This recipe has so far been one of my husband’s favorites since I took out the dusty, old Asian cookbook he got me last year. The Teriyaki Chicken pictured in the cookbook looks darker than the photo above. I suppose that’s because the supermarket where I bought the chicken from only has skinless thigh fillets. I guess it’s better with the skin off, and healthier too!
Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs, skin on
2 tbsps oil
2 tbsps Japanese light soy sauce
2 tbsps sake
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsps sugar
Procedure:
Make cuts, 1 cm apart, through skin and partially into flesh of chicken thighs.
Heat oil in pan, fry …read more

A fascinating and engaging look at one woman’s journey, through sushi academy and beyond. Interspersed between the paragraphs holding Kate Murray’s story are names, figures, facts. Trevor Corson covers most everything to do with sushi, and more besides: its history, techniques used, varieties of fish, etc.
Nothing is more interesting than reading about people — and Kate’s experiences and misadventures will hold your interest throughout. That one could find such a root-for character in the pages of a book that also talks about the sushi restaurant industry, its sexist leanings, the academy’s oftentimes brutal training …read more

This is one of my favorite Japanese snacks, and now my little one’s as well. It is very easy to make, as long as you don’t obsess about it being perfect:). This one in the picture was the nicest one that came out. The others were lopsided or had leaks and generally were not professional-looking. However, we had fun and look forward to trying it again. The day we made this all I had in the pantry was some mochiko and pre-packaged sweetened red bean paste. Next time I’ll have to try other flavors, …read more

Tom already has a post here for chirashi zushi, which makes me very thankful since I don’t have to expound so much on what this is. At our house chirashi zushi is known as “lazyman’s sushi”, or the sushi that you’ll eat from a bowl, with chopsticks, instead of your hands, because Mom’s too lazy or too tired to wrap things up.
One such evening in the spring took me to the pages of

from Kikunoi’s Yoshihiro Murata, where I found this beautiful spring sushi, featuring such items as koya dofu and warabi (bracken fern).
This version, while not …read more

Just EWWW.
To his credit, Chef Tatsuo Tanabe claims this is the first time he’s done this, and that it will be the last. Eat Tokyo has gotten good reviews the past year, and if you think about it the air inside a restaurant’s kitchen isn’t exactly sterile, but still….
Image

In a few days I’ll be making some chirashi zushi, which I’ve made in the past but am trying now with different ingredients — the recipe comes from the owner of Kikunoi, and it calls for Koya-Dofu, which I’ve never tried before. It’s basically freeze-dried tofu, which looks like one of those expanding sponges. The monks at Mount Koya developed the technique of freezing the tofu to dehydrate it, producing a block lighter than these floral foams. (A different view of its history is recounted here.) A.k.a. kori-dofu or shimi-dofu, it’s a shelf-stable product so you …read more

Use it in your sushi, or around it. Shred it and put it in your spring roll. Or sprinkle your salad with it. Pad Thai wouldn’t be complete without it.
What could be easier? Film your wok or skillet with oil. Beat an egg, season appropriately and cook for 3 seconds over high heat.
The seasonings you use determine its compatibility with the other components of your dish. Add dashi and a bit of sake in it and you can use it for sushi. Simply salted, it’s perfect to go with …read more

Fake nutritional information brought to light, or why you shouldn’t trust everything you see. Just because it’s on TV, just because there are “researchers” and “experts” on it, doesn’t mean it’s true, or correct.

Was browsing through Amazon and saw this:

Hmm.

Look what I found! Cedar sheets, to wrap your food in before grilling and give it that lightly smokey appeal.
Salmon Grilled in Cedar Sheets from Edward Lee of
Instructions on how to use it from Korin (pdf file)
More techniques and a recipe from Chef Josh DeChellis of Sumile
610 Magnolia, where Edward Lee is the chef.
Where to get these cedar sheets?
From Korin. But if you don’t think you’re going to need 100 sheets, Elizabeth Karmel (the Grilling Queen) has her product available here: