June 23, 2011
Frying has always been something I was afraid of. I remember my grandma frying whole fish in a huge wok of oil. It took brawn and a fearless attitude toward unpredictable flying specks of oil traveling at high speeds. I will never be half as tough as my grandma, and I still don’t have the […]
June 20, 2011
Fishcakes, such as the Homo Sausage, chikuwa and kamaboko, are some of my favorite foods. It usually weirds people out in the States because of its “processed” figure; but I really enjoy its chewy, rubbery texture, and its flavor of the sea. I’ve always loved fishcake (as does Kayoko) and it’s very disappointing that there […]
June 2, 2011
Smelt. Fried, they are a great accompaniment to a pint of beer. Grilled and served with a bowl of white rice, they complete a Japanese breakfast. They also win the Cheap Bastards’ Choice Award, since they average $3.50/lb. The “Wakasagi” variety of smelt were introduced from Japan to the San Francisco delta in 1959 as […]
May 26, 2011
I admire killers. I admire butchers, mongers, soldiers and… Dexter. I admire them for the balls and boobies they possess to kill with confidence–without squealing or being a hesitant little sissy. They don’t do things like “name” their kill–like I did for my two soft-shell crab buddies Rod and Todd. I am a total squealer […]
May 2, 2011
I am hosting a rather important dinner party with lots of opinionated eaters this weekend, so I’ve been practicing and experimenting with what I may serve. In the last year or so, whenever you go to an upscale restaurant, you always encounter sous-vide this and sous-vide that. Â What is sous-vide? To explain it in simplest […]
March 3, 2011
Go to any sushi restaurant in Japan and notice that “ikura” or salmon roe, is either written in katakana or hiragana. I was curious as to why it was often written in katakana–the alphabet designated to loanwords. I asked the master at Sushi Danran about this curiosity. He told me that “ikura” イクラ comes from […]
January 6, 2011
When I crave comfort food, this is my go-to dish. It’s quick, easy and cheap. The key to a successful miso-eggplant dish is fresh eggplants. The vibrant purple color of Japanese eggplant contrasts well with the redness of the miso. The dish is sweet thanks to the miso and sugar so it will satisfy an […]
November 4, 2010
Hi everyone, Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko’s column today. Yoko has set the bar quite high for tips, techniques and recipes on Japanese cooking, so I really thought hard about what I would be writing about. I browsed through all my Japanese cookbooks and magazines for ideas, and even consulted with some folks about […]
October 28, 2010
Ankimo, or monkfish liver, when steamed, is considered a delicacy in Japan. The creamy texture is not unlike a fine pate. Ankimo is to be eaten in tiny bites and is an excellent accompaniment to sake or shochu. The first time I saw a picture of a monkfish, I was in denial. How could it […]
October 25, 2010
I had a dinner party and had pulled pork sandwich (of course I don’t have pictures, totally didn’t even think about it), but gays apparently don’t eat buns. What the hell is wrong with us? No carb/ fat/ sweets, but a gallon of booze is always accompanied with everything. Once we have an inch of […]