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Japanese Kitchen Gadgets & Equipment

sizzleteeth

By sizzleteeth
in Japan: Cooking & Baking

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robyn

robyn

Posted
Posted

We have zip top bags - but the ones without zip tops that I use are simply called Baggies. I read about the Typhoon in Japan. Sounded pretty bad. Have things settled down? Robyn

Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted

Thanks to MomOfLittleFoodies and robyn for their replies.

Zip top bags... I think I know what they are. Are'nt they a little too thick to ensure thorough mixing of the contents?

As for the typhoon, yes, Typhoon 14 was really a big one, comparable to Katrina in scale, killing at least 23 people.

My blog
torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

I too use ziplock.

I didn't even know those bags (I-wrap) had a name... :huh:

I like ziplock because of the fact that it is sturdier, those other bags just seem to flimsy to me.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

  • 2 months later...
ned

ned

Posted
Posted

Here's a thread from over in the cooking forum. I'm curious to gather info about this product. As the package is all in Japanese I thought that someone here in the Japan forum might be able to add a few tidbits. (see link to image of packaging below)

I brought some striped bass down south recently to be prepared by a local chef in Atlanta.  He had been given (by a sushi chef) a roll of the most spectacular plastic wrap.  It has two layers and somehow acts to draw water out of watever it wraps and then traps the water between its layers. 

We left the bass in it for 18 hours and when it was removed man, what a remarkable thing that filet was.

The package had no English on it.  Only Japanese.  There was a graph showing, I imagine, water being drawn from fish and meat.  White box, green kanji.

I want to buy some of this stuff.  Anybody heard of it or what it's called in English or seen it around?  I'm in NYC.

Yeah sanrensho, exactly like that. Just googled it: fifty-five bucks a roll. Yikes. What do you know about the pichitto roll?

Hmmm... maybe post your question in the Japan forum and someone there will know more about it. Sounds like an interesting product!

Thanks

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted

It's a product of Showa Denko

http://www.sdk.co.jp/index_e.htm

I learned from a webpage of

http://www.sdk.co.jp/contents/sitemap/index.htm

(Japanese only) that they sell Pichitto Roll in Japan only "at this point in time". (I don't know when this webpage was created.)

I sent an inquiry to this company, asking whether this product is available overseas.

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted

No reply from the manufacturer up to now.

Some more info about the product:

A low-absorption type is also available:

http://image.www.rakuten.co.jp/nandemoya/img10551520544.jpeg

There are two types for home use, large and small:

http://www.pichit.info/shop/index.cgi

Pichitto roll is basically mizuame (malt syrup?) and seaweed components sandwiched by sheets of special film.

from here

http://www.pichit.info/qa/qa.html#q2

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ned

ned

Posted
Posted

Hiroyuki,

Thank you for looking into this. Very interesting. I think the plastic parts must have the quality of gore-tex.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted

Yesterday, I received a detailed reply from Mr. Saito, who is in charge of quality assurance at the Pichit Division, Showa Denko Plastic Products Co., Ltd.

(He says that the English name for Pichitto Roll is Pichit Sheet.)

Here is a summary of his reply:

We do not sell Pichit Sheet ® in the United States because it does not conform to FDA standards.

In Japan, Pichit Sheet is a product conforming to the Food Sanitation Law, but in the United States, the surface material, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film, is specified as a material that cannot be in direct contact with raw meat or raw fish, so that the product cannot be approved unless we submit very expensive animal experiment data.

It has been a longstanding issue of our company to develop FDA-approved Pichit Sheet. When we successfully develop it, we would like to announce it in the United States.

The surface of Pichit Sheet is made of semipermiable polyvinyl alcohol film, which contains edible sugar. It also contains a seaweed extract, sodium polyarginate. This substance is used to enhance the viscosity of mizuame (translator's note: edible sugar?) and make it uniform. The product absorbs water by osmosis. Thus, the generic name for this product is osmotic dehydration sheet.

While Gore-Tex allows water vapor to pass but not liquid water, a semipermiable film allows water to pass but not matters dissolved in water (except small-molecule odor components).

For chef use, we have three roll types, which provide different dehydration capacities. The high capacity type is for use in making dried and smoked foods, raw ham, and so on, and comes in an orange box of 18 sheets. The regular, all-round type comes in a green box of 32 sheets. It is for freezing, thawing, preparations for cooking, and so on, and can also be used to make dried foods if used for a long time. The low capacity type is for use in storing sashimi, for example, and comes in a blue box of 30 sheets.

For general home use, we have only the regular type. The regular size comes in a red box of 5 sheets, and the half size comes in a blue box of 6 sheets.

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ned

ned

Posted
Posted

Very interesting and too bad for us here in the USA about FDA approval. I'm going to post your excellent info back over in the cooking forum.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

SuzySushi

SuzySushi

Posted
Posted

I wonder if it's available in Japanese stores in the USA, or whether it's banned from importing. There's a lot of stuff on the shelves that's not labeled in English... I'll have to take along the picture next time I go shopping and see.

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

ned

ned

Posted
Posted
I wonder if it's available in Japanese stores in the USA, or whether it's banned from importing. There's a lot of stuff on the shelves that's not labeled in English... I'll have to take along the picture next time I go shopping and see.

