Buta-jiru 豚汁

Every time we go to our nearby gourmet grocery store, we can not resist getting some pork belly. This time we got about a 1 lb block. I made most of it into "Kakuni" 豚の角煮 but I sliced off some thin strips (called sanmai niku 三枚肉) to use in something else.  I ended up making "buta-jiru" 豚汁. The reasons are multiple. When I posted "Rice with butter and soy sauce", somebody left a comment introducing us to a Japanese TV series  called "Shinya shokudo" 深夜食堂 or "midnight diner" since one of the episodes was about "rice with butter and soy sauce". We managed to watch all episodes available and also a movie. More recently, new, at least we have not watched, episodes called "Tokyo series" became  available on Netflix as a Netflix original series. The opening sequence of all these episodes shows "the master" making buta-jiru 豚汁.  On the top of that, when I posted pork and vegetable stew (recipe from Mark's Izakaya book), I reminisced about "Buta-jiru" and cook-out picnics 炊事遠足 I had when I was in grade school. So, one weekend, I made buta-jiru for lunch.

There is no  precise recipe for this. This is a sort of glorified miso soup with thinly sliced pork belly cooked with Japanese root vegetables and kon-nyaku こんにゃく.

Here you can see daikon, carrot, kon-nyaku and mai-take 舞茸 (hen-of-the-wood) mushrooms. I had just used up all the burdock root so this dish did not include any.

In the Shinya shokudo opening sequence,  "the master" uses shiitake mushroom 椎茸 but I used mai-take since I happened to have it.

Ingredients (amounts are all arbitrary):

Sam-mai niku (thinly sliced pork belly)

Daikon,  Carrot, mushrooms (shiitake or mai-take), kon-nyaku, gobo burdock root, onion (either regular onion or scallion. If you have it Japanese or "Tokyo" scallion is better).

Japanese Dashi broth

Miso (I used a mixture of Koji-miso and Aka-miso). 

Vegetable oil for sautéing.

Directions:

I peeled and cut the root vegetables into bite sized pieces. I soaked the Gobo in acidified water for 10-20 minutes, washed and then drained. I parboiled the Kon-nyaku in water, then washed it in cold running water. Like the master, I hand torn the kon-nyaku into pieces. Hand tearing makes irregular surfaces on which the flavor can cling to (kon-nyaku does not have any flavor just texture so the clinging sauce gives it some flavor). I sliced the scallion on the bias.

I put a small amount of vegetable oil in the pan and sautéed the pork. When some fat rendered out and the pork changed color, I added the root vegetables and kon-nyaku (sans scallion) and mixed so that oil coated the surfaces. I then added the broth to cover the vegetables. I simmered it with a lid on for 20-30 minutes or until all the vegetables were cooked. I dissolved the miso using my miso-koshi 味噌漉しcontraption and added the scallion. Once it came to a boil, I turned off the flame. We had this as a weekend lunch. Although a bowl of rice and small pickled vegetable are usual accompaniments, we just enjoyed this soup/stew which was more than enough for us. By the way, this type of combination of dishes is called "Teishoku" 定食 or predetermined multi-item meals very popular in "public eateries" or 大衆食堂. In this particular case, "Butajiru teishoku" 豚汁定食 which is the only set menu item at the midnight diner.

Tofu pouch with cheese and nori のりチーズびりから焼き油揚げ

This is a variation on the theme of grilled abura-age or deep fried tofu pouch. I made this dish since I had rather "getting-old" frozen abura-age in the freezer. 

Instead of grilling it in the toaster oven, I fried it in a frying pan. For a change, I sandwiched seasoned nori seaweed and smoked gouda cheese.

Here you can see the first cheese layers covered half way by a seasoned nori seaweed.

I also spread a small amount of Sriracha hot sauce to add some kick. I simply fried both sides in a frying pan with a very small amount of vegetable oil until both side were crispy.

We ate this with a little bit of soy sauce. Sriracha really gave nice zing to this dish.

