Scattered sushi ちらし寿司

Smoked salmon and salmon roe scattered sushi いくらとスモークサーモンちらし寿司

This is our variation on scattered sushi ちらし寿司. "Sushi" means "vinegared rice". So any dish which uses vinegared rice will fall into the category of "sushi". Scattered sushi is the easiest sushi to make and is a classic home style dish; made by adding any combination of toppings to a bed of sushi rice. Traditional styles use mostly simmered and seasoned vegetables. These could include, among other things, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, lotus root or "renkon", "kanpyo", thinly cut slightly sweet thin omlet ("kinshiran" 金糸卵, meaning golden thread egg), strips of "nori" sea weed, and pickled ginger root. You could add any kind of cooked or raw fish (sashimi), shrimp, uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) (if you add all kinds of raw fish, it is called "kaisen chirashi" 海鮮ちらし or "nama chirashi なまちらし).

In Hokkaido, the combination of sea urchin and salmon roe is very popular and called  "uni ikura donburi" うにいくらドンブリ.  To make this regional specialty, an obscenely large amount of uni and ikura are placed on a bed of sushi rice. My mother introduced my wife to this dish some years ago and it now happens to be my wife's favorite. She enjoyed a wonderful example of this dish in the port city of Otaru near Sapporo on our last visit to Japan. At home, we occasionally make our version of this dish but fresh uni is hard to come by most of the time. Salmon roe is easier to get since it freezes very well. So we make our variation using a combination of good quality cold-smoked salmon and salmon roe. Again, this dish would serve as the last rice dish of the meal in our home Izakaya.

1. Cooking sushi rice: Start with a good short grain Japanese rice. We use "Tamaki" rice from California which is "okabo" or non-paddy rice but it is not bad. You could get real "paddy" rice from California as well. Instead of using just plain water, the rice could be cooked with a small piece of kelp and small amount of sake added to the water. Make the rice with slightly less water than would be used to make regular rice. This is so that the rice will be slightly dryer than usual and will absorb enough sushi vinegar. We mostly use an electric rice cooker (my wife is actually in charge of cooking rice--having been coached in what constitutes good rice by my mother in the early days of our marriage). I acquired a special "Donabe" rice cooker recently and the "donabe" rice cooker does make slightly better rice.  Wash the rice and let it soak in the water for 30 minutes or more before cooking it. Then, let it stand for 15 minutes after it is finished cooking.

2. Preparing sushi rice: As you can see in this picture, I use a wooden tub (寿司桶) and paddle (へら) but, of course, a shallow bowl and spoon will also work. You could make your own sushi vinegar or use a commercial bottled one. You could get a more precise recipe for sushi vinegar and how to make sushi rice elsewhere. The amount of sugar and salt in sushi vinegar is a personal preference, some old traditional edomae 江戸前 (Tokyo style) sushi restaurants even omit the sugar. Most of the time, I am too lazy to make my own sushi vinegar so I use a commercial bottled variety. I microwave the sushi vinegar to make it warm before adding it to the rice. Sometimes, however, I even skip this step. The amount of sushi vinegar to rice is another question. I usually put as much as I can without making the rice too wet (warm sushi vinegar appears to be absorbed more). We like a rather strong vinegar taste in our sushi rice. Traditionally, while you are mixing the sushi rice, you fan the rice. My wife helps me by fanning the sushi rice using a Japanese "uchiwa" 団扇. The exact reasons for this process is not really clear but maybe it makes the additional moisture evaporate. The end result is that the rice grains are shinier than they would be otherwise. I cover the tub with wet tea towel and let it stand for few minutes before putting the dish together. My wife is more of a rice connoisseur than I am and she often complains about the poor quality of sushi rice at near-by sushi bars, which is unfortunately often the case.

3. To make the thin egg omelet ("Kinshiran" 金糸卵): For one large egg, I put 1-2 tsp of sugar and pinch of salt and mix. I often add a small amount (1 tbs) of "dashi" broth but this is optional. Use a Japanese style rectangular frying pan or use a 8 inch regular non-stick frying pan with a small amount of butter or oil. You need to make this omelet very thin. The secret is to pour the egg mixture after the pan is hot  (on medium flame) and once the bottom is set, to reduce flame very low and put the lid on. You do not want to brown it.  It may take more than 5-7 minutes before the egg is cooked. Take it out of the pan onto a cutting board. Cut into 4 elongated pieces, stack them and julienne thinly.