Online here:

http://www.sushivan.com/b2b/dg/dg_m.asp?subcode=19

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

SuzySushi

SuzySushi

Posted
Posted
I wonder if it's available in Japanese stores in the USA, or whether it's banned from importing. There's a lot of stuff on the shelves that's not labeled in English... I'll have to take along the picture next time I go shopping and see.

Online here:

http://www.sushivan.com/b2b/dg/dg_m.asp?subcode=19

Eek!!! At those prices, I think I'll leave it to professional chefs!

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

JasonTrue

JasonTrue

Posted
Posted

Hiroyuki-san... I believe mizuame is generally translated as maltose, although it is sometimes made from other types of sugar.

As for FDA regulation, this will probably be similar to the early import workarounds used with stevia... It was once sold as a cosmetic product along with a small brick of clay, and knowledgable folks discarded the clay and used the stevia solution as a sweetener.

Pichitto can probably be sold in the US without FDA intervention as long as the English-language packaging doesn't make any claims about usefulness or suitability for preparing food. That means that most of the sales will be gray market or through back channels, since the manufacturer won't likely be interested in trying to promote non-food uses. I bet it could be sold in hobby or gift shops without much trouble.

The surface of Pichit Sheet is made of semipermiable polyvinyl alcohol film, which contains edible sugar.  It also contains a seaweed extract, sodium polyarginate.  This substance is used to enhance the viscosity of mizuame (translator's note:  edible sugar?) and make it uniform.  The product absorbs water by osmosis.  Thus, the generic name for this product is osmotic dehydration sheet.

While Gore-Tex allows water vapor to pass but not liquid water, a semipermiable film allows water to pass but not matters dissolved in water (except small-molecule odor components).

Jason Truesdell

Blog: Pursuing My Passions

Take me to your ryokan, please

Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted
Hiroyuki-san... I believe mizuame is generally translated as maltose, although it is sometimes made from other types of sugar.

As for FDA regulation, this will probably be similar to the early import workarounds used with stevia... It was once sold as a cosmetic product along with a small brick of clay, and knowledgable folks discarded the clay and used the stevia solution as a sweetener.

Pichitto can probably be sold in the US without FDA intervention as long as the English-language packaging doesn't make any claims about usefulness or suitability for preparing food. That means that most of the sales will be gray market or through back channels, since the manufacturer won't likely be interested in trying to promote non-food uses.  I bet it could be sold in hobby or gift shops without much trouble.

The surface of Pichit Sheet is made of semipermiable polyvinyl alcohol film, which contains edible sugar.  It also contains a seaweed extract, sodium polyarginate.  This substance is used to enhance the viscosity of mizuame (translator's note:  edible sugar?) and make it uniform.  The product absorbs water by osmosis.  Thus, the generic name for this product is osmotic dehydration sheet.

While Gore-Tex allows water vapor to pass but not liquid water, a semipermiable film allows water to pass but not matters dissolved in water (except small-molecule odor components).

Thanks for the information, Jason.

I confirmed that 90% of mizumake is made from corn starch in Japan.

So, will you be interested in supplying this product to your fellow Americans? :biggrin:

My blog
JasonTrue

JasonTrue

Posted
Posted

Is mizumake different than mizuame?

This product might be a little hard for me to work on until the ingredients are on the Generally Recognized as Safe lists for the FDA, or aren't going to be stuck in some gray market limbo.

I might be willing to help them file a petition, though, in exchange for some marketing rights and so on, because it's in my broad market category of foods and crafts. And I know a lot of people obsessed with Japanese food and cooking techniques :P

Thanks for the information, Jason.

I confirmed that 90% of mizumake is made from corn starch in Japan.

So, will you be interested in supplying this product to your fellow Americans? :biggrin:

Jason Truesdell

Blog: Pursuing My Passions

Take me to your ryokan, please

  • 2 months later...
torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

This link will show pictures of ALL the silly inventions

These are the food related ones:

Hate it when the ramen you are eating splashes all over your face?

Worry no more!

Do you avoid eating fish because of the emotional trauma of cutting of it's head?

Worry no more!

Are you tired of burning your tongue on steaming hot ramen? and tired or searching for knives when you want to butter your toast?

Worry no more!

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

jeniac42

jeniac42

Posted
Posted
Neat!  Thank you for sharing.

What's this for?  The page with the towel and hands.

That's for people like me, who worked in a restaurant kitchen with sidetowels in back pockets for too long and therefore wipe their hands on the back of their pants. Or, you know, people who dry their hands on their butt? :blink:

Jennie

SuzySushi

SuzySushi

Posted
Posted
I actually own this book.  How random is that?  Funny stuff mainly, but there are a couple decent ideas.

LOL! I either own or used to own the book (we're in the process of packing for moving, and I don't remember if that's one of the ones we weeded out...) GMTA?

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

Evan

Evan

Posted
Posted

Oh my, I think the ramen splash guard use to be the face guard for kids who are scared of water running down their face when washing their hair. That one is the most useless of them all but I do see good uses for butter on a stick :laugh:

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