Natto

[torakris]

I like the fuwatoro on in the reddish box.

[jrufusj]

I like the fuwatoro on in the reddish box.

And me as well.

Jim

[growpower]

I made the dive!! Day after my original post, I noticed that my japanese housemate was actually making it for lunch, so I asked her for some. Observations:

1. The taste and texture wasn't too bad for me. It was a little bit salty and sticky. The taste wasn't that different from soybeans stewed in soy sauce. I did think it was really interesting that the more you stirred it, the more sticky frothy white stuff there was (is there a name for that, btw?).

2. I wasn't too found of the smell. She had mixed it with packets of soy sauce and mustard. She gave me a little dish of it. I actually had a little bit of trouble consuming the whole thing without gagging. And I usually can down anything. My other housemate compared it to Taiwanese smelly tofu. I am not sure I agree it's as pungent as that.

3. I am not sure what brand she used, she had already taken everything out of the containers.

All in all, I would probably try it again, just because. But I think I might try the fried version next time due to the smell. But I wonder since the taste isn't all that distinctive, do the people who love natto, love it because of the smell?

Oh, and what's Kastuobushi that the other poster mentioned?

-thanks

_A

[torakris]

katsuobushi are known in English as bonito flakes, check page 18 of the Daily Nihongo thread for more information!

[Hiroyuki]

Well, I didn't mention natto tempura deliberately. Wanna know why? You'll see that if you make natto tempura yourself at home. The ordor will fill your room!!

But except that odor, torakris and helenjp are right. Click the following site and scroll down, and you will see two graphs.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2003q3/20030924.html

The left graph shows that the foul odor decreases by deep-frying natto, while the right one shows that the fragrance increases by deep-frying.

***

There are no appropriate names for that white stuff you mentioned. We may refer to it as nebaneba (ネバネバ), which refers to something sticky, nebarike, or nebari. We describe natto as ito wo hiku (糸を引く), literally, pulling strings.

[torakris]

At the Imaiya restaurant (site of Tokyo egullet first ever get together) part of our final course included natto, it was actually a mix of two different kinds of natto, one from the Kanda area of Tokyo and the other from Yamagata.

The Yamagata natto was called shio (salt) natto and it was flavored as well as having the additions of konbu and kouji.

My husband fell in love with this stuff and our wonderful waitress kindly answered all of our questions and even went back to the kitchen to bring us the package to show us what the bag looked like.

The first thing my husband did when he got home was look it up on the internet and we found it:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/toichiya/434914/434975/

[jrufusj]

At the Imaiya restaurant (site of Tokyo egullet first ever get together) part of our final course included natto, it was actually a mix of two different kinds of natto, one from the Kanda area of Tokyo and the other from Yamagata.

The Yamagata natto was called shio (salt) natto and it was flavored as well as having the additions of konbu and kouji.

My husband fell in love with this stuff and our wonderful waitress kindly answered all of our questions and even went back to the kitchen to bring us the package to show us what the bag looked like.

The first thing my husband did when he got home was look it up on the internet and we found it:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/toichiya/434914/434975/

Kristin:

Thanks for the internet link. This is definitely one of my follow up items from the dinner. I looked in three grocery stores yesterday and couldn't find it.

Jim

[tektite]

Natto! Natto! Natto! Natto! Natto! It has to be in my top five favorite Japanese foods. The more you eat it the more you will love it.

my favorite way to eat it is natto gohan (over rice) with diced takuan and negi and topped with uzura tamago yolk (with a little soy sauce, karashi and a dab of vinegar)

eat that every day for breakfast and you will never get sick!

The takuan's crunchyness is such a good balance. I have a friend who swears by putting apple chunks in it, but I have yet to give it a try!

[Sleepy_Dragon]

I have not learned to like natto yet, but I'm working on it. So far I've tried it three times without success. But, all this suffering will be worth it eventually just on account of how nutritious it is! Or so I keep telling myself.

Pat, stubborn

[torakris]

I have not learned to like natto yet, but I'm working on it. So far I've tried it three times without success. But, all this suffering will be worth it eventually just on account of how nutritious it is! Or so I keep telling myself.