Chestnuts 北米産の栗

In mid September, we finally got a shipment of North American Chestnuts from Girolami farm.　I have already exhausted my repertoire of chestnut recipes but one post per year is warranted to commemorate the chestnut season.  This year, I made only a few dishes. The first one was chestnut rice 栗ご飯.  I used regular Japanese rice instead of sweet rice this time. As before, I made it in the "Kamado san" かまどさん donabe rice cooker.

North American chestnuts have many creases and when mixed tend to crumble into smaller pieces. I seasoned the rice with a mixture of black sesame seeds and kosher salt "Goma shio" ごま塩.

Since it was Sunday, we had some small dishes (which I do not remember) and the chestnut rice was the ending or "shime" dish. I usually barbecue some kind of meat mostly for sandwiches the next week. This time we cooked pork roast.

Since we were already rather full, we had a few slices of pork with cucumber onion salad with Greek yogurt dressing.

Here are all three items lined up. I was a pretty good combination. 

This is just a composite picture of this year's chestnuts. They are nice large, fresh chestnuts (much better than imported uncooked chestnuts from Europe).

I've finally gotten the hang of peeling these type of chestnuts. I first soak them in cold water for several hours and then boil them for 30 minutes. I take several at a time and start peeling them while they are still hot. The outer skin is easy to peel but the inner skin requires some effort. In any case, I peeled quite few of them in no time.

Matsutake 松茸

We got a shipment of North American Matsutake from Oregon mushrooms the last week of September. Among the North American matsutake, the ones from Mexico are the most similar to the ones in Japan but, for us, the ones from Oregon are a good balance between flavor and price. I have posted many matsutake dishes previous so  this time I just made one composite post to signify the fall season.

Unlike Japanese matsutake, these Oregon matsutake are covered with dirt which is difficult to remove using just wet paper towels. So, I usually end up scraping the surface of the mushroom with a sharp paring knife. It is the pretty unpleasant to bite into grit either sand or dirt while eating matsutake.

We started with a few small dishes before we delved into feasting on the matsutake this evening. As shown below we had stir fried cabbage with abura-age similar to stir fried beef and cabbage I post before. I served this with spicy marinated tofu but instead of baking the tofu as I did previously, I cooked it in a frying pan. I first browned the pieces without sauce and then poured in the sauce and cook until the sauce was reduced. We found this is much better preparation than when they are baked. The tofu maintains its moisture with nice "piri-kara" spicy hot and salty flavor. I served this after a brief microwaving.

The cabbage dish is classic Japanese home cooking. Instead of meat, deep dried tofu pouch or abura-age is used cut into small strips and sauteed with vegetable oil and a splash of dark sesame oil and red pepper flakes. I then braised it in mirin and soy sauce. I garnished it with blanched broccoli.

The second small dish was made from something I usually discard. In preparation for making the matsutake dishes, I made a broth from kelp and dried bonito flakes (katsuo-bushi). I made two kinds of broths; Ichi-ban (#1) dashi and ni-ban (#2) dashi (一番だし、２番だし)*.  I decided to make the leftover spent kelp and bonito flakes to a dish by braising  them in mirin and soy sauce until the moisture was almost all gone. This is a type of "Tsukudani" 佃煮. Although these items were "spent" by making broth, they are still full of "umami". My wife was pleasantly surprised this dish went well with the Napa Cab we were drinking.

* #1 broth: After simmering the kelp for 10 minutes in water, I added dried bonito flakes and let it simmer for 30 seconds then cut the flame. I let it steep for another 5 minutes and then strained it without pressing. #2 broth: I put the kelp and the bonito used to make #1 broth back into the pan and added water. I let this mixture simmer for 30 minutes and then strained it. #1 dashi is the premier extraction of dashi flavors. The best analogy would be to say it is like cold pressed extra virgin olive oil while #2 dashi is like second press with heat light olive oil. #1 dashi is best used in clear soups or chawan-mushi and #2 broth is good for simmered dishes.

This is the first matsutake dish of the evening. I made matsutake touban-yaki. This time I did not add sake to steam it.

