Advice on summer Japanese menu, food and setting

[AdrianB]

Hello all

In Australia it's now summer and I'm hoping to serve a lunch with parents (on both sides of the family) to celebrate the season and open there eyes to the wonder of Japanese food and balance.

I am no expert and nothing more than an enthusiast and seek advice from more experienced persons.

Partially inspired by "smallworld" and his/her post in 2003, I've settled on serving a meal roughly derived from the philosophy of "kaiseki" but served more in the manner of a multi-course bento (but without the box!).

I'm not sure about the table setting. What I have is a dark mahogany table. I'd like to bring a sense of summer to it somehow. I'd prefer placemats of some description vs. table cloth.

The courses and general presentation concept:

First: hiya-yakko - cold tofu topped with salmon roe eggs and sliced nori. Served in a cut-glass dish. Is this too odd... perhaps something more classic?

Second: Suimono - clear soup with clams (cockles). Served in open ceramic bowl.

Third: Sashimi - single slice of ocean trout, tuna and scallop resting on shredded daikon in a bowl made of ice. Wasabi and soy sauce provided. Perhaps, all sashimi together in one large ice bowl for the centre of the table and people take what they like onto individual plates?

Fourth: I'd like to bring the main part of the meal together for simplicity. Was planning to arrange five dishes on a lacquered tray:

1. Front left – cold noodles (hiyashi chuka)

2. Front right - Sunomono (wakame, squid, cubumber) - small wooden bowl

3. Back left - Nasubi no Nimono

4. Back centre – Fried oyster

5. Back right – Unagi Kabayaki

Fifth: Fresh fruit - being summer there's a bounty. Perhaps rock melon (cantaloupe) or honeydew melon.

Any advice or suggestions on changes/substitutions, presentation, serving order etc. is greatly appreciated.

I do have access to some really good flash-frozen green lip abalone which could be sake steamed - would this work or is live required (which is possible but a long drive)?

Kind regards

Adrian

Edited February 18, 2009 by AdrianB (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Your proposed meal sounds very good! I'd say your concept is similar to that of a shokado bento, which is a bento version of a kaiseki meal. A shokado bento is offered in a box partitioned into four sections, in each of which a dish is placed.

Images of shokado bento

[nakji]

Sounds beautiful! What sorts of dishes have you got for presentation? I've just come back from an onsen trip, and had a formal Japanese meal there. One tip I picked up about presentation there was for shellfish - presented in its shell on the plate, the chef had it resting on a small pile of wet sea salt, to keep it from rocking back and forth.

[AdrianB]

I do not have much in the way of plates for presentation at the moment.

I like an eclectic or varied mix of things and will choose based on my preference. We have a few Japanese-shops that sell Japanese ceramics from various parts of Japan from famous and new artists. But also, I think some European cut-glass which you can find sometimes at antique shops or second-hand stores can be very nice for this kind of thing.

There is some lovely kutani porcelain sake cups and bottles (tokuri?) but that's no good for the hot weather this time of year.

I think with the meal it will be with sake (jumai daiginjo... maybe Hakkaisan) or o-cha (probably a nice shade grown sencha from Kyoto).

[helenjp]

Sounds good!

You could use your sake cups to serve small portions, if you are not planning on serving cold sake.

Cut glass is fine - even quite ornate types...look up edo kiriko.

Low stemmed "trifle" dishes would work too, and the kind of big glass plates people serve pavlova on look good with summer Japanese menus too.

Summer serving ideas

Sunomono in wooden bowl - my only doubt is whether the vinegar would help dissolve off-flavors out of the wood! You could line the bowl with a (non-toxic) leaf to provide a layer between the food and the wood, or do a trial run first.

When I lived outside Japan, I also often found that I didn't have enough "authentic" dishes for larger groups. The tray idea is a good solution, and in summer, Japanese or other Asian baskets (with a dish, leaves, or asymmetrically folded paper in them) are airy and attractive too.

If little mounds of things on a tray looks too same-y, try putting some of the things in symmetrical stacks or rows, or on a leaf or piece of paper on the tray.

Paper is your friend, and you should be able to buy cheap bundles of practice paper for calligraphy, which you can simply fold in half asymmetrically (so that you can see all the corners). Origami-style containers are good too for drier things. Oddly enough, autumn menus often have a "dustpan" shaped container for tempura, meant to evoke a collection of leaves raked together by a gardener tidying up a garden!