Pat, stubborn

Don't worry Pat, it took me years!

A couple years back I bought my kids one of those sugary coated cereals from Kellogs (I swear I haven't done it since! ) and on the back they had charts showing the cereal vs a natto gohan breakfast and the cereal was way ahead in everything.

I couldn't beleive these people were trying to convince mothers that this junky sugar coated crap was better for you than a natto gohan breakfast....

[Hiroyuki]

I think that most natto haters hate the smell of natto. One solution to overcome the smell is to reduce it by putting the natto in the freezer for some time before eating. Another is to cancel out the smell by adding, for example, vinegar.

I usually have natto for breakfast. I don't mind the smell of natto at all when I'm eating it myself, but I sometimes cannot stand it when someone else is eating it. You may think this strange, but it's true.

[dougery]

I do like natto a lot but I found the following few quotes quite funny:

*Natto, fermented soybeans, is part of an elaborate joke played on foreigners in Japan.

*Of our five senses, sight and smell tell us that natto is not something to be put near our mouths. If you can imagine putrid beans covered in slime, you don't even need to open the packet.

*It's most popular in Tokyo, where the smell of the filthy ocean makes natto seem fragrant.

http://ballz.ababa.net/uninvited/natto.htm

[melonpan]

i wonder how natto lovers would take to korean style chung-guk-jang (청국장), which are <a href="http://img.happymessenger.com/body/body_bab10.jpg">sticky and very strongly fermented soybeans</a>, <a href="http://www.soy.co.kr/chunguk.html">mashed up</a>, then added to some soup base with some kimchi, scallions, garlic (of course), some tofu and a couple spoonfuls of good ground chile pepper for a satisfyingly hot and spicy <a href="http://hwaro.com/auction/bestwill/best2.jpg">cheonggukjang jjigae</a>...

here is a picture of cheonggukjang as it is usually sold, in little wheels: (<a href="http://seogyeong.cybericheon.go.kr/upload/product_img/P2003020026.gif">wheel pic</a>)

if youve never had cheonggukjang jjigae before and you like natto, i urge you to try it! its 10 times stronger than duenjang jjigae and about 50 times stronger than miso soup...

im sorry. sometimes i forget which board im on. ill go to elsewhere in asia/pacific to continue preaching...

[torakris]

Is the Korean natto also eaten just plain with rice as the Japanese eat it? or is it normally cooked?

A little while ago I was at a Korean market in Tokyo with a Korean friend and she wanted to buy some of this but decided not too because we were going to be taking the train and she didn't want to offend others with the smell......

[melonpan]

Is the Korean natto also eaten just plain with rice as the Japanese eat it? or is it normally cooked?

A little while ago I was at a Korean market in Tokyo with a Korean friend and she wanted to buy some of this but decided not too because we were going to be taking the train and she didn't want to offend others with the smell.....

you know how when you wrap foods around red leaf lettuce and stick some soybean paste in the middle? you can use chunggukjang for that... but other than as that and in soups, i hadnt really heard of chunggukjang being used uncooked like natto. but when i looked it up online, i saw on <a href="http://jk.interget.co.kr/jong/seng.htm">this page</a> which says that some koreans do eat it uncooked: the page suggests eating chunggukjang mixed with some soy sauce, a little bit of sesame seed oil, then eaten over hot rice, japanese style.

i have found several other interesting recipes at <a href="http://rosecafes.com.ne.kr/chung7.htm">http://rosecafes.com.ne.kr/chung7.htm</a>:<ul><li>chunggukjang jjigae

<li>kimchi chunggukjang jjigae

<li>ggakdugi (radish kimchi) chunggukjang jjigae

<li>daikon chunggukjang jjigae

<li>mushroom chunggukjang jjigae

<li>ugeoji (a vegetable leaf) chunggukjang jjigae

<li>chunggukjang seasoned paste for wrapping with red leaf lettuce

<li>deep fried (like tempura) chunggukjang

<li>chunggukjang mandu

<li>chugngukjang hamburger

<li>chunggukjang tonkasu</ul>i think whatever you do with natto, you can do with this stuff too!