Even off the flame, the touban or ceramic disc retained heat. Upon opening the dome, the subtle but rather distinct aroma of matsutake wafted up. The steam rising from it is just visible in the picture below. We simply enjoyed this with lime (in leu of "kabosu" カボス) and Kosher salt. Of course we switched to cold sake at this point. Since we were drinking sake from Yamagata, we used "Tsugaru-nuri" sake cups we got from the Aomori prefecture (both are northern prefectures in the mainland).

The second matsutake dish I made was chawanmushi. Since I did not have any special ingredients, I made this with what I had on hand. I put in some shrimp (thawed, shelled, deveined, and cut  into small chunks), ginko nuts (from a can), and boiled North American chestnuts I had prepared previously. On the top were slices of matsutake, hana-fu 花麩 (decorative gluten cake, hydrated), the green part of scallion and yuzu skin (frozen).

Although there is a good amount of matsutake is in this dish, it is difficult to see in the picture. This is another of our favorite ways of enjoying matsutake. The egg custard was silky smooth. (I used #1 dashi broth for this dish seasoned with mirin, light colored soy sauce and salt).

At this point, we were getting filled up, so I skipped the matsutake clear soup 松茸のも吸い物  I had planned and went to the last dish of matsutake rice  松茸御飯. As usual, I used the "Kamado-san" かまどさん donabe 土鍋 rice cooker. I used a mixture of #1 and #2 broth, lightly seasoned with sake and light colored soy sauce. I also added small pieces of kelp.

This time I did not intentionally make browned crust or "okoge" おこげ to maintain the delicate flavor of the matustake. The rice developed a very nice sheen. 

I ate my serving as is; enjoying the subtle flavor and aroma of the matsutake and rice. But when I wasn't looking my wife added pats of butter to hers. (She confessed it was sublime)

The sake we had was called "kudoki jouzu" or pick-up artist, Junmai Ginjou くどき上手  純米吟醸 from Kamenoi shuzou 亀の井酒造 in Yamagata prefecture 山形県. Yamagata has many good sake breweries including "Juyondai sake" 十四代 of Takagi shuzou  高木酒造. This is made from 美山錦 miyama-nishiki which is the sake rice adapted to colder climate as I understand it. This is a nice clean sake with crisp acidity and the floral quality of Daiginjou. Ture sake website describes this sake as follows; "Great name and a great nose on this sake with hints of pear, apple, and purple plum aromas. Ahhhhh! A brew that gets it. A terrific feeling sake that fills the mouth with fat and gooey flavors but stays super smooth. The brilliant acidity-balancing act takes the sweetness out of the gambit of fruit flavors including pineapple and mango. Plump and complex this "sexy beast" is layered and luxurious with attitude and swagger. Drink closer to room temp if you want even more fruit tones, but chilled is happening." which we agree for the most part. We enjoyed matsutake this evening. Only regret I have is that I could not arrange to have some nice sashimi with this.

Sushi Taro Michelin ☆ Part 3, すし太郎 ミシュラン☆ その3

Chef Masaya asked if we would like soba. We know he is passionate about soba and actually makes it by hand out of pure buckwheat flour which is extremely difficult. In turn, we are passionate about the results of his labor. We particularly remember the 100% buckwheat soba 十割蕎麦 that came with the last years Osechi box 御節箱.  For this dinner he gave us a choice of warm or cold dipping sauce. After some indecision, I chose warm and my wife chose cold. I asked for only a small amount which, of course, Masaya knew without our asking. 

While it took some time to prepare the soba, he served us a wonderful Japanese snow crab or "Zuwai-gani" ズワイガニ stuffed in it's own shell with roe or "uchiko" 内子 to share. This is a real delicacy harvested from the cold waters of the sea of Japan in winter. The last time, we visited "Maguro Ganchi" まぐろがんち(a restaurant specialized in "maguro" = tuna and "Ganchi" = crab in the local dialect) in Kanazawa, 金沢, we could not have zuwai-gani crab since it was out of season. I really should have taken a picture of Chef Masaya's crab dish but I was too busy enjoying it. This was served with a very special sauce; Jalapeno pepper infused soy sauce. We really liked this unique sauce. It had a nice fresh Jalapeno flavor without much heat, which went so well with the sweet succulent crab meat. My wife, who never in her life would have entertained the concept of imbibing soy sauce, in a surprise move upended the dipping dish and finished what remained in one draught-- it was that good. (I'm hoping Chef Masa was not looking).

