Japanese Foods--nabe

[Portia_Smith]

fabulous! thanks for the links - i am especially interested in showing my partner what all the fuss is about - i'll just need to start saving my pennies now.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Stupid me. My desperation and impatience for Japanese food kept me from making my own in my kitchen, to trying one of TWO located in Napa. For shame, for shame, I know...

- The tempura was greasy and <gasp!> had powdered sugar in the flour, making the pieces taste like donuts!

- The sashimi was thick and flabby and worthless.

- The miso was concentrated, making it hideously salty.

- Lastly, the sukiyaki had SUGAR in the broth! Horribly sweet, I had two bites and could eat no more.

Being the silly, frugal girl that I am, I brought it home with the idea that there must be something I could do to fix it. I hate to see food go to waste and I'm willing to experiment before just throwing it out.

Open to suggestions!

[torakris]

Do you want suggestions for all of the food or just the sukiyaki?

Sugar in the tempura??

Sukiyaki normally does have some sugar in the broth but if you could really taste it then it was way too much.

[torakris]

I too hate to waste so here my suggestion for the sukiyaki:

Place about a on person serving of it in a small frying pan with some of the sauce, add a bit of water to thin it out. (try to aim for 1/4 cup of liquid).

Let it simmer for a bit to heat it up, taste the broth and make sure it isn't too salty, you want it too be a little on the strong side but not too strong.

Once the food has heated up and the liquid evaporated just a bit, beat one egg in a cup and then swirl over the top of the sukiyaki in the pan. Do not mix. Keep it at a strong simmer and put a lid on it. Cook until the egg is to your liking, a little bit on the runny side is my favorite. Then have a large bowl of plain steamed rice ready and then slide the food from the pan to on top of the rice.

If you have any mitsuba or scallions, slice them and place on top of the egg before placing the lid on, this adds sort of a "new" flavor to leftovers.

If you are familiar with oyako-don (chicken and egg on rice dish) this is a similar idea.

You want a little bit of liquid left to seep into the rice but not too much, it might be hard to judge on the first try but you will understand it better by the second one.

If you are making it for more than one person, you should make each portion separately.

[chibirisu]

Oyako-don's great stuff. Took me some experimentation to come up with the right proportion of egg to broth to chicken the first few times I made it...

Since it sounds like the over-sweet broth's the biggest problem with the sukiyaki, here's another angle I'd try: disassembling the thing!

Q1. How cooked are the vegetables? If they'd take another reheating without turning to mush, see option A. If they're pretty thoroughly cooked, see option B.

Option A: Sukiyaki-don

(I actually saw an idea like this in a Japanese-language cookbook, which surprised me, but I do it with leftover sukiyaki a lot. The cookbook version involved cooking the sukiyaki specifically for the donburi, but it's good with leftovers too)

Drain the extra broth off the leftover sukiyaki, and make a couple tablespoons of replacement broth out of soy sauce and dashi to try to cut down residual sweetness. Heat the leftovers together with the replacement sauce and put over a bowl of hot rice and sprinkle some sesame seeds and chopped green onions on top.

Option B: Two separate meals (pseudo-Korean donburi meal and fried rice meal): I've done this one before with some sukiyaki that had been simmering for quite a while at the end of a party.

First, separate the meat from the vegetables.

Pseudo-Korean donburi: Quick-reheat the leftover sukiyaki meat in a bit of canola oil scented with a few drops of sesame oil, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Put on rice along with some kimchi. (This works best if you like kimchi, of course. I love the stuff...)

Dolsot-bibim-bab-style fried rice "hash browns": Reheat some leftover rice in the microwave. Cut up the vegetables and stir them through. If you have any shrimp handy, especially the tiny ones, toss those in too. Heat some sesame oil in the bottom of a nonstick skillet, pat the rice-mix into a pancake shape, and sizzle until golden brown and crispy, then flip and sizzle the other side.

Top with anything you like -- a fried egg and gochuujang will make it more like a dolsot-less dolsot, but my dad likes his with ketchup and mustard (the heathen! Of course, I'm not one to talk since I invent transcontinental food all the time...)

Edited October 16, 2005 by chibirisu (log)

[JasonTrue]

It's that time of year again, for those of us in the northern hemisphere...

Tonight I made yudoufu, or tofu nabe, with some shiitake and local chanterelles, and hakusai (napa cabbage). I made a yuzu-ponzu.

