Tender simmered octopus たこの柔らか煮

I have to admit that I really like octopus (tako) and am on a constant prowl to find places to get decent tako. I have gotten octopus from a few different places with varying success and I’ve cooked it several different ways over the years. Among the seafood vendors, recently, we have been getting fairly good frozen  seafood from  Great Alaska Seafood . This time, they were selling frozen Spanish octopus legs and we tried them. (At another time, they were also selling Alaskan octopus -uncooked and frozen- but we did not try it.) The legs were from Spanish octopus, boiled and frozen (see the picture 2nd from the last below). It came as 4 pounds of octopus in 8 half pound vacuumed sealed packages. After thawing a package in the refrigerator, I thinly sliced it and tasted it. It was fresh tasting but compared to Japanese products, it was much softer. So I decided the first dish I would make would be simmered octopus  or “Tako-no-yawaraka-ni” 蛸の柔らか煮 literally meaning “tender simmered octopus”.  I tried this before with tako from other sources and despite long simmering, the octopus never got really tender. This time I have two elements which would make this dish successful; 1. This particular octopus had been pre-cooked before we received it and it was much more tender than the boiled and frozen octopus I tried before and 2. I now have a Instant pot which allows me to make this dish using pressure cooking. The combination of these factors resulted in a dish that was quite a success. The octopus was very tender and flavorful. 

I served this with fried shrimp heads (they were from Tako Grill takeout). Whenever we have shrimp (“bonanebi“ 牡丹海老) sashimi, we get fried heads which we heat up in the toaster oven and serve with wedges of lemon and salt broth soaked sugar snaps. On the right in the picture below is squid shiokara イカの塩辛 (frozen which comes in a plastic pouch). This is certainly a good line-up for starting the evening.

Here is the close up of the octopus.

The picture below shows how the octopus legs came. Two good sized legs in one package.

Since this was a trial, I used only one leg for this dish.

Ingredients:
Boiled octopus leg, thawed
200ml Japanese dashi (I made this from dashi pack).
1tbs soy sauce
2tbs mirin
2tbs sake
several think ginger slices

Directions:
I used an Instant pot with a small metal container insert with a silicon lid (you could use the inner pot of the instant pot).
I added the octopus and the seasoning liquid into the insert and put on the lid.
I added 1/2 cup water to the pot and using the metal holder that came with the insert, lowered it into the instant pot.
I cooked it on high pressure for 30 minutes with natural depressurization.
The picture below is after cooking.
One of the problems with the Instant Pot cooking is that the simmering liquid does not reduce at all.
So I decided to put the leg and the simmering liquid in a frying pan and cook it on medium flame for 15-20 minutes until the liquid reduced by half.

I cut the leg into bite sized pieces and served it at  room temperature. This is a most tender and flavorful octopus leg. Next time I will make a larger amount since the entire leg was just enough for two small servings.

Octopus leg dressed in salted plum sauce タコの梅肉あえ

I have posted many dishes using octopus which we got from different sources. We like octopus legs (boiled and frozen) from D’artagnan and Great Alaska Seafood. Interestingly, both are “Spanish octopus legs”.  The offer we recently purchased from Great Alaska Seafood included quite a large amount of octopus legs so I have the luxury of using it fairly regularly. The last time I used it, after thawing, I reserved about 2 inches of the octopus leg to eat as “sashimi*” 刺身 and I made the remainder into tender simmered octopus タコの柔らか煮 using an Instant pot. We usually eat octopus sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce or sumiso but this time, I tried a different dressing using salted plum or “Umeboshi” 梅干し (I used some umeboshi we received quite a few years ago from my mother the last time she made it. We kept it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. It looked and tasted good). I also served two small appetizer dishes.

