torakris

9/21: 炙り aburi This is something that has been seared, and most likely over a direct flame. This is a popular technique used with the fatty fish that heightens the flavor while leaving a hint of smokiness. Toro salmon takes very well to this treatment and is a common dish (or nigiri sushi) in many places. aburi toro salmon

9/20: トロサーモン toro salmon This is the belly cut of the salmon, the same as maguro's (tuna) toro, and is almost always used in raw applications. Similar to the toro from maguro it is very tender with a melt in your mouth quality. toro salmon

As a US Army trained Food Inspection Specialist (had to pay for college somehow... ) I have eaten a very large number of MRE'S. One of my jobs was to periodically go through the storage areas and randomly sample them to make sure they were ok. I guess if I died they would know the batch was bad.... I definitely had my favorites, especially some of the deserts, and they were probably better than any meal I have ever eaten on an airplane. Brooks, I can't wait to hear more.

I think you are thinking of domo rather than dozo. You could use domo but I personally would stick with arigatou. Domo just sounds a bit curt to me, especially coming from a woman.. dozo is sort of like please but not in the sense of asking someone to do something but rather inviting them to do something. Such as please sit down, please go first, etc. So if you say dozo to a waitress bringing over your food she may think you are inviting her to sit down with you!

when asking for tea (ocha) or coffee (couhii) is is understood that it is hot, if you want it cold you need to specify that. aisu couhii is iced coffee and aisu tei is iced tea (black tea) green tea is rarely served cold but other teas like oolong, etc will be served either way. In this case rather than iced you would ask for it tsumetai (cold). and don't forget your wo! ocha wo kudasai.

The first thing they normally ask is how many people in your party. "Nan mei sama desu ka?" Answering by holding up the appropriate number of fingers is fine. If it is a restaurant with both smoking and non-smoking they may ask if you have a preference. kitsu-en seki smoking section kin-en seki non-smoking section If it is a restaurant with a variety of seating arrangements that may ask where you would like to sit. teburu de yoroshii desu ka? Is a table Ok? kaunta de yoroshii desu ka Is the counter Ok? zashiki de yoroshii desu ka? zashiki is the Japanese style low table often its own room but sometimes separated by dividers If the place is really small you may be asked aiseki de yoroshii desu ka? Do you mind sharing a table?

"wo" を is different thaｎ the honorable "o" お, wo is a particle that follows a direct object. "wa" (when written it is written with the character ha は ) follows a topic and "ga" が yet another particle follows a subject. As we don't really have "topics" in English it can get confusing... this site explains wo pretty good When asking for something with kudasai, it should be ~~wo kudasai, though many people leave the wo off in casual conversation.

Daigaku-imo are really wonderful! You should be able to find them in any department store basement. They are a great snack that must be tried, someday I am going to make these... EDIT: here is a picture in case you are unfamiliar with them.

If you are looking for something a bit more upscale than your typical yakitori-ya, I can't recommend Imaiya more. It has a couple locations, the honten being in Ebisu a short walk from the station.

The ingredients (translated into English on a suspicious stick on label) are: rice rice koji sugar alcohol (8.5%) salt How adverse an effect will using this stuff intead of hon-mirin have on my food? Specifically on ikura which I purchased this explictly for. ← how does it taste? That should be the deciding factor. Upthread Jason mentions one he likes with a 6% alcohol content, I am worried though of the addition of salt and sugar. The ikura should be fine, there is really only a bit of mirin in it, it is only there to add the sweetness. Many people cook fine dishes with the fake stuff. The dishes were it is most noticeable are the dishes that really rely on it, like the kinton Helen mentioned or some simmered dishes.

9/19: はらこ飯 harako meshi This is a donburi style dish of rice topped with salmon and ikura. Harako is the term used in the Northern parts of Japan to refer to the salmon roe. This dish is a speciality in the North and is often jsut referred to as Sake no Oyako-don in other parts of Japan. Oyako-don (literally parent - child donburi) usually is made with chicken and eggs. harako meshi

almost.... I was not familiar with that brand so I looked it up and the first clue was the price, 1L was selling for under 300 yen ($3). One of the sites described it as mirin-fu choumiryo (seasoning), but it does have alcohol content of 8.5% which is better than the other mirin-fu products at 1-2%. My hon-mirin has 12.5 to 13.5% alcohol.

All of the tours are free of charge unless mentioned. I am going to try to keep on post per area, so you might want to check back to certain areas periodically as I may be adding to them in the future.

I have never made tataki outdoors.... I really don't know why.. I have used bincho-tan on a couple occasions and while I enjoy the taste it leaves, it is just too expensive for every day (or every weekend) use. I love toro salmon tataki, I used to make it quite a bit before my kids discovered just wonderful it is as well and now I can only afford to make it on special occasions.