4. Put the sushi rice in the bottom of the bowl or plate and top it with bite sized pieces of smoked salmon, salmon roe, thinly sliced salted and vinegared cucumber (excess moisture squeezed out), "kinshiran" or golden egg threads, shredded "nori" seaweed, finely chopped perilla and/or scallion. You can make any variation as you like depending on the ingredients available.

Sushitaro Osechi 2022 寿司太郎お節 2020

As always, we are so spoiled to have Sushitaro osechi.

This is a picture of the upper box.  I am not going into the details but its all good stuff. Many items are hidden behind and under the items on the top.

This is the lower box.

This was what we ate from the box the evening of January 2. I just served whatever caught my eye. This round was mainly items that go well  with sake.

The next picture shows is an assortment of goodies. I lightly heated (toasted) “Karasumi” 唐墨 mullet roe or botargo, and wagyu roast beef 和牛ローストビーフ, which makes the beef unctuous melting in you mouth and the karasumi soft with enhanced flavor. Of course, “ankimo tofu” あん肝豆腐　or Monkfish liver terrine is one of our favorites.

In this three compartment plate, I served (from left to right) “Mushi uni” 蒸し雲丹 or steamed sea urchin, “Uni shutou with yuzu-chilli” ウニ酒盗 柚子胡椒 from Maruhide 丸秀 and  “ikura shouyu-zuke”  いくら醤油ずけ soy marinated salmon roe.  I added wasabi-soy sauce to the steamed uni and made a cucumber boat to contain the ikura. All perfect for sake.

After these, we had simmered vegetables (again lightly warmed in the microwave) and finished with a mayo-biscuit my wife made that afternoon (subject of another post).

P.S. In the January 1, 2022 post, I mentioned that we thought we had some better zodiac figurines for the year of tiger but the ones we displayed in the blog were the only ones we had. My wife quickly remedied the situation by ordering two figurines from Japan, one (the first picture) perfectly matches the style we have for the other zodiac animals (it is made from earthenware as a bell called "Do-rei" 土鈴).

The fellows below came from the same kiln as the one above. But they have more accoutrements. Aren't they cute?

Hope we can used these figurines again.

Lily Bulb 百合根

I keep finding Japanese groceries at Weee  which previously were just not available or difficult to get. This time, it was “edible lily bulb”*. The package states “this is a product of China”. So, initially, I was not sure this item would be the same as Japanese “Yuri-ne” 百合根 but decided to try it anyway. Growing up in Hokkaido 北海道, Japan, which is the major producer of edible lily bulbs in Japan, my family enjoyed “yuri-ne” often. Most commonly, my mother made chawan-mushi 茶碗蒸し or Japanese steamed savory egg custard with yuri-ne lily bulb. I remember the nice texture and sweet flavor of yuri-ne. So it is a very nostalgic flavor for me that I have not tasted in a very long time. It arrived fresh in a vacuum packed container. It looked exactly like Japanese “yuri-ne and (better yet) tasted the same.

Although the package indicated “slices”, the lily bulbs are made of petal-like multiple layers which can come apart especially after blanching (see below). I would have preferred a whole intact bulb since that would have given me more choices in how to prepare it but this will do for sure.

*Digression alert: There is a myth that all lily bulbs are toxic which apparently may be based on the fact that any part of lily is highly toxic to cats (inducing renal failure). Also, the name “lily” is attached to many plants/flowers which are not “true” lily.  Some of these certainly would be toxic to humans. In any case, Japanese and Chinese (reportedly also native American Indians) enjoy eating lily bulbs.

I made three dishes; “chawan-mushi” 百合根入り茶碗蒸し(center bottom), bainiku-ae 百合根の梅肉和え (dressed in pickled plum sauce, upper left) and goma-ae 百合根の胡麻和え (dressed in sesame sauce, upper right). I also served lotus root kimpira “renkon-no-kimpira 蓮根のきんぴら(left bottom) and “ohitashi” edible chrysanthemum or “shungiku-no-ohitashi” 春菊のお浸し (right bottom). The fresh lotus root and edible chrysanthemum both came from Weee.

The picture below shows the chawan-mushi made with yuri-ne, topped with ikura salmon roe and blanched sugar snap. You cannot see the yuri-ne well but two are peaking out on either side of the ikura.

The next picture shows the chawan-mushi before the toppings were put on. I put the yuri-ne on the bottom as well as on the top. Other items included fresh shiitake mushroom, and shrimp as usual. The egg and dashi mixture was my usual 1 to 3 ratio. There is no difference in how to make it from standard other chawan-mushi.

