Dashi, soy sauce, mirin ratios

[Cadbury]

This is such a handy guide you have created, Hiroyuki. I wonder if it could be pinned at the top of the Japan forum for easy reference.

[shinju]

Very informative post Hiroyuki and glad to hear that your wife is coming home soon.

I just ordered the book you mentioned along with few more today. Thanks for the recommendation.

How long do you normally cook your oden? I would love to duplicate the taste of oden from some of the better places in Japan. My oden either taste too strong or not strong enough.

[shinju]

BTW, Hiroyuki, your shiso tempura looks deelish!

[Hiroyuki]

This is such a handy guide you have created, Hiroyuki.  I wonder if it could be pinned at the top of the Japan forum for easy reference.

←

Thanks for the compliment. I think I will update this thread at least once a month, so it will stay on the first page.

[Hiroyuki]

Very informative post Hiroyuki and glad to hear that your wife is coming home soon. 

I just ordered the book you mentioned along with few more today.  Thanks for the recommendation. 

How long do you normally cook your oden?  I would love to duplicate the taste of oden from some of the better places in Japan.  My oden either taste too strong or not strong enough. 

←

My wife will come home tomorrow, June 14. Time for celebration!

How long? 10-20 minutes, I suppose. I think you know that you first simmer daikon (with milky water resulting from washing rice (kome no togi jiru)) in a pot, make hard-boiled eggs in another pot, and then put all other oden items, simmered daikon, and hard-boiled eggs in a large pot.

Shiso tempura in the cook-off thread?? The one showed upthread is yomogi (mugwort) tempura.

[shinju]

No, I did not know that you parboil daikon with rice water (left over rice water) first. I don't recall my mother doing that either. Will try that. There is something missing in my oden flavor department too. Not quite right, but I can't pinpoint it.

[shinju]

Yes, soup for the hot noodle. Sure looks like shiso too. I've never had yomogi leaves as tempura. Can't get yomogi in the US (at least I don't know the source). However, my shiso is doing great in my Northern California backyard. And, finally my yuzu tree is flowering!

[Hiroyuki]

Marinade for chicken karaage:

Soy sauce:mirin:sake = 1:1:1

My recipe:

500 g chicken breasts

30 ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce

30 ml mirin

30 ml sake

Ginger juice

Garlic (optional)

Coating: 1:1 mixture of katakuriko (potato starch) and hakurikiko (weak flour)

I like to heat the marinade in a frying pan and use it as a dipping sauce for the chicken karaage.

Coincidentally, the cookbook I mentioned upthread also calls for a 1:1:1 mixture, but the amounts are much smaller: 10 ml each for 500 g chicken.

[sanrensho]

Can't get yomogi in the US (at least I don't know the source).

You might want to ask around the local Japanese American community. I'm sure somebody has it in their backyard. It grows like a weed and requires no care to speak of. And is easy to divide, so anybody that has it should be willing to share. Same for myoga (I have both).

Edited June 26, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I made soup from leftover grilled akauo (don't know the English name).

(Skin and bones, but there was some flesh left on them)

The salt, soy sauce, and water ratio is 1:3:160.

This ratio is for sumashi jiru (clear soup) from the book I mentioned upthread. The book calls for light soy sauce, not dark, but I used dark.

Thus, I used:

1600 ml water

30 ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce

10 ml (2 tsp) salt

I added daikon, carrot, and enoki.

I used kombu for dashi, but no one noticed there was kombu dashi in the soup.

Also, my son said he wanted to have miso soup, and added some miso in his soup.

[shinju]

Can't get yomogi in the US (at least I don't know the source).

You might want to ask around the local Japanese American community. I'm sure somebody has it in their backyard. It grows like a weed and requires no care to speak of. And is easy to divide, so anybody that has it should be willing to share. Same for myoga (I have both).

←

Thanks Sanrensho, I will ask around. I also have myoga growing in my yard too - and you are right very easy to divide. Mine is usually ready to harvest around September in California. Myoga in miso shiru is divine!

Hiroyuki, I received the book within a week from Amazon Japan. So far I've tried the oden ratio. It's 1:1:15 or 4 T soysauce (both light and regular), 4 T mirin, and 4 1/2 C dashi.

[shinju]

I made soup from leftover grilled akauo (don't know the English name).

(Skin and bones, but there was some flesh left on them)

←

According to this site

http://library.thinkquest.org/22403/data/m...s/rockfish.html

akauo is rockfish. It's one of my favorite fish that can be caught in Northern California water too as you can see from the map above.

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki, I received the book within a week from Amazon Japan.  So far I've tried the oden ratio.  It's 1:1:15 or 4 T soysauce (both light and regular), 4 T mirin, and 4 1/2 C dashi.

←

When I checked out the oden recipe, I was surprised that it didn't call for parboiling daikon in "kome no togi jiru" (milky water resulting from washing rice with water). Instead, it calls for heating daikon in a microwave for 6 min. Maybe I should try that recipe the next time I make oden.