Then came the soba in a shared portion. To our surprise, he served cold and hot dipping sauces for both of us. The cold sauce had nice "sudachi" すだちcitrus flavor and the hot sauce had a duck meat with the skin grilled and caramelized. It included grilled Tokyo scallion ("Kamonanba" 鴨南蛮 style). The soba had such a nice texture and fresh flavor. Both were excellent but I particularly liked kamo-nanban style dipping sauce. It was rich with tremendous umami. Once again my wife could not resist going for the sauce. With evident reluctance, however, she restrained herself from draining the bowl.  We really appreciated tasting Chef Masaya's handmade soba.

At this point, we were quite full but when offered, who could refuse dessert?  One was a very delicate green tea custard or "maccha purin" 抹茶プリン and the other was "anmitsu ice cream monaka" with shiratama  白玉餡蜜アイスクリーム最中. Again, I was too busy digging into the desserts to take pictures. I never got a snap of the maccha purin and as you can see in the picture below I remembered to take a picture of the ice cream monaka only after it was half finished. It was a clever hydrid of "monaka" (a very traditional Japanese sweet, light crunchy shell filled with sweetened red bean paste),  "anmitsu" ("shiratma" 白玉  rice flour dumpling, sweet red bean paste with sweet sauce). This combination really worked. Despite our being so full at this point, we shared and finished both desserts without a problem. 

As usual, we so enjoyed the evening. This is something which should be experienced at least once. But once we experienced it, we found we have to come back again and again. Every thing was exquisite. All the unique flavors remain as lasting taste memories; the unctuous taste of the chutoro, for example. All the chef's attention, details, seasonality, and new innovation without totally deviating from a classic Japanese cuisine are indeed worth much more than one Michelin star to us.

Sushi Taro Michelin ☆ Part 2, すし太郎 ミシュラン☆ その2

Our sashimi and sushi course started visually  with "daikon and other sashimi garnishes" 刺身のつま and freshly grated wasabi artfully displayed on a beautiful plate. We were served two kinds of sashimi soy sauce, one with grated ginger one without.

Prepared fillets and blocks of fish for sashimi and sushi served at traditional sushi bars in Japan are usually placed in wooden boxes which are  called "Neta-bako" ネタ箱.  At Sushi Taro, they went further by displaying these boxes in front of the guests and describing all the sashimi items available for the evening at the start of  the sushi and sashimi course.  We made mental notes of our favorites throughout the presentation and selected those "must have" items when we are then invited to choose. We also deferred to the chef's choice on any other selections and have never ever been disappointed. This evening, we noticed three different kinds of "uni" ウニ sea urchin (left box). They were uni from Maine (back left), California (front left ) and Hokkaido 北海道, Japan (front right). The center box was all tuna, bluefin tuna ootoro 大トロ(right) from Boston, chutoro 中トロ (back left) and akami 赤身 (front left). 

The left box below was all white flesh "shiromi" 白身 fish including "madai" まだい sea bream and "hirame" ヒラメ flounder or flat fish. The right box was all "hikarimono" 光り物 or blue skinned fish. There were two more boxes on the right, one with partial view, contained several kinds of salmon and arctic char. The right most box which is not in the pictures contained "raw" octopus legs 生ダコの足 and ankimo あん肝 among other items.

We would have liked to try everything but, of course, we could not. We asked for our "must-have" items of uni, raw octopus, and ankimo. Beside these boxes, shell fish were also displayed on an ice filled large earthen bowl. Today's choices were scallops and abalone. We choose the scallop. We asked Masaya to provide us with his choice of sashimi and sushi to round out the selection. (That is indeed the whole idea behind "Omakase" おまかせ ; let the chef choose for you).

