Firefly Squid Scallion Pancake ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き

Firefly squid season is upon us and we got some from Regalis. I am repeating myself  here but when we visited Kanazawa 金沢 in early summer many years ago, we were introduced  to firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ. Our favorite way to enjoy firefly squid is “okizuke” 沖漬け but that is difficult to get here in the U.S. The ones from Regalis are boiled. We got two trays, froze one tray and enjoyed the rest. We had this with sumiso 酢味噌 dressing which is the most common and simplest way to enjoy this. The texture of the small squid and very rich flavor from the liver really makes this squid special. This evening I made two dishes; one was our favorite stir-fry of the firefly squid and asparagus shown on the right and another, (new one), was scallion pancake with nagaimo and firefly squid ホタルイカ入りネギ焼き shown on the left. This recipe came from E-recipe

Ingredients (make 4 pancakes)
12 firefly squids (3 per pancake) or more if you like
50 grams grated nagaimo (mine was near 80 grams)
9 tbs chopped scallion (I used 5 stalks)
1 egg (I used 2 eggs)
2 tbs AP flour
1 tsp granulated bonito dashi (I used “Hondashi”ほんだし)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Since I was using more grated nagaimo than the amount called for in the original recipe, I changed the amount of eggs as a binder. I did not add the firefly squid into the batter initially. I divided the batter into 4 portions and added 3 squid to each batch.

I heated up a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and added the oil. I poured in 4 potions as seen below.

After a few minutes or when the bottoms are set and brown, I flipped the pancakes and lowered the heat and continued cooking for another 2-3 minutes or until the center was done.

I served this pancake with firefly squid and asparagus stir-fly (the first picture). The pancake was very good but we did not see the point of adding the firefly squid. We did not think it did justice to the firefly delicacy since its flavor was somewhat lost in the pancake. We thought adding shrimp would have been more appropriate and that is what we may do next time. In any case, it is nice to enjoy the firefly squid which symbolze spring to early summer.

Firefly squid grilled in miso-scallion sauce ホタルイカのネギみそ焼き

 One of the delicacies of Spring in Japan is firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ.  Like last year, we got boiled firefly squid from Regalis Food. Since I started seeing “Hotaru-ika” in the Japanese food blogs I follow, I checked the Regalis site but they were not available yet so I asked to be notified when they came in. A few days later, I got an email saying firefly squid was available. I looked for something else to purchase from their site but nothing drew my attention so I decided to fill out the order with two packages of the squid. A major part of the preparation of this squid is removing the stone hard eyes and beak before serving/cooking. (It is more difficult to remove the beak than the eyes. Unfortunately I was not completely successful in beak-removal on some of the squid as my wife so kindly pointed out to me after crunching down on several of the ones I accidentally left behind). I served the firefly squid with “sumiso” 酢味噌 with “wakame” 若芽 seaweed twice which is the most common and basic way to enjoy this. For some reason, this year’s firefly squid tasted better than the ones we got last year. Since this is such a simple way of serving the squid the quality really makes a difference. I then proceeded with other preparations to serve.

One of those new preparations is shown below;  “firefly squid grilled in miso scallion sauce”. This is a perfect drinking snack and went so well with the cold sake we were having. 

The recipe came from e-recipe (in Japanese).

Ingredient: (for two small servings)
Firefly squid, about 20, both eyes and beak removed.

For sauce:
Scallion, finely chopped, about 2 tbs
Miso 1tbs
Japanese “dashi” broth 1tbs
Sugar 1-2 tsp
Soy sauce and white sesame (small amount, optional)

Directions:
Mix the all ingredients for the sauce (taste and adjust the amount of sugar and broth).
Place the firefly squid in a single layer in a oven-proof ramekin (picture below).

Cover the squid with the miso sauce (picture below).

Cook in the toaster oven until the surface becomes brown (6-7 minutes in toast mode). If needed, broil the surface for additional browning. Serve immediately.

Since grilled miso by itself is great with sake, this combination with firefly squid makes this dish perfect. 

Sashimi big eye tuna "akami" and "Hotaru-ika" firefly squid メバチマグロの赤身とほたるイカ

 Spring is the season for a species of small squid called "Hotaru-ika" ほたるイカ or Firefly squid. It is so-called because it emits a bioluminescent light like a firefly. Some years ago when we traveled to Kanazawa 金沢 and Kyoto 京都 in spring, we really enjoyed “Hotaru-ika” at various Izakayas 居酒屋. Because this squid has parasites, it must be cooked (boiled) or frozen at -30C for 4 days. That means a regular home freezer (-22 C or 0F) is not adequate. This is not a “ DIY (do it yourself ) home project”. The squid has to come from a commercial source with the resources to at least freeze it properly. While in Kanazawa, we learned, through multiple tastings that our favorite way to eat it is “Okizuke” 沖ずけ. Although this dish is made of uncooked marinated squid it is special to Toyama prefecture 富山県 (Kanazawa city is the capital) where they know to make it safe by appropriately freezing it before making it into okizuke 沖ずけ.  “Oki-zuke” literally means “offshore marinated”. Traditionally, fishermen took the marinade with them on the boat and as they caught the squid , threw it into the marinade. By the time, they got back to shore, it was perfectly marinated. Although traditional, this method is not safe since the parasites will not be killed in a marinade. 

