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Does anyone else cackle maniacally when they buy miso in a bag and squeeze it out into a storage container for the first time? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRKjD29o9R4 numerrik posted:I just got a bento box for work, and was wondering if anyone had some good and quick bento recipes, as I don't want to do rice and leftovers 4 days a week. I own this book, and it's pretty good. It has way more than the 40 recipes they mention in that review -- most pages have at least three recipes, and some reference pages have six. In fact, it's the source of one of my go-to lazy Japanese recipes, which I made tonight (with the miso in the video ): Spicy miso tofu with peppers and bok choi. The original recipe calls for fish cakes and pork, but my wife's vegetarian, and extra firm tofu works pretty well. It also takes about 15 minutes to make. Sometimes I use different vegetables, and sometimes I add fresh shiso if I have it in the garden. For bento ideas, http://justbento.com/ has also been one of my go-tos for years. I believe she's published a recipe book or two now. That site's listed in the OP, as it should be.
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# ¿ Nov 7, 2014 05:54 |
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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:52 |
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indoflaven posted:There's 1000 things that would be cooler and worth your time. Making your own soy sauce would be like collecting your own salt. Yeah this. The process takes something like nine months to a year, and you'd have to keep rolling batches going to keep yourself supplied. The same goes for miso. It could be sorta fun and interesting, but there is no way the effort to yield ratio would be anything close to worthwhile.
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# ¿ Dec 22, 2014 04:37 |
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As far as I can tell the equipment isn't too involved: you could do it in Mason jars, and koji can be found in miso. The trouble is the turn- around time. When you make something fermented like this (eg homebrew beer), you have no way of knowing how it will turn out until it's done. Couple that with the paucity of recipes available online, and you could spend years just trying to dial in your recipe to be on par with a $5 bottle of Kikkoman. E: if you really want to play with koji, make yourself some sake. The equipment is slightly more involved, but no more so than for beer brewing, and you get way more for your money and effort. Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Dec 22, 2014 |
# ¿ Dec 22, 2014 20:52 |
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BraveUlysses posted:After 4 years of using my zoji, i have only had teflon come off if metal tools scratch it off. No peeling from ordinary use. Yeah echoing this. Five years with a Zojirushi and the teflon is pristine. Just don't use metal tools with it. And having a brown rice setting owns. E: as does being able to put rice in it before you go to work, and come home to only have to prep toppings.
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# ¿ Jan 22, 2015 06:29 |
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WerrWaaa posted:Anyone have recommendations for reasonable electric hot plates for cooking at the dinner table? A portable gas camping stove works pretty well if you're not dead set on electric. You can get them pretty cheap, too.
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# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 18:03 |
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Yes! I did a fully vegan oden last night for my wife for Valentine's dinner. I used a pot with a divider, and did one stock with miso and dried shitake-water stock, the other with a peanut and szechuan pepper stock (not sooo Japanese, but I'd bet they'd do that). In the pot were shirataki, daikon, lotus root, carrot, tofu, sui choy, reconstituted shitaki, shimeji and spring onion. I took pics but my phone's dead. Will post later once it's charged.
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# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 03:56 |
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hallo spacedog posted:I actually had a vegan guest at that party as well so I made a pot of vegan sukiyaki as well. For an even better taste, broth wise, may I recommend trying konbu broth next time? It's really easy, and you can also mix mushroom water in there. I used all the same ingredients, except for konbu broth instead of regular dashi, and I used fried tofu skins instead of meat, and added bok choi for him as well, and it came out so tasty that we started putting fried tofu skins in the regular pot as well. Oh I put konbu into both broths as well. I cut it into strips and tied it into knots so it could be eaten towards the end. But yeah, konbu broth, or alternately konbu dashi-no-moto (available locally here), are definitely the way for vegan. Let's see, the broths went something like this: 2 tbsp aka miso 2 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp sake (actually cheap Chinese cooking wine, but close) 2 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 sheet konbu 3 cups water 1 cup shitaki-soaking water 2 tbsp peanut butter 2 tsp szechuan pepper 1 tbsp rice vinegar 2 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp sake (actually cheap Chinese cooking wine, but close) 2 tbsp soy sauce 1/2 sheet konbu 4 cups water And I topped off with konbu dashi-no-moto stock as we cooked. I'll definitely try fried tofu next time. It would also make the meal that much more washoku-compliant (just needs something grilled). Lawman 0 posted:I have some dried nori sitting in my pantry what should I do with it? I haven't tried this myself, but one of my recipe books suggests boiling it down with soy sauce, chilli pepper, sake and mirin to make a kind of furikake (rice topping) paste. They say 5 sheets nori, 4 tbsp soy, 1 tbsp sake, 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp mirin, 1 chilli pepper.
