Sake brewed in the United Sates Part 3, 続続アメリカで醸造されているお酒

Another decent sake, Gekkeikan "Black and Gold"!

After tasting "G Sake", we hit another good one. This is from Gekkeikan USA and is Junmai Ginjou. Although this one is not as complex as "G sake" and will not compete with high-end premium sake, this is surprisingly good and pleasant.

The nose has faint cooked rice note but pleasant. From this nose, I was expecting the usual overly yeasty taste but the palate is clean with a fruity note (melon?) and a hint of sweetness. It gives a nice pleasant mouth feel. Finish is rather short. This is not an overly complex or sophisticated sake (I do not think this was meant to be that) but very drinkable and pleasant. This will not make it to our top choices but this is a good everyday sake and, for sure, better than "Haiku". With some good "Otsumami" drinking snacks, this sake is an excellent down-to-earth sake to enjoy, just perfect for Izakaya (even the traditional "tokkuri" 徳利 sake container-shaped bottle).

After tasting "G sake" and "Black and Gold", I am seeing some parallel to "the battle of French vs. American wines" here. In a few years, some of the American brewed sake may win in a blind tasting against Japanese sake, which, thereafter, may be known as  "the judgement of Tokyo".  Mark my words. Watch out "Fudo" 不動 and "Juyondai" 十四代! Hope I can say in the near future, "Remember I said that way back when". (Probably NOT!)

Sake brewed in the United Sates Part 2, 続アメリカで醸造されているお酒

Finally we came across an excellent Junmai Gingo Genshu called "G sake"!

Over the years, the number of sakes brewed in the U.S. has been mostly non-premium sake. We tasted a fair number of them and until recently, none of them has been really remarkable. Gekkeikan Haiku was our favorite for a while basically by default--it was the best of the bunch. After our recent trips to Japan, we realized the extent to which domestic (US) sakes fell short of the level of premium Japanese brewed sake (although many Japanese brewed sake are not that good either). We finally found a sake which is on a par with top ranking sake brewed in Japan. This one is called "G sake" from SakeOne. This is a Junmai Ginjou Genshu 純米吟醸原酒. Three selected batches were blended and aged for 10 months (I assume this is a cold aging process). 

The nose has a nice floral with mineral note, very pleasant. The mouth feel, when first in your mouth, is nicely smooth, silky and slightly viscous. Very clean taste and nice honeysuckle flavor lingers in mid palate with slight hint of sweetness and ending into long finish with some hint of spices. Despite its high alcohol content of 18%, no appreciable boozy taste (although we felt it afterwards). We tasted this chilled and we may taste it again at room temperature but this should not be drunk warm. Even other sakes from SakeOne have improved and we hope, for the next and future brew years, they will deliver this level of quality or better. Brew year is denoted with prefix "BY" followed by a number which represents the year of the present emperors reign i.e "Heisei" 平成 year. For example "BY20" means the brew year was the 20th year of the present emperor's "heisei" reign. For those who tend not to think in terms of heisei years, that would be 2008, since the Heisei emperor's reign started in 1989. (Now wasn't that straight forward?). I assume the one we tasted was BY21 or could be BY20.

Compared to Japan, the sake available in the U.S. is limited and good ones imported from Japan are expensive. Now, there are quite a few sake specialized stores including some on the internet. Regular on-line or brick-and-mortar wine stores do carry some sake but the choices are very limited. Most of the sake imported from Japan is relatively large scale production with few exceptions. Among the sakes brewed in Japan and imported to the U.S. which we tasted over the years, we like "Mu" 無 junmai dai-ginjou 純米大吟醸 from Yaegaki 八重垣 Brewery in Hyougo 兵庫, Japan. In terms of cost performance and clean taste, we thought, it was the best available. We could often find "Mu" at the nearby Japanese grocery store, however, markup in price was quite substantial. We now order it through the internet from New York/New Jersey. More recently, one of the local liquor stores start carrying "Mu" (we special ordered this once before from this place. It may be that after our special order they started stocking "Mu" regularly). After the discovery of "G sake", we now have two house sakes, "Mu" and "G sake".  The characteristics of both sakes are quite different and we now have two nice choices; one brewed in the U.S.!