In any case, recently, I mentioned to my wife (who is particularly fond of firefly squid), that  it was the season and I was reading that many of the food bloggers I follow, were enjoying this seasonal delicacy. We had hotaru-ika at Tako Grill some years ago so we thought we should be able to get this in the U.S. A quick search of the internet turned up a company called “Regalis food”. They sell boiled firefly squid among other gourmet food items. They are more geared up for supplying restaurants rather than individual customers, however, so the minimal amounts required for purchase are a bit large. Nonetheless we ordered the minimum 300 grams (or three trays) of boiled firefly squid (which was shipped from Long Island) and the minimum 3 lbs. of big eye tuna akami  (which was shipped  from California). Although coming from different places both shipments arrived at the same time; (over night delivery).

The first picture shows one of the trays of hotaru-Ika.

 

This picture of the tuna akami is the tail portion near the back with skin on. The piece arrived whole; I cut it into portions before this picture was taken. Since I did not have much time, I did not cut the tuna into sashimi blocks (or “saku”). I just removed “chi-ai” 血合い cut it into 4 portions with skin on.  I only prepared one portion for sashimi.  The rest, I vacuum packed and froze for a later time. 

I served the akami with some vegetables. After removing the hard “eye” or “beak” from the firefly squid, I served them with sumiso 酢味噌 dressing.

The Akami of big eye tuna is not too bad. Certainly much better than frozen yellowfin tuna we often have.

Serving the squid with sumiso sauce is certainly a very common presentation. The plate of hotaru-ika shown here is half of one tray (so, the two of us finished a whole tray or 100grams). I think what makes hotaru-ika so special is that the squid are very small and each squid makes one pleasant mouthful. The first part of the experience is the pleasing texture of biting into the soft squid body followed by the  release of the lovely taste of the squid meat then the rich flavor of the innards especially the slightly bitter taste of the liver. Trust me, it tastes much better than the description sounds. 

We feel very fortunate we can enjoy the firefly squid in U.S. Hopefully we can visit the Iizakaya in Kanazawa and enjoy local sake with okizuke firefly squid again sometime soon.

Firefly squid sautéed in butter and soy sauce ホタルイカのバター醤油炒め

Firefly squid or “hotaru-ika” ホタルイカ is very seasonal and, in the past,  the only way we could enjoy it was to visit Japan especially Kanazawa 金沢 in the spring. On exceptional occasions far and few between we had firefly squid at Tako Grill. A few years ago, however, we learned that we could get boiled firefly squid from “Regalis food” in spring. This year, I ordered two trays  which was a bit too much for us to consume all at once so, I froze a few small batches in vacuum packs partially as an experiment to see if it would work. Turns out it worked. We defrosted a batch in August and prepared a few dishes. This one (below) was particularly  good. The firefly squid is sautéed  in butter with deveined and deseeded Jalapeño pepper, shallot, seasoned with soy sauce (Actually I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce). I topped it with bonito flakes. This was inspired by one of the Japanese recipes I saw on line but I improvised based on the ingredients we had or did not have on hand. 

Ingredients: (For 2 small servings)
Boiled firefly squid, about 30
1/2 Jalapeño pepper, deseeded and deveind and cut into thin juliennes
1/2 shallot, sliced into thin strips
1/2 tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp soy sauce (or x4 “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ Japanese noodle sauce)
bonito flakes for topping

Directions:
Melt butter in a frying pan on medium flame
Add the jalapeño and shallot and sauté for a few minutes
Add the firefly squid and sauté a few more minutes
Add soy sauce (or x4 noodle sauce)
Serve immediately with a topping of the dried bonito flakes

The combination of butter and soy sauce flavor cannot go wrong. You can really taste the unctuous  flavor of the firefly squid. This is a good and simple firefly squid dish. Interestingly, the jalapeño added a mild but definitive slow heat towards the end.

Firefly squid and asparagus sautéed in butter and soy sauce ホタルイカとアスパラのバター醤油炒め

This is the dish I made from the second tray of "hotaru-ika" ホタルイカ firefly squid. This is stir fried hotaru-ika and asparagus in butter and soy sauce. The recipe came from e-recipe.  I happened to have pencil asparagus and butter and soy sauce combination is our favorite, so this was a no brainer.

Stir frying made the tentacles crispy which gave nice contrast to the texture of the softer body. Still crunchy asparagus also made a nice texture and flavor, a perfect combination for spring.

Ingredients: (this is the amount I used for this dish for two servings)
Firefly squid, boiled 100grams (eye or beak removed)
Pencil green asparagus, 10-14, root potion snapped off by bending the bottom end until it snaps naturally. (I did not bother to peel and cut the stalks in a slant as suggested in the original recipe).
Butter 1 tbs (or 15 grams)
Soy sauce 1tsp or to taste

Directions:
Melt the butter in a frying pan on medium flame.
Sauté the asparagus for a few minutes.
Add the firefly squid and soy sauce and stir for 1 minute.

This was a simple but quite good dish. We liked this more than the previous dish with sumiso dressing.

Firefly squid kara-age ホタルイカの唐揚げ

 This is the dish I served using the third and the last tray of  "hotaru-ika" ホタルイカ firefly squid. This is a standard "Kara-age" 唐揚げ. This also came from e-recipe.

It is a simple recipe but requires deep frying. Since the squid contains some moisture, it splatters when it hits the oil. But it cooked rather quickly. (It was already boiled).

