Matsutake feast 2019 松茸尽くし ２０１９

Oregon mushrooms just started shipping North American fresh matsutake. Although North American matsutake is no comparison to the Japanese or even Mexican variety, we usually get them just to commemorate the season. As I posted before, this matsutake requires more aggressive cleaning since the dirt is embedded into the skin of the mushroom and just rubbing with a moist towel does not do the job. I have posted everything posted here and some more.  But this is a once a year matsutake feast.

Since I do not have an appropriate set of "dobin-mushi" 土瓶蒸し vessels,  I used mini-donabes to serve Matsutake soup 松茸のお吸い物.

For color, I added blanched broccolini, thinly shaved carrot and chives. I also added cubes of cod and shrimp.

The soup base is bonito-kelp broth (using a dashi pack) and seasoned with mirin and light colored "usukuchi" soy sauce 薄口醤油. The cod and shrimp (Venezuelan red shrimp), both were previously frozen, stored in our freezer and thawed the morning I made the dish. I salted and marinated them in sake before adding to the soup. Upon opening the lids of the soup containers, the lovely matsutake aroma wafted up. (This initial whiff of  matsutake fragrance is one of the traditional "enjoyments" of this dish.)  This is the first time I used cod for this type of soup (any gentle tasting white meat fish will do). The cod was thick fleshed and tender and really good. The shrimp was sweet and excellent as well.

I was planning to have a chawanmushi 松茸の茶碗蒸し next but it took longer than I planned for it to finish cooking so I served matustake touban yaki 松茸の陶板焼き next. We enjoyed it simply with salt and lemon.

Finally, the chawanmush was done. For this batch, I added the cod, shrimp, kyo-bu 京麩 (dried gluten cake, rehydrated),  a cube of dashimaki だし巻き Japanese omelet (egg-in-egg idea). As usual, I made six so that we could enjoy the "leftovers" later.

I garnished it with finely chopped fresh chives. The soft egg custard was infused with matsutake aroma/flavor.

#1. This is the amount of matsutake I used for 6 small chawanmushi (about three matsutake).
#2. The first layer of the chawanmush is, of course, the matsutake.
#3. Kyo-bu is a small decorative gluten cake from Kyoto. It does not have any taste by itself. Just texture and whatever it  absorbed.
#4. Shrimp.
#5. Cod.
#6. Cube of dashimaki.

This was a sort-of treasure hunt. We love chawanmushi of any kind but this was a bit special. I used to add ginko nuts which, in the past, were readily available in a can (boiled) but not anymore for some reason. They just disappeared and we have not seen them anywhere. Finally we finished our feast with matsutake-gohan 松茸ご飯. This time I think I made it perfectly. The rice was slightly firm but well cooked.

For this occasion, I wheeled out my special "Kamado-san" earthenware rice cooking pot (#1).  As per the instructions, I  set the inner lid with its steam holes arranged perpendicular to the outer lid steam hole; necessary for the rice to cook properly(#2). As usual, I used bonito-kelp broth seasoned with mirin and light colored soy sauce which I enhanced by adding rehydrated strips of kelp and soaking liquid. When the lid was lifted, the smell the matsutake and freshly cooked rice (good combination) wafted up (#3). I mixed the rice and the matsutake before serving (#4).

Besides, the matsutake dishes, we had a few more of our  usual appetizers and cold sake. Once a year, this is worth doing.

Pecan dates muffin ピーカン、デイツ マフィン

This is another one of the muffins my wife made using a recipe from the "La Brea Pastry" cookbook. As usual she made some alterations such as reducing the amount of sugar and increasing the amount of dates.

As my wife was half way through putting together the ingredients for the muffins she discovered that the box of dates we had in the pantry was marked 2011 (somewhat past its due date). Initially she was at a loss of what to do. We are often not averse to using products somewhat past their "use by" date but 8 years seemed a bit excessive. But how can you make date muffins without any dates? Then she remembered we happened to have assorted fruits from Harry and David which included a type of dates called "Medjool dates" which was in the original recipe. I am sure this works with other kind of dates. In any case, this was good and unique muffin and thanks to my wife's reducing the sugar, it is perfect for breakfast for us.

