Japanese foods--tsukemono

[helenjp]

look for it coming around October 5th

Most certainly will! That sounds like a yummy time of year to hear about food in Japan, too.

I often buy garlic by the net...have no trouble using it up!

It's excellent pickled in shoyu, too. You can just plunk it right in, but I'll dig out a recipe, seems to be better prepickled in vinegar before going into the shoyu. Like miso, the shoyu is an excellent seasoning. I use it so much that I end up topping up the shoyu several times before the actual garlic gets used up.

One thing I plan never to repeat...swallowing a whole garlic clove pickled in honey, recommended as a great cure for laryngitis. Turns out to be one of those "If the cure doesn't kill you, neither will the illness" things - horrible stomach-ache for hours!

[smallworld]

Thank you for the suggestions. Looking forward to the shoyu-zuke recipe and Kristin's blog. In the meantime I will be hiding the garlic from my husband...

[Hiroyuki]

In late July, I got more than 30 cucumbers from my wife's brother. I decided to make Kyuuri no kyu-chan.

Ingridients:

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.

This recipe is from this site:

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/mikasagichan/8002

Kyuuri no kyu-chan you can buy at a store (first photo):

http://www.tokubaiya.com/tsukemono/sonotatukemono.html

I find the homemade version very, very tasty and less salty than the store bought one.

[torakris]

those look great!

About long will they keep for?

[Hiroyuki]

About one month, provided that you keep it together with the seasoning in the refrigerator. I once found that the part of it that was above the seasoning and in direct contact with air was moldy.

[dougery]

Rakkyou is great! I love the sweet version in vinegar. Having rakkyou garnished with a bowl of hot rice and curry is the perfect way to enjoy a cold rainy evening.

Has anyone ever had pickled turnips pickled with chilli pepper and kombu? The turnips are sliced into very thin slices then pickled in a vinegar/sugar mixture. Yum!

My mother used to pickle watermellon rinds with salt. I haven't done this yet but I remember the flavor was quite clean and refreshing. Does anyone have experience with this?

[torakris]

My mother used to pickle watermellon rinds with salt.  I haven't done this yet but I remember the flavor was quite clean and refreshing.  Does anyone have experience with this?

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When I was in college, my (Japanese)ex-boyfriend's mother would send monthly care packages and there was always a package of pickled watermelon rinds. Store bought not homemade and I think I only tried them once and didn't care for them, I really think I should give them another try as there were a lot of foods I wouldn't touch back then (including ikura, uni and shiso!)

[dougery]

When this thread reminded me of my mother's pickled rinds, I went right out and bought a watermellon. My wife thought I was crazy buying a watermellon more for the rind than the insides. : )

[itch22]

When serving pickles as part of a larger, lets say 7 course, meal; should they be served as an accompaniment or as their own course? If served as a course, should it be before or after the edamame?

[torakris]

When serving pickles as part of a larger, lets say 7 course, meal; should they be served as an accompaniment or as their own course?  If served as a course, should it be before or after the edamame?

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When served as part of a course, they are served with the rice and sometimes miso type soup, as the last course before dessert.

In non-course style setting they are aslo offered as a tsumami (snack) to go along with alcohol.

In every day family eating they are set on the table at the same time as the other food.

[tootallfortoques]

A couple of questions:

How far in advance can shiozuke be made? Should they only be made shortly before serving?

Does anyone have any favorite recipes for tsukemono made with veggies commonly found in North America?

Thanks!

[torakris]

I will save most of the pickling questions for Helen....

Shiozuke (salt pickled) normally need at least 24 hours and sometimes more like a couple days to properly pickle, this will depend on the vegetable and the temperature.

[torakris]

One of my favorite Japanese tsukemono

nozawana, straight out of the bag

[Hiroyuki]

I like wasabi-flavored nozawana, but I can't buy it these days because my children can't eat it.

[torakris]

3 kinds of pickled garlic

spicy vinegar pickled, soy sauce pickled and ume-katsuobushi pickled

I only tried the soy ones so far and found them so gross I had to spit it out! my husband loved it....

I also picked up this 3 year takuan, yes it is actually pickled for 3 years.

it was ok, I didn't really care for the taste but my two daughters loed it and finished it off between them.....

[torakris]

an only cucumber and shiso shibazuke, this was the best version I have ever had.

[Hiroyuki]

Yamagawa-zuke.

This is a specialty of Yamagawa town in Kagoshima prefecture.

For more information on Yamagawa-zuke, visit this webpage.

Sorry to say, the one in the photo is NOT authentic Yamagawa-zuke because it is pickled in soy sauce.

[torakris]

I just found a wonderful tsukemono, kaki daikon (persimmon daikon pickle).

and cut up and ready to serve

[jeniac42]

Thanks to this thread and helenjp's pickle blog, and my undying love for takuan, I am going to try some nukazuke pickles soon. Tomorrow I will go to the grocery store to buy the nuka, and I will need to find a good container. I hope it goes well! I plan to ask my Japanese teacher (who I frequently pester with cooking questions) if she has made nukazuke pickles and if she has any advice for me, as well.

I'm really excited, although I don't expect them to be great at first.

[sanrensho]

I just found a wonderful tsukemono, kaki daikon (persimmon daikon pickle).

That looks interesting. How was the flavour of the daikon and the persimmon itself?

[torakris]

I just found a wonderful tsukemono, kaki daikon (persimmon daikon pickle).

That looks interesting. How was the flavour of the daikon and the persimmon itself?

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This was a really good pickle, the daikon had a faint kaki flavor and the pieces of kaki were wonderful on their own. I will look for this one again.

[jeniac42]

I went and bought packages of plain nuka today, with the intention of making the nukamiso tonight, but I forgot that I am out of konbu and didn't pick any up! 困ったね! I guess I'll have to wait until Thursday when I can get to the store to buy konbu... unless I could start the process without it.

[Hiroyuki]

I went and bought packages of plain nuka today, with the intention of making the nukamiso tonight, but I forgot that I am out of konbu and didn't pick any up!  困ったね!  I guess I'll have to wait until Thursday when I can get to the store to buy konbu... unless I could start the process without it.

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What's your recipe for nukamiso? I have never made nukamiso myself, but I don't think my mother used to use konbu in her nukadoko. I did a quick google search and found that some recipes call for konbu while others don't.

[jeniac42]

Well, the few that I have found in English indicate using nuka, 15% of its weight in salt, and water, then adding konbu (for the glutamates, I suppose), red peppers, and then anything from ginger to beer to iron nails(!).

So I suppose I could start it tonight and add the konbu in two days, and it would be OK.

I wish I could read Japanese better, so I could find more instructions! I'm working on it slowly but surely....

[Hiroyuki]

So I suppose I could start it tonight and add the konbu in two days, and it would be OK.

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So do I, but I'm not a nukazuke specialist. Let's wait and see what Helen has to say about this.

Forgot to say:

It's not unusual to put iron nails in the nukadoko. They help vegetables such as eggplants keep their color, and they also add iron to nukazuke. You can also put egg shells to add calcium.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Hiroyuki (log)