The uni was our first sashimi. While we have eaten each type of uni separately in the past, we had never had the opportunity for an "uni tasting" to directly compare their different characteristics. I was so eager to taste them and forgot to take a picture. Chef Masaya served them with salt on the side. All the uni was wonderful. It was a pleasure to experience the characteristic variations of each type side by side. Within the family of Uni, the California uni was it's usual brash self; bright golden yellow, creamy with a nice custard consistency and mild fresh ocean taste. The Maine uni was the country cousin with a firmer slightly grainy feel and somewhat gamey but pleasant taste.  My expectations were high for the Hokkaido uni (especially since I am from Hokkaido). The Hokkaido uni was the demure dignified cousin; smaller in size than the rest with a denser creaminess than the California uni and subtle flavor.  Masaya said the Hokkaido uni was "Bafun-uni" バフンウニ. It was so named because of its short spikes and round shape resembling "bafun" or horse droppings (not a particularly appetizing, yet oddly descriptive name).  We could certainly enjoy each kind of uni any day.

The next was a "raw" octopus leg. Most of the octopus legs we can have here, for that matter even in Japan, are pre-boiled since the octopus flesh is very perishable. I do not recall eating "raw" octopus in the U.S. The last we had was at "Tako Grill" in Kuroishi 黒石市, Aomori 青森県, Japan. In the picture below, on the left were nice cross slices of leg after the skin had been removed. On the right were the octopus leg "suckers" 吸盤. The leg had a soft consistency. It was sweet, and quite a different experience from pre-boiled octopus. The suckers had a nice crunchy almost cartilage-like snap to it. I particularly liked the sucker.

We had scallop (the order is unclear and no picture).  It was very tender and its sweet taste lingered softly on the tongue. More sashimi items followed. There was Ankimo with gel of ponzu and hirame (top left in the picture below). The hirame had lots of umami. I forgot to ask but this hirame must have been "matured" at at least a few days. It was packed with flavor. Chutoro was next (top right). The buttery taste of the chutoro lingered at the back of the palette much as the complex flavor of a fine red wine would. Then, came sanma or pacific saury (enjoyed with ginger soy sauce). I am not 100% sure but the last one was "Kamasu" かます, a type of barracuda, a rare sashimi item, with the skin side char broiled and caramelized. It contrasted with the soft flesh of the fish. 

Next was ootoro. Chef Masaya sliced it rather thin and shallowly scored it on the back ("Kakushi bocho" 隠し包丁or hidden knife work) since ootoro can have inter-veining "suji" 筋 or sinew. It looked and tasted almost like well marbled Japanese beef.  All the tuna was, of course, excellent. Next was grilled sea eel or anago アナゴ accompanied by deep fried strings and grilled  Tokyo scallion (top right). 

 Chef Masaya knows that we are not big eaters, and adjusted the portions by serving us more sashimi than sushi. After this, we had a few sushi items. I particularly remember the chutoro tuna and tai sea bream. 

more to come including dessert. To be continued......

Sushi Taro Michelin ☆ Part 1, すし太郎 ミシュラン☆ その１

Finally Michelin came to Washington, DC and bestowed a galaxy of stars upon the city. While no 3 star constellations appeared, once they were done, 2 stars appeared behind the name of three restaurants, and one star for eight others. Among the eight restaurants which received one star was our "special occasion" Japanese restaurant "Sushi Taro" すし太郎 in Dupont Circle. We didn't need Michelin to tell us how good Sushi Taro is. We had discovered that some time ago all on our own. We gave it top rating among all the excellent restaurants we have visited even in Japan. The "star" is well deserved and as far as we are concerned, it shines bright as Venus. Despite our concern that, with the additional fame of a star, we would have difficulty getting a reservation, we were able to get a seat recently and had a fabulously memorable dinner. 

