buying and preparing fish/seafood

[SheenaGreena]

is kasu sake lees? I'm going to the japanese grocery store this saturday (it's teeny tiny) and I'll look for it there. I appreciate all the suggestions.....I don't know what to start first? mayo with umeboshi, and miso, yum! mackerel with kasu? yum!

[rykomatsu]

is kasu sake lees?  I'm going to the japanese grocery store this saturday (it's teeny tiny) and I'll look for it there.  I appreciate all the suggestions.....I don't know what to start first? mayo with umeboshi, and miso, yum! mackerel with kasu? yum!

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Yep, sake kasu = sake lees or sake dregs

good luck!

-RK

[Hiroyuki]

Here is a nice thread started by melonpan, titled "sake kasu and kasuzuke, sake lees/dregs".

[Hiroyuki]

Hi, komatsu, toaster oven to cook it?  You are my buddy!

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lol

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Post pictures of your fish dishes in my Toaster Ovens thread!

[aprilmei]

I've always thought of dried abalone as a Chinese ingredient but chefs in Hong Kong import most of it from Japan and consider it far superior to dried abalone from other countries. I've never eaten dried abalone in Japan and I don't remember ever eating it at a Japanese restaurant here, either. How is prepared in Japanese cuisine? Is it braised whole, as it is in Chinese cuisine? (at least it is with the top quality abalone)? Is it considered a special occasion dish?

TIA

[Hiroyuki]

It is an ingredient for Chinese cuisine, and it's simply that Japan produces high-quality dried abalones and exports them. Shark's fins are another example.

Abalones in Japanese cuisine... I think fresh abalones are more often used in Japanese cuisine, as sashimi, simmered, grilled, etc.

[aprilmei]

It is an ingredient for Chinese cuisine, and it's simply that Japan produces high-quality dried abalones and exports them.  Shark's fins are another example.

Abalones in Japanese cuisine...  I think fresh abalones are more often used in Japanese cuisine, as sashimi, simmered, grilled, etc.

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Oh how interesting. You mean they're dried solely for export to China/Hong Kong?

[Joon]

I've always thought of dried abalone as a Chinese ingredient but chefs in Hong Kong import most of it from Japan and consider it far superior to dried abalone from other countries. I've never eaten dried abalone in Japan and I don't remember ever eating it at a Japanese restaurant here, either. How is prepared in Japanese cuisine? Is it braised whole, as it is in Chinese cuisine? (at least it is with the top quality abalone)? Is it considered a special occasion dish?

TIA

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This isn't Japanese, but from what I've seen, Koreans use abalone mainly for two things: juk and sashimi. Both preparations are delicious.

[Hiroyuki]

It is an ingredient for Chinese cuisine, and it's simply that Japan produces high-quality dried abalones and exports them.  Shark's fins are another example.

Abalones in Japanese cuisine...  I think fresh abalones are more often used in Japanese cuisine, as sashimi, simmered, grilled, etc.

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Oh how interesting. You mean they're dried solely for export to China/Hong Kong?

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I have no idea, but I found this passage here:

干しアワビは、日本産のものが最高級品で岩手、青森が二大産地です。

当店では、開業当時より岩手県吉浜産のものを提供しております。

干しアワビは、毎年香港の業者がほとんどを買い付けてしまうので、日本国内では、入手困難で

Roughly,

Dried abalones produced in Japan are of highest quality, with Iwate and Aomori being two major producing districts.

Every year, dealers in Hong Kong buy almost all of them, and they are hard to come by in Japan.

[helenjp]

I asked my husband if he'd ever eaten "kaihimo" of dried awabi, since kaihimo (the dried outer "frill" of shellfish" is quite a popular drinking snack in the north, but he said no, always scallop, maybe other shellfish, but never awabi.

If Japanese were going to eat it, I bet it would be dropped into a flask of sake, but as it is, I've never heard of it used dried in Japanese dishes.

I think the reason Japanese abalone is popular is that it's the same species as that used in China. Taiwanese abalone is also mostly the preferred species, I think, but maybe the warmer water product is not as popular? Abalone from the rest of the world is from slightly different species.

[aprilmei]

I asked my husband if he'd ever eaten "kaihimo" of dried awabi, since kaihimo (the dried outer "frill" of shellfish" is quite a popular drinking snack in the north, but he said no, always scallop, maybe other shellfish, but never awabi.

If Japanese were going to eat it, I bet it would be dropped into a flask of sake, but as it is, I've never heard of it used dried in Japanese dishes.

I think the reason Japanese abalone is popular is that it's the same species as that used in China. Taiwanese abalone is also mostly the preferred species, I think, but maybe the warmer water product is not as popular? Abalone from the rest of the world is from slightly different species.

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Yes, from what I've heard it's the cold waters that make Japanese abalone so good. and there are three main families that dry it have done so for generations and they keep their secrets within the family.

