helenjp

I just bought Everyday Harumi, Japanese Hot Pots (by Ono and Salat) and the Kentaro Kobayashi Noodle and Donburi books for my nephews. Everyday Harumi certainly does contain standard items, but the seasoning is "standard modern", not too heavy, and two things stand out: she includes Japanese favorites from other traditions such as ma-bo nasu,and there are twists on some other standards...shrimp rather than pork or chicken simmered with potatoes, peanuts instead of sesame for dressing green vegetables. None of these things are revolutionary in Japan, but they make the "Japanese food in English" table a bit livelier. The Japanese Hot Pots book is a very good one. For a start, it's well-edited - items like ponzu are gathered in a section at the beginning of the book, and where ponzu occurs in other recipes, there's a page number reference right beside it. It's also quite a substantial book, and the range of dishes covered is correspondingly wide. The tone is chatty, which may or may not suit readers' tastes, but not so extreme that it's annoying. I haven't made any of the recipes...the sweet/salty balance may be a tad on the sweet side (i.e. traditional proportions). Recipes - all the usual suspects are there, but also a number of regional recipes such as kiri-tanpo (though I prefer that with no added sweetness at all, as I think the rice adds a bit of sweetness), and some less well-known items such as hand-torn noodles. The Kentaro Kobayashi books were exactly what I expected, and just right for nephews at college...enough recipes to be interesting, clear layout and unfussy but stylish recipes, book not too bulky. Just right for mastering personal favorites and impressing the guys down the hall.

Thank you for the sours idea, and thank you Matt for your advice. The Bellini variation sounds spot on, a dry sparkling wine fits exactly with the image I had in mind, of something to bring out the aroma and lightness without being sickly. Cachaca is something I will have to look for, but I suspect it might be quite similar to the shochu-like "rum" I brought back from Ogasawara along with the passionfruit. Tartness...these passionfruit are peasantly tart. I'm not sure whether that's a characteristic of the red-skinned type, or whether it's because they are picked while smooth and unwrinkled, unlike the wrinkly super-ripe dark-skinned passionfruit I am used to from New Zealand.

Done! Ovenful of cakes baked last night, all bagged up and maturing. 250 g flour (lowish gluten) 1/2 t baking soda 1/2 t grated nutmeg,1/2 preferred blend of spices 100 g brown sugar 2 eggs 150 ml porter + some (1/4 c?) to pour over later 500 g dried fruit (!)...some crystallized ginger doused in boiling water to dissolve some of the sugar, raisins, sultanas, your choice of currants or whatever else 150 deg. C. Baked 90 mins, as I had about 8 small paper loaf-molds of mix (4x above batch).

I notice your recipe has candied peel in it...I like fresh lemon or orange zest maybe even better than candied peel. I think what appeals to me about porter cake is that the porter has a slightly sharp taste, and the whole cake is a bit lighter, simpler, sharper, and fresher tasting than a truly mellow fruit cake. Do you like to use a varied range of dried fruit, or do you stick to sultanas and raisins...seems that people are bit more conservative with the fruit used in Porter cake. What about spices? Mixed spice, but not too much? Nutmeg and maybe old-fashioned coriander, pepper or ginger, and a bit of mixed spice? A cinnamon-heavy blend? Most recipes seem to lean to lighter brown sugar for this, rather than a really dark muscovado. I think I agree...not too rich.

I found a thing called Tokyo Black the other day, which claims to be porter. It tastes like the beginning of a good Porter Cake to me, but it's been a long time since I've made one of those. Do you make or eat Porter Cake? What do you think the Do's and Don'ts of Porter Cakes should be?

Love the color! Commercial yuzu koshou is more pasty and not such a vibrant green.

I was thinking about this over the past week - spent mostly on two fairly remote islands in the Ogasawara group, Chichi-jima and Haha-jima. A group of us were supposed to be looking at readiness for travelers, especially foreign travelers. We were warned that the remote location (cargo/passenger ferry only) meant a limited range of available foods, and restaurant and hotel fare could be "samey". Three things occurred to me: There's no way a small island can feed all its visitors, or even residents, even if they used more of the native plant-foods than they do (e.g. the residents came from the urban mainland and have not yet figured out remote rural eating in a different climate!). I'm not sure how do-able locavorism is, considering that people move around so much these days - how many people are living and eating in the same location that they grew up in...and how many live where their ancestors lived? Food has always moved with people - and our movements damage the environment just as much as any travelin' cabbage does. So...how do you eat when you go to a resort location? Local food only? A mix? Ham and eggs three times a day? As an ex-tour guide and travel planner, I've noticed that people tend to be much more conservative about breakfast foods than snacks, lunch, or dinner. Do you agree, or are you happy to eat local breakfast foods even on the morning after the night before? What about fish? I've noticed that those who rarely eat fish are usually strongly aware of fish on their menus - if you holiday on an island, do you adjust your tastes, or is fish a non-negotiable issue? We ate it three times a day, which is fine for people like me who grew up a few steps away from the sea, but I wondered how it seemed to inlanders? I'm curious to know whether people feel more rigorous about the locavore issue when on holiday ("get the full local experience, even if the locals have to eat spam because we ate all the fish and it's too stormy to go fishing"); or less rigorous ("I'm on holiday, darn it, and anyway the locals make more money selling me imported or specially grown tomatoes than gathering sweet potato shoots")?

