Just as Americans have a special vocabulary related to the serving of alcoholic beverages – “neat”, “on the rocks”, “straight up”, and so on – we use specific terminology in the endlessly discussed subject of cooling and warming sake. Now it is the best time of the year to enjoy sake warmed, and you can enjoy it in six different ways. Hinata-kan (sunshine warm, 86 degree), Hitohada-kan (body temperature, 98 degree), Nuru-kan...
Read MoreMystery seaweed and aonori
I had exchanged several mails with Chef Jessica at International Culinary Center about a particular seaweed which a two-Michelen star restaurant chef is desperately searching for. My last straw (advice) to offer to her was aonori, which I later learned that it was not the one which the chef is looking for. There seems to be variety of edible, delicious seaweed enjoyed by non-Japanese. You may do not much aware of aonori as chef Jessica, so here is some information for you....
Read MoreTraditional burdock, gobo, dish, Yanagawa Nabe
Yanagawa Nabe is a dish which is served in a shallow, small-sized hot pot, in which fresh water fish called dojyo and thinly shredded burdock are cooked together with egg. The dish is locally famous and there are some specialty restaurants in Tokyo. I tasted the dish with my parents several times when I was little, but was not excited about the flavor of the fish – a kind of muddy taste. Dojyo (a kind of loach) is about 7 inch long and has distinctive 10 short whisks...
Read MoreNew Year’s Celebration photos
Here are some guests who attended the...
Read MoreBurdock pasta, instead of kinpira?
I found two long (3 1/2 foot each) gobo, burdock, left in my kitchen which I purchased toward the end of last year. I planned to make one more Osechi ryori dish, tataki gobo, but I abandoned the idea. It was too much. One of the most popular burdock dish is kinpira gobo, whose recipe you can find it in my The Japanese Kitchen. Instead of making this homey traditional Japanese dish, I decided to make something with Western flavors. Here is burdock pasta. I have shredded the...
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