Honey mead 1992 vintage ミード蜂蜜酒１９９２

Many years ago, I was into making beer (ale, to be exact).  My wife was not particularly fond of beer, although she said, my beer was best she ever tasted.  Since I had all the brewing apparati (fermentation buckets, air locks, tubings, glass carboys etc), I made mead for a few years (1992 - 95) by her request. Since it tastes better if we give a chance to "mature" we tucked it away and promptly forgot about it. Recently, we were cleaning out the storage area and came upon all the boxes filled with bottles of mead quietly sitting in the dust. Since my first attempt at making mead was vintage 1992 and if it were a kid would be going to college we thought it was time to pop the cork. 

Mead must be one of the earliest alcoholic beverages human had on hand. Essentially honey water fermented, which could happen naturally. Although the name "Honey mead" sounds like a sweet beverage, in its original form, it is totally dry since all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Some of the commercial meads are sweet because of the addition of honey or sugar after fermentation. 

One of the problems with brewing is contamination which can give rise to off-tastes. Keeping sanitary conditions is very important when fermenting anything, either wine, beer or mead. My understanding is that, in the old days, because off-tastes often developed in mead due to contamination, honey was added to cover up the bad taste which gave rise to "sweet" mead. Mine was done under strict sanitary conditions and is bone dry.

This was a sparkling mead with hops. Apparently, I had easy access to freeze dried quality hops at that time. I do not remember the exact recipe but I must have used a fragrant finishing hop and Champagne yeast which can ferment to a higher alcohol level than ale or wine yeast. After 20 years of bottle aging (I used a beer bottle which was capped with a crown), the bubbles were rather weak but the color was nice dark brown as you can see above.

It is dry but the aromatic flavors of the honey was still there. Hops were added because of the taste and as a preservative but at this point, only a very subtle bitterness (which is quite refreshing) remains.

I concocted a quick chicken salad to go with the mead. The chicken was sliced microwave sake-steamed chicken breast. I placed it on a bed of baby arugula with sliced mini-cucumber (salted and extra moisture rung out), a skinned and quartered Campari tomato. The dressing was a mixture of mayonnaise and plain yogurt seasoned with hot sauce (Sriracha) and soy sauce. The proportion of mayo and yogurt is abut 1:1 (2 tbs each), hot sauce (1/2 tsp but this is totally up to your taste) and soy sauce (1/2 tsp). I diluted the mixture with the addition of juice from the chicken container (protein from chicken, salt, sake with flavor of ginger and scallion) but you could just use water to loosen the dressing or you do not have to make it loose. I drizzled the dressing over the salad.

I was amazed that my mead survived for 20 years in our basement (we actually have quite a supply including some bottled in champagne bottles--I must have been quite industrious at one point). I have another batch flavored with raspberries (from 1995, I think) which we  should try next. Only problem is, once we drink this supply It will be another 20 year wait for the next batch. 

The salad was pretty good. The heat from the hot sauce came on slowly but it is quite pleasant and went well with our mead.

Sea Urchin pasta with poached egg 雲丹のパスタ温泉卵のせ

When we got sashimi from Catalina, only "premium" uni was available. After three days, one tray was left. Since the premium uni was a bit soft to begin with and the edges were disintegrating a bit (tasted OK, though), I decided to make another version of Uni pasta. I suggested to my wife, Carbonara style or a poached egg on the top. She chose the latter.

There is nothing different from what I posted before except for placing a poached egg on the top. As before, I used angel hair pasta. I added olive oil (or butter) in the frying pan (1 tbs) and added the cooked pasta and cream (3-4 tbs) and heated it up. When the cream was slightly reduced and coated the pasta, I put the uni in the pan (leaving a few aside for garnish) and mixed them with the pasta using a silicon spatula. Then I cut the flame. I tasted it and seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper and also mixed in finely chopped parsley (Perilla or chives would also have been fine but I did not have them).

Porched eggs were made in our usual way with the yolk still runny (using pasteurized shell eggs). I garnished with thin strips of nori.

The combination of cream, uni, and egg yolk made this dish ultra rich and creamy. Although I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the sashimi items we received from Catalina this time, this was a quite piece de resistance to finish up the uni.