Aha! I have seen those, without really registering what they were. The combination of chewy, doughy crust plus soft/heavy filling doesn't sound great, but I'll put the Junior Research Team onto it! Which did you think worked better - the heavier bean filling, or lighter custardy fillings?

We've talked about passionfruit in passing, but I came back from Ogasawara (Chichi-jima, Bonin Islands) with 2 bags of big, juicy, red-skinned passionfruit taht are just too good to waste. So let's hear your ideas for using and alcoholically preserving the good stuff (the skins shed a lovely red color too if you freeze and then thaw them...these passionfruit are plenty pretty, both inside and out). There was a passionfruit "rum"-based liqueur made in Ogasawara...but the "rum" itself tastes more like shochu, and when I read the Shochu wiki, I began to see why...seems to have more to do with licensing laws than actual classifcation. The "shochu"-like character does mean that the passionfruit flavor comes out fairly clearly, but it doesn't deliver a wallop of passionfruit. Passionfruit seeds - leave them in? Soak in sugar to dehydrate the seed sac and absorb the flavor, then dump the seeds and membrane? And what goes best with passionfruit? I'm thinking white wine rather than rum...

Agreed, you can't replicate the flavor, but you can consider what the yuzu is adding to your recipe...citrus that is only mildly acidic, highly aromatic, and on the sweet side of sour.

Do you think that's because white bean jam is a minority taste in the first place, or do you think the problem is the bland plus bland effect of rather doughy crust with a very mild bean jam? I'm not too fond of custard taiyaki either, but I can imagine white bean taiyaki being quite good with something more aromatic. Citrus? Tropical flavor? A dab of black sesame paste?

I think I'd try a Meyer lemon rather than grapefruit/lemon mix.

Fermented fish preserves seem to be something that Japan has in commeon with southeast Asia and southern China...a very old layer in Japan's history, and one that just seems to disappear a little more every century. It's not only the fermented fish, but other things that go along with that culture that are almost invisible now - Japan still has it's own type of "nam pla" (related to the kusaya mentioned upthread) seasoning, and narezushi is often wrapped in leaves to further discourage toxic microbial growth...sushi of any kind wrapped in leaves is just a rural tradition now. In Kansai "narezushi" is often used to refer to a non-fermented pressed sushi...e.g. a mold is lined with sasa bamboo leaves or persimmon leaves, packed with sushi rice, and topped with mackerel marinated in vinegar and salt. The leaves are folded over the top, the loose lid of the mold is placed on top, and the whole thing goes under weights for a while. Slice and serve! I used to make that quite often, and it's an easy introduction to the narezushi concept. I have actually contemplated making narezushi but one thing that really gives me pause is the fact that Tokyo temperatures are never really low, even at night, and the feeling I get that fish caught in less than pristine water goes off way too fast. I suspect the way to go is to get a "beer fridge" used only for making miso, kimchi,narezushi etc.!

Kentaro Kobayashi - list of his books available in English. This is seriously do-able, easy modern food for Japanese kitchens. I've given several copies of his "simple" book to teenage boys who need to cook for themselves or their families, and used it with my less confident son. Bean sprouts sauteed in butter with plenty of black pepper may not be terribly traditional, but it's easy to do and it works. Tsuji on freshwater fish...I just bet he was thinking of Kyoto when he wrote those words...certainly, when I was living in Osaka nearly 30 years ago, the best sashimi I had was in Shikoku, followed by Osaka (the Inland Sea used to be good fishing ground)...but ocean fish in Kyoto was something to avoid, especially considering that Kyoto has traditional freshwater options, and local dishes which make the most of them. Freezing technology has changed, too...if I buy thawed sashimi blocks at the supermarket now, I'm buying something very different from the flabby, weeping blobs of tastelessness that were around not much more than 10 years ago.

