Ike Jime

If you want to geek out for 15 minutes, read this.  It's about a Japanese fish slaughter technique where they ram a metal rod through the fish's spine.  Seriously, it's fascinating!

Wakakusa Nabe

I am currently testing hot pot recipes for an upcoming cookbook which is slated for an October 2009 release.  Although I am not able to post recipes, I thought I'd post a few pics.  This first hot pot featured pork and  a whole mess of greens...napa cabbage, mizuna, spinach, shungiku and watercress.  The broth is mirin/dashi/soy.  Really, really terrific.  I will definitely make this again. 

Sake-Simmered Mackerel (Saba Nitsuke)

Longtime readers (all five of you) might have noticed that I cook very little fish. The reasons are manifold. First of all, fish is expensive. Even the cheapest, on-sale fish inevitably costs more than pork. Second, I hate fishy, off-tasting, old fish and, because my fish selecting skill are poor, I have very little confidence that I will choose a fresh specimen. Third, I have lots of experience cooking pork/chicken etc. They are familiar while fish might as well be from a different planet. However, given the delicious fish preparations I have had at restaurants, I have given the consumption and cookery of piscine species a high priority.

So, I have to start somewhere. I end up going to the Japanese market because they sell lots of sushi-grade fish. Given that sushi is meant to be consumed raw, I figure that my chances of finding pristinely fresh fish are higher there than anywhere else. However, immaculate fish comes with a correspondingly high price tag so I have to shop at the low end. Ah yes. Mackerel. Extremely fatty/oily, especially in the middle of winter. Very fishy tasting. I immediately start to have second thoughts. But, aha! The Japanese cookbook I have with me (yes, I go grocery shopping with cookbooks...) has a technique for cooking mackerel which helps "rid the mackerel of odor." Well, then, that's all need to hear!

Here's how it all went down. Ingredients used:
Cleaning and trimming the mackerel...I've got 1 pound of mackerel pieces:
Handsome looking fish, isn't it? I trimmed off some of the fatty belly meat and a few fins. Rinsed the fish and peeled off some gristly looking stuff.
There's all the fish. Really, a fine looking specimen. Only a slight, pleasant odor. I love the stripes on the back of the fish. Set the fish aside.

Measure out 1.5 cups of sake, 1 cup of mirin and 2/3 cup of dark soy sauce. This is a double recipe.

Finely cut 4 tablespoons of ginger.

At this point, I was optimistic. I figured that the simmering technique and the ginger would eliminate any sort of overly fishy flavor.

Find a pan large enough to easily accommodate the fish fillets. Pour in the sake and bring to a simmer. Lay in the fish, skin side up. Bring the liquid back to a boil. Pour in the mirin and soy sauce. Add the ginger. Bring back up to a boil.
Sprinkle in two pinches of sugar and allow to cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Then you're done!
So, umm, how was it? To be blunt, I found it nearly inedible for a number of reasons. First of all, I hate picking around tiny fish bones when I'm eating. It's annoying. Second, I ain't down with the skin. Finally, it still had a fairly intense fish flavor. Just take a look at the thick layer of fat on the fish:So. What to do. Throwing it away would have been too easy. I decided on picking the bones out, removing the skin and getting rid of the overtly fatty pieces, such as this brown piece of oily fish:Now, I know that some people probably consider this sort of thing a delicacy so if I've offended you, sorry. Here's the carnage.
The palatable pieces:
I poured over the leftover simmering liquid and am hoping that it will overpower the natural fish flavor:
So, as you can see, not everything is sugar and spice at TBCC. There will be failures. However, I'm going to chalk this up as a learning experience and not let it affect my desire to cook fish.

Time- 20 minutes.
Food Cost-
Mackerel- $7.00
Incidentals- $1.00
Total- $8.00 I think I can probably get three meals out of this in its current form. So $2.66 per serving

Katsudon (Pork Cutlet on Rice)

YUMMMMMMMMY.

An unequivocal success. Well, except for the price but that can be remedied by better shopping. On my NYC trip, I enjoyed Oyako-don, a dish of rice with a chicken and egg topping. Katsudon is a derivative of that style of dish...keep the rice and egg topping but add a fried pork cutlet. How can you go wrong? Well, lemme tell you...you CAN'T.

To the recipe! I used Japanese Cooking A Simple Art.

Have fresh, hot rice ready and waiting.

A 6 oz. Kurobuta pork cutlet.Score the fat so the cutlet doesn't curl when you fry it. Generously salt and pepper the cutlet. Dredge in flour, egg and bread crumbs. Here's a pretty good webpage to help you through that. I can't remember the French term for the technique, anyone want to jog my memory? I used panko bread crumbs.
Set the cutlet aside while you do the rest of your prep work.

Slice a small, white onion into thin slices. Slice 4 green onions into 1.5 inch lengths.

Combine 2.5 cups of dashi, 7 tablespoons of mirin, 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, and 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce.

Beat 6 eggs.
You can simultaneously fry the pork cutlet AND make the sauce, but it's easier to fry the pork cutlet first and then make the egg mixture. The pork is fine if it sits for a few minutes while you cook the egg.

So. Heat up oil to 350 degrees. A candy thermometer will help here. CAREFULLY place the cutlet into the hot oil. It's gonna sizzle.
After a few minutes, maybe two, flip the pork chop.
God damn. Look at that delicious golden brown color. Cook for another two minutes. My cooking timings are somewhat iffy...I overcooked my chop by a little bit. The finished product:Set aside while you make the egg mixture. Feel free to use a wire rack so the underside of the pork doesn't steam and get soggy.

