skchai

Here's another historical description of anpan. I know, I know, enough already!

BTW, those links were for its group head office. The Ginza bakery page is here. Here's a good English-language description of Kimuraya's history from the Wabi and Sabi st. Ginza Guide.

That would be Ginza Kimuraya. Their founder, Yasubei Kimura, and his son, Eizaburo, are generally credited with inventing the most common Western-Japanese pastry, the "anpan" (baked wheat bun stuffed with sweetened azuki beans). As you mentioned, they are oldest Western bakery in Japan that is still in business.

Here is a recipe, and here is another one. Sees to be a kind of "karaage" - marinated in teriyaki-type sauce, then deep fried. It does seem to be from the Hanamaulu cafe / teahouse, though I've never been there myself. . .

Joan, there a few restaurants in Honolulu that serve jebi churi (and I even remember one in Arizona as well!), but I guess haven't spent enough time in Southern Cal to identify places serving it there. You might trying to go to one of the big Korean supermarkets and see if they have it packaged and / or ask the butchers how it's cut and which restaurants serve it. I tried to locate some restaurant menus on the web but wasn't too successful. If you want a picture of how it looks like before grilling, here's one from the Yongmunjip restaurant in Seoul. And here's a helpful chart of all the different Korean cuts of neck (chuck) beef, from the Canada Beef Export Federation of all people. Hope this is at least slightly useful . . . Also, welcome to eGullet, MarcoPolo!

You're right - noticed I put "vulgar" in quotation marks. The canned sliced pepperoni does sound pretty foul though!

I think they did - or they at least bought up sole U.S. distribution rights. On the worldfood website linked above (which is owned by Hormel), Patak is listed as one of their in-house brands.

Lopaka, the sugared coconut chips are still pretty easy to find. The salted kind are rarer, and I thought they were unavailable until I saw some being sold recently under the Ed and Don's brand name (the Ed and Don's Ice Cream shops no longer exist, but the brand lives on in snack products). Lesa, Rlivings, Alanamoana, your comments bring back a lot of memories. Some random thoughts: Yick Lung is still around, but somehow it only makes Nibbits, not the crack seed that was so dominant all the way up to the 1980s. Have no explanation why. I do think that in the old days seed was made here rather than being imported - this might account in part for the decline of Yick Lung and the rise of other brands such as Enjoy. Notes for malihini: No, crack seed has nothing to do with "crack", luckily. It is a kind of preserved, salted fruit of Southern Chinese origin that reached amazing proportions and diversity once it got to Hawai`i. In the past, the seed itself was often cracked to release the flavor of the kernel, which is how it got its name. Yick Lung was for a long time the dominant producer of packaged crack seed on the islands. Currently, it's remaining product is a spicy, extruded potato starch product called "nibbits" which has retained a following in Hawai`i for a long time. Here's a picture of Nibbits: I think I mentioned in the "omiyage" thread that both Maui "Kitch'n Cook'd" potato chips and Big Island Maebo "One Ton" wontonpi chips are currently unavailable in Honolulu. The Maui chips are a mystery that I'd like to clear up one of these days - the company still exists. The Maebo factory burned down and they still don't seem to have been able to restore production. . . Tomoe Ame is still around and popular - probably, a lot more popular than in Japan! Note: These are a kind of millet candy that's been imported from Japan for generations. Inside the plastic wrapper is a rice-paper wrapper that you can eat along with the candy so your hand's don't get sticky. The box always contains a token toy, which has deteriorated in quality over the years (nowadays you almost always get a sticker). Here's a picture of some some I got recently, including the prize:

Thanks for the kind comments, jschyun and chad. Chad, the number of dots on top of the manapua help the employees to keep track of what's inside, since they all kind of look the same from the outside. Other manapua houses in Hawai`i use the same technique, though I'm not sure who originated it. . .

