torakris

WAKAYAMA PREFECTURE (region=Kansai/Kinki) http://www.wakayama-nanki.jp/english/manpuku/ http://wiwi.co.jp/kanko/world/english/plea.../specialty.html to discuss the products of Wakayama head to this thread: Wakayama Prefecture

Here in Yokohama they are almost always called onigiri, when I was living in Hawaii for a short time 10 years ago everything was called musubi, I actually thought they were different products for a while.....

This is the recipe that I REALLY want, but the link doesn't work. ← Sorry about that, Nipponia changed addresses not too long ago so none of the former links work.... here is the new one: soba from scratch

I make a mean onigiri! All it takes is practice, I have been making them for my husband's breakfast for 10 years now.... I wet my hands under running water in the sink, dip my fingers into the salt container and them place a nice lump of steaming hot rice, straight from the rice cooker, into my palms. Work quickly and gently to form it into a triangle or a circle or a log shape. I once saw on tv that the best onigiri should be worked very gently and fast, do not squeeze them together with your hands. I use more of a tossing motion applying equal pressure on all parts. It takes less than 10 seconds to form one. Being Japanese has nothing to do with it! I have plently of neighbors who couldn't form an onigiri if their life depended on it....

unfortunately these descriptions fit half of the travel/eating shows that are on tv here...

That's a cool idea and beats that heck out of trying to inflate a chicken. What did they use to substitute for the slivers of duck meat? Slivers of chicken I presume… ← nothing! it was just chicken skin and nothing else...

chicken skin makes great yakitori! Thread it onto a skewer brush it with some yakitori sauce and grill. I also once saw a recipe for a pseudo Peking duck, made by cooking chicken skins until crisp then adding then to Chinese style pancakes with some hoisin sauce, cucumbers and scallions....

The Japanese cook when photographed together with Mado, Point's wife, has roughly the same age as in the picture with Bocuse (right side). Bocuse was in Japan around 1970, Point died 1955 at the age of 57 and Mado looks quite older on that picture. Around 70, I estimate. ← Sorry to confuse everyone with the picture, I just thought it was cute.. The chef (Rui Yamagata) didn't say when the picture was taken, but his biography says he was in France in 1982, long after Point was dead.

1/26: うな玉 unatama This is a combination of unagi and tamago (eggs), you will often find it served as unatama-don but it could also be a simple stir-fry one confusing point about this is that the Chinese character used for tamago is written like this 卵 and not 玉　(tama), which means ball or round thing, as written above in the name of the dish.....

I tend to think of the Japanese as diligent record keepers. One would think there would be some mention at least in Japanese regarding Fernand Point's trip (which I'm increasingly believing never occurred) and also that there would be some accounts of the influence on his cooking other than someone's rather bold statement. The man mentored alot of the next generation of chefs also. I don't know how successful this will be but I will email some "sources" I know. This could take a while. ← I am with chefzadi here, if there was a trip to Japan or any major influence of Japanese cooking on Point's creations, I can't imagine that there is no reference to it at all in Japanese sources... Sites like this, that discuss his greatness would definitely mention a trip to Japan..

I use them usually for my kids and never for guests unless it is a BBQ! I pull them out for breakfasts sometimes and for dinners when I don't feel like washing dishes afterwards, tehy also sometimes come out for desserts. I buy the small ones in packs of 400 at Costco..... maybe if I had a dishwasher....

probably too late for your trip.... but I found this great article on itamae kappo

I wouldn't call it a cherry taste, they taste nothing like cherries but perfumy is a good way to describe it.

Very true. The Japanese are such lovers of white rice. I wish I could help you, but can't. If you start another in the Elesewhere in Asia/Pacific Forum, you may get more response. ← there was some discussion of mixed grains over in this thread on black rice

I just read through heaps of background on this guy all in Japanese and not one mentions a trip to Japan... I starting to think there was no trip.... Once I figured out the right way to write his name in Japanese I found hundreds of mentions of him, I did find a picture of his wife and a Japanese chef Madame Point second one down on the left

I love sakura! here are two pictures of wagashi (Japanese sweets) that I have enjoyed in the past that contain salted cherry blossoms sakura manju nama yatsuhashi

here are two cherry blossom products I have on hand on the left is sakura cha, tea bag style not nearly as good as the real stuff like in the picture that Ponpollo posted, on the right are salted sakura blossoms these add a wonderfully salty, sakura-y taste to sweets.

my recipe called for 1/2 pound of the cooked pork for 24 bao. ← mine called for 3 cups for 12....

I forgot to mention my family loved these! I thought they were very good, but they tasted too much of hoisin.....

the char sui after roasting and after cutting I then cooked it a bit with soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sugar, scallions and hoisin sauce. The recipe actually called for oyster rather than hoisin but when I opened up my bottle of oyster sauce the smell was off and I realized it expired 8 months ago! So I cut back on the sugar and added some hoisin. My kids then helped stuff the buns and snip the tops, the steamed buns they weren't as smooth as the ones I buy, but the dough was very good! Did anyone ele's dough recipe call for any kind of fat? Mine had 3 tablespoons of lard...

I can't find anything about that book either, I think I will take a trip out to that store on my trip home (Cleveland) this summer as it isn't fall from my sister's house.... I have also been looking for a good Asian market in the Cleveland area, I wonder how good it is.

1/25: let's talk about some of the dishes you might find in an unagi-ya うなぎ定食 unagi teishoku (tay-show-koo) A teishoku is a complete meal often served on a tray. The can be from the simple with just the main dish (in this case unagi) and rice, soup and pickles, to the more elaborate with various other dishes. Here is what a teishoku might look like: http://mikkabi.web.infoseek.co.jp/isonokushi_3.gif

I have been searching for that asahi ponzu everywhere and can't find it.... Yesterday I picked up a bottle of kabosu ponzu and served with some avocado slices.. yum! The recent edition of Kyou no Ryouri (cooking magazine) has a karaage (deep fried chicken) that is marinated in pozu, I am going to give it a try this weekend.

My husband drinks it straight from the fry pan! ← and he drunk it last night too!

Actually I haven't really seen this eaten too much in Japan... I picked up my bag at a Korean store and I tend to serve it with Korean meals...