Ingredients: (for 2 servings).
Firefly squid, boiled, 100grams
Flour and potato starch 1 tbs. each
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying.
Lemon wedges

Directions:
Heat the oil to 160C (or 320F)
Place the squid, flour, starch mixture, salt and pepper in a sealable bag and dredge the squid.
Deep fry for 1 minute or until the surface gets crispy. Drain and serve with wedges of lemon.

This is a great way to serve this squid. The surface and tentacles get crispy but the inside is soft.

The only problem of this dish is that the oil splatters.  Among the three dishes I made, we like the kara-age the best. Second was stir frying the squid and asparagus with butter and soy sauce. That one however, was perhaps a bit better than the kara-age in terms of ease of preparation in addition to great taste. 

The first dish of boiled hotaru-kia straight from the packing tray served with sumiso sauce was by far the easiest in terms of preparation but was not as flavorful as the other two preparations. Nonetheless we had absolutely no trouble “choking down” any of the 3 preparations. What a great way to celebrate spring.

Izakaya in Tokyo; Ichi-no-kura 一ノ蔵八重洲店 東京

This evening, we struck out for the first Izakaya we wanted try and we ended up retreating to our second choice/plan B/backup called "Ichi no kura" 一ノ倉 which was just minutes from the hotel. This is one of seven middle-of-the-road chain Izakaya run by Kuramochi shouji 倉持商事.


It is located on the basement floor. This was fairly large and a bit (comfortably) down at the heel. We were able to sit side by side enjoying the view of the rest of the restaurant. The clientele that night were of an older generation (not including us this time). Although this was on the basement floor, there was a sort of mezzanine level to the dining room. From our vantage point we could just see the bottom of the tables and a forest of legs. In front of our table, was a bank of large glass front refrigerated cases.  They contained quite a collection of sake lined up in large "isshoubin" 一升瓶, magnum bottles containing 1.8 liter or close to 2 quarts. All sake was served in a tall small bottle/carafe which holds 2 go or 360ml. The staff appeared every few minutes to pour the sake from the "mother ship" isshoubin into carafes, for customers, using a funnel kept in the refrigerated case. They filled the carafes in one swift practiced movement (not a drop was spilled). We started with Uragasumi sake from Miyagi 浦霞　純米吟醸.

Once we settled on sake, we looked at the menu. We were presented with two menus, one was a printed "regular menu" which had all the "usual suspects" presented at any Izakaya such as Yakitori. The second menu presented "today's specials". It was a copy of a hand written menu (see below). As usual, we started with sashimi; we chose big eye tuna,  kawahagi かわはぎ (with its liver) and kuro-soi Rockfish 黒そい.




They were served rather nicely as seen below. Clearly this was prepared by somebody with the skills of a chef and done on site (not by a part time guy filling in or shipped from a central-off site location as appears to be the case with some chain izakaya). The tuna was not as good as Hayase’s the night before but, for Big-eye tuna, it was more than OK. I love kawahagi with its liver dissolved in soy sauce as a sauce and this dish reminded me of why I like it so much.



Some portion of the tuna was made it to a small rolls wrapped in nori.



We had grilled semi-dried firefly squid which was very unusual and good. My wife, who is a devotee of firefly squid particularly liked it.  We also ordered deep fried "Chiai" of tuna. This is dark red meat of tuna which has a gamey flavor. It was nicely done and this was quite a good dish (behind the combination sashimi in the picture above and a picture below).



We ordered more food such as grilled Kuro-soi kama (grilled Rockfish collar) and some yakitori but  I did not take any more pictures.

After finishing our first sake,  I found ginjou sake brewed in Nagano 長野 by a winery called  Sogga pere et fils ソガペールエフィス in the sake list on the wall. We tasted one of the variations 2 year’s ago at another Izakaya called Honoka 穂のか in Musashi-Koyama  武蔵小山. The sake was brewed as a hobby by the wine maker. The one we chose this time was not great; too simple and not much taste or complexity (since this was the most expensive sake we tried, this was not a good choice). Then, for the final round, we settled on “Yamato shizuku” やまとしずく from Akita 秋田 (which we had 2 years ago at the Akita Izakaya called "Shu-hai" 酒盃.) Turns out this place was pretty good and the bill came in at a very reasonable $86 (10,390yen).　

Deep Fried Items 揚げ物

Squid Tempura イカの天ぷら

Like any bar food in United States, deep fried items 揚げ物 are very popular in Izakaya. Mark's book contains quite a few deep fried goodies. Deep fried chicken nuggets ("tori no kara-age" 鶏の唐揚げ and "Tatsuta-age" 竜田揚げ, recipe in Mark's book p84) are definitely Izakaya teiban 定番 (regular or classic) items.  On our last trip to Japan, we were in Kanazawa in June. It was the season for small white shrimp called "Shiraebi" 白エビ.  The Izakayas we ate at in Kanazawa offered this seasonal treasure in either "kara-age' (simply fried) or as "Kakiage" かき揚げ (more about this later). We loved the kara-age version of it. In addition, it was also the season for tiny, fluorescent squid called "Hotaru-ika" 蛍イカ or "firefly squid" (firefly for obvious reason). We had this squid in a very simple preparation called "Okizuke" 沖漬. What a treat!