It is very pinky looking. I think this reflects the Scandanavian - Hawai`i divide. People in Hormel's home state of Minnesota must be used to eating the it uncooked - kind of like a pork lutefisk. On the other hand, the Danish may view musubi as a kind of "rice smørrebrød", and hence recognized the possibility of frying the meat before serving it. Just a speculation - and a racist one at that. . . Spam on top of musubi must always be fried to the point of crustiness. As Lesa mentioned, local fanatics will often marinate the spam in a teriyaki-style sauce (and hotdogs too!) for an extreme, extreme saltiness. However, this is good because it adds flavor and offsets the blandness of the large block of rice underneath. Regarding the SPAMmobile - wow you had quite an experience, Emily! Glad you lived to tell about it. I assume you were unable to get the free SPAMBurger that they distribute. . . Incidentally, it's ironic that Hormel has been trying to expand into the "ethnic" food market by buying up such brands as Patak, House of Tsang, Herdez, Doña María, Búfalo, Marrakesh Express, Carapelli, and Peloponnese. When ethnic success was right under their noses in the form of their most "vulgar" product.

I didn't touch anything.... was there something wrong with it? I had put strange italics tags around the words "temporada" and "temperado" that didn't work because (apparently) you can't put italics in headers. . . Some mythical creature must have come along and fixed it. . .

In Daly City, the two places I remember (though this was years ago) were Tito Rey of the Pacific and Barrio Fiesta. Both were outposts of Manila establishments. Don't know if the Barrio Fiesta was also related to the one in LA. . .

Deepest thanks, everyone, for your replies. The origin of "tempura" is a fascinating question in world food history, and you all have probably moved us closer to answering it in the past couple days than any food historian could. Thanks also, Kristin, for fixing my malformed subheader!

Goyatofu - many thanks for the explanation. Now I am enlightened! Kristin - SMAP's apparent lack of talent is not a liabilitiy at all. Indeed, quite seriously, one of the criteria for being a "tarento" is that one not have any talent! Talent creates unpleasant distance between the idol and his / her / their potential fans - in fact it's not uncommon for Japanese fans to start complaining when idol singers become too skillful that they are "se nobi suru" (becoming pretentious). Same with Morning Musume on the girl's side - they were picked for stardom because they flunked the Asayan auditions. This phenomenon is not limited to Japan but is probably more self-consciously recognized and manipulated there than elsewhere! In fact, I bet the point at which the SMAP members actually become good cooks is the time that the Bistro SMAP ratings start to deteriorate. . .

Looks like Gaylord in Kobe is no longer with us. They used to have a very nice website but it seems to have closed down. There is Gaylord group of restaurants that continues to operate around the world, but I don't think there was any connection between the group and the restaurant in Japan.

The anal-omniscient recipe is a relatively recent historical phenomenon, as I'm sure all you know. Blame for its rise is usually directed at Fanny Merritt Farmer, the Boston Cooking School, and the other leaders of the "domestic economy" movement during the early part of the 20th century. But in order fairly judge these types of recipes, we should really look at the main alternatives that existed at the time - collections of suggestions and hints that were useful primarily to those who already knew most of what it took to prepare the dishes in question, or had the time to go through the long trial-and-error process of learning for themselves what was left unstated. Granted, it's theoretically possible to instruct without dictating. But it's pretty difficult to do. Forgive me if this seems presumptious, but could any of you suggest a new "paradigm" for recipe writing, one that encourages creativity without returning to the old pre-level measurement days?

To be honest, I've never watched this show. It's not on our local broadcast Japanese channel, and we don't get the cable-only channels. But I can't avoid reading about it. . . So what's the deal? Two teams of two members compete against each other to cook something for the guest - I get that much. So who's the member who's left out - Goro-chan - since it seems he's left out of everything nowadays? What exactly do they make? And is the food actually any good? Have they been doing any Korean dishes now that Kusanagi has become "Chonan Kan"? Is this the show in which they made "Hiro"-chan of Speed cry because they didn't like her chocolate cake? Enquiring minds want to know!

John Mariani (just for instance!) has taken quite a licking in these forums, such as here and here, as well as of course the article referenced here. However, I'm curious, to what extent is the willingness of a food critic to remain anonymous a product of the willingness of his or her publication to pick up the bill? Critics at the larger newspapers seem to all be on expense accounts - some magazines may not be as generous. Or am I missing the point?

Doesn't the taste of kheer depend on the reduction of the milk? Slow cookers / crockpots are designed to keep food at a temperature below boiling, so there'll be no reduction. One might try to first reduce the milk with sugar on a stovetop (or - horrors - used canned evaporated milk), then transfer the rabrhi and rice to a slow cooker. Since the slow cooker is presumably unlikely to scorch the milk, this might reduce the amount of stirring required. . .? But it would probably make the pudding more gluey rather than creamy . . .

