You all have suckered me into the bread making. Ordered a Pullman loaf pan and yeast tonight.

Am having tea and fresh shokupan with the lightest of toasting this morning (with some marmalade made in France by a friend’s dear mother). Am feeling the most human I have for some time.
Any jiggly rolls that appear on my belly in the next few days will be be cherished and fondly doted on.

The shokupan day 2 dough that gets broken up and combined with the last few ingredients has the most intoxicating “tang” to it. And that tangy taste permeates the finished bread, really bringing out the butter and milk flavours. It’s nothing like any of the other breads I’ve been making.

Although this might be a fixed date for some people, many others are making a seasonal change right now... or thinking about it.

I’m in the “thinking about it” camp but it seems like a great excuse to theme some of the current housework and projects.

If you don’t know about it already, let me introduce the concept of Koromogae

https://jpf.org.au/senseis-voices/koromogae/

We live in a small flat in London but MrLapLap maintains a storage space. We have kept our visits there to an absolute minimum since March, but we’re looking at packing up some of our warmer winter clothes. Koromogae seems like a good way to mark the temperatures reaching 20C/68F on a consistent basis - which I think is Tokyo round about now and London very soon.

The Mizuna I mentioned planting from seed is grown enough to start eating. Has been left untroubled by the Snails and slugs that proliferate round here, and the greenfly seem uninterested in it (greenfly are more attracted to young radish leaves). The shiso (AKA Aojiso or green perilla) has been growing much more slowly. Storing the seeds in the freezer for a night before planting may have helped with the germination. Will have to keep guarding the shiso from pests for a bit longer. Once they are bigger they can fend for themselves well, but I’d forgotten how long it takes before they reach that point.
We have no soil in our back garden, this is happening in a few plant pots. The Mizuna reaching maturity really has signalled a change - even if it’s just a vivid green representation of how long all this has been going on for!

We are relocating for 6 months due to the pandemic and we're going to finally have space for a garden. I'm hoping to grow shiso along with a variety of other things.

I've never heard of Koromogae but I've always done something similar without a fixed date. I have winter/spring/summer/fall sets of clothes that I'll rotate out based on temperature. We also have varying table clothes, sofa covers, and artworks that we swap out once summer really starts. I'm not sure what we'll do this year because we'll be staying in a family member's house. I'm hoping for a little peace from gardening with my SO and fishing (actually reading) for a month or two.

Finally got bread flour and yeast! And then discovered that the dough hook for the mixer is missing.

Meanwhile, put up a Green Running Man sign over the door to the garage. For a very brief split second when it catches me out of the corner of my eye, I can almost imagine I'm in Japan...:)

This recipe is the one MrLapLap has been requesting (normally he just lets me get on with bread making projects but this one really pushes his buttons). You just crank a spatula around in three vigorous bursts and let the fridge do the rest. You don’t have to use wieners, obviously. Am really enjoying this youtuber’s enthusiasm and am steadily making my way through his videos. Last night I tackled the natural yeast shokupan (fabulous!) Whilst doing that I put together the dough for this hot dog bread which I’m just about to shape and bake this morning.

Might work with chorizo.

I wonder, does Mr.Laplap also like these ?



https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/焼きそばパン...obapan_001.jpg

I remember, very clearly, the first time I ever came across these, on that fateful first visit to Hakone in October 2002. MrLapLap and I had just met the day before, and as we waited (after the boat ride and as part of the Hakone Loop) for the bus to arrive, he popped into a combini and emerged with one of these. I was horrified.
Am happy to report that these double-carb items just don’t appeal to him in the way they used to. They became more and more disappointing as he matured and he hasn’t had one since LapGirl was born. Not to say he couldn’t be tempted, but I think it’s the benishouga that would be the irresistible enticement - the example in that picture is morosely lacking in red ginger.
As someone with a lifelong weakness for potato omelet sandwiches (and battered squid ring sandwiches) I am in no position to judge, but... :(

jib71 - I’m not sure the wiener bread dough would go with chorizo. The chorizo fat would melt, you’d have to get the cooking kind. MrLapLap suspects that chopped up olives would go with the mochi-mochi texture. Definitely works with bacon!

The last remnants after the morning’s demolishment

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3715c4179.jpeg

Just finished off a second batch of the sourdough shokupan. Made double the amount and gave the additional loaf to a friend of LapGirl’s on her request.

It doesn’t have yudane, nor the long fermentation of the 3 step/day process Pain de Mie, but the sourdough does introduce some of that tang. For the effort and time taken and the result I get, am perfectly satisfied. No milk, no eggs, just a little butter, but extraordinarily rich tasting - heaven!
The recommendation is to use a natural yeast nurtured from raisins, but I just added my usual sourdough culture (fed with white flour). But I also added 2g of instant yeast so that it wouldn’t take too long to rise and develop too much of a sourdough flavour. The first proof took about 2 hours.
The resulting loaf isn’t as robust as the Yudane Pain de Mie - needs a little care when slicing so it doesn’t compress - but it’s so delicious, and way too easy to eat too much of (I don’t have a Pullman loaf pan, it’s fine without it)

that’s exactly what it is.
its the benishouga that makes the yakisoba/pan combo work. Without that, to me it’s like eating a pile of starch.

Also in Hakone, I discovered a curry pan that had fukujinzuke in it. Might’ve been the only place I’ve run into that put fukujinzuke inside curry pan and it was divine. Had been losing interest in curry pan for a while, but I couldn’t believe how much difference the fukujinzuke made and I wish more bakeries did that.

As kids we grew up with these (link below). I remember them from summer fairs and as they grew more popular became something of Canadiana lore. When I first saw them in Japan labelled as AmericanDogs I was appalled. :D


https://whatsdifferentincanada.tumbl...34/pogo-sticks

What's next? That abomination called katsu-sando?