The picture  above shows a fried squid dish I happened to make the other night since relatively fresh squid was available at the near-by Barducci's gourmet market. Talking about squid in U.S., nothing comes even close in terms of quality, variety, and freshness to the squid available in Japan. An extreme example of which was the "live" squid sashimi (生き造り) we had at the port city of Hakodate in Hokkaido. (I am sure we will have a chance to share our experience with that regional delicacy with you another time). You could use legs げそ as tempura especially in a form of "kakiage" but I used only the body parts this time. The problem with squid is that it contains lots of water which makes it splatter in the hot oil while cooking and makes it difficult to achieve a crispy crust. Also, cooked squid meat could be very chewy. A few preparation steps required to prevent this.

1) After cleaning the squid (if it is not already cleaned), cut open the tube, and make sallow criss-cross cuts. These are called "kanoko-giri" かのこ切りor "matsukasa-giri" 松かさ切り (see the diagram on left). Then, cut into small bite sized pieces. This will make the squid meat less chewy and easy to bite off.
2) Dry the squid by sandwiching it in a paper towel.  If you have time, you could refrigerate the squid in the paper towel "sandwich" for 10 minutes.
3) Before dipping into tempura batter, coat the squid with flour (I use potato starch).
4) There are many version of tempura batter but I use a whole egg (classical recipes use egg yolk only), 1 cup of cake flour and ice cold water mixed to the desired consistency. But do not over mix. You want a light flour so you do not want to develop the gluten in the flour. For vegetables, I prefer a thin watery batter--for shrimp and squid a slightly thicker batter.
5) I use peanuts oil since it imparts a nice peanut flavor to the squid and has a high smoke point. To test if the oil is hot enough I drip a very small amount of the batter into it. If the batter sinks into the oil half way and then immediately floats back to the surface, the oil is ready. (another method I use to check if the oil is ready, that was taught to me by my mother, is to put the tip of a bamboo cooking chopstick into the oil and if bubbles come out of the chopstick, the oil is ready). Depending on how things go, you may want to "double" fry the squid. Be careful to take out any stray pieces of tempura batter left in the oil ("tenkasu 天かす which can be used as a topping for needle in a soup dish and has other use) after the squid is cooked through and removed, otherwise they will burn making an unpleasant taste. Increase the heat and crisp up the crust for the second time (just 15 -20 seconds). You may need to try this several times before you will get it right.

6) Traditionally, tempura is eaten using a warm dipping sauce "tentsuyu" 天つゆ (dashi, mirin, sugar, soy sauce or buy in a bottle) with grated daikon and ginger root. But we usually eat it with "green tea salt" 抹茶塩 (a mixture of Kosher salt and powered green tea) and lemon. The  night I made this tempura, we went more traditional .

Sushi Taro, Dupont Circle, Washington DC 寿司太郎

The Dupont Circle area has undergone significant change over the years and is now a very vibrant neighborhood with numerous good restaurants. It also was my wife's old stomping grounds. This Japanese restaurant, Sushi Taro, used to be your usual run-of-the mill sushi bar/ tempura place. It occupies the second floor of an unassuming brown square building at the corner of 17th and P, with a CVS Drug store on the ground level. Last year it went though a major renovation, when the old owner's son, Nobu Yamazaki (pictured below), took over. He transformed the place into a high-end Kaiseki and Omakase Japanese restaurant. We went to the old Sushi Taro a few times and were not particularly impressed. It was a very ordinary sushi bar. After this drastic transformation, however, we have been back three times; twice for sushi omakase and once for regular Kaiseki omakase.

Sushi omakase takes place in a room, separated from the main dining area, with a light-colored wood counter which only seats 6, Nobu himself and Chef de cuisin Masa Kitayama are behind the counter, where the cooking area is rather large with a charcoal burning Konro grill (exactly the same as the one we have) in the back counter in front of a picture window overlooking a stand of bamboo. The setting is very similar to a high-end sushi bar in Japan as described by Jon. The atmosphere is very intimate and quiet. With capacity for only six customers, the customers have the complete attention of the chefs. The night we were there only 4 customers, including ourselves, were in attendance. This time we feasted for over 3 hours with 12 courses--and this is not counting each individual piece of sashimi and sushi. This feast was much more than sushi and sashimi omakase as you will see.  

(From Washington post)