For next two dishes, I quickly blanched the yuri-ne, drained it and let it cool before proceeding.

One pickled “umeboshi” plum, meat removed and then chopped fine with  a knife, then placed in a Japanese “suri-bachi” mortal, 1/2 tsp mirin added, 1/2 soy sauce and ground to make a smooth paste. I added “kezuri bushi” bonito flakes (the amount arbitrary). I added more bonito flakes on the top.

The below picture shows yuri-ne with sesame dressing.

For sesame dressing:
1tsp white roasted sesame, dry roasted in a dry frying pan and then ground in a suri-bachi
2 tsp white sesame paste or “shiro neri-goma” 白ねりごま
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar

I garnished it with blanched sugar snap

These small dishes were nice and Weee made it possible for me to make these. These were quite filling but we also had a small serving of blue-fine tuna sashimi (frozen Australian from Great Alaska Seafood). The chawan-mushi was particularly special since it brought back good memories of the chawan-mushi my mother used to make.

Small Rice Bowl using the last of Osechi お節残り物丼

We had a lunch yesterday of mochi rice cake and cheese 焼きチーズ餅 and some side dishes. Today is the end of the first week of the new year called “Matusno-uchi” 松の内, I made a small “donburi” rice bowl topped with three of the last items from Sushi taro osechi box. (It would appear that I make a similar dish almost every new year). This time, I added a scrambled  egg with blanched broccoli florets. This was just a perfect size dish for us.

The small fish shown at 12 O’Clock is “Jako-no-arima-ni” 雑魚の有馬煮.  At 9 O’Clock is “soboro” そぼろ which I made using  the meat removed from a grilled small “tai” snapper 小鯛の姿焼き included in the osechi box and cooked in “mirin” sweet Japanese cooking wine and soy sauce until almost dry. I also garnished with ““ikura-no-shouyu-zuke いくらの醤油漬けor marinated “ikura” salmon roe.

With a side of  salted cucumber and nappa cabbage  胡瓜と白菜の浅漬け, this was a perfect lunch.

Uni appetizers two kinds 雲丹の前菜２種

As I mentioned previously, Maruhide 丸秀 is the best place to get consistently high-quality uni and uni products. I wanted to get some fresh uni for the New Year. Although I checked the web site regularly fresh uni was not available for some time. So when I saw it became available recently, I could not resist and ordered fresh uni (both regular and in salt water or "Kaisui-uni" 海水うに). I also ordered some "uni shuto " ウニ酒盗 which is preserved and frozen and lasts longer than fresh uni. This is second best (compared to fresh uni) but among the class of "preserved" uni, this is the best by far. We had an uni tasting the evening the uni arrived. It consisted of regular uni and uni in salt water. We also included some ikura like we did before. We finished the evening with a small uni and ikura "donburi" rice bowl 雲丹いくら丼. 

The next evening, I made a small uni appetizer dish. Although it is hard to see in the picture, I put cubes of avocado dressed in lemon juice in the bottom of the bowl then topped them with uni, "kinshi-ran" 金糸卵 golden thread egg and nori strips or "kizami-nori" 刻み海苔. I added wasabi-jouyu わさび醤油 (mixture of wasabi and soy sauce just before serving). Since the texure of avocado resembles fatty tuna sashimi, this combination went very well together. The avocado really complemented the uni.

The next evening I served the last of the salt water uni “as is” garnished with a small dab of wasabi and the finely chopped green part of scallion.  I included a small "cucumber and wakame seaweed salad" dressed with "sumiso" 酢味噌 dressing. Again, I added wasabi-jouyu just before serving.

As before both the regular and salt water uni were excellent. Just a bit of uni and cold sake, the flavor lingers in the mouth. This is such a luxury.

Marinated Salmon and salmon roe “Oyako” rice bowl 鮭のマリネといくらの親子丼

I still had some leftover Russian marinated salmon from the New Year. One evening I made this small "donburi" 丼 as an ending dish. In Japanese culinary parlance, "Oyako" 親子, meaning parents and offspring, denotes dishes in which both offspring (eggs) and parent (meat) are used in the same dish.  The most common is a combination of egg and chicken in a donburi called "Oyako donburi" 親子丼. Another rendition is the combination of salmon (grilled, cold smoked, or sashimi) and salmon roe "Sake Oyako donduri". Since I had marinated salmon and I prepared Ikura in sake and soy sauce a few days ago, I came up with this dish.