Sake brewed in the United Sates Part 1, アメリカで醸造されているお酒

On a recent visit to the Maryland County Liquor store I was surprised to see a selection of Sakes. While I was familiar with most of them, I had not tasted some of them for many years and decided to have a small sake tasting with our house sake "Mu" as a reference (the rightmost in the picture below).

There are a small number of companies brewing sake in the United States; and they generally do not produce premium sake. The most, however, do produce "Ginjou" level sake. According to the "Insider guide of sake", there used to be six (6) sake breweries in the U.S.  (listed below the picture) but now there are only 4. It is not clear what types of rice they use except that it is "high-quality" rice from the Sacrament valley in California. Japanese short grain rice including Akita komachi and Koshi Hikari are grown there. These rices are good for eating but not for sake making.  It appears that Calrose rice (85% of California short/medium grain rice being produced) is used for sake brewing in the U.S., for sure, by SakeOne. In terms of water, all the California manufacturers said they used water from Sierra Nevada mountains snow melt or in the case of the Oregon manufacturer, water from the aquifer at the edge of the Oregon forest (SakeOne).

1.Hakusan 白山 in Napa, California: This was the U.S. only brand and no Japanese sake with this name. It was owned and operated by a Japanese company that did not produce sake in Japan. We actually visited the brewery on a wine tasting trip to Napa soon after it opened and took a tour of the facility. We have fond memories of the experience. Unfortunately, it closed a few years ago. After moving to the east, we never saw this brand of sake for sale here. We still have a decorative mini-komokaburi container (empty) from our visit to Hakusan.

2. Hakushika 黒松白鹿 in Colorado: In 1992, they opened a sake brewery in Colorado but it was closed in 2000 and all sake production was moved back to Rokko brewery 六光蔵, Japan. We only bought and tasted regular "honjouzou" class sake over the years (I am not sure it was actually brewed in the U.S.--probably it was). We used it mostly as cooking sake.

3. Gekkeikan 月桂冠 in Folsom, California: Currently, our cooking sake is Gekkeikan. As a regular sake, it is not too bad and widely available. If you drink sake warm, this is certainly drinkable. Gekkeikan also makes semi-premium sake; "Haiku" 俳句, Silver, and "Black and Gold". Haiku is the "Tokubetsu Junmai" class and drinkable. It is brewed specifically to be consumed cold.  "Black and Gold" is on order, when it arrives, we will have a tasting.

4. Takara 宝 in Berkley, California: The Japanese parent company is located in Kyoto 伏見, 京都. The majority of Shochikubai 松竹梅 sake sold here appears to be U.S. brewed. They also make "Junmai", "Tokubetsu junmai (to 60% polished)" and "Junmai Ginjo" (to 50% polished). Again, the "Junmai" variety is OK to drink warm and good for cooking. We have not tried others. They also produce sweet cooking wine "Takara mirin".

5. SakeOne  in Forest grove, Oregon: This is a very interesting company and probably, at this point, the sole American brewery committed to making only premium sake. Although this is an American company and Momokawa 桃川 in Aomori 青森 has a partnership with it--providing the technical know-how (I suppose) and their brand name "Momokawa". The sake makers appear to be non-Japanese. Under the Momokawa name, they make four Ginjou sakes; Diamond, Silver, Ruby and Pearl. We tried these quite some years ago and did not like any of them. I decided to taste a few (Diamond and Silver) hoping the more recent brew may be different. The recent brews appear to be better than before but still not great. They also make fruit infused sake under the "Moonstone" label but I am a bit of a purist when it comes to sake and did not try them. Apparently they started making their top of the line "G joy" or "G sake". I found a place to buy this sake and will taste it when it arrives. 

6. Ozeki 大関 Hollister in California: Ozeki is the oldest brewery of sake in the U.S. The parent company, Ozeki 大関,  is located in Nada 灘. If I remember correctly, they started in an old dairy processing plant in US. Again, the regular sake they produce is just OK to drink warm or for cooking. Besides the regular brews, they produce Ginjo but I have not tried it. They also produce "special dry" and nigorizake.