Details: Yudoufu blog entry

Kinoko iri nabe

Yuzu ponzu and the accessories

[Zucchini Mama]

Hi all,

I just bought a big shabu shabu kit for the first time here at the T and T Market in Vancouver. For only $10 it was a great deal-shitake and enoki mushrooms, fish balls, pollock crab, broth, cabbage, and what looked like fake shrimp. There was also spongy tofu and a black spongy item that was quite chewy. Can you tell me what that was? Is it normal to have so much processed fish in shabu shabu or would you do it differently?

Zuke

[prasantrin]

I've never had processed fish of any kind in shabu shabu. I've only had it with thinly sliced beef and tofu for the protein. There might have been some chicken, too, but it's been a long time so the memory is a blur.

[torakris]

Was it actually labeled as shabu shabu?

Like prasantrin said I have never seen some of those ingredients in shabu shabu especially fish balls. It sounds more like a chirinabe (fish and seafood hotpot).

Also with shabu shabu the broth is normally made of just water and a piece of kombu (kelp), if it is a stronger flavored broth it is most likely a nabe.

In shabu shabu the foods are cooked very quickly thus the shabu shabu (swish swish) name, this the sound the food makes as you swish it a couple times through the water. The food usually meats but sometimes fish are sliced paper thin so that they cook in just a few seconds. The food should never be chunked.

I love shabu shabu and do it quite a bit at home, when the price of beef permits me too....

[BonVivant]

maybe ZM is talking about pan-Asian hotpot? [just had it last weekend ]

shabu shabu or hotpot i love them both and eat it year round, and even more often in the cold months. i've never used processed seafood but stuff like fishbalss, shrimpballs etc are popular in S.E.Asian countries. prawn shaped surimi thingie is not good!

[going to Sichuan in march for their fiery hotpots ]

[Zucchini Mama]

Was it actually labeled as shabu shabu?

Like prasantrin said I have never seen some of those ingredients in shabu shabu especially fish balls. It sounds more like a chirinabe (fish and seafood hotpot).

Also with shabu shabu the broth is normally made of just water and a piece of kombu (kelp), if it is a stronger flavored broth it is most likely a nabe.

In shabu shabu the foods are cooked very quickly thus the shabu shabu (swish swish) name, this the sound the food makes as you swish it a couple times through the water. The food usually meats but sometimes fish are sliced paper thin so that they cook in just a few seconds. The food should never be chunked.

I love shabu shabu and do it quite a bit at home, when the price of beef permits me too....

←

Okay, it was labeled as shabu shabu, but it must have been a chirinabe or pan Asian hot pot.

My experience from hot pots comes from Canadian Vietnamese restaurants, and the method is contrary to shabu shabu, since you leave things to cook longer and help made the broth more flavorful. Now I understand the difference. What kind of pots do people use at home? My aunt has one that works with charcoal, but that seems to be unacceptable because of the fumes. I don't know, people in England sit by charcoal fire places. I guess it's a matter of venting. Does anyone use a crock pot for a pan Asian hot pot? torakris, what do you use to cook shabu shabu at home?

Zuke

Edited November 20, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[sanrensho]

What kind of pots do people use at home? My aunt has one that works with charcoal, but that seems to be unacceptable because of the fumes. I don't know, people in England sit by charcoal fire places. I guess it's a matter of venting. Does anyone use a crock pot for a pan Asian hot pot? torakris, what do you use to cook shabu shabu at home?

Zuke

Just go to a Chinese housewares store (or T&T, etc.) and buy a Chinese made nabe. In our experience, these are not as nice as a Japanese nabe as they tend to develop cracks. However, the price is right and the pots are still usable.

While you're at it, you should purchase a tabletop gas burner. You know, the flimsy ones that use can-style cartridges. I've seen electric coil-type tabletop units, but they are nowhere near as common as the gas burners.

If you want to do a hot pot (but not shabu shabu) without the tabletop gas burner, you could cook it on the stove and simply bring it to the table. We often run two nabe when we have company--one cooking on the stove, one to bring to the table.

Edited November 20, 2005 by sanrensho (log)

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

My mother-in-law makes a chicken hot pot that she called shabu shabu, even though it's technically not shabu shabu. She uses one of those electric skillet thingies to make it.

[torakris]

the traditional pan ued for shabu shabu looks like this.

Not everyone has this in their home though, at my house we use a regular donabe-- the pan used for most other nabes. Here is a picture of a donabe along with a recipe for shabu shabu in English.

Sometimes I don't feel like pulling out the donabe so I just use my Dutch oven, the most important thing though is that you have a portable heat source. These dishes, especially shabu shabu, should be cooked at the table over a low flame.