I just made vinegared rice, added nori strips and julienned perilla leaves, I then placed Russian marinated salmon and onion and topped it with Ikura in soy sauce and sake.

The combination of saltiness with vinegar flavor both from the rice and the marinated salmon works well.

A spoonful appetizer 一口スプーン前菜

My wife gave me some new plates and bowls for Christmas which required us to rearrange things to make a room for them. During these activities, we found spoons my wife got for me some time ago which were meant to serve a just one-swallow/bite appetizer.  Since they newly resurfaced, I promptly tried a one-swallow/bite appetizer using the spoon. The handles of the spoons are bent so that they can sit on the plate without a handle sticking over the edge. I served this with the last of New Year’s salmon kelp roll and Russian marinaded salmon.

This was just a whim-of-the moment dish. Since I had Cauliflower purée which I made a few days ago, I just put a small amount on the spoon and topped it with soy sauce  marinated “ikura” salmon roe and micro green perilla from our window sill herb garden. This combination worked well. We had this with cold sake and it went very well.

This was quite good. Although our initial cauliflower purée was made with cauliflower cooked in milk, recently I have been making in an abbreviated quick method.

Ingredients:
One small head of cauliflower, florets separated
1-2 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup warm milk

salt to taste

Directions:
Steam the cauliflower using a basket steamer for 10-15 minutes until very soft.
Place the cauliflower in a plastic container for immersion blender

Add 2/3 of the milk and blend using an immersion blender in high-speed
Add more milk for the nice silky consistency if needed.
Add the butter in thick pats
Season with salt and blend until very smooth and silky

This is wonderful way to prepare cauliflower. This purée can be used in many different ways. The smooth texture of the cauliflower purée was a great contrast to the burst of saltiness from the ikura.

One spoonful appetizers a.k.a baby food for adults 一口スプーンの前菜第二弾

This is another iteration of one spoonful appetizers. I am making more purées or what I refer to as “baby food for adults” to use as one gulp spoonfuls of food. In any case, the below are three such appetizers. From left to right: Kabocha potage カボチャのポタージュ, seasoned soft boiled egg 味卵 with ikura salmon roe イクラ and cauliflower puree with ikura.

I also strewed the plate with simmered kabocha カボチャの煮物 (left lower corner), braised cauliflower モンパルナスのカリフラワーand blanched sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

The below was what I served for another evening. This time I made broccoli puree which I garnished with flowerets of blanched broccoli. The other two are the same cauliflower puree and Kabocha potage shown in the pictures above.

I made broccoli puree from the stem of broccoli, onion, and parsnip. It has very good and interesting flavors. When I ask my wife to taste it, she thought it had asparagus.

I made the broccoli puree without a recipe but the basic is very similar to any potage or puree.

Ingredients:
Broccoli stem, hard bottom removed and hard skin removed (I used stems of two broccoli heads), cut into small cubes.
One medium onion, finely diced
One parsnip (or maybe a potato), skinned, cut into small cubes.
1/2 cup of chicken broth or more depending on the consistency of the puree (I used Swanson's no fat reduced salt)
1 tsp unsalted butter and 2 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
Two bay leaves (optional)

Directions:
Add the olive oil and butter to the pan on medium flame and sauté the onion until cooked (2-3 minutes).
Add the broccoli stem and parsnip and coat with butter/oil and add the chicken both to cover.

Add the bay leaves and simmer until soft (15-20 minutes)
Remove the bay leaves and puree using an immersion blender until smooth (add more chicken broth for desired consistency).
Season with salt

These appetizers are nice. The spoonful is just the right amount for a satisfying gulp. They provide a nice range of flavors although the consistency seems, well consistent. It is lovely and smooth but I can’t help but think of it as sophisticated “baby food for adults”. I’ll have to come up with something different.

”Otsumami” appetizer snacks 酒の肴（おつまみ）

This is another rendition of the appetizer snacks we had. I went to our Japanese grocery store the day before which made serving many small dishes easy. I used small lidded bowls and small crane plate we got from Nishiki marker 錦市場 in Kyoto 京都 sometime ago.

We both get filled up quickly so I try to serve small portions. In small bowls from left to right are cold tofu or hiyayakko 冷や奴, grated "Tororo" nagaimo とろろ with "ikura" salmon roe and "Chinese -style" squid salad 中華風イカサラダ

On the black rectangular plate are boiled octopus leg thinly sliced with sumiso sauce タコの酢味噌, my usual dashi-maki Japanese omelet with aonori sea weed 青海苔だし巻き玉子, store bought small fish cake re-heated in the toaster oven.