Thanks for the information on the fish.

[Hiroyuki]

I often make nikomi (simmered) hamburg these days because that's what my daughter craves for.

The ingredients of the sauce are:

4tbsp ketchup

4 tbsp tonkatsu (or chunou) sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

My daughter really likes the sauce and the nikomi hamburg.

[Hiroyuki]

My two children caught as many as 29 rainbow trouts at a local festival in late August.

I grilled six of them with salt (shio-yaki) on that day, and today, I used seven of them to make kara-age. I used a 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake, and it was great! I used katakuriko (potato starch) only for coating, not a 1:1 mixture of flour and katakuriko.

Leftover kara-age

[torakris]

I often make nikomi (simmered) hamburg these days because that's what my daughter craves for.

The ingredients of the sauce are:

4tbsp ketchup

4 tbsp tonkatsu (or chunou) sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

My daughter really likes the sauce and the nikomi hamburg.

←

Wow these are so natsukashii! My MIL used to make this all the time when I first moved here. I don't think I have had them in years. Thanks for the recipe I think I will give them a try. I tried to make them once many years ago but I couldn't get the sauce right.

[Hiroyuki]

I finally tried the gyudon recipe contained in the book I mentioned way upthread.

The dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio is 7:5:3. This ratio is good for other donburi such as oyako don and katsu don.

The book and leftover tondon (I used pork instead of beef this time):

Ingredients for 4 servings

140 ml dashi

60 ml mirin

40 ml soy sauce

1 onion

300 g beef

4 eggs

sansho

I added some ginger juice, not included in the original recipe.

Just as I had expected, the tondon resulted in a sweet flavor. I still prefer my donburi ratio of 10-12:1:1.

[Ce'nedra]

Hiroyuki your food/recipes are beautiful. Please do continue to share!

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki your food/recipes are beautiful. Please do continue to share!

←

Thanks, I will, but you can contribute to this thread with your own ratios! It's only dashi, soy sauce, and mirin!

[Ce'nedra]

Oh I haven't cooked much with Japanese cuisine so I was hoping this thread could help me get a start!

In fact, I really want to explore and cook up some nice Japanese home meals but have no idea where to start (I haven't got any recipes atm)

So in a sense, your cooking is an inspiration for me because I tend to shy away from cooking Japanese, thinking it's difficult (and also a pain to get some of the ingredients)...

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I often make nikomi (simmered) hamburg these days because that's what my daughter craves for.

The ingredients of the sauce are:

4tbsp ketchup

4 tbsp tonkatsu (or chunou) sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

My daughter really likes the sauce and the nikomi hamburg.

←

This sauce sounds a lot like something my mom used to make.

Mom would take ketchup, barbeque sauce, shoyu and sugar and cook hamburger patties in it. It was one of my favorite things when I was about the same age as my 2 oldest children are now (8-10ish).

[kbjesq]

Thanks to Hiroyuki, I knew to look for instant dashi when I finally had the opportunity to shop in an Asian market. I purchased several types of instant dashi, but my favorite is in the form of a large tea bag. The dashi is made by placing 3 c. of water in a pot, adding the bag, and simmering for 10 minutes. Voila! Instant dashi. The box has a nice soup recipe on the back (3 c. of dashi, 1/4 c. each of soy sauce and mirin).

I'm not good at math, but I think that translates to a ratio of 12:1:1.

With apologies for this terrible photo, here is a picture of the soup (I added shiitake mushrooms, carrots, udon noodles, tofu and chives):

[Hiroyuki]

Ce'nedra, dashi need not necessarily be Japanese fish dashi. The other day, I tried a ramen broth with an instant( ) chicken dashi to soy sauce ratio of 12:1, which came out fine. As for soy sauce, get a Japanese brand. As for mirin, if it's hard to come by or if it's too expensive, replace it with sugar and sake. Remember that mirin is about half as sweet as sugar. And, you don't necessarily have to use Japanese ingredients, right?

MomOfLittleFoodies, post your ratios, along with comments and photos!

kbjesq, your dish is quite similar to what we call "nikomi (simmered) udon". I like the shape of the carrot in your soup.

Reduce the amount of soy sauce and add some cubes of Japanese curry roux (or some curry powder), and you will have curry udon!

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Ce'nedra- when my mom doesn't have mirin on hand, she uses the sugar + sake substitution Hiroyuki mentioned, or if she's out of sake too, she just uses sugar.

Hiroyuki- I'll have to ask Mom if she remembers the ratios the next time I call her. Mom is notorious for "approximate measurements" rather than really measuring things.

[Ce'nedra]

Hiroyuki and MomOfLittleFoodies thanks for the tips!

I do have mirn but I don't have sake hmm...I've bought panko breadcrumbs some time this year but haven't decided on how to use it yet...I was thinking of Ming Tsai's special panko meatloaf...