torakris

12/21: えそ　　エソ eso lizard fish The most common of these are the maeso ("true" eso) and this is the one that you are probably eating if the menu just says eso. the maeso

I swear I will finish this thread eventually.. In the mean time here is a nice list in English of some factory tours from all over Japan.

12/20 a gorgeous piece of salmon trout (farmed from Chile) that I picked up for sashimi the block cost about $3

I have a little notebook filled with all of the information I have received in this thread. My next question is about es campur, I have been reading about this and it sounds really good! Are there any places you would recommend I go to get a really good one. Anyone have a favorite version?

I have moved the Ubud discussion to the new Ubud thread As the seafood at Jimbaran Bay, I have done extensive reading (mostly at The Bali Travel Forum --Thank you ozmouse!) and think we are going to try Roman Cafe. It was formally called Roma (or Romas, can't remember now) but it seems to be the favorite of the posters over there. Ku De Ta is also planned for the day out My husband and I have planned.

Now I am torn between a regular dinner at Cafe Wayan, of dinner at Kafe Batan Waru and now Dirty Duck Diner (AKA Bebek Bengil 1). Rona should be in Ubud now and I know you will be reading this soon!! If you try out any of these places let me know what you think. Bebek Bengil 1 sounds like it is set amid beautiful scenery. Whilst I had usually visited Bebek Bengil for lunch, a recent evening visit surprised me with the rustic charm of the place, footpath lights along all the ponds and waterways, extending almost out into the paddies. The new extension is almost in the paddies themselves. This is a very charming location. (from the above site)

I just wanted to let you know that this is officially daughter Julia's favorite dish. Yesterday for her birthday dinner (she turned 8) she requested "that mapo tofu just like you made last time....."

Karashi is just hot mustard. It is most often sold in tubes but they also have a powder version that needs to be mixed with water. You can find more about karashi in the Yakumi thread (near the end of the second page). Alvis, Welcome to eGullet and the Japan forum! What a gorgeous picture, if you keep posting like that I may never post pictures again.

Oh no I have messed up my dates!! I was thinking we were going to Lombok on Monday morning but it is actually Sunday morning.... This means we won't make it to the Balinese Buffet at Cafe Wayan. So now I need a new place for dinner after our family day out in Ubud, I was thinking of Kafe Batan Waru as it was highly recommended int eh Lonely Planet guide. Anyone been? Any other suggestions?

The prices are all over the place, it depends on the part of the cow, the type of cut and where you buy it. It is quite rare to see the premium beefs like Kobe etc in your local supermarket, they tend to be sold at meat counters of pricey department stores. At the prices are easily over $100 a pound. Cheaper places can be found online though, here is one example. This page shows steaks, they have two kinds a rump cut with very little marbling and a sirloin with beautiful marbling (the last set for sale is a mixture of the two types). To get the best price you need to buy 7 steaks or more, if doing this the rump steak comes out to about $55 a pound and the sirloin will go for closer to $90 a pound. For $30 a pound in Japan you can get a pretty nice supermarket beef....

Believe me it was! It had neither hot nor sour flavors...... To make matters worse I bought it in a 10 pack. About 7 packs sat in the very back of my cupboard until they became stale and I tossed them.