The gyoza 餃子 I made a few days ago heated up in the toaster oven (skin becomes really crispy) cut in half with a small amount of Ponzu sauce ポン酢 poured into them. This replaces the separate dipping sauce and makes it a bit easier to eat the gyoza.

This store-bought boiled squid salad with Chinese flavors.

This is grated nagaimo (which is called "Tororo"とろろ). I dissolved wasabi into soy sauce and mixed into tororo and topped it with ikura and chiffonade of perilla.

 This is cold silken tofu. I added blanched edible chrysanthemum 春菊. Instead of straight soy sauce I dressed it with concentrated noddle sauce and topped it with bonito flakes かつお節.

We had these small dishes with our house cold sake "tengumai" daiginjo 天狗舞大吟醸. Nothing really new here but very enjoyable.

American Sturgeon caviar and homemade Creme Fraiche アメリカ産のキャビアと自家製クレムフレッシュ

The last time we got American sturgeon caviar from Catalina, it was such a small amount we had to send out for additional “relief” supplies. Finally they arrived and are shown below.


The above tin is 2oz (57grams) of American sturgeon caviar from "Fine caviar". Compared to what I previously got from Catalina Offshore products (0.35oz or 10grams!!), the price for 2oz tin is nearly identical to the 0.35oz tin and the quality is equally as good (at least to us). Keep in mind the amount is almost 6 times more for about the same price! This is indeed a good size tin for the two of us to enjoy some caviar. We defrosted several of the blinis we made before and enjoyed the caviar with home-made creme fraiche. Previously we could not get creme fraiche* so we substituted sour cream*. This time we were not going to let a small obstacle such as no creme fraiche at the grocery store stop us. So we made our own(see below). We also added chopped chives as garnish. Finally, we could sit down and savor the joy of caviar to its fullest extent—mission accomplished.



Since we were ordering the caviar, we also got "Golden Pike" caviar.



To be honest, we prefer Japanese "Tobiko" トビコ or "Masago" まさご roe (flying fish and capelin roe, respectively) over this golden pike roe. This roe has a slight slimy texture and not much flavor bedside some fishiness.

We also got "Ikura" イクラ (salmon roe) in a small jar from the same source but it looked slightly cloudy. Again we prefer the Japanese-style ikura we get from Catalina or the Japanese grocery store.

*Creme fraiche vs sour cream:
We like creme fraiche over sour cream (both are commercial products) because the creme fraiche has a more delicate taste and better texture. We thought creme fraiche and sour cream both were heavy cream with lactobacillus fermentation and did not know the difference. It appears that commercially-made sour cream may not be "fermented" at all but made with the addition of thickening agents and acids to heavy cream. We also learned that when adding to a sauce, sour cream breaks easily but creme fraiche does not. We have yet to test this statement in practice.

In any case, we knew it was supposedly easy to make creme fraiche at home and discovered that it was indeed easy.

How to make creme fraiche or (home-made or real) sour cream:
We added buttermilk (2 tbs) to cream (1 cup) and let it sit on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 days in a loosely covered sealable container (the time will depend on the temperature—it was fairly cold when we made it). After the desired thickness was reached, mix well, seal the container and refrigerate. That is it. We tried it with "light" (fat 18-30%) cream as well as "Heavy whipping" (fat 36%) cream. Both worked well but we probably liked the one made with light cream because it had a lighter taste and mouth feel. Instead of buttermilk, we could have used yogurt. But we have not tried that method yet. Our homemade creme fraiche is very good--better than the creme fraiche or sour cream we bought at the store. Come to think of it after this we won’t be buying any more at the store.

Hiyaoroshi #2 and Uni tasting 冷やおろし＃２、海水うに

This is a continuation of our exploration of the “Hiyaoroshi” sake ひやおろし we recently acquired (with a complementary uni tasting on the side.) As I mentioned before, this sake is seasonal; only available in autumn and until recently, the only way to enjoy this seasonal sake was to visit Japan in autumn. This fall, however, thanks to Tippsy sake, we could enjoy hiyaoroshi here in U.S. So far, we’ve tried 5 different hiyaoroshi sakes. All of them were “Junmai” class but the aging process really “kicked them up a notch” making them taste superior to regular Junmai sake. All the hiyaoroshi we tasted had rich savory and complex flavors with some fruity floral characteristics. We tasted (from left to right) three sakes; “Ooyama”, “Gokyo” and “Kisoji”.