Saute the thinly sliced onion (NOT the green onion) until wilted and slightly transluscent.
Add the green onion and the dashi, mirin, soy mixture and bring to a simmer.
When simmering, pour in the egg. This is where I made an error. Allow the egg mixture to set...and then give it a stir and turn off the heat. I made the mistake of stirring too early so I ended up with something akin to egg drop soup. Oops. I will do better next time. This quantity of egg mixture/dashi is intended for four servings...I made the full quantity because I didn't feel like doing the measurement conversions for one serving.

Time to assemble the dish. Slice up the fried pork chop.
Add rice to a large bowl.Ladle some egg/onion mixture over the rice. Remember to get some of the broth to help season the rice.
Arrange pork cutlet on top.
Eat!

Time- About 25 minutes total.
Food Cost-
Cutlet- $3.50...kinda expensive, i know, but i will buy cheaper pork next time
Eggs- $1.00
Incidentals- $1.00
So, the cutlet is $3.50, the egg mixture is $2.00/4 servings so $4.00 for my serving.

Japanese Braised Pork, Nagasaki-Style

I had this dish while in NYC and enjoyed it so much that I decided to recreate it at home. The thing that struck me about this preparation was the refined cleanliness of the flavor. Even more impressive is the fact that pork belly is involved...normally a very fatty piece of meat which can often taste heavy and overly rich. All in all, a success...George deems it the best pork belly dish that I've ever made.

A little bit about the name. Most people know that Japan was basically isolated from foreign influence until the mid 1800's. What I didn't realize was that the port of Nagasaki was already somewhat open having been a trading port for the Portuguese and Dutch. Through these outside influences, foreign foods, such as pork (illegal to slaughter due to Buddhist rules) made their way into Japan. There's your history lesson for the day.

Anyhow, I'm using Japanese Cooking A Simple Art which should be at the top of your list if you want to start learning about Japanese food. The author ran a cooking school in Japan so the instructions are very clearly written and directed towards people with little cooking experience. A great tome of knowledge.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Pork! About a 2.5 pound slab of pork belly:
Slice into strips and then cubes. I took my slab of belly and cut it into the six strips you see below. I then cut each strip into four chunks:
Recipe said to brown the pork and then use hot water to rinse the pork of all extra fat. I was lazy so I deep-fried it...I figured it'd have the same effect. I did this in two batches.
Fried pork:
Rinsed pork:
Prepare the initial cooking broth. You need 2.5 cups of the water used when washing rice...you know how you rinse the water and it turns milky? Save 2.5 cups worth and add it to a large pot. Take two LARGE pieces (3 inches long) of ginger and scrape the peel off with a spoon. Cut into rough chunks and smash the chunks so they split/crack. Add all of the ginger to your pot which already has the rice water. Add the rinsed, browned pork. Add enough water to cover the pork generously.

Bring the water to a simmer, plop a lid on top and drop into the oven for a few hours...until tender. Took me about 2 hours.

When soft, scoop out the pork, set aside and throw away the water and ginger. Rinse the pork chunks...careful, they might be soft and fragile. Store overnight in the fridge.

The next day...combine 3.5 cups of dashi (i made mine with dashi-no-moto...buy this stuff, the author of this cookbook even acknowledges the excellence of the powdered product), 1 cup of sake, 2 tablespoons of mirin, 6 tablespoons of dark soy sauce and 6 tablespoons of sugar.
Place the ingredients in a pot and heat up to dissolve the sugar. Add the refrigerated pork and stir. Bring to a simmer and LIGHTLY cook for 30 minutes...don't simmer too vigorously because the pork is already soft...you don't want the pieces to disintegrate... Here's the end product:
If you're like me, you will want to refrigerate the pork and sauce. The next day, you'll be able to skim off the remaining fat (shouldn't be much) and it will also taste better. Serve with rice and miso soup. You don't need much, maybe two chunks of pork per serving. Sauce is nicely sweet, a little salty...pork carries with it plenty of ginger flavor from the initial braise. Really, really tasty.

Time- Pathetically easy. The most work you'll have to do is cut the pork into cubes. Takes about 5 minutes of active cooking time. The rest is simmering or frying. If you decide to brown the pork in a more traditional manner, it'll take a bit more effort.

Food cost-
Pork- $5.00
Small bottle of cheap sake- $4.00
Incidentals- $1.00
Total- $10.00
Will yield 12 two chunk portions or 8, three chunk portions. So around a dollar per serving.

Miso Soup

Most of you have had miso soup, right? Here's a bit of background on miso for those of you who don't know what it is. Anyhow, most of you probably know miso soup from sushi joints which usually give out an obligatory bowl to the patrons.

It's crazy easy to make, here's what you'll need:
I'm using shiro miso for this soup. Measure out 4 tablespoons of miso and set aside.

Take 4 cups of water and add a teaspoon of instant dashi powder. If you just want to use water, that's fine too. Whichever liquid you choose to use, start bringing it to a boil. Sometimes, when I'm not budget constrained and am feeling ambitious, I'll make my own dashi. Not this time, though!

Cube up half of a block of soft tofu and set aside. Mince 1/2 a green onion top. Place the green onion in your serving bowl. Miso needs to be softened by mixing it into a small amount of the hot dashi or water. Place the miso into a bowl and ladle the liquid over the miso. Using a fork or a whisk, break up the clumps of miso. When this is done, combine the miso/dashi mixture with the rest of the dashi and bring up to a simmer. Drop the tofu into the soup and heat through. Ladle the soup into the green onion bowl and your done!
$0.80 cents for the pot of soup. Takes maybe 10 minutes.