from this article: The four modern Japanese breeds are the result of a substantial infusion of European blood during the Meiji Era, together with a government-sponsored selection programme initiated in 1919. For several decades prior to 1910, there was a great interest in importing European breeds to cross with native cattle. The basic aim was to improve the native strains for draught purposes, but better meat production was also a consideration. Exotic breeds were extremely popular and the price of pure-bred and cross-bred exotic animals often reached unreasonable levels, until the bubble burst in 1910. So while the wagyu were created by considerable cross breeding initially, for the past 50 to 100 years the breed has been perfected for meat production and now only full bloods with a verifiable family registry can be called wagyu. Grub asked: All of the wagyu raised outside of Japan are direct descendants of full blood wagyu from Japan. Also from the site above (you will find this on any American wagyu info page): In order to protect its domestic beef industry, the Japanese government imposed strict laws that prohibited the export of any living Japanese Wagyu cattle. However, in 1976, four Wagyu animals were imported into the U.S.: two Tottori Black Wagyu and two Kumamoto Red Wagyu bulls. Then in 1993, two male and three female Tajima cattle were imported, and 35 male and female cattle (consisting of both red and black Wagyu) were imported in 1994. Considering that cattle have a gestation period similar to humans and only produce about 6 to 8 progeny in a lifetime, it could take generations to produce a full blood wagyu herd out of Japan. Wagyu also require a longer feeding period than other cattle and considering how much money a crossbreed can fetch (especially when labeled as Kobe beef in the US) I wonder if anyone is really trying to create a full blood herd? Since the ban on US beef, Japan imports most of its beef from Australia much of it being a wagyu crossbreed.

In Japan in order for beef to be labled wagyu it MUST be a fullblood wagyu with full blood wagyu parents and so on down the line. There are four kinds of wagyu cattle in Japan: kuroge - black haired (these account for 90% of all wagyu and this is where the "famous" ones like Kobe, Matsuzaka and Omi fall) akage - red haired tankaku - short horn mukaku - no horn Almost every wagyu cattle raised outside of Japan is actually an F1 (a cross of a full blood wagyu and another cattle) or F2 (a cross of an F1 and another cattle) cattle. More information on F1 and F2 cattle can be found here. These cattle are also grown in Japan but they ARE NOT wagyu. So when these cattle are imported into Japan, fed for a couple months and then slaughtered they will be labeled as kokusan (#2 on my descriptions in my previous post). They may be labeled as a wagyu cross and then will sell for a bit more money, other sellers can get a little sneaky. A black haired Japanese wagyu in will be written with 4 characters 黒毛和牛 (kurogewagyu). Kuro means black, ge (ke) means hair, wa refers to Japan (Japanese) and gyu is cow. You may occasionally see beef labeled as 黒毛牛 (kurogegyu) with the wa missing, this is perfectly legitimate at is simply means black haired cow which is what it is. On a label though, it can be easy to mistake it for true black haired wagyu especially if you are in a hurry or unaware of the difference. In Japan true wagyu is also graded with 15 different ranks. The ranks are a combination of the letters A, B and C and the numbers 1 to 5. A5 is the highest and C1 is the lowest. To see pictures of the different grades take a look here. (scroll to the middle of the page)

plans will be carried to PM's.... anyone ever taken the cooking class at Casa Luna? Any other must sees in Ubud (without the kids) as I will probably have the afternoon free until we meet my husband and kids for dinner.

Like I mentioned before, most varieties of trout you will not find in your supermarket or even on menus outside of the local fishing areas. Here are some more trout you may run across in Japan especially if you enjoy fishing. iwana イワナ lake trout 　レイクトラウト brown trout　ブラウントラウト yukimasu　ユキマス

from the article: "A [$1] apple tastes like a [$1] apple," Katayama said. "A [$5] apple is more juicy, more sweet, more beautiful to look it. They are a completely different fruit, and consumers who can afford it will want the best." But how much better does a $15 dollar apple taste...?? I think I need to get my husband out of construction and into an apple orchard.

Reconstitute the hijiki first, a handful of reconstituted hijiki is a good amount. I always add the seasonings first then add water slowly, with a cup, until it hits the proper line.

Since I never make rice without a rice cooker, I actually have no idea... So, I looked in Japanese Cooking: A simple Art (Shizuo Tsuji) and for his takikomi recipes he has 3 1/3 cups of rice to 4 cups of water/dashi. Some variations with a lot of additional ingredients will need more liquid though.

grilled oysters on the street?? I have got to get myself to Hiroshima on of these days....