Artichoke hearts stuffed with shiitake mushroom duxelle アティチョークのシイタケデュクセルづめ

When I posted artichokes, I said that the hearts are the best part and the petals are essentially a dip delivery system. It is fun to eat the outside petals working your way to the heart but sometimes, you just want to get to the best part quickly. This is a perfect small dish which goes wonderfully with wines. The taste of artichokes gets enhanced if you drink a small amount of water after tasting for some reason. The shiitake duxelle has nice almost meat-like flavor but this dish is totally vegetarian (if you care).

I baked this is a toaster oven and the temperature was too high and the heat was uneven making the bread crumb crust unevenly darkened but it still tasted ok. Here is the cut surface (left) and I served the artichoke with the chicken strudel (right) as a first dish of the evening. We had a Napa cab, which is rather austere and Bordeaux-like but without a funky nose, Round Pond Cab 2006 (WE 92). We are not sure we would give a score of 92 to this wine; a bit too austere for our taste. Nevertheless, this starter dish was a good match for this wine.

Cleaning the artichokes: It requires some work but once you are used to it, it is rather quick. As seen in the image below, using a sharp long knife, I cut around the outer petals by moving the knife blade up-and-down while rotating the artichoke. It is similar, but more exaggerated motions, to "katsura muki" かつらむき for daikon. You end up with something like in #2. Cut the inner young petals off and remove the outer skin of the stalk and the bottom green part of the heart (#3). You may want to have a lemon half handy so that you can rub the cut surface with lemon to prevent discoloration. I plunge these cleaned artichoke hearts into acidulated and salted water containing lemons (1, cut in half with juice squeezed into the water), bay leaves (2-3) and onion (1 medium roughly cut up) (#4). You could also add black peppercorns.

Cooking artichoke herts: Gently boil the hearts for 20- 30 minutes until a skewer goes through the bottom of the hearts easily. After they have cooled, I remove the remaining inner petals to expose the chokes (left in the image below).

Removing the chokes: Using a spoon, remove all the chokes, even a little bit of chokes left will be very unpleasant. The image below on the right is after the chokes have been removed.

Although you could just eat the artichoke hearts as is with melted butter or mayonnaise, I decided to make it a bit more fancy; artichoke hearts stuffed with shiitake duxelle. 

Duxelle: This is for four (4) artichoke hearts. The classic recipe uses button mushrooms but we like fresh shiitake. I finely chop a shallot (1 medium), and fresh shiitake mushrooms (one 3.5 oz package or about 100 grams). I also include the stems. After removing the stem from the cap, I cut off the discolored end and then tear it along the direction of the fibers into thin strands and then chop finely. I removed the stalk of the artichoke hearts so that the hearts will sit on the plate properly. I chop finely the artichoke stalks.

I saute the shallot first with light olive oil (1-2 tbs) for a few minutes and add the shiitake and the artichoke stalks. I season it with salt and pepper and keep sautéing for several more minutes. The pan should be rather dry without any liquid because the mushrooms will exude some liquid. I add Marsala (2 tbs, or port if you prefer) and saute until all the liquid has evaporated. I remove from the heat, taste and adjust the seasonings and let it cool down to room temperature. When it is cool, I mix in chopped parsley (1 tbs).

Using my hand, I coat the surface of the artichokes hearts with olive oil and then stuff the artichokes with the duxelle (left) and top it with panko bread crumbs mixed with olive oil (right). I bake this in a 350F oven for 20 minutes. (This time I used a toaster oven and it burned the surface, I should have used a regular oven).

This looks like a lot of work but I did it in stages over two days so it was not too bad. If you like the taste of artichokes, you will like this dish.

Chicken strudel with carrot and asparagus 鶏肉, 人参, アスパラガスのフィロ 巻き

This is a nice small starter which can be perfect with your wine or beer. This is also from the "Openers" cookbook. The original name was "Chicken Mosaic Strudel" but I changed it to a more descriptive name. This is somewhat similar to making a sushi roll. Essentially, you put cooked chicken in a creamy cheese sauce then roll in layers of phyllo dough with strips of carrot and asparagus and bake. Again, I did not follow the recipe precisely.

Chicken: I use one large boneless, skinless half breast. I butterfly it to make the thickness even and made 1/4 wide strips. I season it with salt and pepper and cook in a frying pan with olive oil (1 tbs) for several minutes until the chicken is done leaving brown bits on the bottom of the pan. 