1. Ooyama 大山 (meaning “big mountain”) is from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 (which is famous for many excellent and “cult” sakes including “Juyondai”  十四代). The brewery is “Katou Kahashirou” 加藤嘉八郎酒造. This sake is called “Tokubetsu junnmai” 特別純米. “Tokubetsu" means “special”. My understanding is that this designation does not have an official definition, but usually the rice is polished to 60%. This is the same level of polishing as “Ginjou” 吟醸酒. So, by definition, this type of “Tokubetsu junmai” could also be sold as “Ginjo”. It is up to the brewer to decide what to call it. Junmai is usually characterized by robust and rich flavors while ginjo is characterized by more elegant crisp fruity flavors. So, depending on the aim of the particular sake, the brewer could call it either way. We really like this sake. Quite rich and dry with some acidity．

2. Gokyo 五橋 (meaning “five bridges”  indicating a famous 5 arched bridge called “Kintai kyo” 錦帯橋 spanning Nishiki-river 錦川 in the city of Iwakuni 岩国 (where the brewery “Sakai shuzou”  酒井酒造 is located).  This is labeled as “Junmai”  but again RPR (rice polishing ratio) is reportedly 60%. The flavor profile is very similar to the previous sake; again rich, savory with hint of fruit.

3. Kisoji 木曽路 (meaning “Kiso route ” which is the mountainous route connecting Tokyo or “Edo” to Kyoto in Kiso now a part of Nagano prefecture 長野県.) (Digression alert: We have visited Kiso. It is famous for “Hinoki” trees and deep forested mountains. We brought some Hinoki products from Kiso back with us from our trip and we are still using them after all these years.) The brewery is called “Yukawa brewery” 湯川酒造. It is again “Junmai” class with RPR of 70%. However, it is made using an ancient labor intensive techniqu called “Yamahai” 山廃. This sake is probably our favorite among the five hiyaoroshi we tried.  In addition to a rich savory taste it has some fruitiness with nice crisp acidity (maybe due to the “Yamahai” process).

We are happy with any one of the hiyaoroshi sakes we tried. We hope Tippsy sake continues bring hiyaoroshi next fall. 

Of course, with such libation we needed a good food to accompany it. We got some fresh uni from maruhide 丸秀, prepared two ways. One was uni preserved in salt water or “Kaisui uni” 海水うに (on the left). The other was regular uni preserved with  potassium alum, (in the center). I thought the regular uni had a better texture but my wife tasted a hint of the alum. Of course, the salt water uni was presented as nature intended. I also served “ikura” salmon roe which was marinated in concentrated Japanese noodle sauce or “mentsuyu” 麺つゆ in a cucumber cup.

The sake and these uni (plus the ikura) were made for each other. They went so well together. What a treat!

Hanami drinking snacks 花見のつまみ

For this year's hanami, we started with this fusion dish of tuna tartar.

This was followed by small assortment of "chinmi"  珍味 or rare tastes (not really rare). I just used pre-made frozen items. The front on the right is "tobiko" トビコ or flying fish roe and the next is salmon roe or ikura いくら; both are placed on a cup of cucumber. I garnish tobiko with a sliver of cucumber and the ikura slice of jalapeño pepper.

In a small, "plum petal" patterned cup is squid marinated in soy sauce and mirin or "okizuke" 沖漬け. In a small blue flower-shaped cup is a "Yukke" of "engawa" 縁側 or meat just under the dorsal fin of flat fish or hirame ヒラメ. The engawa literally means a Japanese porch/open corridor in front of a Japanese room usually facing the garden.  The appearance of the meat just under the dorsal fin of hirame is composed of lines of individual muscles resembling the way wood is laid out on the floor of an "engawa". This "cut" of fish happens to be  my favorite sashimi item. This one is marinated in sweet and hot red pepper sauce in Korean style. Both came frozen in a small pouch or container. I just thawed them and served. Both are OK but a bit sweet. The engawa lost the firm texture I cherish. The tobiko roe were also seasoned too sweetly and too brightly colored (obviously includes an artificial red coloring).

As a warm comforting dish, I served chicken thigh simmered in a black vinegar and soy sauce with taro or "sato-imo"  里芋 simmered in the same sauce with garish of brocoli.

I used to be able to get fresh "sato-imo" or taro root but I have not seen them either in the Japanse grocery store or a regular market for some time. This one was pre-cooked and frozen. I first parboiled as is while frozen removing the scum which floated on the surface. I washed them in running cold water and then cooked in the same simmering liquid. These tasted the same as fresh ones cooked from scratch with a good texture and much less work.