[Hiroyuki]

While searching, I incidentally found an answer. Dried abalone is one of the tawara mono (items in straw bags) in the Edo period. Dried abalone, braised(?) and dried sea cucumber, and shark's fin, which were exported from Japan to Qing (former China) in the Edo period, were called "tarara mono san hin" (three items of straw bags).

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BF%B5%E7%89%A9

(Sorry, Japanese only)

Edited October 14, 2007 by Hiroyuki (log)

[helenjp]

FYI:

Special Feature in this month's (November) NHK Kyou no Ryouri magazine on how to fillet mackerel.

[Hiroyuki]

I bought one pack of nodoguro (aka akamutsu) the other day.

Nodoguro is called shiromi zakana no toro (fatty white fish), but these particular ones were not so fatty, because of the price. I simply grilled them.

[OnigiriFB]

I bought one pack of nodoguro (aka akamutsu) the other day.

Nodoguro is called shiromi zakana no toro (fatty white fish), but these particular ones were not so fatty, because of the price.  I simply grilled them.

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Hi Hiroyuki

I can read a hiragana and a bit of a katagana and very little kanji (took japanese in high school) and what does the sticker on the corner say? All I can read is nihon no osusume? Thanks

[helenjp]

I'd never thought of akamutsu/nodoguro as anything but a second-best substitute for gin-mutsu/mero (merluza etc.) in saikyo-zuke (miso-pickled, using sweet white miso).

If those akamutsu weren't already salted, I bet they would make a tasty home-made himono...not hard to do in this weather.

[Hiroyuki]

I bought one pack of nodoguro (aka akamutsu) the other day.

Nodoguro is called shiromi zakana no toro (fatty white fish), but these particular ones were not so fatty, because of the price.  I simply grilled them.

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Hi Hiroyuki

I can read a hiragana and a bit of a katagana and very little kanji (took japanese in high school) and what does the sticker on the corner say? All I can read is nihon no osusume? Thanks

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Not "nihon no (Japan's) osusume" but "honjitsu no osusume" (today's recommendation)

The subsequent lines are:

Produced in Shimane prefecture

Marinated fish, etc.

Storage temp: 5C or less

Use-by date: Date of processing:

Price per 100g (1 kg?):

Price: 480 yen

etc.

[Hiroyuki]

Yesterday, I was a little extravagant and bought one nodoguro for 980 yen and 500 g domestic(!) asari (short-necked clams) for 600 yen. The nodoguro is NOT a cheap one like the ones shown upthread.

I posted other photos here.

[helenjp]

There's a discussion upthread about tsubugai (a kind of Japanese whelk), and whether or not they are safe to eat.

Today my local supermarket was selling "toudai tsubugai", so I bought a pack of these finger-length whelks.

This Japanese site says that Buccinum inclytum also known as himo-maki-bai are not toxic in the way that neptunea is...but supermarkets tend to sell any Hokkaido whelks as "toudai tsubugai"...

It does seem that the longer, more slender ones are Buccinum inclytum rather than neptunea. They are reputed to be softer-fleshed than neptunea too.

Anyway, to be on the safe side, I called my sister-in-law in Hokkaido. She says that they usually boil them briefly, pull out the whelk, trim off the lens and the JELLY-LIKE GRAYISH SUBSTANCE in the middle, which she regards as the source of any baddies. You can eat the yellow and black coil of gut at the very tip of the shell, but it's not that tasty and is usually discarded. For toudai-tsubu(gai), they don't bother removing the salivary gland.

You can see a youtube video on the removal of these glands in a much larger ma-tsubu-gai (probably a Neptunea variety - the "ezo-bora" types which have the toxin are ezobora or N. polycostata, ezobora modoki or N. intersculpta, chijimi-ezobora or N. constricta, kuri-iro ezobora or N. lamellosa, and hime-ezobora or N. arthritica, though that's only useful if shellfish are correctly named, which they are not always).

My sister in law says children are not normally given tsubu-gai, to be on the safe side, but adults normally don't feel more than a bit "woozy-drunk" even if unlucky.

Anyway, if you wish to trim anything suspicious out of a whelk, take off the lens "plate" at the base. That leaves the frill and the muscle at the bottom of the shell. If you trim the lens off, you are left with a U-shaped muscle. If you sit the U on its belly and cut the long muscle open along the opening of the U, you will see a few organs at the far end (away from the lens), surrounding the base of the siphon. In larger whelks, the yellowish ovoid salivary glands would be on either side of that. In small toudai-tsubu, if you just clean out the siphon and surrounding organs, you will have got rid of anything questionable.

Once the muscle and frill are cleaned and rinsed, simmer them in equal parts of mirin and sake, then add one part of soy sauce and simmer/soak till flavor is absorbed. They were indeed soft and tasty, and we certainly all lived to tell the tale!

[MoGa]

Thank you helenjp.

Your post is yet another perfect example of why I love this forum so much. (And the youtube link is wonderful!)