Japanese Foods--nabe

[Hiroyuki]

Udon Suki (うどんすき) is a registered trademark of Mimiu:

http://www.mimiu.co.jp/mimiu/menu/udonski.html

(Japanese only)

I have no affiliation with Mimiu, but I have fond memories of udon suki because my wife and I exchanged engagement gifts (yuinou in Japanese) at a Tokyo branch of Mimiu, along with our parents and go-betweens.

[Akiko]

Last week I picked up a great new nabe cookbook.

It is called 自分でつくる本格鍋料理　（jibunde tsukuru honkaku nabe ryouri-- Genuine nabe dishes you can make by yourself):

http://www.seibidoshuppan.co.jp/cgi-bin/se...php?bookcd=2449

The recipes are all from famous restaurants but written for the home cook, it is broken down into 3 parts, famous nabes from famous restaurants including dishes like shishinabe (wild boar) and sakura nabe (horse meat). Part 2 are the everyday nabes like tori tsukune (chicken meatballs), oden, yosenbe, etc. The last part are regional specialities like houtou, ishikarinabe, kiritanponabe, etc.

It is beautifully illustrated with step by step pictures, info on the restaurant/chef and even ideas for the leftovers!

I plan to work my way through the book, maybe except the one recipe that calls for 400g (1lb) of toro maguro.....

Thank you! I've been looking for a good nabe cookbook and this sounds like exactly the kind of thing I want! I'm definitely going to put this on my list of things to get when I visit in the spring.

A

[torakris]

I made the damakko nabe again last night, my husband and I are both addicted now!

I took the advise of a friend originally from Akita and added a bit of sugar, soy, sake and mirin to the chicken stock and it was even better than the first time.

I didn't have chicken on hand so I used pork along with shiitake, enoki, negi (scallions), gobo and mizuna.

again it was just eaten with some yuzu-koshou, this is really simple and is going to be a staple!

the next time I with definitely make the damakko mochi by myself.

My friend said she does nothing special when coking the rice, just regular rice with nothing added, then it is pounded a bit and shaped into small balls.

[melonpan]

I took the advise of a friend originally from Akita and added a bit of sugar, soy, sake and mirin

adding sugar, soy, sake and mirin make most dishes better, doesnt it?

the next time I with definitely make the damakko mochi by myself.

My friend said she does nothing special when coking the rice, just regular rice with nothing added, then it is pounded a bit and shaped into small balls.

id been thinking of trying the damakko mochi too...

[Jason Perlow]

Originally I started out wanting to replicate the dish melonpan made with Bulgogi marinaded beef HERE, but it turned out I was out of pre-marinated bulgogi meat and I only had frozen sliced ribeye in raw form. Rachel also wanted something different because we had Bulgogi the other night, so I thought hmm.... Sukiyaki? Its cold outside, perfect weather for a hot pot style dish.

Since its not really a traditional Sukiyaki formulation by using a true dashi broth as a base, I'm calling it "Beef Pseudoyaki". We didn't have dashi broth handy nor bonito nor kombu, but we had "noodle soup base" which is a convenience product that is almost the same thing, plus shoyu added.

First we started by sauteeing a whole mess of mushrooms with some garlic and green onion , sliced hot peppers and some carrot in a wok. The mushrooms consisted of small domestic matsutakes (!!!!), enoki, oyster, and white button.

We then dumped in the broth liquid (This is a combination of chicken stock, Japanese "soup base" convenience product, soy sauce, mirin and some water. We adjusted this to taste, and added some sugar, some black pepper and some Japanese red pepper powder.

On top of the broth we added par-cooked glass noodles (Korean style, didn't have the Japanese kind handy) and tofu.

We then set the burner to low/simmer and added the beef. This is thin sliced ribeye, the kind used to make Bulgogi. This is a premium cut, however.

Here is the finished product simmering up, beef not quite done yet. At around this point, we stirred in two eggs.

Pseudoyaki in the Bowl.

[Jinmyo]

"Beef Pseudoyaki"

[Rachel Perlow]

It is quite frigid here right now, and this really hit the spot.