This time we started off with home-made umeshu 梅酒 aperitif with green plum simmered  in syrup or "kanroni" 青梅の甘露煮, a very nice refreshing start, which was followed by their signature appetizer Gomadofu 胡麻豆腐 topped with Maine sea urchin, real wasabi (every time wasabi was served, our chef grated a wasabi daikon root with a traditional sharkskin grater--the difference between this wasabi and the usual fake one from the tube was remarkable). Since it was in season, the next was Junsai ジュンサイ in sweet vinegar and yuzu 柚子. Junsai was very fresh with thick gelatinous layers. It matched perfectly with gentle sweet vinegar sauce highlighted with a bright yuzu flavor. (Masa showed us the fresh yuzu they had just received--the very small green kind). We then moved to a simmered dish; Hiryouzu 飛龍頭 and shrimp shinjou 海老しんじょう in yuba 湯葉 sauce. This was a nice comforting dish and well-prepared, if not spectacular. Next came a huge and fresh Pacific oyster (cut into three pieces) from Washington State, Japanese call it Iwagaki oyster 岩牡蛎, on the half shell with a lemon wedge and okinawan salt. This was so good (you may have noticed we are partial to raw oysters). It went so well with the sake we were drinking; a nice fresh ocean taste and, without any special sauce or seasoning, it  lingered pleasantly in the mouth for a while. Again seasonality is important here. "Ayu" 鮎 is in season. Japanese, especially Kyotoites, are very fond of this small fresh water river fish and we had this fish quite a few times in Kyoto. The Ayu which had been marinated very delicately in soy sauce and sake 祐庵地 was served butterflied and grilled 鮎の開き祐庵焼き. I like this rendition much better than the customary "shioyaki"塩焼き or salt grilled, which is usually served on a bed of salt and pine needles. Somewhere between these dishes, we had assorted "Hassun" appetizers 八寸 with 8 small tasty morsels; kinome-miso dengaku 木の芽味噌田楽, "aburana" with yuzu-miso アブラナの柚子味噌和え, lightly marinated firefly squid 蛍イカの沖漬け, "tamago-dofu" 卵豆腐, a small savory egg custard square with edamame paste, salt-cured shirako 白子 with vinegard daikon strips, garlic sprouts 芽ニンニク with miso-marinated Manila clams. All were fantastic. The only slight disappointment being the dengaku due to the quality of the tofu which could have been better. The salt cured "Shirako" or cod sperm sac (which does not sound appetizing) was delicate and tasty.

At this point, we were presented with two choices; one was "Lobster" shabushabu and the other was a Japanese style snapping turtle soup スッポンのお吸い物. Without hesitation, we took the snapping turtle. This was quite a soup; mine had one of the legs and my wife's had nice meaty parts. The broth was very savory. Yet the shimmering liquid in the bowl did not completely cover up the underlying primordial reptilian taste suggestive of mysteriously lurking depths of the pond. This does not taste like a chicken for sure. Since I got the leg, I had to spit out the "nails" as I chowed down. 

Since I made the reservation directly with Chef Masa and mentioned that the last time we were there we liked his home-made "Karasumi" からすみ, he gave us a small slice of that dreaded "Funazushi" フナ寿司 which was marinated with sake lee. Marinating in sake lee or "Sake kasu" 酒粕 made it very palatable (actually good). It had a similar texture and taste to "Karasumi". What a personal service! 

Then, we were presented with several square lacquer boxes of today's sashimi items. One box was all "hikarimonoayu" offered as sashimi. We started with a series of sashimi, very small but carefully prepared pieces; tuna around this time of year was less fatty and firm but very tasty. Again, freshly grated wasabi was just so nice. We can not remember every pieces we had but other stand-outs are "sayori" or needle fish, "Ayu" served two ways (one as is-just salt cured, and the other mixed with salted and preserved ayu innards called "Uruka" うるか. Ayu innards are cherished for their slightly bitter taste. Uruka definitely added a salty and slight bitter taste but it was a nice combination of tastes. I can not forget the wild white salmon from Alaska. Very tasty. Oh, one more item worth mentioning is, again in season, bonito "katsuo" 鰹 which was lightly grilled on a charcoal fire (Tataki) and served in a separate bowl with grated garlic and ginger; nice meaty slices and very flavourful. I have eaten a great deal of sashimi in my day but somehow this was especially good. Between the sashimi and sushi course we were offered a small delicately done "Sayori tempura" with perilla leaves さよりの天ぷら. At this point we were so full it was an effort to finish the sushi. Masa responded by making the rice ball very small for us and we had 4-5 pieces of yummy sushi. 

Finally, we were presented with the desert menu. We picked a Japanese "purin" custard, "kurosatou" or dark sugar (from Okinawa) ice cream. Both were very good but we particularly liked the very delicate Japanese custard.

I just want to mention sakes we tasted at Sushi Taro on three occasions. The sake list is not extremely long but quite decent covering from the high-end to moderate. Among the ones we tasted; Muromachi Jidai 室町時代 (Junmai Supreme-Daigijo or Kiwami-daiginjo), Hakkaisan 八海山 (Ginjou), Kubota Hekiju 久保田　蒼寿 (Junmai Daiginjou), Dassai23 獺祭 (Junmai Daiginjo) and Hakuryu 白龍 (Daiginjo). By far, "Muromachi Jidai" is our favorite. Complex yet clean tasting and it is just cut above. Next will be Dassai23. Not as complex but very pleasant and clean. Hakkaisan is a bit too yeasty to our taste. Kubota has some muddy note and Hakuryu is rather simplistic.

In summary, we really like this place. This is one of the best restaurants we have eaten at both here and in Japan. They serve very traditional carefully created food with a keen sense of seasonality ("Shun" 旬) and the sake selection is quite decent. The only problem for us (if you can even call it a problem for most people) is that we get so full by the end of the feast in both Sushi omakase and regular Kaiseki. It is a bit expensive but a similar class restaurant in Japan will certainly cost much more.

