torakris

I have used dried mandarin peels in Chinese cooking, but I have never seen them used in Japanese dishes, forgot about shichimi though.

melonpan, that jam looks wonderful! I never thought about making a jam with mikan... Hiroyuki, what is the chinpi used in? I haven't seen this before....

word for 11/17 ニシン nishin Pacific herring http://www.zukan-bouz.com/nisin/nisin.image/nisin.jpg be careful not to add an extra n when saying this word, as in ninshin, unless you want to announce a pregnancy. ninshin 妊娠　＝　pregnant/pregnancy During my first pregnancy I didn't realize there was that extra n, and I walked around for months telling people I was a herring.....

I just bought my first mikan of the season 2 days ago! I have been holding off because I don't want everyone to get sick of eating them.... I also like the canned ones and we eat them all summer. Frozen ones are great, but have you ever grilled them?

by the way, the idea came from this book I had recently bought for my kids... http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4...2610559-3645940 In the food section they also teach you how to make things like miso, nori, tofu, breads, ice cream, sausages, hanpen, anko, etc

that is our next adventure!

the benefits to cooking vegetables in the manner I pictured above, is that they just darn taste better than oven baking. Satsumaimo cooked this way taste just like the yaki-imo you can buy on the streets. I made mine with a dutch oven I have had for years and some rocks picked up at the local hardware shop, but they actually sell special nabe and rock sets in the stores for ridiculous prices that do the same thing. It really isn't any work, you just heat up the rocks (about 15 minutes) then add you vegetable of choice, cover and let cook until done. The book we got the idea from also said to try potatoes, eggplants, eggs and apples (these wrapped in foil ), in addition to the satsumaimo and satoimo. I too, love love the koge part of the dolsot!

and another kind of ishiyaki, this time a soup/nabe: In a wooden bucket, pour hot water and put fish, shellfish, and vegetables in the bucket. Then, put red-hot stones in the bucket (but don't use your bare hands to do this). Water will immediately begin to boil if the stones are hot enough. Season with miso or salt. Another way is to put the ingredients into the bucket after the water is boiling then, hot stones are put in a second time. In any case, water and all the ingredients are boiled for only a few seconds before the taste of the ingredients combines into the soup as a whole. from: http://www.media-akita.or.jp/akita-shoku/ishiyakiE.html

11/16: mutsu can also be eaten as teriyaki or shio-yaki (salt grilled), and you may also find it as an ingredient in chirinabe. ちり鍋 chirinabe a hotpot of firm white fleshed fish, tofu and vegetables. http://www.kobe.coop.or.jp/cooking/750/image/7504.jpg

I love aburage in my takikomi gohan, but I don't chop it up that small, I actually leave it pretty big. As to cooking the rice, I put the rice in the rice cooker then add the dashi/seasonings. I then add water to fill it up to the mark I want it at, then the final thing is adding the ingredients.

Ishiyaki 石焼, literally rock-cooking, can be found in various ways in Japan. Last night we used this cooking style to cook satoimo (a type a taro), we washed and dried small rocks then heated them up in a large pan and buried the satoimo inside. The pan was then covered and the satoimo cooked for about 40 minutes. They were wonderfully soft after cooking and needed nothing else but a light sprinkling of salt. There are other types of ishiyaki cooking in Japan, sometimes foods are cooked directly on a large flat rock, like this beef: http://www45.tok2.com/home/oh1ninja/akeno2.../ishiyaki_l.JPG and ishiyaki bibimbap (Korean bimbimbap cooked in a stone pot or dolsot) is becoming so popular here that you can find the dolsots for sale in may stores and there are even a couple restaurants where this the only dish they serve. http://www.yakiniku-shinzanen.net/ishiyaki-yukke-bibinba.jpg dolsot cooking is also spreading to Japanese style dishes like this eel cooked in a dolsot: http://www58.tok2.com/home/hanihani/galler...shi_kakudai.jpg ishiyaki style cooking can be used to cook just about anything : http://www.naxnet.or.jp/~wadakin/img-ryori/ishiyaki.gif

word for 11/15: 煮付け　　煮つけ　　煮付 nitsuke (knee-tsu-kay) Nitsuke is a popular way of cooking fish like nibe (as well as vegetables and meats), it is simply simmering the item in some of the following: water, broth, sake, sugar, mirin, soy sauce. The exact ingredients depend on the cook and the type of food being cooked. The item is simmered until the sauce is almost completely reduced to enable the flavor to settle completely, leaving it slightly sweet and slightly salty. mutsu is similar to saba (mackeral) in that it doesn't stay fresh very long. It is good for sashimi if only freshly out of the water, otherwise cooking preparations like nitsuke are more suitable. mutsu no nitsuke: http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~saitoh/2004_0921_185916.jpg

yes it is a little different, here is a recipe (in English): http://www.jhg.co.jp/recipes/nikuman.html