The cherry blossoms are going quickly. This year it is going to be a race against time not only because of the warm weather but because, for some reason, the birds have learned to eat the blossoms. It started some years ago with the house finches and the cardinals learned it from them. They grab the flower, nibble something from its base and drop the remaining almost intact flower to the ground. They are stripping the tree even as we speak and while we watch. As a result we have a somewhat premature "hana-fubuki" or "flower blizzard" consisting of full flowers instead of just petals. Our back yard is the only place I have seen this phenomenon--it clearly isn't an issue at the tidal basin or there would have been a "national" outcry. Thanks to the daylight savings time, however, we still had some light outside even after finishing the three dishes.

New Year's eve sashimi and Black label "Mu" sake 大晦日の夕、大吟醸 黒乃無

On New Year's eve, we feasted on bluefin tuna sashimi and boiled octopus (with daikon namasu 大根なます, not in the picture) which we got frozen from Catalina offshore products and thawed for the celebration. I also served marinated "zuke" tuna 鮪の漬け (it's the darker tuna on the right upper corner of the plate)  along with "datemaki" 伊達巻 New Year's Japanese omelet and "salmon" Russian marinade 鮭のロシア漬けtopped with ikura all of which I made (except for the Ikura).

We opened a sake we haven't had before called "Kuro-no Mu" or "Black Label Mu" daiginjo 黒乃無 純米大吟醸 which is supposedly a step up from our house sake "Mu" daiginjo. Black Label Mu is made from sake rice with an RPR (rice polishing rate) of 40% meaning 60% of the rice's outer shell has been polished away. This compares to Mu which has a RPR of 50%; the minimum amount of polishing to be classified as daiginjo. Since less of the sake rice remains after polishing Black Label Mu is obviously more expensive than Mu.

So, our expectations for this sake were high--maybe somewhat over inflated because somehow this was not what we expected. To us it tasted much sweeter than the regular "Mu" and had a more sherry-like characteristic. What our taste-buds experienced is apparently confirmed by sake metrics shown below (cited from "Tippsy Sake" website which will be the subject for a separate blog in the near future). The SMV (Sake Meter Value or 日本酒度) for Black Label is +1.0 which is on the "slightly sweet" side (neutral is +3.0). Acidity also determines perceived "sweetness". With the acidity of 1.5 and  SMV of + 3, shown as the red dot on the taste metric graph below, the Black Label is still classified "light and dry (but on the border).  (Similar metrics were not available for a regular Mu). Black Label is good for sipping but we prefer regular Mu as an accompaniment with food.

We had a few more food items and ended by making tonkatsu (I breaded it earlier and just fried it).  We had hand made/cut soba noodles from Sushi Taro but as usual, we did not eat it on New Year's eve because we were too full. I fell asleep but my wife stayed awake and woke me up just before midnight. We saw the ball drop at Times Square on TV and welcomed the entrance of 2020.

Gravlax グラブラックス

Some years ago, I made gravlax but somehow I have not made it for some time. I even forgot that I had made it. But this year, my wife requested I make the gravlax for New Year. She even remembered and was able to specified the recipe I had used. I have been serving this with my "Russian" marinated salmon for several days of the new year.



Although both are "chemically" cooked or cured salmon, the flavor and texture are totally different giving a nice contrast of two salmon dishes. Here I served my gravlax on a bed of thinly sliced Japanese cucumber with capers. The "Russian" marinated salmon was garnished with Ikura salmon roe and fresh dill. The gravlax has the texture of smoked salmon (without smoke) but also nice flavors of coriander seeds and tequila predominate with subtle fresh herbs (mint, dill, basil and citrus). The marinated salmon has soft "cooked" texture with lemon flavor. The onion (I used sweet onion) became marinated and goes so well with the marinated salmon.



In another serving example, I served the gravlax (arranged in a rose flower shape) on a bed of water cress (mostly leaves removing large stems) with my wife's home made creme fraiche and "ikura" salmon roe garnish. I also added salmon-kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き and daikon namasu 大根なます with thinly sliced boiled and vinegar seasoned octopus 酢だこ.



My wife's creme fraiche took some time (4 days as opposed to usual 2 days) to form (probably due to the rather cool room temperature but it tasted great.



Although sake or Champaign will go well with these dishes, we decided either scotch or good bourbon is better. Here we served Kentucky's Maker's mark (now a part of Suntory of Japan along with Jim Bean),



The recipe for the gravlax came from Julia Child's "In Julia's Kitchen with Master chefs" and by Monique Barbeau. Although I followed her recipe, some of the measurements are clearly off and I made adjustments.