12/15: and what is best way to prepare a freshly caught nijimasu (rainbow trout)? why 塩焼き　shioyaki of course!! nijimasu no shioyaki

For a limited time only you can now create your own instant cup ramen! At the Ramen Museum in Shin Yokohama there is a new area called My Cup Noodle Factory where you can design both the cup and the ingredients. Here are some pictures of the process 1. Choose a cup 2. Draw pictures on your cup 3. Put noodles in the cup 4. Choose the soup flavor (soy sauce, seafood, curry, salt) 5. Pick your toppings (can choose up to 4 out of 12) 6. Put on the lid 7. Watch it get sealed 8. Put it in an air package 9. Put it over your shoulder and take it home! It costs 300yen (about $3) for one cup

Here is what I wrote on beef for the daily Nihongo a while back: 牛肉　gyuniku (gyoo-nee-koo) beef (牛meaning cow 肉　meaning meat) when referring to the animal, cow it is called ushi 牛 In Japan there are 3main types of beef: 和牛 wagyu wagyu has many types, the most famous of which is Kobe. Wagyu refers to specific breeds of beef cattle that are born and raised in Japan, these are the "brand name" cows are can be quite expensive. These are almost exclusively of the "black hair" breed that has been in Japan since......well since cows have been in Japan! 国産 kokusan Kokusan basically covers any other cows in Japan that are not wagyu (not all Japanese cows are wagyu!) Although kokusan means Japan born (koku meaning country, referring to Japan in this case and san from the verb umu which meand to give birth), it can also refer to cows that were born in a different country , brought to Japan and then slaughtered. Kokusan are usually of the Holstein breed (milk cattle rather then beef cattle). 輸入牛yunyugyu Yunyu means import, and this is imported beef. Beef that has been slaughtered in a different country and then brought to Japan, the package will always indicate the country of origin, most like the US or Australia. How to know if you are eating wagyu? Wagyu will always have a name! whether it is the breed of the cow or the name of the town it came from. If you really want to be sure you have true wagyu,ask for its birth certificate! Wagyu in Japan all have a birth certificate that lists parents and grandparents as well, you can also see the bimon or nose print. Apparently the tip of a cows nose is similar to a human finger print int hat no two are the same.... A wagyu birth certificate and bimon

I really hope this turns out to be the case, but the Japanese don't seem to be excited about the lifting of the ban. I have been watching the (Japanese) news and all the polls seem to show that about 70% of Japanese people will still not eat the American beef. Here is one Kyodo poll. On the news they do random on the street interviews and people say they are too scared to eat American beef and probably would not buy it. Even supermarkets say they probably would not sell it or bring in very small amounts and see how it goes. Even stores like Sukiya (similar to Yoshinoya) say they will not go back to American beef as they don't feel the inspections in American slaughter houses are up to par. and just for refernce the Japanese have just found their 21st BSE infected cow...

My husband MUST eat lobster and lots of other seafood, so we are planning at least on (sunset) meal at Jimbaran Bay. It seems as though there are thousands of stalls though... Anyone have a suggestion of a particularly good one or tips on finding one? Any other (reasonably priced) excellent seafood places?

I have probably spent more time planning my trip than I will actually be there.... We are thinking of two day trips to Ubud, for the last one we are going to charter a car and hit places like the reptile park, the pasar seni (craft market ) in Sukawati then up to Tegallalang for the views and a lunch at Kampung Cafe in nearby Ceking. Then over to the Bali Elephant Safari and finally dinner at Cafe Wayan's Sunday night Balinese buffet. I can't find any information about the Balinese buffet though, except that it is wonderful. Has anyone been what kinds of dishes is it? Would they have babi guling or should I plan on eating this elsewhere? Our other trip to Ubud will probably be without the kids. Rona are you still interested in the cooking class at Casa Luna maybe I (or we) could join you. Are you still interested in Ketut's Place? I seet ehy do their Balinese dinners on Sun, Weds, Fri. I don't think we will overlap a Sunday but Weds and Fri are open. Has anyone been here? We will maybe or maybe not have the kids with us for the dinner, how child friendly are places like this in the evening? (the kids are 5, 8 and 9)