A couple of years ago I started seeing these things called gyouza-man (餃子まん) popping up everywhere. they are basically the same steamed bun but filled instead with a typical gyouza filling. Though I have seen small (couple bite sized) ones most of the ones I have seen for sale at stands are big about 6 + inches in length, like this: http://www.kira-co.com/newshouhinn.html I tried one at a zoo (or some place like that) a couple years back but wasn't impressed enough to try it again...

Last week I picked up a great new nabe cookbook. It is called 自分でつくる本格鍋料理　（jibunde tsukuru honkaku nabe ryouri-- Genuine nabe dishes you can make by yourself): http://www.seibidoshuppan.co.jp/cgi-bin/se...php?bookcd=2449 The recipes are all from famous restaurants but written for the home cook, it is broken down into 3 parts, famous nabes from famous restaurants including dishes like shishinabe (wild boar) and sakura nabe (horse meat). Part 2 are the everyday nabes like tori tsukune (chicken meatballs), oden, yosenbe, etc. The last part are regional specialities like houtou, ishikarinabe, kiritanponabe, etc. It is beautifully illustrated with step by step pictures, info on the restaurant/chef and even ideas for the leftovers! I plan to work my way through the book, maybe except the one recipe that calls for 400g (1lb) of toro maguro.....

no it is jyouya 常夜鍋、 but that gyouja one looks good too! My husband had never heard of it either....

After reading through a couple recipes here is a general description. This would be best cooked in a donabe (clay pot) at the table but could be made in a wide saucepan on the stove. Figure about 100 to 200grams (about 1/4 to 1/2 lb) thinly sliced pork per person and a half a bunch of spinach per person. Fill the pan with 2 to 4 cups of water and add a piece of kombu (kelp), turn on the heat and bring just to a simmer, removing the kombu before it starts to boil, then add sake to equal the amount of water added, some recipes call for less sake. At this point you can also add ginger and or garlic (minced, sliced or whole your preference) and let this simmer for a little while to burn off some of the alcohol. It can either be eaten shabushabu style where diners dip the food into the pot themselves until desried doneness or it can be eaten regular nabe style where all the ingredients are cooked together and and diners pick out what they want. Other additions to the nabe can be shiitake, enoki, aburage, negi (long scallions) or thin noodles. It seems to be me most commonly eaten with either ponzu or goma sauce, but I did see soem recipes just calling for shichimi. Other recipes also added some soy sauce to the broth or used dashi instead of the konbu. I am not sure if it is specific to one region or not, I can't find it mentioned anywhere so I am assuming not really...

Looking at some Japanese sites it seems to be a variety of the Chinese pak choi called autumn rain. I then found this on google: Flowering Pak Choi “Autumn Poem” – These can be found in delis and good supermarkets. After the central stalks are reaped, the plants produce many lateral branches giving you multiple harvests. The stalks, buds and leaves have a delightful, sweet asparagus like taste. thus the name! thanks for all the ideas.

word for 11/14: ムツコ mutsuko (moo-tsu-koe) the ovaries of the mutsu, another delicacy. I am having problems finding a picture....

so are they really not asparagus?

made a jyouya-nabe last night the main ingredients are pork and spinach, I added carrots, shiitake, enoki and konnyaku, it was eaten with ponzu and grated daikon.

word for 11/13: 白子 shirako These are the sperm sacs of the fish and are quite a delicacy in Japan. Though the ones of cod and fugu aer the most popular those of the mutsu are quite good as well. shirako http://www.seanharkness.com/Shirako.jpg

I had eaten a lot for lunch and wanted a light and easy dinner, soo maguro tataki, ikura and avocado it was later drizzled with wasabi-joyu

I am not even really sure what these are called and I have never run across them before. I found this in the store today the Japanese name calls them asparagus leaves, but they don't really have an asparagus-y smell...? What are they and what is the best way to prepare them?

and the ozouni thread is definitely worth a read: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...st=0&p=449582 this dish really shows the regional differences at their best.