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# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 05:13 |
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Lawman 0 posted:Where would I find mirin and also what sort of sake should I use since the local booze store has a decent selection? The OP is pretty excellent and worth reading if you really want to get into this stuff: hallo spacedog posted:Sake (お酒) - Stop! Don’t buy that cooking sake on the grocery store shelf! (Okay, if you have no other options, by all means, buy it.) But if you have a decent liquor store nearby, about face and pick up a big bottle of Gekkeikan or something of at least semi-drinkable quality, and use that in your cooking. It’s actually maybe cheaper too if you just go to a good liquor store. And you can nip from the bottle while cooking, obviously... Yeah, maybe I should start using Gekkeikan or something rather than the cheap lovely Chinese cooking wine, but I don't tend to drink (or cook with) sake that regularly, so... For mirin, try Asian grocers, or maybe Whole Foods. Chances are that all you'll find will be aji-mirin, which is basically flavoured corn syrup, but maybe your liquor store would carry the real thing.
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# ¿ Feb 16, 2015 21:33 |
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FrancoFish posted:So today I discovered that baking some baking soda in the oven for like 30 minutes at 350 or so turns it into an alkaline salt, which you use in noodle dough to make springy, tasty ramen noodles. Baking soda is an alkaline salt. You're just turning them into a more alkaline salt. But sure, sounds like this is a thing. You can also buy sodium carbonate (the stuff you're trying to make by baking the sodium bicarbonate) on Amazon, if you don't want to dick around with your oven. You can also get potassium carbonate, if you don't want your noodles to be packed with sodium at the end.
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# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 05:34 |
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Here's the oden I made on Saturday. 'Scuse the mess on the table. Also lol what the gently caress kind of cut was I making with those carrots? Next time I'll probably go for fewer ingredients -- this was a bit too much for just two of us, and for that sized pot. It was tasty, though.
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# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 06:46 |
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hallo spacedog posted:Got a feeling the customs guy isn't gonna like that, real wasabi is fresh grated so he'd have to bring back a plant. A guy at a local plant sale was selling wasabi plants for growing at home. Sadly he'd sold out already. Anyway, especially in the US it may be possible to order tubers in the mail to grow yourself. Apparently they're pretty unfussy - they don't even need direct sunlight.
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# ¿ Feb 25, 2015 18:22 |
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Riptor posted:I thought they were extremely fussy which is why they're not grown on a large scale commercially and why we get that green horseradish as a result I think it's more if you're trying to grow it at a large scale that it's fussy? http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29082091 It's also probably because I'm in the Pacific Northwest, which is apparently one of the few parts of the world suited to growing the stuff.
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# ¿ Feb 26, 2015 08:36 |
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Yes, that stuff is the concentrate. You shouldn't be using more than a teaspoon or so at a time or you will be mega-dosing on sodium. Think of it like stock powder (which is what it is).
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2015 04:05 |
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Planning a hanami picnic tomorrow. Totally last-minute, but there seem to be enough people keen on it (and a nice grove of Yoshino cherry trees near my house just at the showers-of-falling-blossoms stage). I'm doing tamagoyaki, pink onigiri (using the red cabbage + acid trick from JustBento), and chicken karaage. A friend is keen to bring a gas stove and have people make their own okonomiyaki, too.
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# ¿ Apr 18, 2015 23:16 |
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hallo spacedog posted:It's not hanami unless you've got more alcohol than food. Haha -- my friend (the one planning the okonomiyaki)'s response when I mentioned bringing thermoses of sake, was "what? No. We need a cooler box full of sake." The picnic site (and my place) are right by the biggest liquor store in the province, so the sake will flow.
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# ¿ Apr 19, 2015 04:46 |
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hallo spacedog posted:It's not hanami unless you've got more alcohol than food. Drunkposting from hanami. Tons of authentic Japanese food. Sake, umeshi, some green tea ale someone brewed, and for comedy value the guy who brought McDonald's. E: and my minion (the masters students I supervise insist I call them that) brought a Japanese friend who made onigiri and inarizushi. And then I got everyone to come back to my place and drunkenly wash all the dishes I brought, while I also washed people's picnic blankets. I now have cherry blossoms in my sink and cherry blossoms in my washing machine. All in all a good day! E2 for content: The stuff I made. First time making chicken karaage, but it came out really well. The onigiri is pink, though it's hard to see in the light. Lead out in cuffs fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Apr 20, 2015 |
# ¿ Apr 20, 2015 00:31 |
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Suspect Bucket posted:Bought a Shiso plant for 5bux at the farmer's market. It apparently has the potential to be terribly invasive in Florida (like just about every other plant from japan...) It's also terribly delicious. Gonna get a nice pot for it and try not to eat all of it. Yeah when I mentioned that I was growing shiso to a Japanese friend, her response was "What? But it's like a weed!" Apparently it's also a problem in Taiwan. I haven't had trouble with it self-propagating, but I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I guess it's more invasive in warmer climates? Anyway, mine tended to put on a ton of seed heads towards the end of the season, so keep it in the pot and don't let those spread. It's a pretty vigorous plant even here, so you shouldn't have any shortage of it.