*Most common “sashimi” of octopus is previously boiled legs because raw octopus is extremely perishable. Real “raw” octopus can be had in Japan. The first time we had “raw” octopus sashimi was in Kobe 神戸 many years ago. Because of the location of Kobe, very fresh octopus from the Japanese inland sea 瀬戸内海 was available. Now, because of the advancement in the logistics of transporting fresh seafood in Japan, it is more readily available throughout Japan. As a matter of fact, we had raw octopus sashimi at Tako Grill in Kuroishi 黒石, Aomori prefecture 青森県 in Japan.

The upper left picture above shows the Octopus slices with salted plum sauce: タコの刺身梅肉和え.

Ingredients and directions: (two small serving)

2 inches of boiled octopus leg, sliced thinly into 8 -10 slices

For Umeboshi 梅干し “bainiku” sauce 梅肉ソース

1 “umeboshi” salted plum, meat removed and finely chopped until creamy.

1 tsp mirin, mixed in

For garnish

1 perilla leaf, finely julienned 

1 nyouga, thinly slices

Cucumber slices

I also served tender simmered octopus leg タコの柔らか煮.

Since we had a small portion of filet mignon left over from the day before, I thinly sliced it and dressed it in ponzu sauce ポン酢醤油 with grated ginger. The green is blanched sugar snaps in dashi broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

 

These small appetizers were great to start the evening.

Baby octopus braised in garlic butter and soy sauce 飯蛸のバター醤油いため

This was only the second time I saw raw wild caught baby octopus or "Iidako" 飯蛸 in the market and I bought them without hesitation. Although I call it "baby" octopus, it is not a baby or even the young of a large octopus species but just a variety of small octopus. We happened to stop by this market after work on the way home since we had some business to take care of at a near-by location. The last time I found small or baby octopus was at the same market. At that time, I posted grilled baby octopus which was good but a bit on the chewy side. To avoid letting squid or octopus get chewy, I need to cook it either very quickly or for a very long time. Since this was a weekday evening and I didn’t think they would last until the weekend, I did not have much time and I chose the quick approach.

Pictures of the baby octopus, raw, are shown below. (1 lb of which is more than enough for 2 servings as an appetizer). Luckily they were already cleaned and the "beaks" removed (It was a good thing. See this post - in Japanese- to learn how to clean it). After I salted and "kneaded" them in a bowl, I washed them several times with cold running water. Since the first picture (#1) does not show the individual octopus well, I fished one out and placed placed it on top for its portrait (#2). This was one of the larger specimens.

I first parboiled the octopus in rapidly boiling water with a dash of sake (to reduce the "fishy" odor) for 30 seconds (#3). I drained them and cut the larger ones in half or quarters and left the small ones whole. I set them aside.

I melted butter (2 tbs, unsalted) on medium heat and when the butter melted added finely chopped garlic (2 fat cloves). I sautéed for 1 minutes or so until the garlic was fragrant but not browned. I increased the heat and added the parboiled octopus and quickly sautéed for 30-40 seconds and added chopped scallions (3 stalks). I finished the dish with a soy sauce (1/2 tbs) and mirin (1/2 tbs) and cut the heat (#4).

I served them with a sprinkling of Japanese red pepper flakes or ichimi tougarashi 一味唐辛子 (the first picture). This time, the octopus were not tough or chewy at all. They were plump and pleasantly springy in texture which was very nice. They were remarkably fresh and the combinations of butter, garlic and soy sauce cannot go wrong. The mirin added just a slight sweetness to round up the dish. This was a perfect small dish for sake and we had new G-sake from SakeOne with this dish.

Whole boiled octopus ゆでだこ

We usually get sashimi items from Catalina Offshore products but with the New Year fast approaching, they did not seem to have fresh tuna (especially fatty bluefin tuna) available despite many times I checked their web site. So, I decided to try a new vender called "Fish for Sushi"*. They sell only frozen fish but unlike many of the frozen yellow fin tuna which I have used in dishes posted before, their tuna (either bigeye or yellowfin) is said to be "super-frozen" and not treated with "odorless smoke" (euphemism for carbon mono-oxide gas to make it look more red). For the New Year, I ordered frozen bigeye tuna, kampachi (subjects for later posts) and boiled octopus. We usually get one small octopus leg at a time especially for the holidays but they only had a 2 lb boiled then frozen whole octopus. The price differential between the single leg we usually get and the whole octopus with 7 additional legs plus a body made the purchase seem more than reasonable i.e. the whole animal was relatively cheap compared to the single leg.