Big eye tuna sashimi 4 ways めばち鮪刺身 四通り

When we got firefly squid from Regalis food, we also got 3 lbs. of fresh bigeye tuna sashimi メバチマグロ (akami 赤身). Since this was too much tuna sashimi for us to finish in one sitting, I divided it into 4 portions. We finished one portion fresh. The remaining three portions were vacuum packed and frozen.  Over time we have been enjoying the frozen portions and finally we came to the last one. Although this tuna tasted fairly good, certain portions, including this last one, were very “sinewy”.  So I had to tailor the dishes I made to make the sinew less noticeable. The dishes I made are shown in the next picture. The upper row from left to right are “yamakake” やまかけ, “sashimi” 赤身刺身, tuna with avocado cubes マグロとアボカドの角切りand the lower row is imitation “negitoro” 擬制ネギトロ. I did a similar combination of dishes using frozen yellowtail tuna but these made with big eye tuna were much better.

 

For the yamakake, I marinated  cubes of tuna for several hours in concentrated (x4) Japanese noodle sauce and also added soy sauce with dissolved wasabi to the grated nagaimo. I topped it with thin strips of nori. This is a classic and also sort of filling because of the grated nagaimo.

I chose the portion with the least sinew and made a small serving of straight sashimi. It was quite good.

This is another dish I make often. The dressing contains chopped garlic, soy sauce, sake, and dark sesame oil. The similarity of textures of tuna sashimi cubes and avocado works well. Since I did not have fresh chives, I used the green part of scallion for garnish.

Finally, imitaion negitoro. The combination of mayonise and tuna cannot go wrong. As usual, I left a half portion of tuna in small cubes and mixed it with the more finely chopped tuna with mayo, Japanese noodle sauce and chopped scallion. I served this with slices of cucumber (American minicucues) and small rectangular  sheets of Korean nori 韓国海苔. We made small nori rolls with the cucumber and negitoro. This is really great and also filling.

After finishing these 4 tuna sashimi dishes, we enjoyed  “edamame” 枝豆 and assortment of Japanese rice crackers and few more cups of cold sake and we were quite full.

Hand-made udon 手打ち煮込みうどん

This is hand-made (home-made) udon but I did not make the udon. It was made by Chef Masaya Kitayama of Sushi Taro . I am just showcasing his contribution. We had another extraordinary "omakase" dinner at Sushi Taro. Although everything was excellent as usual, there were a number of "stand-outs" such as grilled "shirako" 白子, grilled bamboo shoot 竹の子, ankimo 鮟肝 (not the usual pre-processed frozen kind I get), bonito tataki 鰹のたたき (done in a special way using fine grained salt), and firefly squid 蛍イカ. It is very nice touch that Masa serves dishes anticipating our preferences--serving just the right amount.  Even though we had pleasantly left hunger well behind by the end of the meal, we asked for one more sushi just for the pleasure of it.  After we finished, Masa said he had a souvenir for us. He brought out a Soba cutting knife, and I said "Hand-made soba" but I was wrong. It was hand-made udon or "teuchi udon" 手打ちうどん. The dough was already rested, folded and ready to be cut. In front of us, he cut the dough into udon noodles. Masa said, he had to try several times to get the right mixture of flours to make a perfect dough. The next evening I made this "nikomi udon" 煮込みうどん with scallion and chicken as a "shime" dish.

Udon: The image below on the left is Masa's teuchi udon before cooking. I cooked it in plenty of boiling water for 10 minutes and washed it in cold running water and drained (right image below).

Chicken: I used two chicken thighs, deboned, skin removed. The chicken had been marinating in sake for a day in the fridge. I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and dunked them into boiling water for 30 seconds until the surface turned white ("frosting" or shimofuri 霜降り process). I drained and washed in running cold water. All this is to remove any possible strong or gamey taste that the chicken may have or in Japanese culinary parlance, "kusami o toru" 臭みを取る.

Broth: I could have made my own "kaeshi" かえし but I did not. I made dashi broth from a dashi pack. I placed the dashi pack in cold water (about 2 cups) on low-medium flame and continued simmering for 2-3 minutes after it came to gentle boil. I removed the dashi pack and added bottled mentsuyu 麺つゆ (x2 concentrate) tasting and adding until I was satisfied. You could use a combination of mirin, sake and soy sauce instead. Although I did not make home-made "kaeshi", this method produced a very good broth for noodles.

Scallion: I used scallion (3 with some green parts attached) cut the white part into 1 inch length on a slant. I chopped the green parts more finely. 

I added the udon noodles, chicken, and the white part of the scallion to the broth and simmered for 3-4 minutes until the chicken was just done. I added the chopped green parts of the scallion and took the pot off the flame.

I divided the udon into two bowls and garnished with lime zest, thinly shaven and cut into very fine strips (since I did not have "Yuzu" 柚子) and splashed "Yuzu" juice from the bottle (of course, use Yuzu if you have a fresh one). I also sprinkled Japanese 7 flavored red pepper or shichimi tougarashi 七味唐辛子.

Nothing commercially made, either frozen or dried, can come close to Masa's teuchi udon. The texture was so different and nice-it had a satisfying al dente feel but was quite soft at the same time. My contribution was very mild tasting chicken and the broth. The broth was excellent (if I say so myself despite my shortcut way.) We had this as a shime dish and it was a very pleasant extension of the fabulous meal we had the night before. What a satisfying finale. Thank you Masa.

P.S. We ate the remaining udon the next evening (for us, the amount of the Masa's teuchi udon was enough for 4 servings). By my wife's request, I made, fried udon or yakiudon 焼うどん. This time, I made it vegetarian with shimeji and royal trumpet mushrooms, onion, garlic, ginger, and broccolini. I seasoned it with oyster sauce and soy sauce. The garnish is the usual pickled ginger, white sesame seeds and aonori.