I will start off with Kanagawa since this is the closest to where you are. FOOD FACTORY TOURS IN KANAGAWA Meg Milk Factory in Ebina homepage --reservations required --groups of up to 50 people --open M, T, Th, F 10 to 12 and 2 to 3:30 (tour is 1 to 1 1/2 hours in length) --no mention of English spoken Kiyoken Shumai Factory in Yokohama homepage --reservations required at leat one week in advance --minumum 5 people --open Th, F, Sa tours start at 10:30 and 1:00 (tours are about 1 1/2 hours) --no mention of English spoken Sagami Ham Factory in Fujisawa homepage --reservations required --prefer groups of 30 to 50 people but smaller groups can join a larger one, this is their calendar, blue triangles indicate a day a group in scheduled but smaller groups are free to join --open M, T, Th, F, Sa, tours start at 10:30 and 1:30 (tour is about 1 1/2 hours in length) --no mention of English spoken Snowbrand Cheese Factory in Yokohama homepage --reservations required at least one day in advance --groups from one person up to 100 --open weekdays from 9:30 to 3:30　(tours about 1 hour in length) --no mention of English spoken --they also offer cooking classes for groups of 18 to 36 at a price of 500 yen per person (reservations must be made one month in advance) Yakult Factory in Fujisawa homepage --reservations required 3 days in advance --group size not specified --open weekdays with tours at 9:30 and 1:00 (tours about 1 hour and 10 minutes) (Saturday tours are available for groups of more than 20) --no mention of English spoken Asahi Beer Factory in Minami Ashigara homepage --reservations required --no group minimum/limit mentioned --open all year round (except New Years holidays) from 9:30 to 3, tours start every 30 minutes and there are 12 a day (approximately 1 /12 hours long) --no mention of English spoken Kirin Beer Village in Yokohama homepage --reservation required at leasty one day in advance --groups of 2 to 100 --open T, W, Th, F, Sa, Su from 10 to 4:30, tours leave every thirty minutes (approximately 1 hour in length) --there are special tours for kids and families and a couple other special tours --no mention of English spoken Ajinomoto Factory in Kawasaki homepage --reservations required at least one week in advance --prefer groups of about 25 people, but a couple days each month are set aside for smaller groups (see the homepage for the dates) --open weekdays from 9:30 to 3:30 tours start at 9:30 and 1:30 (last for about 2 hours) --no mention of English spoken Nakazawa Sake Factory in Ashigara a link to information --reservations are required for groups of 15 or more, but some days tours can't be held so it is best to call first --open everyday from 10 to 4, with tours at 1:30 and 4 --no mention of English spoken Kamaboko Hakubutsukan (museum) homepage --no reservations required --open everyday from 10 to 5 --classes for making your own kamaboko are held 4 times a day (reservations may be made just before the class starts) at 1,500 yen per person --no mention of English spoken

ooh, I am going to love this thread!! I have so much to contribute! a roasted beet, arugula and blue cheese salad how can beets combined with anything be made to look nice? it doesn't help that it is slightly out of focus... Another delicious dish, that just looks bad. Why is it so shiny? Korean tteok (rice cakes) in kochujang (chile miso) sauce miso soup with daikon, aburage (tofu pockets) and white miso, I tried to brighten it up with a dollop of yuzu-koshou (green chile and yuzu rind paste) but it still looks very pale another miso soup, this time with sweet potato and niboshi (dried baby sardines), it really tastes good but it just looks like dead fish floating in the soup... I think I will stop for now...

For a donburi you use just plain rice. It also goes well as part of a chirashizushi in which case it would be seasoned rice.

If you can read Japanese, both of these current magazines have sections on food factory tours Aki Pia (left) and Kazoku de Odekake Aki 2005 (right) since these magazines won't be around forever I am going to pass on factory tour information in the next posts.

gyu-tataki (beef) It would have looked better if I had remembered to buy scallions or something else for a garnish. the middle is grated radish and the whole thing was dressed with bottled yuzu ponzu. tips for good gyu-tataki: --don't use to big a block of meat, about 2 inches wide is good, any bigger and you need to sear it for longer to get the heat to the middle and the meat can get tough --bring the meat to room temperature before searing and season well with salt and pepper (pepper is optional, but use plenty of salt) --open flame is best (I sear mine directly over a gas flame) but you can use a fry pan or griddle pan with the highest heat possible --immediately after cooking plunge the beef into ice wate and let it sit for a couple minutes until it has cooled down --before slicing, wrap it in some saran wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours --the better the beef the better the tataki, but if you follow the steps above even a cheaper cut can give decent results. The picture above was a 350 yen (little over $3) block of meat, very cheap in Japan yet produced a quite tender tataki.

Here is how I did it: Take a sac of fresh sujiko (get the freshest one you can darker colors and red lines in the sac indicate age) and place it into a bowl. Pour enough boiling water over it to cover and then gently prod it a bit with chopsticks to loosen the eggs. When most have loosened swirl the chopsticks in the water going continually in the same direction, the outer sac with become entwined on the chopsticks and you can pull it out. Place into a colander and rinse gently, pulling off with your fingers any bits of sac that may still be stuck. Place it into tupperware (or similar product) and add the seasonings, I used: 3 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon sake 1 tablespoon mirin (hon-mirin) I wouldn't keep it for much longer for 5 days and you can freeze it, but it does lose a bit of the freshness. I tasted mine everyday and I prefered the taste at day 1 and day 2.

no Which ever type of mountain potato you use it will still be yamakake.

As I was searching the internet for a picture of sake chazuke for the Daily Nihongo thread, I can across this: ochazuke in a CAN! I have never actually seen one of these before though...

9/18: 鮭茶漬け sake chazuke Also called sake ochazuke, this a great way to use up a bit of leftover cooked salmon. For those unfamiliar with ochazuke this is a dish of rice with some simple topping that hot green tea is then poured over. the ochazuke thread sake chazuke

Are you in Japan right now? I was just looking at a magazine in the bookstore the other day, a kind of Kanto area travel guide, and they had a whole section on factory tours in the area. I am headed back to the store today I can get the name of it, I make be picking it up myself. there was also a section on food events coming up this fall in the Tokyo area.

the two are really interchangeable, I usually use nagaimo because it is cheaper and find the size easier to grate.