*The actual frozen items came from "Uoriki Fresh" located in New Jersey. This place appears to be the wholesaler for the “Fish for Sushi” retail site—or so we assume.

A whole, 2 lb octopus, however, is a lot of octopus, (the usual lamb roast that we buy is only about 3 pounds). So in addition to the portions being used for the New Year's dishes, we had a lot of octopus-eating to do. I had to come up with a number of different dishes in a race against time to finish it up before it went bad.  The first day we received it, I made my usual octopus dressed in "karashi-sumiso" as seen below.

I added chopped scallion and thinly julienned daikon.

Another variation I served on a different day was dressed with yuzu-koshou, olive oil and soy sauce. This was rather good with some heat, yuzu citrus flavor.

This is how the whole boiled octopus looked. I defrosted it in the refrigerator for 2 days and washed it under the running cold water.

I separated the legs (eight of them, just in case you did not know "Octo" is 8).

One leg was sliced and then placed in sweet vinegar to make "Sudako" which I used to accompany my daikon "namasu" 大根なます for the New Year (below).

Rejuvination process: The octopus tasted good and fresh but the 3rd day after I thawed it, I re-boiled it to remove any off flavors and to make it last longer. I boiled enough water so that 2-3 legs could be submerged easily with a dash of sake and a small amount of salt. I also prepared a large bowl with ice and cold water next to it. I first placed the 2-3 legs at a time into rapidly boiling water for 5 seconds and then immediately plunged them into the ice water to cool. I repeated this process for all the legs and the head. After they were thoroughly iced down, I removed them from the ice water and patted dry with a paper towel. I wrapped them in a new paper towel and placed them in a Ziploc bag. I refrigerated the pieces in the meat drawer of the refrigerator (lowest temperature place in our refrigerator). With this treatment, I expected the octopus to last at least another week. After tasting it again I think that although it was very good and fresh, after the parboiling, it tasted even better. I made more dishes from this fellow and they will be the subject of separate posts.

Octopus leg from D'artagnan ダルタニアンからのスペイン産タコの足

I am fond of octopus and I’m always on the look out for a good and  reliable source. Our Japanese grocery store usually has it but I’m not going there as often as before. Our “tried and true” source is Catalina offshore products has frozen package of octopus for octopus leg from Japan. When I checked this time, however, only whole octopus was available.  We tried several other sources but they are were not always reliable. We recently tried Great-Alaska seafood which sold "Boiled Spanish Octopus". This was not bad and came two legs in a package frozen so it is just the right amount; however, it is a bit too soft/mushy. I made "Yawaraka-ni" やわらか煮 or tender simmered octopus which worked really well. This time, while we were reordering duck breast and lamb loin from D'artagnan we found that they also sell frozen Spanish octopus legs and decide to give it a try. One evening, I thawed one leg and tried it with sumiso dressing (on the right in the picture below) along with some cold chawan-mushi 茶碗蒸し topped with ikura (shrimp, chicken and nameko mushroom are in the chawan-mushi).

Since this was just a try, I only served three slices with cucumber in sweet vinegar.

Interestingly, the texture of this Spanish octopus is just right and to our liking-slightly chewy, not mushy or as toughly chewy as Japanese style octopus can be. It also tasted fresh. If D'artagnan keeps an inventory of octopus, this is another source. (We really liked the lamb loin we got from them which is a subject of another post.)