Every Japanese home will have one of these

they run on casettes that look like this

[Hiroyuki]

a black spongy item that was quite chewy.

←

So, what was this thing after all? Could it be konnyaku??

[sanrensho]

the traditional pan ued for shabu shabu looks like this.

Not everyone has this in their home though, at my house we use a regular donabe-- the pan used for most other nabes.

Oops, I completely forgot about the dedicated shabu shabu pans (doh!). These make it a little easier for everyone to dip and dunk their meat/vegetables. The downside is that they are probably not as suited for double-duty when making a hot pot (nabe).

[torakris]

the traditional pan ued for shabu shabu looks like this.

Not everyone has this in their home though, at my house we use a regular donabe-- the pan used for most other nabes.

The downside is that they are probably not as suited for double-duty when making a hot pot (nabe).

←

no they aren't..

this is the main reason I think most homes don't have one

[Zucchini Mama]

It's the stainless steel pot used for shabu shabu you gave the link to that I'm familiar with as used in a pan Asian hotpot. Although the versions I've seen are made out of tin or something. See, the word "hot pot" is confusing isn't it, because I think what we're referring to is from the Mongolion hotpot origins. "Hot pot" is also used in Vancouver to describe a completely different Chinese dish, which is basically like a casserole.

I looked up a picture of konnyaku, but that doesn't look like what I have. I have what literally looks like a black sponge. I'll try to post a photo, but it'll take a while because we're in the midst of an upgrade here.

I like the idea of having two pots.

Thanks,

Zuke

[Zucchini Mama]

^ Could the grey and black sponge have been processed sea cucumber? I was having some of this leftover seafood miso hotpot for breakfast and it occured to me that was what it may be. I've never eaten sea cucumber before, but it kind of fits the metal picture I have of it.

Zuke

Edited November 21, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

the traditional pan ued for shabu shabu looks like this.

Not everyone has this in their home though, at my house we use a regular donabe-- the pan used for most other nabes. Here is a picture of a donabe along with a recipe for shabu shabu in English.

←

Torakris, I have had difficulty in getting my butcher to slice meat thin enough for shabu shabu. Even after he has partly frozen it, it's still thicker than it should be. Obviously the knives used in Japan are more suitable. Have you any advice on this (other than move to Japan!)?

[sanrensho]

Torakris, I have had difficulty in getting my butcher to slice meat thin enough for shabu shabu.  Even after he has partly frozen it, it's still thicker than it should be.  Obviously the knives used in Japan are more suitable.  Have you any advice on this (other than move to Japan!)?

Is he running it through a meat slicer? If the meat is frozen, it should be easy to run through a meat slicer at the thinnest setting.

[Corinna Dunne]

I'm not sure that he has a meat slicer. I did ask in another shop for it to be cut that way, and was told that they couldn't, in order to comply with health and safety regulations (I think that the slicer was only used for hams and cured meats, nothing raw, as there would be a cross contamination issue). I haven't seen any dedicated slicers for use on raw meat over here. Is that how it is done in Japan?

Edited November 21, 2005 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[sanrensho]

I haven't seen any dedicated slicers for use on raw meat over here.  Is that how it is done in Japan?

I'm pretty sure that they use a dedicated slicer for raw meat in Japan as they do here (in Canada). We buy our shabu shabu meat from a Japanese butcher or a Korean grocery. Neither handles cold cuts, so cross-contamination isn't an issue.

[torakris]

I had the same problems in the US...

I would ask (the non-Asian grocer) to slice it paper thin and I would get something 1/4 inch. They were trying to slice it in a non-frozen state though, which is next to impossible. I think it needs to be completely frozen.

Also he told me the meat slicers in the meat department weren't set up to slice thinner than that but the ones at the deli counter are but for health reasons obviously they can't use them.

I found I just had to spend more money at an Asian market where they had a variety in the frozen section including specific cuts for shabu shabu, sukiyaki and even shougayaki (a pork dish with a slightly thicker cut).

[sanrensho]

I think it needs to be completely frozen.

Also he told me the meat slicers in the meat department weren't set up to slice thinner than that but the ones at the deli counter are but for health reasons obviously they can't use them.

The Korean grocer that we go to slices it right in front of us, using a round of chuck (kata) frozen solid.

Just for clarification: Did they mean that the deli slicers couldn't be used because of cross-contamination? Or did they mean that the machines themselves weren't usable for raw meat due to code?