Greenery for summer tables: bamboo leaves, green Japanese maple leaves, green shiso leaves.

If fried oysters are too rich, you could try grilling them on the half-shell, and serving them with soy sauce/citrus juice (one of the native Australian limes?) and crumbled nori. (Nori goes very well with oysters).

Abalone is more of a summer dish than oysters, but if you are not sure about the texture, what about a trial run?

One importer recommends thawing them under running water, but that seems like a waste of flavor! Otherwise, you could try sprinkling them with sake and thawing them slowly in the fridge. If you want to cook them in sake and soy sauce, you can do most of the cooking on stored heat - the minute the flesh starts to contract, turn off the heat and leave the covered pan for a while. If you think it's going to overcook, you could take out the abalone, then return it when the broth is closer to lukewarm, allowing it to cool in the broth in the fridge, absorbing flavor and moisture.

Hope you have a memorable meal!

[nakji]

To add to helenjp's advice, cut glass would look really nice. We started our meal at the ryokan this week with a small glass of akajiso cordial in a cut glass tumbler.

Here you can see how a tray or a large plate might be adapted to your purposes:

And garnish some pieces with fresh leaves, as you can see (and helenjp suggested).

You could create a focal area with a piece of paper, which they did here:

That paper was printed with ume (or sakura?) blossoms, which are in season right now, I believe. You could use some paper with a summer print - green maple leaves?

The sashimi was presented on a bed of straw and seaweed, with flowers as accents:

Coincidentally enough, we drank Hakkaisan ginjoshu with this meal.

[Hiroyuki]

There is nothing wrong with your kaiseki-inspired lunch, but if you want to be authentic, here are some points to consider:

Zensai (hiya-yakko): Start serving sake at this point.

Fourth: I'd like to bring the main part of the meal together for simplicity. Was planning to arrange five dishes on a lacquered tray:

Note that in a kaiseki meal, there can be no such things as main dishes. To Westerners, a kaiseki meal looks a mere series of hors d'oeuvres. I would venture to say that all dishes before rice is served are appetizers for sake (sake no sakana).

Here's what Shizuo Tsuji wrote about sashimi and suimono (soup) in his book, "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art":

Sashimi is the crowning glory of the formal meal.  The soup and raw fish are so important that the other dishes are merely garnishes, as it were.  But sashimi, always arranged on especially beautiful plates, is the showpiece of the chef's skill-both in his knifework and his mastery of the essence of Japanese cuisine.

There is some truth in what he wrote, but the general understanding is that there is no main dish in kaiseki.

You could remove cold noodles (hiyashi chuka) altogether and serve a bowl of rice instead, together with pickles and soup (such as miso soup) after the diners have had all the dishes (and you declare that sake-drinking time is over*), or you could replace it with somen (more natural). You already have sunomono, and serving another sour dish is rather redundant.

*In general, the Japanese think that sake and rice do not go together. While sake is served, no rice is served. Sushi (vinegared rice + other ingredients) is an exception. We can have sushi with sake.

You could replace fried oyster with tempura of some seasonal items. Fried oyster is fine, but is usually regarded as a yoshoku (Western-style dish) item.

You could serve unagi kabayaki together with rice, as an okazu (side dish), rather than an appetizer for sake.

I do have access to some really good flash-frozen green lip abalone which could be sake steamed - would this work or is live required (which is possible but a long drive)?

Do use a flash-frozen one. In Japan, live seafood is always preferred, but is not at all essential.

Finish the meal with green tea and fresh fruit.

You could say "Itadakimasu" together before starting to eat and "Gochisousama deshita" after you finish eating.

[AdrianB]

Thank you very much Hiroyuki, Helen and Erin.

Sake will wait until zensai is served.

Is a very small 'lid' of plum wine before the zensai is served acceptable? At Kikunoi (Kyoto) (or it may have been Hamadaya (Tokyo) this was done in a waiting/side room before being seated - of course with "kampai".

Concerning presentation - the use of flowers, leaves, paper will be important. The Joy of Japanese Cooking by Kuwako Takahashi has some very nice examples, suggestions and traditional cuts/garnishes which I will try to follow. And the inspiration that has been provided elsewhere on this thread and eGullet is also a big help.

I've found out my parents have no time restriction for this lunch so I will serve each dish separately which will give more time to focus on each dish.

I am now thinking:-

Zensai: Hiya-yakko - cold tofu topped with salmon roe eggs and sliced nori. Zuchini flower filled with diced avacado. Fried baby squid leg with citrus.