Rare tastes 珍味

A Japanese word "chinmi" 珍味 is often used to describe food items which are rare and/or limited to certain regions of Japan. You can assemble these rare tastes more easily nowadays by mail order and because of many special sales featuring these rare and regional food items (usually held in department stores in Japan). Even in the U.S., more and more of these "chinmi" items are becoming available, albeit much more limited compared to Japan. Tonight, we had an assortment of these rare tastes with sake.

Dried "Shishamo" fish 寒干しししゃも　

This small fish called "Shishamo" ししゃも or 柳葉魚、Spirinchus lanceolatus, is harvested only on the southern pacific coast of Hokkaido. I grew up with this fish and they are very popular drinking snack items especially in Hokkaido. These are usually semi-dried and we get them frozen in the United States. My mother sent these to us. They were (supposedly) "fully dried" in the cold northwind of Hokkaido. They can be eaten as is but I grilled them briefly over the gas fire and served them with grated daikon 大根おろし and soy sauce. They are a bit chewier than semi-dried (which has to be more thoroughly grilled) but they are very flavorful. To my surprise, even my wife liked them.

Raw  Octopus marinated in wasabi sauce たこぶっかけ (lt)、Salmon roe with grated daikon いくら甘酢大根おろし (ctr)、Raw Squid mariated in hot red peper sauce イカぶっかけ (rt)

My wife and I love "squid and guts" or squid "shiokara" いかの塩辛. This is definitely an acquired taste but most people who love sake will love this as well because both go together so well. Shiokara is made from fresh squid which is salted and slightly fermented with squid innards (mostly liver). The homemade variety made with a light amount of salt (this kind does not last long) is the best. Many commercial ones are too salty but more recently, we can get a less salty kind in a small plastic pouch in the frozen case of the Japanses grocery store. Last time we were in Hakodate we had commercial but local "shiokara" which was excellent. Another similar preparation is called "okizuke" 沖漬け. "oki" in Japanese means "far-away from the shore". Supposedly, fishermen start marinading the freshly caught squid (sometimes other fish or shell fish) while in their boat and by the time they come back to shore (overnight or one day), the dish is done. Once in a blue moon, Chef Kudo at Tako Grill makes squid okizuke which is exquisite.  Last time we were in Kanazawa, a small fluorescent squid called "hotaruika" 蛍イカ or firefly squid was in season. We really enjoyed "okizuke" of this small squid. Unfortunately, it is next to impossible to get a fresh squid suitable for making these dishes in the U.S. What we have here is the closest substitute.

In the above image, from left to right are raw octopus with wasabi sauce たこぶっかけ、salmon roe with grated daikon いくら大根おろし (grated diakon is seasoned with sweet vinegar which is only item I prepared)、and raw squid with hot sauce イカぶっかけ. These squid and octopus dishes are variations of "shiokara" and "okizuke" and are called "bukkake" ぶっかけ in which small pieces of raw octopus or squid are marinated in a spicy sauce. Here, the octopus is marinated in "wasabi" sauce and squid in red pepper sauce. Both come in a small plastic pouch and bought frozen. These are perfect accompaniment for sipping sake.

Cheese stuffed squid チーズいか

This is another item, my mother sent us. A Japanese word "Ikomi" 射込み means to "insert" or to "stuff" and this one is a type of "ikomi" squid. This is a commercial product in which a small squid was stuffed with cheese and cooked. This is eaten as is. Interesting combination of tastes. I served one for each of us but my wife went back and got another one. She must have liked it.

Smoked scallop 帆立ての薫製

This is a smoked whole scallop from Lake Saroma 佐呂間湖 in Hokkaido. To us, it is a bit too smoky and chewy.

Izakaya in Kyoto; Shinme 神馬、京都

Recently we were in Kyoto 京都, a city not to be missed on a trip to Japan. This time we finally got to go to Shinme 神馬 which was recommended by Mark Robinson some time ago.  Fortunately, I managed to "reserve" the counter. It was far from our hotel at Kyoto station. Although the taxi cab driver knew where Shinme was, it was a long ride and the driver's lecture on Kyoto history and geography got fairly old long before the end of the ride. The izakaya had a very unassuming store front. Stepping inside was like going back in time. The inside reeked of Showa era 昭和 (an era of the previous emperor, 1928-1989); the decor, the advertisements, the clientele (including us).



We bellied up to the counter and an older fellow came out and initially interacted with me but was kind of unfriendly for the remainder of our stay, not the type to chit-chat and provide information. We were not sure if he is the owner but could be. He spent a fair amount of time, while we were there, in front of the old cash register tucked into a nook in the front of the store. He also occasionally came out and interacted with the customers especially a select group, we assumed, were the regulars. We noticed that while he used the drawer on the cash register to store money, he  relied on a calculator or abacus to ring up sales. There was no menu and I had to read hand written cards hanging on the walls to order sake and food. Some were difficult to decipher. The serving staff, in contrast to the Showa immersion experience, were young and efficient. Relics of old grills and other instruments of food preparation moldered long unused behind the counter. At some point in the past, at least, Yakitori must have been cooked there but "Yakidai" 焼き台 grill was not used any longer. The space was used only for the preparation of sake.