I actually like the steamed pork manapua at Island Manapua Factory - its filling is completely different from that of the baked pork manapua, which is nothing to write home about. The steamed one has a shredded pork and fat and daikon filling, with traces (I think) of fermented tofu, while the baked one has the more usual chopped char siu and hoisin sauce fillling. But it's true that overall it's not the place to go if you're looking for the best traditional dim sum. Its appeal (at least to me) is more the way in which it goes over the top in taking just about everything on the Hawai`i fast food menu and stuffing into a dim sum of some sort. . .

Extra: The SPAMmobile just rolled into town - off the Matson ship, that is. The driver referred to his joy at being amongst "his people". Massive motorized luncheon meat icon finds its niche, by Charles Memminger

Miguel, Kristin, or anyone who might know: Perhaps someone could be kind enough to help in resolving that age-old question of the origin of the word tempura. It is known that technique of deep-frying was acquired by the Japanese from the Portuguese missionaries or traders, and assumed that the term "tempura" originated at the same time, yet how the actual word "tempura" was derived seems to remain uncertain. There are basically two theories that seem at least conceivable: temporada - time period. This is actually by far the most popular theory, indeed the only theory that is taken seriously, according to what I've read. It is argued that "period" refered to a meatless day (either Friday or Lent), hence the word temporada was transferred to the types of food that were consumed during meatless days, such as fried seafood. temperado - tempered. I actually find this more plausible (with my very limited knowledge of Portuguese), even though I haven't heard anyone argue for it. The term temperado seems (again, based upon very limited knowledge) to be used throughout much of the Lusophonic region to refer to spiced foods cooked without much water, and it could be argued that in Japan that it was eventually understood to refer to deep-frying. Any insights? Please correct any errors of mine!

For no good reason, I decided it was time to start a new thread on Spam in Hawai`i. This isn't the first Spam-related thread in our august forum; see for example the following: spam and mac salad: "hawaiian" foods White Rice, Spam and Health in Hawaii But there's always room for another Spam thread. That's why they call it Spam! (*) The idea is that I'll try to pull together all the factoids, images, and links I can about Spam and Hawai`i, and feed you all about one entry a week for the next month or so . . . And for my first entry, I was finally able to get ahold of the special Commemorative Hawai`i Spam can, which in turn was an imitation of a concept put forward by Hormel's great Danish competitor, Tulip. Both feature Spam (Tulip?) Musubi on the cover, which apparently led some unwary customers to expect a great trapezoidal wad of musubi inside the can. The Tulip concept was one and a half years in the making, which gave Hormel plenty of time to head them off at the pass! Both were announced last August, but took a while to finally make it into the stores. Here's the Tulip Hawai`i Can: And the Spam Hawai`i Can: Note the gratuitous hula dancers, compared to the "purity" of the Tulip design. However, I'm not sure what that shredded thing on the Tulip design is, between the musubi and the banana leaf. Kataifi? Carrots? For those on the mainland who are actually into this kind of thing, you can actually order a Hawai`i-motif can of Spam via Zippy's Online. (*) Err, actually, spam (the virtual, non-pinkish kind) was named in honor of the Monty Python spam skit, the idea being that, like "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam" it just keeps on piling up. . .

Daniel Jote Mesfin did come out with a revised version of his Exotic Ethiopian Cooking in 1994. It's still as far as I know the only Ethiopian cookbook published in English with anything like a national distribution, although most pan-African cookbooks will have a few Ethiopian recipes as well. The Rastafarian-oriented "Haile Sellassie WWW" site contains a number of Ethiopian recipes, some of which seem to be pulled out of Mesfin's book. It also contains a detailed blurb for Mesfin's book

Wanda A. Adams of the Honolulu Advertiser has issued a challenge: Got a Perfect Breakfast Spot? Let the rest of us know She's pretty specific about what she wants, though: What's your favorite breakfast spot in Hawai`i? What do you think about the criteria that Ms. Adams puts forward for what makes a good breakfast? For instance, I'm personally not so picky about cutlery and such. . . Any criteria you would like to remove or add? Also, what's your favorite local breakfast food? Spam and Eggs? Portuguese Sausage and Eggs? Saimin? Malasadas? Loco Moco? Miso Soup?