Ingredients:
1 cup pecans toasted
3/4 cup butter (could try with 2 cups. Original recipe 3/4 cup used for batter and 1/4 cup painted on top after they are cooked but 2 cups in batter might also wor
1 tsp vanilla
20 soft Medjool dates, pitted and cut into dices (or any that are available) (We also used a full 10oz container of dates. They were not soft so we cooked them gently in water until they were soft. Then removed the skins)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs

Directions:
Brown the butter in a sauce pan until dark brown with a nutty aroma. After it has cooled add the vanilla. In a food processor combine the nuts and the brown sugar and process until it is the consistency of fine meal. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In another bowel combine the buttermilk, eggs and browned butter. Add the nut mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir until incorporated. fold in the dates Scoop batter into greased muffin tins and cook at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

These muffin are wonderful. They have a lovely texture and rich nutty taste and a sweetness and flavor that somehow is reminiscent of maple syrup. They were not too sweet either.

Gazpacho with pumpernickel bread ガスパチョ

One hot day my wife decided she wanted a cold soup such as gazpacho but she wasn't in the mood for the acidity of tomatoes. Then she remember that there was a white gazpacho made with nuts. So she looked at several recipes on the internet and put together this one by combining the ingredients from the ones she reviewed. Most of the recipes called for stale white bread (french bread) but she didn't have any french bread so she decided to use what she had which was sliced pumpernickel. The bottom line is that apparently any type of bread will work just fine.

As a result of using pumpernickel the soup is coffee brown in color. If she had used white bread, it would have been white. Toasted pumpernickel bread added toasted and additional flavors besides the color.

Ingredients:
1 cup toasted almonds
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (or roasted garlic cloves to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 to 3 cucumbers peeled and chopped
1 1/2 chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbs. sushi vinegar
4 slices of pumpernickel bread toasted, crusts removed and torn into pieces (about 2 1/2 cups of pieces)

Directions:
Put some of the cucumbers, nuts and bread into a food processor and puree. Add some of the liquid as needed to get the puree going. Once it is a smooth thick consistency add the garlic, salt, vinegar, the rest of the cucumbers and the rest of the chicken broth. Puree until creamy and smooth. Then with the machine on puree, gradually add the olive oil in a steady stream to make a smooth almost mayonnaise like emulsion.

Serve garnished with sliced cucumber and remaining roasted almonds. If it is too thick dilute with milk, cream, buttermilk or chicken broth. (We found that we like the chicken broth best because it lets the combined flavors shine through. )

This soup is great for a hot summer day. It is rich and creamy. It has a pleasant nuttiness from the almonds and pumpernickel but the cucumbers give is a light freshness. The flavors get better over time. Next time we may try making this kind of soup using other nuts such as walnuts or pecans.

First myoga harvest in 3 years 三年ぶりの茗荷の収穫

We could not harvest our myoga (myouga) 茗荷 for the past three years due to various obstacles . More recently, most of our myoga plants disappeared for some reason. Possibly the rabbits ate them. (They did have signs of being tasted by some critter before they disappeared).  Or more likely,  they were removed by mistake by our gardener's nephew who was helping out with the fall clean-up. (I suppose they looked "weedy"; not like something we should have in the garden and they were taking over, which was OK with us).  We tried to purchase some myoga though the internet without success. So when our landscaper came to do some work in our yard this year we asked if he could get us some replacement myoga. He kindly gave us 4 myoga plant/rhizomes from his father's myoga patch (his father is a retired master Japanese garden landscaper).  We thankfully planted them this spring. Just to give a clear message to all involved (rabbits and especially gardener's nephews) we surrounded the plants with stakes and a plastic mesh fence to make it clear that these were not plants to be messed with.  In any case, later in the spring we discovered a few straggler myoga from the previous batch which we think survived because they were "hiding" behind and amongst other plants.