[torakris]

"Beef Pseudoyaki"

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I love the name!

I see you decided to pick up the matsutake...

You don't have to put dashi in your sukiyaki and actually I prefer it without. I make mine with just soy sauce, sake and sugar and off course raw eggs for dipping. I think we will be having sukiyaki next week......

[Hiroyuki]

Sometimes you guys really make me speechless...

You don't have to put dashi in your sukiyaki and actually I prefer it without. I make mine with just soy sauce, sake and sugar and off course raw eggs for dipping. I think we will be having sukiyaki next week......

Sounds like yours is in the Kansai style, doesn't it?

[Rachel Perlow]

Well, the first ingredient listed in that soup base is dashi, followed by soy sauce. So, combined with the stock and a bit of beef boullion concentrate (and mirin), it seemed to work.

Frankly, the matsutake weren't anything special, I'm afraid. Jason thinks it is because they are domestic matsutake. I quartered them lengthwise and sauteed before adding the broth. I wish I had tasted one before adding the broth. Perhaps the simmering diluted their flavor?

Anyway, good dinner. And, I had most of the ingredients in the house for it since we cook Asian style foods all the time. The only thing we bought special were the variety of mushrooms. But I suppose it could have been made with just white mushrooms if we decided to make it spur of the moment.

Please note the carrot flowers. How are they supposed to be made? I used a zest stripper (the larger kind, like for peeling off a bit of lemon skin for an espresso) to dig trenches down the length of the carrot, then just sliced into coins.

[Jason Perlow]

Are Korean Jap Chae type noodles the same as Shirataki noodes? Arent they both made from sweet potatoes?

And is Mirin and Sake interchangeable for the purposes of sukiyaki? I didn't have any Sake around.

I also realized we forgot to put the Shitakes in.

[Jason Perlow]

I am not even sure they were real Matsutakes even though they were labelled as such, we bought them from a Chinese grocery. They were $16.99 a pound and it was $1.98 per package of like 4 of them, and they were long with small mushroom tops.

Apparently there are several species of matsutake, I sort of assumed they were domestic because they weren't terrifically expensive.

[torakris]

Sometimes you guys really make me speechless...

You don't have to put dashi in your sukiyaki and actually I prefer it without. I make mine with just soy sauce, sake and sugar and off course raw eggs for dipping. I think we will be having sukiyaki next week......

Sounds like yours is in the Kansai style, doesn't it?

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I actually learned it from my ex-boyfriend's mother, though they lived in Tokyo she was originally from Kyushu.....

My MIL makes it with dashi and I don't really care for it...

[torakris]

Please note the carrot flowers. How are they supposed to be made? I used a zest stripper (the larger kind, like for peeling off a bit of lemon skin for an espresso) to dig trenches down the length of the carrot, then just sliced into coins.

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the Japanese use these

sorry it is a bit blurry....

[torakris]

Are Korean Jap Chae type noodles the same as Shirataki noodes? Arent they both made from sweet potatoes?

And is Mirin and Sake interchangeable for the purposes of sukiyaki? I didn't have any Sake around.

I also realized we forgot to put the Shitakes in.

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Japchae and shirataki noodles are different, the shirataki noodles aren't made with sweet potatoes rather the konnyaku tuber, the same one you make konnyaku with.

I have never used mirin in sukiyaki, but I don't see why you can't.

Those matsutake sound almost too cheap....

[smallworld]

Frankly, the matsutake weren't anything special, I'm afraid. Jason thinks it is because they are domestic matsutake. I quartered them lengthwise and sauteed before adding the broth. I wish I had tasted one before adding the broth. Perhaps the simmering diluted their flavor?

Matsutake don't really have a strong flavour to start with- it's their subtle aroma that makes them such a delicacy. Even if your matsutake were really good ones, their charms would have been lost in the sukiyaki broth.

I don't think there is anything wrong with domestic matsutake. Japanese people like to claim that theirs are the best, but it's really hard to test that theory since freshness is so important. Imports (to Japan) tend to be older so don't seem as good.

