Kuma

Interesting it's opened from the top along the backbone instead of the belly.

according to http://foodfest.neworleans.com/top_ten.php?TTID=43 it's ...also we've never heard of it here in Australia - we call it premium lean mince. Hope that helps, Hiroyuki. -Rob.

虹 = Niji (rainbow) に = ni (to) thus, 虹に = to (a/the) rainbow What does it mean? ← Ahh... I think I was sent a recipe for "Rainbow Beef"

Hi all, A friend sent me a link that has the kanji 虹に in it. Could you please tell me how this is pronounced/spelled in Romanji and also what it means ? Cheers, Rob.

I have a favourite recipe for Honey Kasutera - I've entered it Here for you Enjoy !!

Honey Kasutera [castella] (Japanese Honey Sponge) I love a slice of honey sponge with Tea of an afternoon - this one is way better than bought ones and is Natsukashii (memory-evoking) for anyone who's tried it while in Japan. Oh, and you'd better have a sweet tooth. ) 5 Eggs 3/4 c Raw Sugar 1/4 c Honey 1/2 c Plain Flour (Sifted) Place together the eggs, sugar & honey and beat it using an electric beater until it is a thick white foam. Add the sifted flour and beat well into the mixture. Pour into a loaf tin. Bake in a preheated 160C oven for 15 minutes. Stir the mixture. Bake for another 30 minutes. Let cool in pan, turn out and slice. Keywords: Easy, Cake, Japanese ( RG1688 )

My favourite snack after work (about 10 years ago) used to be: Wasabi and Condensed Milk on Toast.

I can tell you all what makes Kewpie mayo taste different than other mayo's..... MSG. It is an ingredient in Kewpie, and I find that if I eat too much mayo at one go (hello okonomiyaki) I find myself getting "dry mouth" and sometimes even heart palpitations. Nowadays a little mayo goes a long way *sigh* but I DO really love the Kewpie brand mayo. It makes me Natsukoshi (Kris, this means reminiscent / something that brings back fond memories, doesn't it ?) -Rob.

Great news !! I found the Nuka packaged as just "Rice Bran" in my local health food shop. It appears untoasted so I will heat it in a low oven as suggested. I can't wait, but I'm still trying to find the Kombu...

In the shindogu book I own, they have a bowl that is cut in half, with a mirror stuck to the cut side. This makes it look like a whole bowl again and is meant to be used for people who can only eat a half bowl of rice.

The average large tamago (egg - see, I do practice ) contains about 215mg of cholesterol. I had a heart attack last year, and the doctors say I should have no more than 3-4 eggs per week. The average recommendation for regular folk is about 200-300mg cholesterol per day. Gimme that uni now !!

Stop! You're making me hungry again !! (I really need to stop reading the forum just before bed). One dish I really love is maguro (tuna) cubed, then marinated in wasabi & pesto combined. Leave for 10 mins for flavours to absorb then serve on shredded carrot & baby spinach that's been drizzled with wasabi mayonnaise. (no pic yet, but will take one next time we have it.) ...and we have Kangaroo meat available that's good enough for sashimi/carpaccio but I've never had horse as yet. I plan to, though.

For me, nothing gives me a burst of energy more than Natto on steamed rice. (My flatmate won't even look at it - says the stickiness puts him off). My other favourite for lunch to avoid the afternoon slump (especially while running all over Kyoto) was Omelette over rice. Yum !

Interesting ! I assume to make sake kasu tsukemono you would need to have sake lees lying around, therefore you would have needed to make sake to get them I'm glad we're allowed to make home brew here in Australia !! (Although I'm not sure about Distilling...) I forgot about making Miso, but as we can get it so cheaply here I don't see a big need to make my own, we don't use it EVERY day (although it does taste similar to Vegemite (Aussie yeast spread) when spread on toast.)