We ordered cold sake from Kyoto. The Otoshi was rather nice; composed of rice noodles on the bottom with onsen tamago, two grilled hamo (conger ell) pieces, okra, and shrimp in dashi broth.



We did not take pictures but we had a sashimi assortment including uni from Hokakido. We had a grilled fish, boiled firefly squid with sumiso sauce (The picture below is after we had eaten 2/3 of it. The serving was much larger than this). We ordered more dishes but our memories are foggy. We had more sake.

How was this place? It is not bad. The food was good but the total lack of interaction with the people preparing the dishes left an emptiness to the experience (the kitchen is in the back totally isolated from the customers). Since we like to stay in the hotel at the station when we visit Kyoto, the distance and lack of convenient transportation besides taxi is another negative. So, we still like "Akagaki-ya" 赤垣屋 better, although we have not been there for some time. I tried to secure the counter but they do not take reservation for counter just for tables. We staggered out of the door after paying the bill (about $180?) to the fellow at the cash register and took a taxi back to our hotel.

Izakaya in Tokyo: Sensaigyo Hayase 鮮菜魚早瀬, 京橋 東京

Our visit to Japan started with a 5 day stay in Tokyo. We arrived in the early evening at our hotel in Kyobashi 京橋 area.  For the evening, we went across  the street to the Kyobashi branch of a nation-wide chain Izakaya called "Kaisen Izakaya Hananomai" 海鮮居酒屋はなの舞 run by the Chimney group.  It was located on the basement floor of a business building. It was not big (some chain Izakaya stores can be very large), reportedly seating about 60 guests. The interior felt rather cramped and smoky. The name of the place is preambled by a word "Kaisen" meaning "fresh sea food". The group is known for providing good seafood at cheap prices because they purchase in large quantities for the chain.  For us, however, we chose this place because it was just across the street from our hotel and, in our seriously jet lagged state, it seemed a good choice.

To test the quality of the fresh fish, we ordered combination sashimi first. It was not bad but not excellent either.  We followed that with firefly squid okizuke, some yakitori (neck meat せせり, ”last part over the fence”　ぽんじり and, harami diaphragm　はらみ). We, then, had a non-descript green leaf tempura which was advertized as "today's special" and was "recommended". This was called Ashitaba 明日葉 from Hachijoujima island 八丈島 far off south of Tokyo bay. This green was touted as having all kinds of health benefits. The fact that it was not in evidence on any other of the tables despite being the special of the day should have been our first clue. Regardless, of its health properties the serving was huge and had no particular taste. It was just a fried tempura batter delivery system. Not being devotes of fried flour we partook of some of the greens and left the rest. The sake list was not extensive but adequate. On one side of our table was a chain smoking woman (it has been quite some time since we have been in such a smoke filled environment) and her friend. The smoking women spent the entire time when she wasn’t puffing on her cigarette, pontificating. On the other side were some salary men dragging out the several plates of food they were sharing at a ratio of 2:1 drinks. The final tab was just $63 which is very reasonable. The place was not the best but a lot of fun especially the first night while suffering from jet lag.

The next evening, we set out for our first real Izakaya called “Sensaigyo Hayase” 鮮菜魚早瀬 meaning "fresh vegetable and fish Hayase".  We found this place from Tabelog. This was reportedly owned by a Tuna fish wholesaler from Tsukiji market and, therefore, famous for the quality of tuna. It was in the basement of a non-descript building which was walking distance from our hotel.

The basement floor Izakaya was rather large and it appeared that many groups were in the back rooms already becoming quite boisterous. The place was a bit smoky. Three salary men sat at the table next to ours, one appeared to be the head honcho the other two were clearly underlings. The head honcho was pontificated about everything and then the topic fell on the necklace (chain) he was wearing. He told them that this necklace had a magical power and could make the wearer strong. To make his point, Head-honcho-the-demonstrator jumped up and made the other guy (underling-subject) stand. He then told his subject to put out his arms. The demonstrator then easily pushed the other fellows arms down with his hands. Then the demonstrator put the necklace on his subject. Again he asked him to raise his arms but this time…Magic.  The demonstrator was unable to push down his subject’s arms; QED. We were not sure if he had successfully made his point but sometimes the side shows at izakaya can be entertaining.

Meanwhile, we examined the menu and ordered sashim and sake. The sashimi plate was beautiful. The quality of the sashimi was wonderful especially the akami and chu-toro of tuna. The quality of tuna is the selling point of this place since it is run by a tuna wholesaler at Tsukiji. We had a large grilled fish (kuro mutsu 黒ムツ); lots of bones but nice firm oily white meat, fermented squid (shiokara 塩辛) with uni, hamo 鱧 (Conger eel), simmered pork belly 角煮, and some black sesame noodles.  The sake was good.

It was called Junmai Ginjou Hayaseura 純米吟醸早瀬浦, Yamada nishiki 山田錦 from Fukui prefecture 福井県.  During our feast, the three guys next door decided to leave. To my surprise, one of the underlings paid and the head honcho did not.

Sashimi plate.

Grilled Kuro-mutsu.



Hamo, we have eaten good portions before taking this picture.

 

Pork Kakuni.



The total bill was the most expensive so far at $137 (16,522yen) but still a good price especially considering the quality of food and sake and favorable yen-dollar exchange rate. This place does not have the atmosphere of an authentic Izakaya but the service was good as was the quality of the food. It had the feel of a higher end chain Izakaya.