Galician octopus tapas 蛸のガリシア風タパス

As I mentioned earlier, with a whole octopus in the house, we had a lot of octopus eating to do. As a result I had to come up with something totally different from my usual recipes. I was thinking of making "tapas" and looked for recipes. There are many "Galician" octopus recipes. Although they are essentially boiled octopus eaten with paprika and olive oil, how to boil the octopus ranges widely from just boiling it in plain water to boiling it in highly seasoned broth. I took a middle-of-the-road approach heavily influenced by Chef Eric Ripert's recipe.


I started with two legs of boiled octopus. I added salt (1/2 tsp), Fino sherry (1/2 cup), lemon (1/4, juiced), black pepper corns (5) and smoked paprika powder (1 tsp), and crushed garlic (2 cloves) into the water (3 cups) (below picture, left). I put on an "otoshi-buta" 落とし蓋 and then a regular lid and cooked it on a very low simmer for 1 and half hours (Picture below right).



When it cooled to room temperature, I sliced it rather thickly and sprinkled on smoked paprika powder and a good amount of good fruity olive oil (the first picture).

This was not bad but despite the long cooking, it was still a bit chewy. Initially I tasted some bitterness while it was hot, but the bitterness disappeared when it cooled to room temperature. Two of us quickly consumed the two good sized legs.  I don’t think I will buy octopus just to make this particular dish but if you should find your self in the position of having an excess amount of octopus, this is a good dish to try.

Octopus and cucumber in sumiso dressing 蛸のぶつ切りと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ

This is nothing new; just a continuation of frozen and boiled Spanish octopus from Great Alaska Seafood. This is a good example of how an octopus leg cut can make a big difference in texture.  Boiled octopus can be sliced thinly with a wave cut or cut into chunks called "Butsu-giri" ぶつ切り. The cut that is used depends on the firmness of the cooked octopus meat. Firm texture octopus it is quite chewy. A thick slice would be too difficult to eat. The thin wave cut provides a manageably chewy piece and the wave pattern catches any sauce that is used. Alternatively if  the octopus meat is soft, the thinly slice wave cut doesn’t have any texture and basically dissolves when eaten so cutting it into chunks is the better choice. Since this octopus was a bit on the soft side, I opted for the chunky cut and made this classic "octopus and cucumber  sumiso-ae" 蛸のぶつ切りと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ. I served this with store bought squid shio-kara (right)

Since this octopus leg was more tender than ones from Japan, this "Butsu-giri" cut really worked. It is not too chewy but has nice texture.

Small "Iidako" octopus and wakame dressed in vinegar-miso いいだこと塩蔵ワカメの酢みそ和え

When I visit the only Japanese grocery store left in our area, what I find is sort of hit-or-miss. On one such visit, I found boiled small octopus (only head or body portion but not the legs or tentacles) in the refrigerated case. I only saw boiled octopus legs before in this store but this was new, so I bought it.

This is probably "Iidako" 飯蛸. If I am correct, this is a small species of octopus but not a juvenile or baby of a larger octopus such as "true" octopus or 真蛸. I pondered a bit but I decided to make a classic vinegar-miso dressing with cucumber and wakame seaweed. Despite the fact I posted a few very similar dishes before, this is such a classic combination and I could not resist making this dish.

I just sliced the octopus thinly. Wakame was the salt preserved variety which was washed, hydrated and cut into a bite sized pieces (this was the last of the salt preserved wakame that we had). Cucumber was my usual American mini-cucumber, thinly sliced, salted and excess moisture squeezed out. 

"Karashi sumiso" is my usual with Saikyo miso 西京味噌 and rice vinegar and Japanese hot mustard.

The octopus is a bit firm but very nice. It has different textures as compared to the tentacles of larger octopus. I made sumiso sauce a tad too vinegary this time. I served this with braised potato and green beans (right in the image below) as opening dishes.