Vegetables: I use pencil asparagus (10-12), hard root end trimmed and blanched. I cut carrot (two medium) into long strips after peeling the skin (1/8 wide) and cook in a salted water until cooked.

Cream sauce: In the same pan in which the chicken was cooked, I add additional olive oil (1 tbs), finely chopped celery (2 stalks), and onion (1/2 medium). I saute for several minutes scraping off the fond left on the bottom of the pan from cooking the chicken, and season with sat and pepper. I add cream (1/4 cup and a bit more) and grated gruyere cheese (about 1/4 cup). After simmering for 5 minutes, this will become a nice thick sauce. Put back the chicken strips and coat them with the sauce and set aside.

Chopped roasted almond: I roast whole almonds (1/4 cup) in a toaster oven (actually my wife did). After they cool to room temperature, I chop them finely using a small bowl food processor. I mix in Japanese panko (3 tbs but any good bread crumbs will do).

Phyllo dough: I use store bought frozen phyllo which is thawed for 20-30 minutes at room temperature.

Assembly: I did not take pictures of the most crucial step of rolling. I use kitchen parchment paper on the bottom and put one layer of phyllo, brush melted butter and sprinkle the almond/bread crumb mixture. Repeat this 3 times (or more if you like, see pictures below on the left). Exactly as if making a sushi roll, put the chicken strips coated with sauce, the asparagus and the carrot strips on the end of the phyllo sheets nearest to you. Using the parchment paper as an aid, roll it exactly like making a sushi roll.  Brush melted butter all over and set it on the cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (picture below on the right). 

Bake in a 450F oven for 20-25 minutes or until the phyllo is nicely golden. Let it cool down a bit and slice exactly like a sushi roll and serve. This sounds complicated but it is worth it and is a very nice dish. It keeps very well wrapped in parchment paper in the refrigerator for a few days. Even when re-heated the phyllo is nice and crispy. To re-heat, unwrap, slice and warm it up in the toaster oven for few minutes. The only problem with this dish is that it is not dietetic with all the cream, butter, and cheese.

Sautéed mix mushrooms with butter and soy sauce きのこのバータ醤油いため

This is a typical cook-as-you-drink type dish. I had leftover oyster mushroom (maitake 舞茸), trumpet royale (similar to eringi エリンギ or eryngii), alba clamshell and brown clamshell (hon shimeji ホンシメジ) from when I made the exotic mushroom soup. Trumpet royal is, I suppose, very similar but different from eryngii (popular in Japan but not here) and has a nice firm texture and porcini-like flavor.

This dish is not based on any recipe but has the classic flavor (to me, classic but I am not sure it is classic to any cuisine) of soy sauce, butter and garlic. The mushrooms, especially trumpet royale has a nice meaty texture and flavor and is perfect for any accompanying drink. The amount of mushrooms I use is about twice as much as you see in the picture above (that is what I had left).

If you wash the mushrooms, they, especially oyster mushroom, tend to absorb water. You may choose not to wash the mushrooms. Regardless of whether I wash them or not, I spread them on a paper towel and let them stand for 1 hour or so at room temperature before cooking, so that the surface of the mushrooms is completely dry. This procedure also lets some excess moisture evaporate from the mushrooms themselves. I tear the trumpet royale lengthwise from the stem end. I just separate the oyster and clamshell mushrooms; if too large, I cut them into a bite size lengths.

In a large frying pan (I use a 12 inch non-stick, do not crowd the mushrooms) on a high flame and add peanut oil (1 tbs, I use peanut oil to begin and add butter later because of the high smoking point of peanut oil). When the oil is almost at the smoking point, I add the mushrooms. Any water left on the surface of the mushrooms will make the oil splatter. I do not salt at this time since it will draw out moisture from the mushrooms. I saute for several minutes or until the mushrooms develop brown spots on the surface. You should not see any liquid coming out at this point. I add pats of butter (less than 1 tbs) and turn down the heat to medium. When the butter melts, I add garlic (1 clove, finely chopped), salt and pepper and stir. At the end, I add soy sauce (2 tsp) from the side wall of the pan so that it will be heated and become fragrant before mixing into the mushrooms. 