ありがて　ございます Hiroyuki, my Nihongo is poor to say the least !

jayt90, I can think of another thing that makes the best sake "Superior" - The rice they used is polished down until only the very heart of the greain remains. This makes a better sake - unfortunately I don't know how to achieve this at home, short of shaving down each individual grain of rice with a knife To answer Sencha's questions: I don't soak the rice before steaming, but I don't know why this didn't occur to me before - I will try this next time and see what happens. The rice still reaches a porridge-like consistancy during fermentation, but now that I think of it, it does swell up and take up a lot more liquid than it should. Thank you for the tip ! Yeast - my local brewer's supplier doesn't stock any sake yeasts, so I use the low-temperature lager yeast. I am going to try the round yeast-balls sold at the local asian grocer next time, as I think they might work a little better. Pasteurisation - yes, I do this, simply because I don't think I can drink the sake as fast as I can make it Does it make a big difference in the taste? I did think to keep some of the lees for use in pickling, but when I last checked them, they had developed some bacterial infection due to being left out of the fridge a bit too long, and had turned a delightful shade of pink . I have since disposed of them.

I might need some help with translation, Hiroyuki, as Google translation gae me this: Gotta love Google Translation !

konban-wa. We had Shabu-shabu tonight, cooked in my old Fondue set - it seems to work well for the purpose, however. We had beef filet, regular button mushrooms (darn supermarket was out of ALL exotic mushrooms - no enoki or matsutake for us tonight), bok-choy, spring onion, carrot, & snow-peas. Sauces were a commercial Ponzu (I am desperate, but unable to find Yuzu in Sydney, and lemon juice is just not the same) and a home-made sesame sauce. Now, the big question.... We always beat an egg each and use it as a dip a' la sukiyaki, but is this the done thing ? We like to have it, as we always tip the leftover egg into the broth at the end to finish off the soup nicely. I think the egg at the end is correct (as are udon, yes?), but I don't think anyone dips the meat into the egg first, or do they? We love this dish so much we are buying a rotating blade deli-slicer in order to shave the frozen beef more thinly than we can with a knife. I'm good, but I'm not Hiroyuki Sakai Cheers, Rob.

Hello all ! For those of you who don't know me, and that should be most of you, my name is Robert and I am an Australian in Sydney who is in love with Japan. I spent 5 weeks there in 2005, and will be going back for another 7 weeks in March 2007. "Where's the Sake", I hear you cry? Well, in preparation for my trip, my flatmate and I decided we would have a go at Sake-brewing at home. The average bottle of Gekkaikan retails for about $24 per bottle, as does the Australian Go-shu brand (anout $20) and so we thought that doing it ourself would be a lot cheaper (and it is). We looked at all sorts of recipes for Dobroku and Sake, and finally realised we'd have to get some Koji-Kin first. This is the "mould spore" you inoculate the rice with in order to make it sweet enough to ferment. The progress went like this: 1) Steam Rice 2) Make kome-koji (sweet rice) by inoculating rice with koji-kin and keeping it warm for 3 days or so. 3) add kome-koji to more steamed rice. 4) add clean water. 5) add Yeast 6) allow to ferment about 3 weeks 7) decant and bottle. I am not at home at present, so I don't have the exact recipe - I will post it as soon as I can, for all you sake-lovers. It's really good, but watch out - sometimes it can go a bit sour, but the sour one's still good for cooking or pickling !! Oops, just found one of the recipe's I use. Have a look at This Web-site (It's where I order my koji-kin from) Kampai !! Rob. )

MOS Burger !! My first welcome to Matsumoto It was 2 degrees and a hot MOS burger and kohii were very welcome.

Gosh ! Thanks for the super welcome, Kristin & Helen... I think I'm going to have a ball here.. Maybe even a Rice Ball I am going to check the 2 local asian markets Monday morning, and get that Daikon on the road. The only version I can get here locally is the "highlighter-pen-yellow" one, so I can't wait to try the real thing. ( So as not to highjack the thread, I will post my Sake adventures separately. Also I need to check something related to Shabu-shabu so will post that too. Cheers, Rob. )

Greetings all ! Nukamiso is going to be my next project - We made Sake at home last year, but this sounds just right for our next project to keep us going till our next Japan trip in March '07. I haven't looked for it yet, but if I can't get Rice Bran here in Sydney, will Wheat or Oat Bran suffice ? I think someone mentioned this on the net somewhere, but knowing how touchy Kome-Koji is, I'm wondering if it makes a big difference. (Oh, I'm now saving Bread-crusts just in case... ) Cheers, Rob.