We tasted a new batch of G-Sake "joy" (I suppose "G" is for "Genshu" 原酒). We think this is a new brew since the shape of the bottle is slightly different (No "BY" or "Brew Year" is listed on the bottle). The taste is about the same as before with a "umami" predominant taste profile. It has a slightly viscous but pleasant mouth feel. As compared to the old batch, my wife felt it was slightly more yeasty but I did not. If this sake had a bit more fruity and crisp upfront taste which leads to the "umami"-laden finish, which this one already posses, this sake would be formidable. But the taste of this sake is a true undiluted or "genshu" style of sake. The assertive vinegary taste of my miso dressing actually went very well with this sake.

Octopus carpaccio variation タコのカルパッチョ

I stopped by our Japanese grocery store this weekend, especially since we were running out of sushi vinegar 寿司酢 (an important item for any household especially ours). I bought a few other items which included boiled octopus legs ゆでだこの足. I served them with my usual "karashi sumiso" 芥子酢味噌 that evening with cold sake. The next evening I wanted to serve what was left but in a different way. The variation I came up with is the subject of the current post. Besides, my wife wanted to start the evening with a glass of red wine rather than sake. So, I came up with this rendition of octopus carpaccio. Although I posted a similar dish before, there are enough differences to warrant another post (I am a bit desperate for new posts at this point). Since I also bought cod roe or "tarako" たらこ and "salmon roe" いくら as well, I incorporated these into the dish as well. In the picture below, the green is cucumber slices, the red and white slivers are red radish, thinly sliced and then cut into thin julienne.

My wife asked why I always slice octopus in a wavy fashion (check out how a pro will do it with the visual aid here). This wavy cut is called "sazanami-giri" さざなみ切り("sazanami" is Japanese for the small ripply waves on the surface of otherwise calm waters).  I told my wife this is the traditional way of slicing octopus and abalone or "awabi" アワビ because the flesh of these creatures is firm. If the surface was cut smoothly the soy sauce would just run off. The ripples help hold the sauce on much like the grooves in pasta help hold on the tomato sauce. 

As usual, I started with olive oil (I used this excellent Spanish olive oil for this) and syrupy aged balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on the bottom.

I made the base layer with very thinly sliced Vidalia onion (I used a Japanese "Benriner" mandoline). I then added cucumber slices around the perimeter and covered the center with thinly sliced octopus. I removed the tarako roe from its membrane sac (I used about 1/3). I scattered the tarako and ikura on the octopus and garnished it with thin julienne of red radish. I finished with drizzles of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  

We had this with Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2012, this is a very reliable California Cab and got 90 from Wine Advocate. This winery was bought out by the Gallo some years ago but appears to be maintaining their quality. It may not be a spectacular wine but it has all the good qualities of  a Napa cab. One should be careful when buying this brand, however, since they make three different versions with near-identical labels but different prices; they are from Napa, Alexander and Sonoma valleys. We tried all three in different vintages but we liked the Napa version best.  This wine went rather well with the carpaccio, although the addition of fish roe resulted in a somewhat less than perfect match for red wine. The roe were in small enough amounts so as not to be objectionable and they did add a nice saltiness. The balsamic vinegar was more sweet than vinegary and did not compete with this red. The olive oil was again great, adding nice fruity, grassy tastes with a peppery finish. The octopus itself had a very neutral flavor (an euphemism for not much taste) but added great texture. We had the octopus slices with layers of the onion, cucumber which made it very nice. I made one more dish which we had with this red wine before changing to cold sake with tuna tartar (both dishes are subjects of future posts). 

Japanese winter stew with octopus legs たこ入りのおでん

I posted that we got 2lb whole octopus for the New Year. I made this Japanese winter stew or "oden" おでん with the octopus. The way oden was made is exactly the same as my previous post, but I added the tips of the octopus legs on skewers to the oden. When octopus legs are cut for sashimi or other use, the tips remain. I usually cut the tips into small chunk or "butsu-giri" ぶつ切りand dress them with "sumiso" 酢味噌. I serve them as contrast in texture with the sliced octopus. This time, I decide to use the tips of the legs in oden.