If you want to find out if those cheap alleged matsutake are the real thing, go back and buy some more and prepare them really simply- try grilling them and eating with a sqeeze of citrus (I think sudachi is traditional but lime will suffice).

I'm not much of a matsutake fan but this thread really makes me want sukiyaki!

[Hiroyuki]

Apparently there are several species of matsutake, I sort of assumed they were domestic because they weren't terrifically expensive.

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What I learned from a TV show years ago is that the matsutake in Japan, China, and Korea are of the same species while those in North America are not.

For reference, Canadian matsutake are like these.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/chokuhan/301498/542298/

And Japanese

http://esearch.rakuten.co.jp/rms/sd/esearc...BE%BE%C2%FB&x=0

I can buy Canadian matsutake for about 680 yen ($6.50) per two or three pieces in the fall even in my small rural town.

Japanese matsutake are quite expensive. Really good ones cost 20,000 to 30,000 yen ($190 to $280)per piece.

As I mentioned in the mushroom thread, there is a well-known phrase in Japan:

Kaori (or nioi) matsutake aji shimeji

This refers to the fact that the matsutake is the best in terms of aroma and the hon shimeji is the best in terms of taste.

I can never dream of putting matsutake in sukiyaki...

EDITED to add US prices

Edited December 23, 2004 by torakris (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I must confess that my wife and I have never made sukiyaki since we got married ten years ago. My wife sometimes makes what she calls suki-ni, using pork, though. (Suki means spade, yaki means something fried, baked, or grilled, and ni means something simmered.)

I must also confess that I'm not familiar with either Kanto or Kansai style sukiyaki. My Tokyo-born mother makes Kanto-style-like sukiyaki, but with a soy sauce and miso. When I was small, I didn't think it strange. I actually liked it very much. Maybe I have to ask her why she adds miso the next time I call her.

[Rachel Perlow]

Those matsutake sound almost too cheap....

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Actually, they were even cheaper than Jason thought, like $10/lb.

I'll try the simply grilled method next time.

[torakris]

I went to the supermarket planning on getting fixings for tacos, but the avocados were bright green and the ground beef very expensive. All the makings for sukiyaki were pretty cheap though.....

the prep

I cooked it at the table using a portable gas range and my dutch oven, there are special pans for sukiyaki but I find this works just as well. First I brown the beef a bit

then I add sugar, soy sauce and sake

then I add about half of the vegetables/tofu and some more sugar, soy and sake to taste, but the lid on and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

eaten with raw eggs

[Kiem Hwa]

The best sukiyaki Ive ever had was not at a restaurant, it was made by my friend's (German) mother, who had lived in Japan for a little while and trained with some chef while she was there. She has, hands-down, made the best home-cooked foods Ive ever had.

She was extremely tedious and cooked the beef and vegetables separately first, and only about halfway, before combining them all in the sukiyaki broth to serve to us, so the meat was absolutely tender and just done, and the veggies were the perfect crispiness, still retaining thier shape and color... I'm not sure how traditional a way that is to prepare it, but it was fabulous!!!

Since then, it has been very difficult for me to eat sukiyaki since none has yet lived up to those standards....

[Portia_Smith]

Can anyone help me find some websites for Shabu Shabu/ Sukiyaki restaurants in Japan? Your personal recommendations would also be appreciated.

There was once a brilliant one tucked away upstairs off the Hondori shopping strip in Japan. It was the first restaurant I ever visited too - I miss it and apparently it's turned into a Korean BBQ place - not bad.. but not shabu shabu!

Thanks

[Portia_Smith]

and that should read .. hondori shopping street in Hiroshima - not, obviously, just Japan. It's early!!

[torakris]

are you looking for restaurants in a specific area? like Hirorshima? or anywhere in the country?

[torakris]

here is some information from Tokyo Food Page

EDIT* oops didn't work, just type in shabu shabu

Seryna is quite famous for its shabu shabu/sukiyaki, but it can get pricey

Edited May 5, 2005 by torakris (log)