We have posted many uses of myoga including picked myoga. We still have some pickles left from 3 years ago in our refrigerator.  We are still enjoying them despite the fact they are "refrigerator pickles". They are still quite good and show no sign of going bad. But it is time to look for the new harvest. One weekend, my wife donned her  mosquito suit. On hands and knees with head buried in the plants, scrabbled into the dirt with her hands to uncover the buried flower buds of the myoga which is the part that is eaten. (They have to be harvested before they emerge from the ground. Once they bloom they become soft and mushy and aren't good.) It is not a pleasant task...but, hey, we really like myoga!  She found three developing buds (see below) from the old surviving myoga plants but none from newly planted myoga. (We'll probably have to wait until next year for them to be established enough to produce buds.)

My wife also said she uncovered a few very premature buds and covered them up again so they could grow bigger. We should wait for few more weeks to hopefully get a better harvest. In any case, we have not had fresh myoga for some time.  So, I served this as a garnish for cold "hiya-yakko" tofu 冷や奴.

The tofu is, as usual, one of the "Otokomae" 男前 tofu. I also garnished with chiffonade of perilla. For sauce, I used the usual, concentrated noodle sauce from the bottle.

Myogo may be acquired taste but we really love it especially fresh and it was wonderful to have their taste again. It has a very unique flavor that is hard to describe and there is no equivalent to which to compare it. Hope we will have more myoga harvest this year.

Fluffy "soufflé" pancakes 日本のスフレパンケーキ

We have been a big fan of pancakes; making so many different types over the years.  Our division of labor is that my wife prepares the batter and I cook the pancakes. While we were browsing through YouTube, we came across "fluffy pancakes".  We first saw a Korean version and then a Japanese version. We came across quite few recipes on line. The constant factor in all the recipes is separating the eggs yolk, whipping the white and incorporating it into the yolk, flour mixture.  Then cooking the pancake on low flame with a cover or lid piling up more batter while it is cooking to give it height (or thickness). The differences among the recipes are the amount of sugar and eggs and type flours (either AP or cake flour). Also, we both remember making a type of fluffy pancake in which separated yolk and whipped egg white were folded into the batter but apparently we did not blog it or this was before we started our blog and we do not remember the details at all. So, one weekend, we made this fluffy pancake for lunch. We served the pancakes with a  fried egg (using pasteurized eggs).

Our pancakes did not fluff up as much as seen in the YouTube videos but still pretty fluffy. For the sake of picture taking, we served three pancakes but we divided this up and we each ate one and half pancakes.

My wife came up with a reasonable hybrid of all the recipes she browsed.

Ingredients (makes three small pancakes):
1 egg, yolk and white separated
1 tsp (5g) sugar
2 tbs (20g) milk (we used light cream)
1 tbs (10g) vegetable oil
4 tbs (32g) cake flour
2/3 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
A dash of vanilla extract

Ingredients (X 2 makes 6 small pancakes):
2 egg, yolk and white separated
2 tsp (10g) sugar
4 tbs (40g) milk (we used light cream)
2 tbs (20g) vegetable oil
8 tbs (64 g) cake flour
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
A dash of vanilla extract

Directions:
Mix the egg yolk, sugar, milk, and oil in a bowl with whisk until foamy and well mixed (#1).
Add the cake flour and mix until incorporated.
In a stand mixer, whip the egg white to hard peak
Add 1/3 to the flour egg yolk mixture and mix using a whisk (#2), fold in the remaining egg white using a spatula.
Meanwhile preheat a non-stick frying pan on low flame for 10-15 minutes and melt butter, spoon in the batter (#3) and put a lid on. After few minutes, add more batter on the top to make it thicker.
After 10-15 minutes, turn the pancakes over (#4) and cook another 5 minutes with a lid on.