As I add items to the oden pot, I usually end up having too much oden. So I restrained myself and did not add any fish cakes just the octopus legs, boiled eggs, tofu, daikon, konnyaku 蒟蒻, and shiitake mushroom.


This one small serving with a dab of Japanese hot mustard. Since I left the octopus legs for long time in the pot, they were rather tender and also imparted a nice “fresh ocean” flavor to the broth.


The picture below shows how I cut the tips of the legs and then skewered them. You do not have to skewer them but it looked nice and it prevents them from curling up when they cook.


This is a very good way of using tips of the octopus especially on a cold winter day.

Carpaccio of octopus タコのカルパチオ

Having bought a 2 lb whole boiled and frozen octopus (which is a small octopus) from Fish-For-Sushi in preparation for the New Year,  I had to make some effort to finish it before it went bad. We had dinner guests a few days before new year. Although they were not known to enjoy an octopus, I decided to take a chance and serve Carpaccio of octopus.




When I made salmon gravlax,  I bought navel oranges which turned out to be very sweet and juicy—the best oranges we have had for some time. So I decided to use the orange fruit as well as a bit of it's juice.

Ingredients (for 4 servings):
Sweet onion: one medium, thinly sliced in rings using a Japanese Mandoline (Benriner)
Boiled octopus legs: 2 thinly sliced on bias.
Navel orange: one large, fruit separated from membrane and cut into small chunks
Watercress: remove thick stalks

Olive oil: Good fruity extra-virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar: Aged sweet syrupy one
Salt and pepper (I used smoked sea salt).

In a small serving dish, I freshly cracked some smoked sea salt. Then, I drizzled on lines of olive oil. I repeated the process this time with balsamic vinegar which I drizzled in lines perpendicular to the ones I made with the olive oil to form an olive oil, balsamic vinegar grid on the plate. I then scattered thinly sliced onion. I placed the slices of the octopus to cover the entire center portion of the plate. I added the orange chunks, more slices of onion, and then the watercress. I drizzled lines of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the top, and sprinkled on the juice of the orange, salt and pepper.

This was a great hit. Our guests had never had octopus before. They guessed that the octopus was a “protein” but did not know what it was. We had this with champagne.

Octopus three ways 鮹、三種類

Recently I saw a rather good looking boiled (probably previously frozen and thawed) octopus leg (see the second picture, below) at our Japanese grocery store. So, that evening, I served octopus three ways. I may have been influenced by watching episodes of “Yasuko Kuramoto” 倉本康子 in “Onna sakaba hourouki”  女酒場放浪記 in which she always orders “tako” たこ or octopus if it is available.
1. Deep fried octopus たこの唐揚
The octopus leg I purchased is shown in the picture below, upper left. I cut the middle portion of the leg into sizable chunks or “butsugiri” ぶつ切り and marinated in a sake and soy sauce mixture (1:1 ratio, shown below upper right) for 30 minutes or so in the refrigerator. I removed the octopus pieces from the marinade, blotted them dry with a paper towel and dredged them in potato flour (below, lower left). I then simply deep fried them in hot oil for 4-5 minutes (below, lower right).
I served them with a wedge of lemon. The pieces had a nice crust but they were sort of chewy. I do not mind “chewy” but my wife was not particular fond of this dish.

2. “sumiso-ae” たこの酢味噌和え (below right) and
3. “sashimi” たこの刺身with soy sauce and wasabi (below right).

I posted sumiso-ae previously. I used mostly the tip portion of the octopus cut into small chunks. The dressing is a mixture of saikyou-miso 西京味噌, Japanese hot mustard, rice vinegar or “karashi sumiso” からし酢味噌.

For the sashimi, I used the thickest portion of the leg, cut very thinly diagonally with a wavy pattern (action). Of course, I used freshly thawed “real” wasabi. (They must have changed something with the tube wasabi because the current ones are much easier to squeeze out).
I think this was enough “tako” for one evening. We finally can use our own “perilla” leaves or “aojiso” 青じそ since it is growing profusely in our herb garden now.

