NIZAKANA WITH FLOUNDER, SALMON OR POMPANO THIS WINTER

Posted on Nov 6, 2018 in Hiroko's Blog, Recipes

There is a Japanese technique which may be new to you in this recipe. Taking this special step is necessary in order to produce clean and delicious flavor in the prepared dish. The technique is called Shimofuri, which literally means ‘frost-covering’. In this technique we first blanch scaled and cleaned fish in hot water in a pot until the surface turns white resembling frost. Then carefully cool and rinse the fish in a bowl of cold water with tap water running into it. By...

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KAREI OR HIRAME? FLUKE OR FLOUNDER?

Posted on Nov 6, 2018 in Hiroko's Blog

How to distinguish a flounder from a fluke? Both are bottom-feeding flat fish. Both have two eyes on the upper side of their flat and thin body. But their flavor and texture are different. On one recent early morning at the Blue Moon fish monger at the Tribeca Framers’ Market in NYC a lady customer and a young sales person were in conversation about the difference of these two bottom-feeding fish. The lady insisted that they are the same fish; the sales person repeated that...

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‘Shun’, Herring, Spring

Posted on May 11, 2016 in Hiroko's Blog, Recipes

                    Japanese cuisine emphasizes the use of seasonal ingredients. We call ingredients in season “Shun” . In Japan seasonal ingredients are not limited to just vegetables, which may be the case here in America. We love to enjoy seasonal seafood harvested in different parts of Japanese water. I, however, admit that the consumer’s awareness of seasonal seafood has been changing. Today most of...

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