Jinmyo

No kimchi - steak! Kimchi and steak.

Kimchi.

No. You don't have to. You really don't.

fifi, I am anti-recipe by nature and principle.

Alton's gone over the edge.

Ground chuck beef, ground pork shoulder, chopped lamb kidney, "fresh" bread crumbs, egg. Season with salt, fresh pepper, chipotle paste, chopped garlic, pistachios. Mix well. Wrap in thinly sliced double-smoked bacon (from a slab; have the butcher do it if you don't have a meat slicer), place in pan. One hour at 400F. Drain. Let rest ten minutes. Remove from pan and let rest a few minutes more. Slice thinly with a wet knife, drizzle with a Dijon mustard sauce (could just whip some white wine into the mustard). Serve with roasted baby potatoes or mashed potatoes with ramps or roasted garlic and shaved fennel sauteed in butter with a few peels of parmesan. Or as sandwiches in a crusty bread with blackened tomato slices and mustard with frites.

I only have access to it dried. It has a creosote kind of taste. It actually works well in certain contexts. Or so I'm told because I never eat the bean dishes I use it in at all lest I become a human dirigible.

Sapporo Draft in the tall silver cans is not bad for a not too serious beer.

Shoyu and wasabi?

Sake.

Yes. Oilyness, fattiness, is just not understand in Japanese cuisine. Thus the dislike of fatty (also thought of as "smelly") fish such as saba (mackerel) for sushi. And the shallowness of grilled meat dishes compared to the profoundity of most other Japanese dishes.

I've passed on this page before they left. Thanks, all.

I like natto too. Not for breakfast, though it seems because I seldom have it then.

And this is a fundamental issue: the differences not only betwen front of the house and kitchen, but consumers and producers. What makes a good restaurant for these differing contexts is rarely the same thing.

Nobody likes saba.

There's nothing unusual about that. In fact popping the rice/kimchi/bacon maki onto a sheet of nori and rolling that and eating it by hand is also not unusual. Kristin, I found the number of 21% for natto a bit strange. I thought that most Japanese outside of Tokyo didn't care for it.

Soups and Sandwiches: 1) Wild mushroom (morel, black trumpet, eryingi, lobster, reconstituted porcini) soup with tarragon. Croque monsieur (but with fruilano, pecorino, and chopped panchetta). 2) Lobster bisque with lemongrass and coriander. Lobster ban mhi with a touch of sirracha cile. 3) Tomato water consomme with peeled "grape" tomatoes and basil oil. Sltilton and caramelized red onion in a bap.

FM, yes. Grilled with a rub of EVOO, ancho paste, salt and pepper, garlic until seared but pink inside. Let rest a bit. Just roll in seasoned panko and throw into the deep-fryer at about 450 for only...well, a minute or so. Nicely browned crispy crust, grilled flavour inside.

I asked my friend and she didn't know the route. The driver is going to CAA to get a route this evening. Too late to be useful, I think. Still, then: What's good in Asheville, Varmint? Or anyone?

bilrus, that sounds nice. How is the tahini incorporated into the soup? Is it just a dab or a swirl atop or is it mixed in?

Salt highlights and lifts other flavours as if they are magnified by the crystal. Used well, black pepper or white pepper or mixed peppercorns or other judiciously used forms of heat have the same effect. In other words: It tastes good. But of course this depends entirely on the quality of the pepper and how it used.

As if!! Truly, I find myself furtively skulking into the kitchen after reading one of Jin's dinner posts -- like I so totally have no business going in! What, I ask myself, do I think I'm going to DO there??!? Ack. Please bear in mind this is a professional kitchen and I have two to three assistants, most days. Meals are for from ten to twenty people. I only post this stuff to give some ideas. It's all easy, really. Just make every grocery trip a foraging expedition. Let every ingredient invite exploration. Always refine technique. And always ask yourself, "Will this make St. Jacques of Pepin cry or be happy?"

Jim, thanks for the link. That looks very interesting.

I shave kale stems thinly, blanch in a strong dashi (bonito and kelp broth) and toss with pulled salt cod. Drizzle with EVOO, throw in some huge garlic croutons and some thin slices of dried chorizo. Things like that.

Ziti with tossed with haricot verts, double-smoked lardons, much garlic served with a demitasse of lemon soup (chicken stock with lemon juice and zest, lemograss, thyme etc). Pecorino tuiles with a dap of minced proscuitto. Grilled bone-in (it's a handle) pork loin chops flash-fried with an acho powder and panko crust. Tomato sashimi (red and yellow vine tomatoes, done on the mondoline, layered in threes [yellow, red, yellow]) with a shoyu, shiso, and ponzu drizzle and crunchy salt. Cheeses: St. Morgan, Rouy, Brillat-Savarin with sourdough crostini and cornichons.