The night we were there, the main dining room was crowded and bustling but the Omakase Sushi Kaiseki 会席 area, which was separated from the main dining room, was serene and quiet. The roof top garden of bamboo highlighted in the large picture window in front of us contributed to the sense of tranquility. This was an Omakase (chef choice) dinner consisting of multiple small dishes reflecting the season and the best ingredients available. Sushi Taro deviates from a regular Kaiseki by prominently featuring sashimi and sushi. The counter accommodates 6 guests. They take only two parties and one seating per night. Each party gets the full undivided attention of Nobuhiro "Nobu" Yamazaki 山崎信博 (chef owner) or Masaya "Masa" Kitayama 北山勝也 (chef de cuisine)  for the entire length of the dinner.

We were warmly greeted by Chef de cuisine Masaya Kitayama. After choosing our sake, "Kubota Manju Diaginjo" 久保田万寿大吟醸 from Niigata 新潟 and our Guinomi ぐい呑 sake cups, an incredible course  of delicacies started. With the permission of Chef Masa, I took, or at least tried to take, some pictures. (Sometimes I got so wound up with excitement to taste the dish I forgot to take a picture.)

1. Grilled Goma-dofu 胡麻豆腐 with sesame sauce.

This is a variation of Sushi Taro's standard opening of "goma-dofu". The thin grilled crust contrasted with soft but elastic inside. Of course, freshly grated wasabi was nice with perfectly smooth sesame sauce.

2. House-smoked oyster with persimmon dressed in 150 year old balsamic vinegar　牡蠣と柿の和え物. 

This was an autumnal dish using a persimmon as a bowl which contained bite size pieces of house-smoked oyster (Kaki 牡蠣 in Japanese) and persimmon (Kaki 柿 in Japanese). So this was a whimsical play on words "Kaki and kaki in kaki". Crispy bits of deep fried "onion" (I am guessing this was  Tokyo scallion or "nihon negi" 日本ネギ) added nice flavor and crunch. The aged balsamic vinegar was sublime with just a hint of acidity and sweetness, which further brought out the sweetness of  the persimmon. The oyster was lightly smoked and very tender. Every aspect of the dish worked well together. 

3. Hassun 八寸 appetizer: 

Okinawan mozuku seaweed in sweet vinegar 沖縄モズク, chestnut encased in edible imitation "Iga" outer spiky shell イガ栗揚げ, mustard stuffed-lotus root 辛子蓮根,  stuffed ginko nuts 銀杏 (clockwise starting from left back) and pickled myoga ミョウガの甘酢漬け (center).

We were told that the chestnuts were from California. Among the batch of chestnuts Chef Masa received, he carefully chose those that did not have the tough inner shell separation characteristic of California chestnuts. The ones he used in this dish were visually perfect; just one example of his impeccable attention to detail. The chestnuts were cooked in a special way called "Shibukawa-ni" 渋皮煮. With this method, the papery brown inner skin is left on but is not bitter. The chestnut was encased in a puree of white fish ("surimi" すり身) and short segments of dried somen noodles ソーメン were attached to imitate "spines" of chestnut outer shell and deep fried. It was then partially opened up to show the chestnut inside, a nice depiction of chestnuts peeking through the outer spiny shell, but all edible.  Each morsel in the dish provided a different taste and texture which were distinct and unique but went well together as a whole. For example, the stuffed lotus root had a nice crunch and a slight zing of mustard, which went well with the soft texture and vinegar of the seaweed which in turn played in tune with the somewhat sweeter vinegar but coarser texture of the myoga with its own unique flavor. All the items were perfect for sipping sake..

4. Simmered abalone 鮑の柔らか煮, Japanese "Komatsuna" greens 小松菜 and Japanese "sato-imo" taro 里芋 in oyster broth.

The broth was very special with an intense brininess and pleasing essence of "Ocean". It was made from the cooking liquid in which many oysters were simmered for another dish according to Chef Masaya. This concentrated oyster broth was the basis for the seasoning for this dish. Chef Masaya told us that abalone does not have much of its own flavor but has a nice texture. To boost the flavor of the abalone, he let the oyster and other umami flavors of the broth permeate the abalone. Although it is generally not polite to drink the broth in this kind of dish, it was way too good to leave behind; without shame we both drank it dry.

Next is the sashimi and sushi course (to be continued).