quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
I’ve never made potato salad. That looks amazing. I think this will be the ice breaker for me.

Easter is upon us. Ham and potato salad are required and this potato salad is a definitely a cut above.

There's an amazing Asian supermarket in Oklahoma City. I bet we can get Kewpie there!

Keep posting Mr. SK's recipes so that I'll know what I want to try the next time I go there.

I'm going to give it a shot, too. I'm not a huge fan of potato salad because it's too mayonnaise-y, but this recipe looks good.

I went to Tokyo Central market and bought some Kewpie mayonnaise. What a nice store! Everything is arranged just-so, the produce is all impossibly perfect and the way they butcher the meat is pure artistry. The prices are right there with Vons (Safeway/Kroger). I'll taker some pictures next time I am there.

I bought some other stuff too:



The little shaker was supposed to be the spice they use at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl but it isn't. It's spicy but not very flavorful. What should I ask for?

Wasabi Mayonnaise is fantastic! It's good on carrots for some reason.

The soy sauce is different from the Kikkoman soy Sauce I get at Trader Joe's - but how? There were other brands I did not recognize - are there others I should try?

I bought the Miso to add umami to stock. I'm glad I got the reduced salt version - it's plenty salty.

What else should I try?

Mr. SK uses shichimi (red shaker) on ramen (which is on the greasy/oily side) and in combination with other seasonings, so it might that it's not particularly flavorful beyond being spicy.

The soy sauce you got is Nama shoyu (raw soy sauce). It's unpasteurized and it richer than regular soy sauce. We don't usually buy it b/c Mr SK is pretty thrifty, also it's used more in Tokyo region and eastern Japan, and Mr. SK is from Western Japan. But it's yummy! You might google something like "cooking with nama shoyu" I'm guessing it's really good when making various sauces.

In terms of soy sauce, I would say rather than thinking about brands, you might think about all the different types (of which nama is one). Here's a brief intro:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce#Varieties
(if it doesn't take you to the middle of the page, use the menu and click on 5.6.1 varieties)

In terms of other sauces, Mr SK makes okonomiyai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

He makes is with cabbage, shrimp, pork (and other things) and then we mix Kewpie mayo with okonomiyaki sauce on the top. It's incredibly filling but very good! Here's the sauce:



Ooh, in this photo, the package includes things you might use with this sauce, and one of them is hamburgers! I never thought of that, I bet that's awesome!

Does the Tokyo Market have a food court or something? See if there's an okonomiyaki stand or maybe tako-yaki stand there and you could try it. It's a popular street food.

BTW tako-yaki is not Mexican tacos, tako means octapus in Japanese:





Tako-yaki sauce is similar to, though not the same as, okonomiyaki sauce.

One more thing -- have we talked about mirin and/or dashi?

Mirin is sweet(ish) rice wine for cooking (not the same as basic sake used in cooking). And dashi is Japanese stock (fish stock?) that's sold dried and flaky. A lot of home-style dishes that Mr. SK makes have as a base some combination of soy sauce, mirin, dashi, maybe also sake and maybe sugar or salt etc.



Oh, and since you have miso, you can also make miso soup, add seaweed, tofu... and other things. (You better google it, you can tell I don't actually cook!) Miso soup made from real miso is so good (not like the freeze dried stuff you see in the Asian section of a regular super market).

Mr. SK also uses miso for a gazillion other things... like the sauce for breaded pork cutlets, or something with chicken (doesn't have to be breaded)... what else?

You could get moro miso (it has barley or something like it mixed in) which is really good on cucumber. I have always thought of that as the Japanese version of celery sticks with peanut butter.

A lot of these things are super easy to make (with access to the right stuff, which you have in your area). But people don't know about them.

This thread could be re-titled "Japanese cuisine is more than just sushi and sake"

My favorite soy sauce is Yamasa.

Out house did recently acquire a bottle of Kikkoman... with a Hello Kitty label. Otherwise, I'd never buy it. I love Yamasa.

By the way, I also got a bottle of shichimi togarishi... surprisingly it is the Kroger house brand and I like it a lot. It's not super spicy, so I tend to use a lot of it. I especially like it on salmon and on eggs.

Around the house, we jokingly refer to it as tamagotchi.


We talked about mirin when I posted a picture of my salad several years ago. I use mirin, sesame oil, and furikake for salad dressing. Urashima has a variety of seto fumi furikake that has no MSG and claims to be lower sodium than others. Whenever it's on sale, I buy as much as I can fit in my cart.

Thanks!

What is the name of the seasoning I am looking for - the one they have on the table at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl?

I often do a simple soup with a broth (dashi) made by simmering a small square of kombu seaweed in 5 cups of water, then adding some soy sauce. (I'm sure the real Japanese recipe calls for fish flakes, but I don't use those).

Then I saute' some chopped scallions in a bit of oil, add whatever veggies I'm interested in using (daikon, broccoli, carrot, mushroom, etc.) and add the broth, and cook gently for a while.

A few minutes before serving I soak some wakame seaweed in water, then chop it up and add it to the soup. I might add some cooked noodles too.

It's pretty nice. Not as rich as a miso broth would be, but light and healthful.

quote:

Around the house, we jokingly refer to it as tamagotchi.

Steve,

quote:

What is the name of the seasoning I am looking for - the one they have on the table at Yoshinoya Beef Bowl?

Huh. I thought it was shichimi.... Maybe it's their own mix? Or maybe the one you bought is old?? Or maybe it's just not as good when it's not sprinkled on Yoshinoya? Or maybe it's just not the right kind? Mr. SK usually buys shichimi in a brand called House or S&B (both are Japanese brands) but I think McCormick sells a Japanese seven spice too. I think the one in your photo is House.

I googled "yoshinoya spice" and all the hits say shichimi (seven spice) and tougarashi. The tricky thing about togarashi is the question of what it refers to. Togarashi is (crushed or ground) hot pepper, or red hot pepper, or chili pepper, or cayenne pepper... But aren't all of those slightly different varieties?

Also, RP, that sounds yummy!

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

Around the house, we jokingly refer to it as tamagotchi.

I figured that would either be funny or offensive. I wasn't sure which.

Ummm... Steve... this is like the third thread you have started about Japanese food. Just wondering if you have started humming this...

https://youtu.be/RLQeb5NGt3E

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
Ummm... Steve... this is like the third thread you have started about Japanese food. Just wondering if you have started humming this...

https://youtu.be/RLQeb5NGt3E

I really think so...

It's contagious. Mr WTG and I went to Mitsuwa today.

We were welcomed by this sign as we entered the front door:



The restaurant we selected:





A portion of the menu, with instructions for how to eat maze-soba. SK, what's the meat in that dish? Looks like some kind of rolled pork:





Mr WTG and I ordered pork cutlet and chicken teriyaki plates. Came with soup, rice, pickles, finely shredded cabbage with a dressing, and half an egg. I skipped the egg because I don't like soft yolks.



Checking out the crepe place (we were too full to eat dessert, but will come back sometime):





And, hard to believe, but I had to leave without buying any Kewpie mayo...we needed to be somewhere and were already running behind. There was a long line at the checkout in the grocery store, so I had to forego my purchase. Fortunately, Mitsuwa is nearby, so I'll be back.