When we had this, I had a Proust's "Madeleine" moment. The texture and taste of these pancakes transported me back to Sapporo 札幌 when I was a kid and my father took me and my brother (don't tell Mother) to an ice cream parlor*. This pancake really reminded me of those  pancakes (they were called hotcakes back then. It appears that  they still serve them but  they are now called pancakes).  Next time when we go back to Sapporo, we have to go there and try the pancakes. As to this version, this is our first attempt at this. We will certainly try to perfect this recipe.

* This was called "Yuki-jirushi" parlor 雪印パーラー. (The picture shows the old location which I visited as a kid). It was run by a big dairy company in Hokkaido. It is still in operation. It moved from the original location to its current location in a nearby building in April, 2017. Until then, it was at the same place we went to as a kid so many years ago.

"Tonkatsu" pork cutlet with sous vide pork 低温調理のトンカツ

We like tonkatsu トンカツ and make it occasionally. Although in Japan, serving undercooked pork is not unusual especially when using SPF pork from specific named-producers (although it does not specifically say it is cysticercus free, I am sure the risk is extremely low). I am sure American pork is relatively safe as well but I, just to be safe, make sure I cook pork completely. In the Weber grill, I roast pork using indirect heat to the inner temperature of 145F as per USDA standard. (Actually, I start going down to the grill when it reads 142F, by the time I am ready to remove the pork from the grill, the temperature will reach 145F). I previously posted sous vide pork tenderloin at 140F for 3 hours which appears to be safe for both bacteria and cysticercus. Going back to tonkatsu, I usually insert an instant digital thermometer in the center of the meat until it registers 140F but it is not easy to get it right. Many times,  the pork is a bit overcooked (since I err on the side of overcooking). To eliminate this anxiety of under or over cooking, I decided to try making tonkatsu from sous vide cooked pork tenderloin. This is what it looks like. I only deep fried it for a total of 1 minute  since the meat itself was precooked. As you can see the center looks slightly pink. It tasted great with a nice fried bread crust. So why is the center is pink?

I sous vide cooked pork tenderloin seasoned with salt and pepper at 140F for 4 hours which is more than enough to completely cook the pork and render it safe. I soaked the vacuum packages after completion of cooking in ice water for 30 minutes to quick cool down before moving them to the meat drawer of the refrigerator for future use. Just before making it into tonkatsu, I sliced it and the cut surfaces were totally homogenous and gray (see below).

So, the only explanation I can come up with is the oxygen exposure. The pork was cooked in a vacuum but after it was breaded and deep fried, oxygen may have bound to myoglobin to make a slightly pink color. This was an  interesting experiment and  proof of concept. I am not sure I will do this as a regular way to cook tonkatsu, though.

Frozen squid with butter and yuzukusho 冷凍イカのバター柚子胡椒炒め

I described the type of squid we can get from our regular grocery store which is previously frozen and thawed at the store "for your convenience". Although occasionally I can get a larger frozen squid from Japan at our Japanese grocery store, it is not consistent. So, I started looking for frozen squid at our grocery store. I found one from PanaPesca. Actually, I realized I had previously gotten frozen octopus of the same brand. One weekend, I decided to have this squid.

I thawed this in the refrigerator, washed and quickly cooked it in salted boiling water with a splash of sake for 30 seconds. Although it smelled better than the previously thawed variety, they were smaller and for some reason the "beaks" had not been removed from the tentacles. In any case, we enjoyed this squid  two ways on different days. This is sautéed with butter and yuzu-kosho 柚子胡椒. I served this with our usual spicy tofu and store-bought fish cakes (the latter two were heated up in the toaster oven).

If I sautéed the uncooked squid, it could have been better but the combination of butter and yuzu-kosho was good. Squid was quite tender and flavorful.

I wish the squid was a bit larger but I may stock this one in the freeezer.