This is a simple and satisfying dish but to make it right, you have to make sure that liquid does not come out of the mushroom while cooking; drying the mushrooms before cooking and using high heat as described above are two of the secrets for success. We had this with cold sake but wines will be wonderful with this as well. Instead of soy sauce, you could use other herbs such as tarragon or thyme and also deglaze with Marsala,  port, or sherry to make it more Western in style.

Exotic mushrooms and wild rice soup きのことワイルドライスのスープ

I am again drifting from the Izakaya theme but this is one of our favorite soup for special occasions. It is almost a cross between porridge and soup depending on how much wild rice I add. It can be certainly served as either "shime" (ending) or "opening" dish.

The original recipe came form the cookbook called "Openers", which has recipes and very artistic pictures of the appetizers and soups, i.e., "openers". We got this some years ago and it appears that this book is not available any longer. This soup can be a bit expensive to make depending on what kinds of exotic mushroom and types of wild rice are used. 

Mushrooms: For making soup stock, regular white button mushrooms are used, which will be pureed into the soup stock (see below). For the mushrooms in the soup, I used chanterelle, oyster (maitake, 舞茸), shiitake シイタケ, trumpet royale (very similar to eringi エリンギ or eryngii), alba clamshell, and brown clamshell (hon shimeji ホンシメジ) mushrooms this time. Cut them into relatively large pieces so that you can see and taste the mushrooms. Trumpet royale may be cut or torn along its length relatively thinly since it is rather firm. The amount and kinds of mushrooms you can use are totally up to you but using at least one exotic wild mushroom will make this soup special. Chantrelle and morel are two of my favorites and tend to be rather expensive.

Wild rice: Use 100% wild rice either true wild rice from the lakes of Minnesota or cultivated ones. I used the latter. Before adding to the soup, soak it in a hot water for one hour. Do not use a mixed wild rice and regular rice, which is often sold as "wild rice" in a ready-to-use box. You can not substitute wild rice with any other rice. The result will be totally different. So use wild rice. 

Mushroom Soup Stock: To make the soup stock, I sauteed the shallots, (thinly sliced, 5 medium), and carrot, rather finely chopped (one medium) in butter (2 tbs) in a large (12 inch) frying pan on a medium high flame for several minutes. It is ok to brown the butter in this process. I then add thinly sliced white button mushrooms (stem end removed, one package or about 15-20 small and medium ones) and sauté for 5-7 minutes. The reason I use a rather high heat is that the water exuded from the mushrooms needs to be quickly reduced leaving brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Deglaze with chicken stock (1/2 cup, my usual Swanson no-fat, low sodium) and turn down the flame to low. Put a tight fitting lid on the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. I add this to the stock pot with warm chicken broth (about 3 cups, again Swanson) on simmer. Using an immersion blender, I puree the solids in the soup stock. I put the pan in the sink to make spills easier to clean and blend. Once blended the pot goes back on the stove on simmer. 

I sauteed the mixture of the mushrooms from above in a large frying pan on a high flame with butter (2 tbs) for several minutes until the mushrooms are soft and browned without any liquid remaining in the bottom of the pan (picture on the left). I deglaze with brandy (2-3 tbs, I used Christian Brothers but it is up to you to use Remy Martin XO here). Be careful since it will ignite (I pour the amount of brandy in a metal cup before deglazing and flambe-ing). Let the flame die down and add the mushrooms to the soup stock. Add the drained wild rice (I only had 1/2 cup but you could use more, up to about 1 cup). I seasoned with dried leaf savory (1/4 tbs, if you have fresh savory, use fresh, 1/2 tbs, but I do not like to use "ground" savory) and fresh chopped thyme (sparingly, thyme can be strong, I used the ones still surviving in our herb garden). Actually, I add fresh thyme towards the end of cooking. I let it simmer for about 40 minutes until the wild rice is cooked. I adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. I served the soup garnished with chopped chives and freshly cracked black pepper.

This is a wonderful soup. In addition to all the flavors from the mushrooms, the wild rice really adds a nutty flavor as well as a thickness and unctuous mouth feel of the soup. We served this for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the past with great success. We had this with my wife's rye whole wheat bread tonight; an extremely satisfying combination. The wine we had was Bordeaux (unusual for us), Chateau Pavie-Macquin 2006. This is rather young and fruit-forward (for Brodeaux) without any funky nose. The earthy flavors of mushrooms went so well with this wine.