Yaktori-style grilling 焼き鳥風グリル

For one reason or another, we have not had a chance to grill outside in Yakitori-style for a long time. Since it was warm, mosquitos were not out (yet), and we regained access to our Yakitori grill, we decided to do an impromptu Yakitori-style grill.  Since we did not have much time for preparation, I made a simple grill including;

1. Chicken wings and drumetts (marinated in sake, mirin, salt, and Sriracha hot sauce for several hours but I should have just grilled with salt and pepper)

2. Chicken tenders (marinated in sake and salt. After it was almost cooked, I smeared miso sauce - mixture of miso and mirin - and finished cooking).

3. Vegetable: small red potatoes (microwaved and then cut in half, coated with olive oil and salted), Royal trumpet mushrooms (torn lengthwise into 2 to 4 pieces depending on the size and seasoned with soy sauce, sake, mirin and coated with olive oil), and asparagus (coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and black pepper). We also had shimeji mushrooms in a packet (a pat of butter, miso disolved in sake and mirin with an addition of sugar).

Here, from the left are two shimeji packets, red potatoes, wings, and tender.

The shimeji was very good with miso and butter flavors (below). As I mentioned before, a similar dish made of enoki mushroom was the dish we enjoyed at the Robatayaki restaurant  in San Francisco Japan town in our earlier days.

My wife was mashing up the grilled potatoes in this sauce (She even raided my packet since I had some sauce left). The royal trumpet mushroom had a nice firm meaty texture. The chicken parts were all good as expected, although the surface was a bit charred due to the sugar content of the marinade. After finishing the chicken and the vegetables, I also started grilling our perfect grilled rice balls as you can see in the first picture below. 

My wife disappeared and brought down some sliced Fuji apples and red seedless grapes on skewers. She suggested I grill them as a dessert (see the picture above). She also suggested that I smear the miso sauce I had used for the chicken tenders and the rice balls on the apples. I have heard of grilling peaches and pineapples but no apples and grapes. (Leave it to my wife to come up with out-of-the-box (grill??) ideas).

This picture shows a plate of our dessert. The apples were still firm and juicy inside but the surface was caramelized and sweet. The miso added a nutty and slighly salty flavor that was unusual but quite nice. The grilled grapes were new to me. I fully expected them to explode when they were over the fire, but they didn't. Again, the surface got slightly caramelized and the sweetness was enhanced. They went extremely well with the red wine we were drinking. We, as always, enjoyed eating al fresco.

Chicken teriyaki 鶏腿肉の照り焼き

"Teriyaki" 照り焼き was popularized in the U.S. early on as a Japanese dish, probably in the same period "Sukiyaki" was getting popular. It has been incorporated in American home cooking (especially backyard BBQ) and you can buy a bottle of "Teriyaki" sauce (from Kikkoman and others) in any grocery store. I am not sure American-style "Teriyaki" even qualifies as an authentic Japanese dish. Usually, the teriyaki sauce is used as marinade and/or like a BBW sauce for meat. The meat is then grilled. 

The original Japanese cooking technique of "Teriyaki" is braising not really grilling. "Teri" 照り means glossy surface or luster and "Yaki"  焼き means grilled but "Yaki" in Japanese could mean braised as in "Sukiyaki". So, any dish braised in a sauce (usually soy sauce based with sugar) until the sauce is reduced and thick (due to the sugar content) and coats the surface of the food items is called "Teriyaki" either meat or fish. 

If I am making teriyaki chicken from scratch, I prefer to use thigh meat, deboned but skin on. I butterfly the thickness part to make the entire piece even thickness. I could marinate (mirin and soy sauce or sake and salt) but that is optional. I cook it from the skin side first in a frying pan until the skin is well browned (removing some excess oil by blotting with a paper towel) and cook the other side. In this occasion, I used leftover thigh meat which was salted and grilled (two thighs, that had been grilled in a George Forman's grill) so I skipped this process. Since the chicken was already cooked I went directly to the "saucing" step.

I then poured in "Teriyaki sauce"* and put the lid on for a few minutes (in this case, I really did not need to cook the chicken further). With the lid off, I turn up the flame and reduced the sauce until it became thick; clinging to the surface of the chicken giving "teri" or luster to the surface. Just to be slightly different, I sprinkled Chinese 5 spices (or Japanese "sansho" 山椒powder) to finish.