Ingredients:
Salmon: Side of fresh salmon, skin on all pin bones removed.

Note:

1. The recipe states 1 and 1/2 lb side of salmon but if that was the case, it is a very small salmon indeed. Mine weighted at least 2 and 1/2 lbs. even after I removed the very thick head and very thin belly portions. Next time I will use the mid portions of two sides of salmon with identical size and thickness. The meat of the thin tail portion got cured too much and became a bit leathery and salty (but still very edible). 
2. I prefer scaling the skin as well because while slicing the final products, the scales did come off sometimes and attach to the slices of gravlax.

Dry cure:
3/4 cups kosher salt
1 and 1/2 cups of light brown sugar
(In contrast to a very small side of salmon, the amount of the dry cure is way too much in the original recipe which specify 1 and 1/2 cups of kosher salt and 2 cups of brown sugar. I only used 1/3-1/2 of the total of 3 and 1/2 dry cure I prepared for my 2.5 lb side of salmon. I will cut the amount of the dry cure by half next time which is listed above.)

Liquid cure: ( the amount of liquid cure was perfect)
1/2 cup tequila
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Zest of one lemon (I used my micrograter)
Zest of one orange (I used my micrograter)
2 tsp of whole coriander seeds
3 sprigs of fresh dill, with stems
3 sprigs of fresh mint, with stems
3 sprigs of fresh basil, with stems

Day one - Dry cure
I used a rectangular Pyrex baking dish (13 x 9 inches) in which my side of the salmon just fit. I lined the inside with plastic wrap with excess portions on both ends so that I could wrap the salmon completely. I layered the dry cure in 1/4 inch thick on the bottom (preserving at least 1/3 for the next day). I placed the salmon skin side up (or meat side in contact with the cure). I placed additional cure on the sides and the ends and wrapped the salmon with plastic wrap. I covered (loosely) with aluminum foil and placed it in another Pylex baking dish which was slightly smaller than the bottom baking dish. I put 3 heavy cans of vegetables (I think they were either beans or tomato but the weight is what needed here, about 5 lb) on the top. I placed this in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Day two - liquid cure
I roughly chopped the herbs and mixed them with the tequila, lime juice, and orange and lemon zests. I placed whole coriander seeds in a small Ziploc bag and using a heavy pot, I crushed the seeds and added to the liquid cure.

When I removed the vegetable can weights and unwrapped the salmon, the dry cure was all melted and a quite good amount of liquid had exuded from the fish. The salmon was noticeably dark and firm.  I removed the salmon and set aside. I discarded the liquid and plastic wraps, washed and dried the baking pans. I lined the bottom pan with plastic wrap exactly as I did for the dry cure process. I poured in the liquid cure and spread the  herbs and spices evenly on the bottom. I sprinkled the dry cure on the liquid bed (no exact amount specified, so I just lightly sprinkled) and placed the salmon back with fresh side down. I also placed the dry cure on the cut end and on the sides. I wrapped the salmon using the excess ends of plastic wrap, loosely covered with a sheet of aluminum foil, placed it in the upper baking dish and the weight (3 cans) and placed back to the refrigerator for another 24 hours.

If the curing is completed, the salmon fresh should be uniformly firm and dark red (That was the case for me at the end of 24 hours liquid cure). But if not, the original recipe recommends to place it back in the liquid cure for 1-2 more days. The original recipe indicates that the gravlax will last for 10 days stored in the liquid cure.

I forgot to take pictures during these curing processes.

Slicing:
I happened to have a long flexible knife (Global) for slicing smoked salmon and gravlax. I sliced it very thinly turning the knife blade horizontally to release it from the skin. I sliced the thin tail portion of the meat obliquely but as the meat became thick, I slanted my knife only slightly.



The thin tail meat got a bit over cured in the dry cure process and got slightly too firm and salty. Next time I will use two portions of salmon of equal size and thickness rather than one side with a thin tail portion. Since we had consumed all the tail portion at this point, I poured the liquid cure into a gallon Ziploc bag, put in the gravlax, removed the air as much as possible before sealing. This made it much easier to store in the refrigerator.



After the salmon feast, we switched to cold sake and enjoyed more small dishes from the box. From right to left are; herring roe on kelp, steamed sea urchin, kumquat simmered in syrup, sweet fish with its roe simmered for 10 hours, chestnut "shibukawa-ni", and sake braised prawn.