What do you recommend at Mitsuwa?

[edwardsboi]

I usually go there to eat the salt ramen in their food court, but I want to start beginning to cook Japanese food as well as use Japanese ingredients in non-Japanese dishes. So I want to build a basic pantry of Japanese ingredients of mirin, ponzu, miso but I was floored by all the different choices. Does anybody have any recommendations for which brand of mirin to buy at Mitsuwa, which miso(I'm looking for the medium yellow one), etc...

[budrichard]

I have been shopping at Mitsuwa for many years and its a long learning process. The ingrediants from Japan vary greatly in price as the handmade aspect (artizen products) increases. Many items are now supplied from China or Korea at substantially lower cost than Jpanese quality products. I would let your pocket book be your guide and start with lower price Japanese products and slowly work your way up the $$ chain and learn as much as possible about the methods and quality involved in the making of the various products.

We have gone to artizen Japanese products for shoyu, mirin, miso and others but the prices are high. Good luck.-Dick

[ojisan]

Brands seem to come and go. You might want to refer to a book such as Andoh's Washoku for descriptions of what you should be looking for. Also read the label ingredients for things that don't belong there.

Having said that, I'll mention that good mirin is hard to find - most are just sake and corn syrup. You'll probably want several shoyus - an inexpensive one like Kikkoman (Costco) for marinades etc., and an artisanal brand for sashimi etc. For everyday usukuchi, Yamasa is reliable. Note that shoyus made in the US contain preservatives.

To start, you'll probably want two basic misos - aka and shiro, and they should contain only water, soybeans and salt. I've had ongoing good luck with Yamabuki.

Rather than buying bottled dipping sauces such as ponzu or tosa (with questionable added ingredients), I'd suggest making your own using the simple recipes in Shizuo Tsuji's books.

You can't go too wrong with buying whatever brand is on sale at Mitsuwa. Get on their mailing list for the weekly sale flyers.