Octopus and avocado salad たことアボカドのサラダ

When we buy a boiled leg of octopus, it takes at least 3 separate sittings for us to finish it. So, beside the usual sashimi, I usually come up with a few variations. Since we had a ripe avocado, I decided to make something similar to tuna and avocado cubes. I garnished this with chiffonade of perilla.

I used both slices and small chunks of the octopus to finish up the remaining octopus leg.

For the tuna and avocado dish, I used minced garlic and dark sesame oil, for this I used finely diced red onion and olive oil, instead. I was aiming for a more gentle tasting dressing.

Ingredients (2 servings):
Boiled octopus leg, cut thinly as well as in small chunks, amount arbitrary but I used about the half of the leg.
Ripe avocado, half, skin and some removed and cut into small cubes
Red or sweet onion, half, small, finely diced

For dressing:
1/2 tbs light olive oil
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs rice vinegar or Yuzu juice

For garnish
2 perilla leaves, cut into thin chiffonade

Directions:
I mixed the ingredients for the dressing.
Mixed the octopus, avocado, onion and the dressing.
Garnish with the perilla.

This was a good salad. Since octopus does not have a strong flavor, I toned down the dressing and replaced the garlic with red onion which worked well. This was a good drinking snack and also we finished the boiled octopus leg in time before it went bad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tender simmered octopus 蛸の柔らか煮

When I made extra octopus legs to Galician octopus tapas, I also made a Japanese-style simmered octopus.



This is a rather simple recipe. I started simmering the octopus legs and head (body) in water with a dash of sake with an Otoshi-buta 落とし蓋 (see below) and a regular lid. I cooked it for over 1 hour before I seasoned the broth. I did not measure but added sugar first (1 tbs to about 3 cups of boiling liquid). I simmered it for 30 minutes and added soy sauce (about 1 tbs). I removed the lid and turned up the flame to low-medium and reduced the broth to 1/3 (took another 30 minutes).



The sauce became thick and clingy (The first picture). I cut  the cooked meat into bite sized pieces and served. We like this preparation better than Galician octopus. The meat became really tender after long hours of cooking. With this dish we congratulated ourselves for completely finishing the whole boiled octopus.

P.S. Once the simmer octopus was refrigerated, it got chewy again. heating up in the microwave did not improve.

Cuttlefish legs with simmered vegetables イカの足いり根菜の煮付け

Some time ago we got some really nice large boiled octopus legs from the HMart Korean grocery store. Unfortunately they have not been available for some time. Alternatives may include "baby octopus" and "Cuttlefish legs".  One day, when I saw boiled octopus was not available again I got "Cuttlefish legs" to see if they could be a substitute for the octopus legs. The short answer, at least as far as I am concerned, is "NO". While they are both good, lets face it Octopus and Cuttlefish are different "animals". If you are craving octopus leg cuttlefish won't "cut it" for you. The package of cuttlefish legs consisted of a collection of small cuttlefish legs, frozen in one large block. It was impossible to thaw just a part of the block. So, one weekend, I thawed the entire block under running water. (Although they were small, that was a lot of cuttlefish legs). I immediately boiled them, in salted water with a splash of sake. To keep the legs from getting too tough I boiled them just enough for them to cook through (1-2 minutes). Using the boil cuttlefish legs I made several dishes but I did not take pictures. I mostly made dishes in which I usually use squid legs such as a small "sumiso-ae" 酢味噌あえ Japanese salad with cucumber and wakame seaweed. I also made simmered dishes with vegetables and the cuttlefish legs. I realized that the dish shown below would use up the last of cuttlefish legs so I decided to take a pic and post. On the left is the cuttlefish with simmered vegetables (daikon and carrot). I added blanched broccoli just before serving. I also served "aji nanban" 鯵の南蛮漬け or fried jack mackerel in sweet vinegar shown on the right.