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# ¿ Jun 10, 2015 02:23 |
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Grand Fromage posted:This book is cool, too. http://www.amazon.com/Kansha-Celebrating-Japans-Vegetarian-Traditions/dp/1580089550 Yeah that's the one that came to mind first for me. It's worth noting that it is fully vegan, not just vegetarian. Does anyone have some good info on the history of shojin-ryori, particularly with regards to it being enforced as law? I've read in quite a few places about meat consumption having been banned in Japan for Buddhist reasons, but everything I'm finding on my current search is pretty contradictory and uncertain.
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# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 21:36 |
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net work error posted:The juiciness was more because I cut them too small because the larger pieces I did were nice and juicy. Flavor-wise it felt like the marinade was there but hadn't really gotten into the chicken. I'll make a second batch one of these days and have another trip report to see if marinading longer does the trick. Marinade doesn't penetrate into meat. It's a surface coating. If you didn't get enough flavour, it's because you didn't get enough marinade onto the outside before frying. Try a bit more flour and/or sauce , and make sure every piece gets well coated.
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# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 18:39 |
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Thoht posted:I mean seriously, anyone who has worked with marinating/brining/wet curing/corning extensively can tell you that that is patently and obviously false. http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/zen_of_marinades.html I find those dyed cross-sections fairly convincing. They seem to assert that the salt makes it through, though. This paper, too: http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/78/7/1048.short They looked at three 1.5mm-2mm slices from the surface inwards, and while there was still marinade (measured as phosphate) in the innermost slice, it was about half what was at the surface (and that was only 5mm into the meat). Fluo posted:Having some old friends I haven't seen for ages round in September so planning a 3 course meal and such. I was wondering if anyone was able to recommend a good main course (and a vegetarian main course?) A Japanese meal is usually more eight or nine small plates/bowls each containing different things than "courses", but tofu donburi would be a good vegetarian "main".
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# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 00:16 |
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Thoht posted:So they're saying that marinades do not penetrate far except for ones heavy in salt (for example, a soy based marinade such as the one the poster you responded to used). I can see that, though I would probably never use a marinade that *wasn't* effectively a brine so the point is moot for me. Also, the maximum marinating time in that second article was 30 minutes so the result shouldn't be too surprising. And I can absolutely attest to the penetration of brines. At a restaurant I worked at, if the corned lamb hadn't been in its brine for long enough, you would have a pink ring on the outside 50% or so where the cure had gotten to and a grey center. At another one where I would marinate 1-2" wide chunks of beef in soy/sake/mirin/garlic/ginger to be ground for jerkey, the beef was noticeably denser and darker all the way through when I cut into it the next day and the ground mix would be flavored uniformly, implying the flavoring had in fact penetrated to the center. Thanks! That's good to know.
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# ¿ Sep 8, 2015 23:46 |
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Last night I brought some fresh shiso I'd grown to a Japanese friend's place for her to weave into a series of dishes. Apparently fresh shiso and nattō is an amazing and classic combination. She also made a pretty tasty dish frying chicken, shiso and cheese together. And shiso juleps are pretty good, if not exactly traditional.
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# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 04:46 |
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psychokitty posted:I am officially purchasing shiso seeds to grow my own plant since I was unable to find fresh leaves for the sesame seed ICSA. I'm so jealous of people who don't live in St. Louis who can just pop down to a market and buy a freakin plant. Months back, but I'm drunk and reviewing the thread. Shiso is fussy as gently caress to grow from seed. Based on personal experience, I recommend you look into gibberellins (how the gently caress is that in my phone's autocorrect), or buy seedlings from a weird hippy herb lady at the farmer's market (like I do).
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# ¿ Feb 20, 2017 09:58 |
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Just prepping for a late hanami picnic. My partner and I are bringing a camp stove and cooking okonomiyaki. I'm also bringing a thermos full of sake, and another full of homemade amazaki (we have an artisinal sake maker in town so there's a source for sakekasu). The weather is beautiful so I'm bringing them chilled. Should be lots of fun! Right, off to mix up a few large mason jars worth of okonomiyaki batter...
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# ¿ May 13, 2018 21:26 |
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Stringent posted:Where the hell do you live that there's still cherries in bloom? Vancouver. And they're a very late blooming variety. There's literally a website with a crowd sourced map of where all the cherry blossoms in the city are, with a feature to search by date.
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# ¿ May 16, 2018 02:51 |
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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:52 |
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Stringent posted:Here's what they had at Yodobashi in Akihabara. I've had the one on the right for almost ten years and it's still going strong.
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# ¿ Oct 30, 2019 08:53 |