Eat out of the wrapper....that spells stuffed, baked potatoes to me!

I'm most interested in how anybody decided on what texture is most "authentic" for this recipe. As for the hand-beating...I remember a little old Chinese lady beating eggs for cake for an hour by hand. To her way of thinking, that wasn't an intolerable burden, that was just the way you made cake...

I have one. It is very efficient. However, I notice that both my peeler and my small ceramic petit knife (different brands)have small chips or flakes along the edge. I don't notice any difficulty when using them, and I've had them at least a year or two, but I no longer expect them to last as long as as metal blade (my previous ceramic blade petit knife shattered when dropped...).

Have to agree - maybe it's only true of short-grain rice, but that zap in the microwave makes a big difference. I make eggfried rice a lot, natto fried rice from time to time, and occasionally with tiny dried whitebait.

Sharing is one of the big advantages of obento...since there are lots of little things, it works better than with sandwiches! Mothers almost always pack stuff to share in bento for special events - sports day, school trips, etc.

Filling the fridge so full of preserves that there's no room for actual fresh food, which has to take its chances on the counter. That is, it would take its chances on the counter if I didn't fill the extremely limited counter up with condiments (soy/mirin/vinegar/sake...etc etc) and MORE pickle containers. So the microwave gets used as counter space, and food prep is done on the well-known chopping board balanced on the ledge of the double sink. I know better, yes I do...

I wonder if disappointment is sometimes just because we came to a cookbook at the wrong time in our cooking careers...."Nourishing Traditions" disappointed me extremely, but if I'd found it when I was 20 rather than 50, it would have had much more to offer me, I know. On the other hand, I get a lot out of the George Lang Hungarian book somebody else mentioned - I find the soupy dishes particularly good. The baking recipes were sometimes disappointing, but flour is so different from country to country that I hardly expect baking to work straight out of the book.

White rice takes 45 minutes on the regular course in most rice cookers I have used. I don't recall the simple rice cookers I used in NZ taking that long. My previous IH rice cooker took 2-3 hours to cook brown rice, but my more recent "pressurized" (though not one of the real pressure-cooker types) rice cooker is more like 1 hour?

Erin, that bento box is just like my husband's - until the boss scrapped the microwave, he could heat his rice too. The separate containers help with liquid "creep". Apart from little paper cups etc, you can use herb leaves as plates/dividers (shiso is good but lemon balm would work too), or put a bit of ground peanut or sesame,or shredded konbu underneath items likely to shed liquid. Recent bento items at our house...boiled greens mixed with boiled and sliced funghi, dressed with soy sauce and a dash of mirin, and lightly squeezed or drained. Mixing greens with lightly boiled and drained chrysanthemum petals is pretty too.

Mozzarella balls and mini tomatoes was a favorite of my son2 as well. (As his appetite increased, they disappeared off the budget list though!). Do you have any trouble with the avocado discoloring by lunchtime? Rice...one thing you can enjoy in cooler weather that is too risky in hot weather is a layered bento...the extra moisture helps keep the rice soft, and they are easier to eat for small appetites too. For example...rice then something strong such as preserved kelp or sesame seeds etc then rice then egg granules (soboro) then rice then colorful vegetables or other topping. Tofu for lunches...I find the old frozen tofu useful here...very versatile: * freeze, thaw, press to just over 1/3 of original weight, cut in strips or cubes for kebabs or simmered/fried dishes. Cut very thin and deep fry (no coating) for crunchy, lacy snacks (or crumble as topping), or dip in black sesame seeds and cornflour, and deepfry for a nice cracker-like protein-rich snack (my kids love this last one). * freeze, thaw, press as above, crumble and season, bind with egg or katakuriko (or cornstarch etc.), form into patties or balls (hide a little cube of cheese inside if you want), pan-fry or deep-fry, roll in sauce. * freeze, thaw, don't press but cut into cubes and drain...use in simmered or stir-fried dishes - absorbs flavor better than fresh tofu; softer than koya-dofu (dried tofu).

Let us know how you get on...I have a "salt plus sugar plus this and that in a ziploc bag" cure going right now. I don't find that method too salty. Maybe the size of the belly pieces is smaller than those used in the US? I know mine are only about a pound each at the most...the salt probably penetrates faster than with a larger piece. Also, since we are often buying imported pork here, our meat may be frozen and then thawed...that might affect salt uptake too. I don't use nitrite either...read somewhere that it makes little difference to spoilage, and figured that I was happy enough with the texture and taste as it is.