This is not based on any recipe but sort of basic Japanese home cooking. I peeled and cut the daikon into half moon shapes about 1/4 inch thick. I peeled and cut the carrot using "rangiri" 乱切り to make bite size chunks. I first sautéed  the vegetables in neutral oil such as safflower oil to coat and then added just water and a splash of sake to just cover. I then added the previously prepared (i.e. thawed and blanched) cutttlefish legs. I seasoned with "shirodashi" 白だし which I got from "the rice factory". I did not season the dish strongly so that the flavor of the ingredients could stand out. I simmered it for 30-40 minutes or until the cuttlefish legs were tender. Using the shirodashi kept the ingredients lighter in color than if I had used soy sauce. It also resulted in a gentle tasting simmered dish.

The package of frozen jack mackerel "aji" 鯵 I used for the next dish was getting old, so I decided it was time to cook it and made "nanban-zuke" 南蛮漬け. Although "nanban" refers to red pepper, I omitted the red pepper flakes since my wife is not fond of spicy food. For vegetables, I used carrot, celery, and red onion. I dusted the "aji" with flour and deep fried it before putting it into sweet vinegar with the vegetables. Just before serving, I also added sugar snaps which had been soaking in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし。

These two appetizers are great with cold sake. Although the cuttlefish legs do not substitute for the octopus legs, they were not bad in their own right. Nonetheless I managed to use them all up although it took several dishes to accomplish that feat.

Sashimi salmon four ways 刺身用のサーモン

We found frozen salmon for sashimi and boiled octopus legs in our freezer. I bought these items from Catalina offshore products last December for the 2019 New Year's celebration. At that time we also got frozen tuna sashimi which we ate soon after it was purchased for New Year. The piece of salmon was quite large and we had enough other food for the New Year. It ended up uneaten and stored in the freezer. In addition, I had purchased the frozen octopus legs as a kind of "insurance policy" in case, as has happened some years, we could not get the octopus legs for New Year from our Japanese grocery store. This year we were able to get it, however. So, the extra octopus joined the huge piece of salmon in the freezer. As my wife so aptly pointed out 'frozen fish, unlike wine does not improve with age', we decided to enjoy the salmon and octopus while we could. Since the salmon sashimi was 1 lb (which is a lot of sashimi salmon for the two of us), I  had to come up with a plan on how to use it up. These are the several dishes I came up with. The first dish was a no brainer; sashimi. I added some Japanese dashimaki omelet だし巻き卵, which I had made earlier, and green beans with sesame dressing.

This salmon was not fatty but was quite good. I arranged it into the shape of a rose.

The boiled octopus was sliced thinly in a wavy cut as usual. I made sumiso sauce to my wife's specification (not too vinegary). I thought it was a bit more chewy than the octopus we usually get from the Japanese grocery store but it tasted very fresh (not fishy at all).

The second salmon sashimi dish was very similar to what I posted before. Just in case we needed some spiciness, I served it with Japanese red pepper paste (from a tube).

The dressing was a mixture of lemon juice, sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic. I mixed in finely chopped chives as well.

The third dish was instant Gravlax. Instead of vodka I used gin this time. It added, of course, a gin-flavor. I thought this might be too strong but my wife liked it. Since we ate it all before I remembered to take a picture I am using "stock footage" by posting a previously posted old picture.

The fourth dish was Russian  marinated salmon. Since I was using sashimi-grade salmon, I served it partially cooked, after only one day in the refrigerator. (I usually leave it three days in the marinade to make sure the salmon is fully ”chemically” cooked). The center of this salmon was still raw which added a more delicate fresh flavor. (Again I did not take pictures and I'm posting an old one here).

Since the gravlax and Russian marinated salmon stayed eatable longer than sashimi, we enjoyed these two items for a few days and finally  finished the salmon sashimi block. This was a tough job but somebody had to do it.