in Seattle, and I have no idea what the recicpes are but I'm so curious. They all seem like the dishes you were talking about Kristin, just everyday Japanese things.

I usually wear a headband. A lot of other people wear bandanas. Think outside the hat!

Making really really loud sreaching/screaming noises in the walk in during dinner. Kind of fun to do that when there are customers about ten feet away, but they can't hear you. I work at a pizza place, and our dough size for a regular pizza is seven ounces. Tonight I took a two ounce piece of dough and stretched it out bigger than a regular pizza. It was so thin that when I tossed it up I wasn't sure if it was going to come down. It actually turned out pretty well. Being a pizza place, we always have lots of flour around. Once, right after we closed, I grabbed a handful and went into the walk in. Proceeded to smear it all around my nose/mouth/face (a la the scene in True Romance where the guy gets coke all over his face). Came out trying to look all drugged up adn realized a customer had just walked up to get his to go order. Very quickly ran back to the walk in, laughing. There's a cafe part of our restaurant, so I try to get the baristas to make me the most ridiculous drinks possible. Sometimes I just give them names (i.e. mocha madness) and tell them to come up with drinks based on them. Once I got three baristas working at once, and ended up with a delcious sparkling rosemary lemonade.

Pork belly, duck leg confit... has anyone mentioned braised brisket? Oh man, brisket done right is one of my all time favorites.

I've never seen front of house staff in full on chef's uniforms, that's bizarre. At the restaurant I work at, the FOH people do always take the kitchen aprons (full length, with pockets, as compared to little ones that only go above the knee). It looks silly (what would a waiter need that big thing for??) and it's annoying to those of us in the kitchen who are forced to wear front of house aprons when the waiters dirty all of ours before another batch comes.

I think with MSG, it's a kind of "what you don't know CAN hurt you" sort of thing. It seems that most of the people who are shocked by the fact that I use MSG, and who claim that it gives headaches and all other sorts of nasty ailments are the ones who know the least about it. One person thought it was a kind of animal fat, another had no idea that it occurred naturally. I wouldn't be surprised if people with such great fears of things they know nothing about could worry themselves into getting a headache. As for me, I use it fairly often and have never had a problem, but I'll admit before I really knew anything about it, I thought I had some side effects of MSG syndrome or what have you. Maybe there need to be some public service announcements about the wonders and safety of MSG??

So I finally took the durian plunge, and I gotta say -- I really like it! I actually found that the flavor was not as intense as some durian flavored stuff I've tried (the one I got was a whole frozen specimen). I'd probably eat it again, but I at about $13 a durian at the only place in Seattle I've seen them so far, I'm not sure I'll make it a regular thing.

You mean all three in the same dish??????? Thats's a new one on me!!!! ← jkonick: Did you actually see such a sandwich? Or, are you referring to a sandwich like natto coffee jelly sandwich? http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/rimssecret/nattou.htm (I don't think this contains mayo, though.) SuzySuhi: I can assure you that coffee jelly-natto-mayo sandwiches look wierd to most Japanese! ← I have actually seen versions of that sandwich containing mayo... I think it was sort of a novelty kids sandwich. But in my experience, I'll agree that Japanese mayo is better than American. But then again, I just don't like mayo, so my opinion is pretty skewed.

Now some adopted dishes I don't like... Coffee jelly-natto-mayo sandwiches. The things the Japanese do with mayonnaise really weird me out. As someone who doesn't like mayo to begin with, the thought of it in some strange combination grosses me out even further. Pizza. I know a couple of people already listed pizza as a good thing, but it some of the toppings totally weird me out. Chances are they probably would taste ok together, but bsaed on my own perceptions of stuff (i.e. mayo/corn/seafood), I can't imagine those things together.

In general I like Japanese food because it's not as heavy as Western food and has cleaner and lighter flavors. When these principles are used with Western foods, I think a lot of the time there's some great improvement, especially in things like fried foods, which are really, really greasy in the US, but their Japanese counterparts are light and crisp without being oily. Some of my favorite "Japanized" things are: Croquettes Takoyaki with mochi and cheese (it's such a weird combination, but I really like it) Japanese pastries, especially cream filled ones Japanese canned coffee As for the curry debate... I love Japanese curry. The flavors may not be authentic, or as complex as those of Indian curries, but keep in mind we're dealing with a boxed roux product here. If someone made a Japanese-style curry mix from scratch, it would probably taste a lot better. But as far as boxed or instant foods go, it's pretty damn good. I also like the fact that it's sweet. I think again it's that Japanese touch. A lot of savory Japanese foods have some sweetness in them, and that's another thing I like about Japanese food. Japanese principles + curry flavors = good in my book!

Had a great French goat cheese today, Chabis Feuille. It was wrapped in some sort of leaves (I can't remember what kind... someone help me out here), with cracked peppercorns and as the woman at the store (DeLaurenti, in Seattle) described, "infused" with brandy. Not sure how it was infused exactly. She reccomonded putting it in the oven for a few minutes. I did so and it was delicious! Very creamy, great texture with lots of different flavors. Herbal, tea-like flavor from the leaves, spiciness from the peppercorns and sweet fruitiness from the brandy, rounded out by the tanginess of the cheese. I liked this cheese a lot, and I'll be getting it again soon I think... Some pictures:

I wish I had read this before I went to Israel... the wines I tried were not that great, although I didn't search that hard (I only got stuff from supermarkets, although with the advice of a local). I did try a muscat that I thought was pretty good. We were actually supposed to visit a winery, but that never happened. It does seem like Israel has a pretty big wine industry though. And of course, the kosher wine I had on shabbat... well, I don't even need to talk about that With info from this thread, I'll have to see if I can track down some good Israeli wine.

It's funny, I actually find myself more open to eating "weird" Chinese/Asian things than I do "weird" Western things. For me, it's an association thing. For example, there is really only one thing I absolutely, under no circumstance, will never eat: mayonnaise. I hate mayo. I've hated it since I was a kid. I can't get near the stuff. But organ meat smothered in fish sauce and stinky tofu? Bring it on! Chinese and Japanese are by far my two favorite cuisines, and as I really began to explore them, I kept digging deeper and deeper to try to find the "real stuff," and go beyond the boring Americanized Chinese food that is widely available. It just so happens that the more authentic stuff is also more foreign to Western taste buds, but to me, as someone with an honest interest in Asian food, that's all the better. And because I have no childhood associations with things like stinky tofu or chicken feet or Japanese natto, I have no reason not to like them. The first time I tried all those things, I thought they were great, and I continue to eat them. A lot of my friends shy away from this kind of stuff though - I think because they have no real interest in Chinese food, they are fine with remaining complacent and eating things like fried rice and potstickers, while I eat intestine. These are mostly people who like one kind of food, and eat the same stuff pretty often. I can't say for sure why I am open to eating just about anything, and other people won't budge from their routine. Maybe it's just because they don't see food as an event to be enjoyed, but rather as a task.

How was it? What was the variety like? I've never been there before... it looks like a kind of Americanized place - a la House of Hong - to me. But never judge a book by its cover, right? I'll have to check it out.

I've never had the fruit straight-up, but I like durian flavored ice cream, bubble tea, etc (I get some WEIRD looks when I order that...). Some of the artificial durian flavored stuff sort of tastes like tropical fruit mixed with onions to me. I've always seen durians at Uwajimaya in Seattle, but I've never been brave enough to buy one and just eat it plain. I think this thread has pushed me over the edge finally... I'm gonna head down there asap!