Question received – sushi shoyu

Posted on Oct 10, 2011 in Hiroko's Blog

I received an e-mail question about my sushi shoyu recipe in The Sushi Experience from a person who enjoys the book. He says that “the amount of fish flakes instructed in the recipe was very large compared to the volume of shoyu and mirin, producing very little result. Is the recipe correct?” Thank you for the question. The recipe is correct, but I found one incorrect information in the recipe. Yield says 3 cups, but it produces only 2 cups. Sorry for this...

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Fourth Day Essentials of Japanese Cuisine

Posted on Oct 10, 2011 in Hiroko's Blog

Preliminary form of sushi began its life in the northern part of present Thailand. It traveled to China and eventually arrived to Japan sometime at around 5th or 6th century. It took over thousand years for the preliminary sushi to transform to close to the present style of nigirizushi and rolls (not inside-out rolls). In today’s class we first focused on the preparation of perfect sushi rice – firmly cooked and properly seasoned, gari ginger pickles, simmered...

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Sardine…again

Posted on Oct 9, 2011 in Hiroko's Blog

Real Sardine Real sardines for me mean the sardine with which I was raised – oily, sweet and flavorful. In Japan it is called ma-iwashi (you can learn more about it in my book The Sushi Experience). The head-to-tail size is about 10 inches. The very fresh sardine is plump (life in the nutrient rich cold water fatten them) in appearance and scales are intact. My mother always salt grilled them over a portable charcoal grill when I was small. This sounds like a fun barbecue...

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Nimono braizing Day 3

Posted on Oct 7, 2011 in Hiroko's Blog

Today students learned the philosophy behind presenting dishes – Gomi, Goshoku, Goho, Ying & Yang, 70/30 and 60/40 rule….then produced simmered branzino, sake-braised short-ribs, simmered vegetables, salmon takikomi gohan and simmered hijiki and carrot. A great learning day and delicious foods – by students. Here are some...

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Essentials of Japanese Cuisine Day 1 and Day 2

Posted on Oct 6, 2011 in Hiroko's Blog

I am back on the Essentials of Japanese Cuisine teaching at French Culinary Institute. Day 1’s highlight was the preparation of dashi stock (requires a state of zen mind), fun home-made udon noodles and perfect tempura using seasonal vegetables. Here are some of the photos from the class. To roll the dough out I had to stand on a stand….short person’s dilemma. Everyone rolled out the udon dough into perfect thickness, resulting delicious cold udon dish...

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