Jinmyo

Oh.

What's the orange stuff? Isn't that duck sauce ("plum" sauce)?

What's all this then? What does one use it for, Suvir?

I like just dipping them into a bowl of gomasio (sesame salt). Most of the dipping sauces I use have a high acid profile from lime or rice vinegar along with some form of heat from chiles, ginger and so on. I don't care for thick sauces with egg rolls/spring rolls. Often just some shoyu and mustard.

Brownies flavoured with salmon and shrimp? Marvelous.

Yes, raw egg is famously used as a dipping sauce. One just whips it up in the bowl with hashi. Dropping it into a soup or stew of course cooks the egg a bit. But the point is the lusciousness of the taste and texture of the yolk. Since much Korean and especially Japanese food uses oil only as a condiment, the egg gives that "big molecule" fat hit.

Cool. They're Korean tteok. They look great, tommy. Do try some Korean chile paste with them some time.

Yes, Kiku, it is. I don't think they benefit from over-cooking. Unlike huge auber-gaijin that are better stewed or braised.

tommy, that's great! I've only had them that fresh when I've made them. Usually I buy them frozen in long sticks at a Korean grocers. And I have a few bags of dried from a Chinese shop. The dried ones are for emergencies but the instructions on the bag say to soak for three days. A slow emergency. There are so many great things you can do with these tteok. They're great fried with shrimp, mushrooms, spinach, and chiles.

Kiku, I'm glad you enjoyed the chawanmushi. It's very nice with lobster meat. As for nasu dengaku, I don't much care for eggplant (aubergine), even tiny Japanese ones, but here is what I do. I slice them in half lengthwise and then hache (crosshatch cut) down through the flesh almost to the skin. I rub them with a shoyu and wasabi mixture with a bit of oil. I then grill them open face down on a grill or flat top for about two minutes, turn them the other way if I want grill marks for another two minutes. If I want a miso coating, I'll apply it now and put them under the salamander. But I'm more likely to serve them with a miso dipping sauce.

How long is it steamed for, Ed? And does it...gah...still have th-th-th-the skin?

Mwahahahaha, tommy. I love these things. I can't remember what the Chinese name is but in Korean they're called tteok. The Japanese seem only to make mochi cakes out of pounded rice. Tteok are great in tteok-guk (soup). Soak them for at least eight hours. Bring them up to a simmer in even that soaking water or some stock or dashi with ginger. Add some meat or fish or tofu or fishcake and some Korean hot bean paste. Throw some sesame seeds or gomasio overtop and some slivered scallion. Ladle it out and break an egg into the bowl.

Cyn-bluefrog, welcome to eGullet. I'm going to try making tripe, the only offal I find awful.

Suvir, no, not anymore I don't.

Just a wee joke I picked up from Southpark. Not a joke, I should add, that one particular Canadian customer was impressed with. Can't please everyone, eh? Oh. Southpark, eh? That's a U.S. show. That's down south there that, eh? We only get U.S. shows here when the television lines thaw out for two weeks in August. But we're all so busy clubbing baby seals to preserve in bottles for feeding the sled dogs most of us just miss 'em, eh? Quite comfy you've got it in Scotland. Quite comfy to be watching the telly and all.

The rest of who? It's all just us. Having fun. Really, Anna. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.

Nickn, try this for hard-cooked eggs. Bring to a good boil, remove from heat, let sit for ten minutes.

I trust foods labelled "organic" to be so only if it is in fact an organ I'm buying.

Downtown Canada?

Anna, congratulations again. Perhaps that will just be my signature line soon.

Kiku-chan, I don't know what brands there are there. But don't buy Chinese. Korean brands are better, Japanese better yet. Dark and covered with much white stuff (natural msg). Not brittle, not rubbery. Get good bonito. No powdered stuff. Good luck.

Steve, I often see Nobu mentioned when the hot oil sear is mentioned. But everybody's been doing it for a long time. I've had it in Beijing. And a "French" restaurant in Nigeria did this with a steamed snapper. Suzanne, minced meats are often steamed. Whether inside dumplings or as meat balls. I'll steam leftover char siu pork to refresh it. But steamed chicken gives me the willies.

I just don't like couscous. Too itty-bitty. I've tried Israeli couscous and that was better. But too itty.

Stone, try zaru-soba some time. Buckwheat noodles with a dipping sauce. Wait until summer time though, as it's a cooling dish.