Suimono: Clear soup with clams (cockles) and ginger juice. With lid. Japanese lacquerware soup bowl.

Sashimi: Ocean trout, tuna and scallop resting on shredded daikon in a bowl made of ice. Wasabi and soy sauce provided.

Yakimono: Charcoal salt-grilled King George Whiting fish (or Garfish depending on what's best). Grated daikon and shoyu on side. This would be skewed "as if it's swimming".

Sunomono: Cucumber, wakame and squid.

Hiyashi-bachi: Simmered eggplant, green beans, raddish.

Gohan: Mame-Gohan. Peas are very good now. I'll cook the rice with peas with a bit of sake and konbu.

Otsuyu: Is another clear soup OK here or is it better to go with a miso? I was thinking a clear soup with lobster, scallion and carrot.

Tsukemono: I need some help here - can anyone recommend some pickles than can be made within 72 hours? Daikon, celery, okra, zuchhini, egglpant are all good here now. The pickles I can buy from Japanese stores are OK but not in suiting with a more formal meal (bright purple eggplant!)

Mizumono: Rockmelon (cantaloupe).

How do you pronounce "deshita" as in "Gochisousama deshita"? I say 'Gochisousama' at a Yakitori-bar here and they find it very funny. Is this too polite for a Yakitori bar?

Edited February 18, 2009 by AdrianB (log)

[torakris]

It sounds like quite an impressive meal to me!

The only changes that I would make is replace the hiyashi chukka with either somen (like Hiroyuki mentioned) or a rice dish. I can't recall ever seeing noodles like this in a kaiseki meal. Even somen served with a broth (either inside or seperate) would be difficult with the timing as you don't want them to sit for too long.

I would have rice somewhere, either at the end with pickles and soup or as part of the tray. If it was me I would make the unagi a rice dish, either some type of maze gohan (mixed rice) or as unaju with the unagi on top of the rice.

Also I would avoid anything deep fried with panko, as those types of dishes tend to be more western in origin and normally don't appear in a kaiseki.

[Hiroyuki]

Is a very small 'lid' of plum wine before the zensai is served acceptable? At Kikunoi (Kyoto) (or it may have been Hamadaya (Tokyo) this was done in a waiting/side room before being seated - of course with "kampai".

Of course, it is! Plum wine (I assume you mean umeshu) and any other sweet alcoholic beverage will suit the occasion.

Gohan: Mame-Gohan. Peas are very good now. I'll cook the rice with peas with a bit of sake and konbu.

Sounds good to me. With a bit of salt, too, please!

Otsuyu: Is another clear soup OK here or is it better to go with a miso? I was thinking a clear soup with lobster, scallion and carrot.

Just as you said. It's OK, but it's better to go with miso. Usually, similar dishes don't appear in a single meal.

As for tsukemono, I hope Helen will chime in!

How do you pronounce "deshita" as in "Gochisousama deshita"? I say 'Gochisousama' at a Yakitori-bar here and they find it very funny. Is this too polite for a Yakitori bar?

Deshita = day-shee-tah

(Can someone help me with a better expression?)

Gochisousama deshita is more polite than Gochisousama.

[AdrianB]

Concerning o-tsukemono, after reviewing Helen's helpful blog and the recent post about tuskemono I think I'll make:

Kyuuri no kyu-chan

Posted by Hiroyuki

Ingredients:

1 to 1.2 kg cucumbers

50 g ginger

White sesame seeds

Seasonings:

150 g sugar

300 cc soy sauce

50 cc mirin

50 cc vinegar

How to make:

<1> Cut cucumbers into 1- to 2-cm length pieces, sprinkle salt, leave for 30 minutes, squeeze.

<2> Put finely-cut ginger and all seasonings in a pan, boil for 1 to 2 minutes, put cucumbers, and boil for 2 minutes on high heat.

<3> Let cool, mix with sesame seeds, put in refrigerator.

Momi-zuke

Posted by Helen.

About 1 tsp coarse salt for 1/8 of a cabbage. Cut the cabbage into shreds or peices, as you like. Add other vegetables such as wakame or 1/2 a Japanese cucumber or a chunk of daikon, sliced finely (add a little more salt if using a fair amount).

Add shreds of fresh ginger or green shiso leaves if you like.