another note on natto (which is the topic!)...

at a couple of the korean grocery stores here in los angeles, i see piles and piles of natto for sale. i wonder why i see so much for sale in the grocery stores. they are all japanese brands... some possibilities are<ul><li>a lot of japanese people shop at the korean markets in LA

<li>people my parents and my grandparents age came to eat lots of it during the occupation and their eating natto these days somehow escaped my notice

<li>korean people in LA have more exposure to japanese foods and have accepted natto, since it is similar to chunggukjang</ul>*shrug* dont know why! but im not complaining

[SobaAddict70]

oh, btw, natto and Mrs. Dash go well together, especially as a topping over soba.

Soba

[jschyun]

I dislike chunggukjang and I can't get myself to eat natto or chodofu (Chinese stinky tofu). What can I say, I'm Americanized.

Thanks melonpan. I've only seen chunggukjang in chigae form. I recently saw it at Seoul Soondae (blood sausage chain restaurant). The only reason i'm goign to order it is to report how much worse/better it tastes than homemade.

[AzRaeL]

I was at a Japanese Restaurant in Vancouver, BC and I saw natto on the menu. Natto, the famed terror that Bourdain couldn't bring himself to eat. Being insatiably curious, I just had to try it.

I asked the waitress if Natto is delicious. She wrinkled her cute little nose and said: I am Japanese and I myself find Natto disgusting.

What a ringing endorsement!

Undeterred, I had to have my Natto.

They didn't serve it on rice as is the traditional way. They served it in a bowl with cubes of raw tuna and some sprouts and watercress. I tugged at the beans with my chopsticks...goooey. My companion looked on in amazement and disgust. It had a snotty kinda look to it.

I put it in my mouth. Mmmm it was surprisingly good. I offered my companion some. After some coaxing she tried a bit. It wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. It looks slimy, smells like..well strong cheese but it really isn't that bad at all.

My vote: Great!

and it's good for you too.

[torakris]

this is actually quite a common way to serve natto in restaurants, look on the menu for maguro natto (tuna with natto) or ika natto (squid with natto)

here is one version of maguro natto:

http://www.ukemochi.com/menu/menu1/mag_n/mag_n.html

and ika natto:

http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~hakusan/ikanatto.jpg

I love natto!

[Hiroyuki]

Kirizai, which I mentioned elsewhere in the Japan Forum.

I didn't know about this dish before I came to Shiozawa town. It is sometimes served for lunch at my son's element school.

The ingredients include natto, bonito flakes, sesame seeds, finely chopped nozawana pickles, and shirasu (baby sardines).

The photo below shows kirizai before everything is mixed together.

(No shirasu in this photo.)

[torakris]

is there any soy sauce/tare (dressing) or karashi (hot mustard) added?

egg?

That really sounds good I might give it a try...

[Hiroyuki]

is there any soy sauce/tare (dressing) or karashi (hot mustard) added?

egg?

That really sounds good I might give it a try...

←

Sorry, I should have mentioned them.

I, for one, add tare and karashi but NO EGGS! I don't know what ingredients other people add to kirizai.

It's not only delicious but nutritious!

[Akiko]

Kirizai, which I mentioned elsewhere in the Japan Forum.

I didn't know about this dish before I came to Shiozawa town. It is sometimes served for lunch at my son's element school.

The ingredients include natto, bonito flakes, sesame seeds, finely chopped nozawana pickles, and shirasu (baby sardines).

Hiroyuki, that picture is making my mouth water. I usually don't like Natto mixed with anything but the karashi and tare that comes in the packet, add green onions and a steaming bowl of gohan on the side, but that looks incredible. I'll have one without the shirasu please.

[torakris]

Nebari-ya

http://portal.nifty.com/koneta04/12/27/01/

a natto restaurant...

the page is in Japanese but there are a lot of great pictures.

[jrufusj]

Nebari-ya

http://portal.nifty.com/koneta04/12/27/01/

a natto restaurant...

the page is in Japanese but there are a lot of great pictures.

←

Gotta go!

Even with my poor Japanese, I know it is in Shibuya, but what is 幡ヶ谷?

Thanks,

Jim