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Japanese spaghetti


torakris

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the recent roe discussion got me thinking about one of my favorite pastas to eat in Japan:

mentaiko (chili spiced cod roe) spaghetti

I make this for a quick lunch just mixing butter and mentaiko together adding the spaghetti then topping with shredded nori.

Any favorites?

Anything you hate?

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Hm. I can't really face the use of butter in Japanese dishes. I find it jarring.

Kimchi on the other hand works well with buttery dishes.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Ooh, ooh! Sometimes I get Japanese pasta cravings, and make:

* tarako spaghetti (with kaiware, onions and nori -- no butter in mine)

* salad spaghetti (cold with Kewpie mayonnaise in the summer -- along with hiyashi chuuka, but I guess that's not spaghetti)

* garlic spaghetti (with ninniku no me, minced garlic and olive oil)

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Good topic!

In my childhood, there were only 2 kinds of spagetthi in Japan, which were

"Napolitan" and "meat sauce".

There is a unique restaurant in front of Yurakucho station, which serves intentionally

Japanised spagetthi like below.

Jariko.jpg

The diameter of this pasta is 2.1mm. :blink:

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:blink:

Mentaiko is great in spaghetti, some of the finer ones having a similar texture to asiago. Once I made a dish of pasta with nama-maguro, avocado and nira: it was a big hit with friends. For me the biggest problem in Japan is being satisfied with the pasta vs. the price. For the same money why not just go to a cheap Izakaya or get some yakitori.

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I use Japanese mushrooms for wa-fu (japanese style) pasta dishes.

Shimeji, enoki, shiitake, some shoyu, some negi, topped with powdered ao-nori or kizami nori.

Every summer I get hooked on sara-supa (salad spaghetti). Although the idea of it is kind of horrible, sometimes it just works for a quick lunch on a hot day.

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At on restaurant we frequent (La Boheme) my husaband always gets their togarashi (chili pepper) and chirimen jako (tiny baby sardines) and I had their sake steamed chicken chicken with Japanese leeks and sesame oil last time and it was quite good, almost soup like.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Hi,

I'm a long time lurker, and this topic has inspired me to de-lurk and join in on the fun. :smile:

In Nagoya, near Ikeshita Station, there is a fabulous hole-in-the-wall eatery called Pasta Piccola that serves an amazing pasta dish called "Kimchi Bacon Cream". It is a creamy based sauce with morsels of thickly-sliced Canadian back bacon and spicy kimchi. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water...... :biggrin:

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Hi, lannie. Welcome to eGullet.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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lannie,

Welcome to egullet (oops think Jin just said that! :wink: )

and what a first post1

bacon kimchi cream pasta, I am going to have to ponder that one a little while.....................

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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  • 11 months later...

What has occurred to me so far after reading all the posts are:

1) I don't use mentaiko but tarako, and I use salad oil, not butter, with it. The flavor of butter is so strong that it "kills" (ko-ro-su in Japanese) that of tarako.

2) Don't forget katsuo bushi!! Sprinkle it together with shredded nori.

For those of you who don't know what katsuo bushi is, go to page 18 of "daily Nihongo".

3) I think that every spaghetti recipe should include onions. Fry them well enough to get their sweetness.

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Valiantly?? Did I sound that way??

I didn't defend it at all. I was just curious to know why so many people hated it...

Are you mad at me?

OK, I loooove Napolitan spaghetti. I can use more than half a 800-g ketchup tube with 300-g spaghetti.

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Valiantly?? Did I sound that way??

I didn't defend it at all. I was just curious to know why so many people hated it...

Are you mad at me?

OK, I loooove Napolitan spaghetti. I can use more than half a 800-g ketchup tube with 300-g spaghetti.

No, I wasn't mad at all! I like omu-raisu too.

But after reading about your Napolitan spaghetti I AM a bit mad- you've totally spoiled my appetite, just before lunch!

My eGullet foodblog: Spring in Tokyo

My regular blog: Blue Lotus

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Is there a Japanese-style spaghetti? By that, I mean is the spaghetti different from the pasta I would buy in the U.S. (e.g., De Cecco which is widely available here)?

For example, is it made from durum wheat? Is the spaghetti generally made in Japan or are Italian imports popular? How does it cook up: al dente or is there another preference in Japan? Are other shapes and sizes (the one in the photograph appears to be on the thick end of the spectrum) popular in Japan?

I would have assumed that the sauces would be different (as evidenced by the descriptions above), but I have no expectation of whether the spaghetti has been "adapted" to Japanese preferences. Tasting Japanese-style mayonnaise was a surprise :blink:

Edited by Gary Tanigawa (log)
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When talking about the noodles themselves, they are pretty much the same as you would get in the US. Most of the pasta here is imported but the recent years have seen quite a few Japanese makers putting Japan made pasta on the market. I have to admit I stick to the Italian brands so I can not comment on the taste.

The most popular shape of pasta here is definitely spaghetti, the long medium thickness noodles.

Most Italian restaurants I ahve been to here serve a close to perfect al dente sometiimes on the softer side but if you come across spaghetti in a bento (quite popular) or an old fashioned Yoshoku-ya san (Japanized western food restaurant) the pasta could be quite overcooked. My husband also prefers his pasta overcooked as he says that is the way he grew up eating. My Italian heritage refuses to accomodate his wishes!! :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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there is a fabulous hole-in-the-wall eatery called Pasta Piccola that serves an amazing pasta dish called "Kimchi Bacon Cream".  It is a creamy based sauce with morsels of thickly-sliced Canadian back bacon and spicy kimchi.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water......  :biggrin:

Damn, that does sound good! I think the standard ssun (sliced napa cabbage) kimchi goes really well with bacon/pork/fatty meat esp if cooked for a while until it disintegrates into each other.

Edited by jschyun (log)

I love cold Dinty Moore beef stew. It is like dog food! And I am like a dog.

--NeroW

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