Rub in salt. Cut a lemon into quarters vertically and add 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon, finely sliced. Add to mix, put whole thing in a ziplock bag, and toss in fridge for 10 minutes...or half a day... Squeeze gently, toss, and serve. Dress with a little soy sauce or ponzu (soy/citrus juice mix) if desired.

Daikon Osaka Zuke

posted by Moga

Weigh your peeled daikon and measure 2% of the weight in salt (i.e. if you have 300 gms of daikon you need 6 gms salt). Cut the daikon lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices and chop these slices into matchsticks. Soften a dried chilli in warm water and remove seeds, slice it thinly. Put the daikon and chilli together in a container and mix with the salt. Put a weight on top and let it stand for 2 hours. After this, drain the container and squeeze out any excess liquid from the daikon, put it back in the container. Cut up a 4 inch slice of konbu. Place the konbu on top of the daikon, replace the weight on top, daikon will be ready to eat 1-2 hours later.

This should give three interesting contrasts. Vinegared cucumber, cabbage + wakame, and daikon (in half moon cut).

I'm just trying to now get everything ready and planned... I'll try to take photos and share it with eGullet once it's done!

[AdrianB]

The lunch has been and it was a very big success!

I was a little un-traditional and had a centrepiece of purple irses and yellow lillies. Placemates were made to look like leaves.

The final menu and a few pictures:-

~

Hiya-yakko - cold tofu topped with salmon roe eggs and nori.

~

Avocado sashimi, fried squid legs with citrus, fresh edamame.

~

Suimono - Clear soup with cockles

~

Tataki of Atlantic salmon, swordfish and scallop

(the fish was very fresh but I wanted to sear the fish quickly for extra safety for my parents)

~

Yakimono: Charcoal salt-grilled King George Whiting fish

~

Sunomono: Cucumber, wakame and squid.

~

Hiyashi-bachi: Simmered eggplant, okra, baby squash.

~

Shiso/Perilla leaf Gohan, red miso soup and tsukemono

~

Cantaloupe, flame grape and clear jelly

All washed down with Hakkaisan and shade-grown green tea from Kyoto (with rice and beyond).

The photos don't look very good - they were using a little Canon as my main camera had flat batteries! The shots were taken in the kitchen so please excuse the mess.

I did not manage to make the daikon sashimi garnish properly and my cutting was not very expert - I need more practice!

Thank you to all for your help... I hope to get better.

Edited February 22, 2009 by AdrianB (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Good job! Congratulations!

[nakji]

Your plating was lovely. The fish looks especially nice - I like the touches of the flower and - is it a small pile of grated daikon?

What was frozen into the ice bowl?

[AdrianB]

Yes, it was daikon (with shoyu poured on top).

The leaves in the icebowl were from "marigold" flower (three per bowl). The flower was also a "marigold" used for decoration on the fish.

I made sure the fish was facing left (and the skewer was on the hidden side).

[Hiroyuki]

I made sure the fish was facing left (and the skewer was on the hidden side).

←

OK, I'm glad to know you know the rules.

As for the daikon garnish, I'd like to tell you that at most Japanese restaurants and sushi shops, they use convenient tools like benriners to make thredded daikon. Some even use pre-thredded daikon. Real katsura muki daikon is hard to find. The sushi shop I frequent is one of few sushi shops that serve real katsura muki daikon. To see photos, visit the "Local Sushi Shop in Niigata" thread.

[helenjp]

Looks like a lot got done! I approve of the shiso rice for summer. Just as well I didn't get to post my suggestion for a quick pickle, as it would have doubled up - rubbing yukari (rubbed dried red perilla and salt) into something like turnip or daikon slices, squeezing, and maybe dressing with a very little vinegar.

What type of shiso did you use for your rice? And how did you prepare it?

Will be looking forward to your reply, but it may take me a while to solve router problems and get back to reading this topic!

[AdrianB]

The shiso leaf was green and very pungent. I'm not sure of the type, it was labelled as "Japanese Basil" from the Chinese-run market stall. The leaves were medium-dark green. It was definitely the same shiso leaf as I've eaten in Japan (and Korea) but it was a little tougher if you chewed it directly.

The shiso rice was made by cooking the rice as per usual (but with extra salt, a little bit of sake). Once the rice was cooked, the shiso leaf was chopped up fine, salted and left for 10-15 minutes. Excess juice squeeze out and then the leaves added to the rice and stirred through with a wooden paddle.

I also used the some left over shiso leaf to fragrance boiling water for the hot towels through the meal.