*You could use a bottled one but I just use a mixture of soy sauce and mirin (about 1:1).

Since this was made from leftover grilled salted chicken, it took less than 5 minutes to make. This was a sort of cannot-go-wrong type of small dish if not exciting. The cinnamon flavor of the Chinese 5 spices came out rather prominently. If you do not like this, stick to "Sansho" powder.

Crispy Pork "Tatsuta" fry 豚肉の唐揚げ竜田揚げ風

This is another small dish I made from the trimmings of pork tender loin. This is a variation of "tatsuta-age" 竜田揚げ but I pounded the pork thin so that the entire thing fries up quickly with a very crispy crust.

This is a perfect starter and is the best just coming out of the hot oil but it is highly seasoned and it tastes good even cold.

Pork: I used trimmings from two pork tenderloins. I cut the trimming into half inch medallion and pounded thin (1/4 inch or less). I seasoned both sides with salt and pepper (easy on salt).  I added a small amount of soy sauce and grated ginger and mixed in to the meat.

Dredging four: I used a mixture of potato starch and rice flour (1:1). I dredged each piece of the pork, shaking off excess flour.

Deep frying: I used only half a inch deep vegetable oil but since the meat was very thin, it was deep frying. I fried it in 180C or 350F oil for one minute on each sides turning once. 

After draining the oil, I served it with wedges of lemon and microwaved snap pea. Since it is well seasoned with pepper, salt, soy sauce and ginger, there is no need for sauce. You mostly enjoy eating the "crust" than the meat itself. My wife thinks that the leftovers from this dish are a great sandwich item.

American Wagyu Tataki アメリカン和牛のたたき風

This is another padding post. This is a dish made from the Wagyu steak leftovers we had. We ate a bit less than half as steak on the day we cooked it. The next day we ate 1/4, thinly sliced with grated daikon and ponzu sauce. We really do not like to eat just one thing to fill us up. So we are able to stretch the steak this way. The reaming 1/4 I served as a more traditional "tataki" on the third day.

I first sliced the remaining steak thinly. Since the meat was cold, the marbling is very visible. In a bowl, I put the thinly sliced steak, grated garlic (1/3 tsp) and grated ginger root (1/3 tsp) and soy sauce (1/2 tsp) and mixed it well. I let it sit for a few minutes and then spread the pieces on a plate. I garnished it with chopped scallion, thinly sliced, fried garlic, and roasted white sesame seeds.

To me, cold Wagyu beef taste better than eating it as a steak. The fat portion is not as oily or strong but gives a much nicer mouth feel. Compared to American prime beef which is much leaner, Wagyu is much better for this type of tataki preparation. But for a regular steak, I may even prefer leaner American beef.

American Wagyu tataki with grated daikon and ponzu sauce アメリカ和牛のたたきポン酢大根おろし和え

This is actually leftovers from the Wagyu steak we had. When the steak was cooked the marbled fat layer became transparent and sort of disappeared but when the steak get cold, the marbling reappears as white streaks. Although this was not a true "Tataki" preparation, this Wagyu New York Strip steak cooked medium rare is really close. So the next day, I sliced the steak paper thin and served it as though it was beef tataki*.

Dressing: I grated diakon (about 1/4 cup), squeezed out the excess moisture and added ponzu shouyu sauce (from the bottle) and 7 flavor Japanese red pepper powder 七味唐辛子 and mixed. The amount of ponzu is as much as grated diakon can absorb.

I garnished this with thin slices of scallion.

Ponzu and grated diakon really cut the fat of the beef and makes this dish. Because of the acidity of the ponzu, sake will be the best bet. We still have more than 1/4 of the Wagyu stake left. I can make something else.

*Tataki: "Tataki" preparation can mean two totally different Japanese cooking techniques. The first is to chop up raw fish as in "Aji-no-tataki" 鰺のたたき. The second is to sear only the surface of the fish or meat and keep the center raw such as in "Katsuo-no-tataki" 鰹のたたき. Beef can be prepared this latter way.