A few of the Katsu places have turned to take-out......perhaps they always had it ? Anyway, I have been enjoying the take-out ! I hope the local restaurants continue the take-out and delivery options.

The first time I saw these was when I lived in Korea. Come to think of it, I've only seen full-sized hotdogs encased within pastry/bread dough in Asian bakeries here in the U.S, like 98*C, Tous Les Jours, and Paris Baguette. The regular bakeries usually used (at least in TX) the smaller sausages and called them pigs in a blanket. Brings back memories, used to grab one on the way for quizzes and exams during university.

Kinda had the same revelation with mixing curry rice with atchara (Southeast-Asian style pickles, kinda similar to fukujinzuke). I know fukujinzuke is served as a relish but one time I didn't have any on hand and decided to use some homemade atchara from my parents. For some reason I decided to mix it together with the rice and curry. The flavor combination was really good, like a well balanced mix of sour, sweet, and savory.

You blinked and missed a supreme example - see post #92

For us, it’s pickled beetroot. Goes with Japanese style curries, even with hayashi rice.

But last night I had a transcendental experience. I channelled rustykettel and made a tuna mayo sandwich, but I added pickled beetroot slices (I am unapologetic about this, a childhood habit I got from my dad). On the shokupan it was the best mayo/tuna/beetroot sandwich I’ve ever had. I swear I could hear a celestial choral accompaniment as I munched through it.
If the whole point of this thread was to lead me to that point, I have been very, VERY well served.
I hope - and this is to anyone reading this - that you get your perfect sandwich moment too. Even if it’s not with a sandwich.

I had a sandwich epiphany with my first Vietnamese banh mi from a cart on the corner of a busy road in HCMC. Street food, so to speak.

Even heaven has peaks. I just reached a foothill.

I haven't been eating much bread-wise but now... I need to break out the mixing bowl.

We have been patronizing all the fishing boats in our area along with the shellfish farms, they're now allowed to sell direct. I've got a fridge and freezer stuffed with fish and scallops right now. I haven't hit the point of needing to dress anything up too much so nothing fancy to report.

interesting... I had not heard of atchara before, but I see that it is made primarily from papaya.
I could see how pickled papaya might go well with curry rice.

The Maisen Honten has had a world-famous takeout window since forever.

I was talking about some of the other places.......but yes the Maisen honten take-out has been open !

Fresh seafood really just kicks butt


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2505fde1cf.jpg
Seared scallops with ponzu and furikake
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d086875319.jpg
Portuguese clams. Linguica, onions, white wine, and the last batch's strained broth.

No!!!!!!!! Yakisoba-pan, Kareei (curry)-pan, and Melon-pan are s staple of my diet in Japan! :p While in Japan I do not need Michelin starred restaurants, all I need is a combini with Yakisoba-pan! :D

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ac6f706ca1.jpg

After reading LapLap's posts I got hungry for Japanese bread, I had to go get some. Yakisoba-pan and Curry-pan are awesome! I also bought Japanese bread, shokupan, and now having a toast in the morning before heading to work. :)

Picked a decent fistful of mizuna today. Yesterday I took my first shiso leaves.
The mizuna I will boil for 60 seconds then cool, chop and combine with ginger and shoyu. It’s delicious with rice.
The shiso is lovely sliced and stirred through a potato salad or chopped and added to fresh tomato pieces with a sprinkling of salt.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d1d05de8b.jpeg

I did it! Finally made the melon pan.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...efd24aeef.jpeg

We’ve really warmed to the idea of sourdough shokupan. Have adjusted the recipe a little (I let it sit without salt for 30 minutes or so after mixing before kneading it in a machine with salt an a bit of butter), and I don’t use the dry yeast anymore, the result is a fluffy bread that is kinder on the stomach. No idea how long it lasts though, too good to test that way!
As a dough it is quite adaptable - added a bit of brown flour to the last batch and made some into ham and cheese buns as well as apple, quince jelly and cinnamon rolls.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ed8b205b6.jpeg

Was wondering if anybody had tried any of the Japanese Gins and spirits infused with herbs and botanicals that are being introduced.

From what I understand, companies that have a history of making herbal medicinal products and remedies are getting into the alcohol market. The problem is that the products are made in limited batches and often sell out as soon as they are released. With my daughter being older, and my health having improved a great deal, I had planned to visit a few bars this Spring to catch up a little on this particular kind of local flavour. Now I’m just being taunted with knowing new drinks are coming out but can’t follow reviews or descriptions - and there’s hardly anything in English.

As an example, there is the Yaso company based in Niigata, their background (as Echigo Yakuso) involves products made with mugwort.
https://yaso80gin.shop-pro.jp *

Reason I’m fascinated is that when one looks into books and stories from Japan’s past there is a wealth of information and references to Seasonal herb gathering and traditions about combining the herbs. Medicinal companies will have continued these traditions, and just as monks and monasteries plundered European Apothecary traditions when distilling drinks and liqueurs, this, right now, seems to be an era in Japan where aspects of long archived folk remedies are transitioning into leisure beverages.
If you have been drinking any of these, do please share. I’d relish hearing ALL about the experience!

Would so love to try the Yaso103 Gin that was released this month. Has already sold out though. At least I can console myself with a supply of shiso to infuse into cocktails this summer. Kanpai!

* The 70% spirit is a botanical alcohol sanitiser which has been produced to combat COVID-19, the company have been donating it to the local community.

I only had Japanese gin few times at a bar, but I wanted to look into Japanese gin more. My understanding is that past few years gin became popular in Japan that there are more gin makers in Japan. My last trip to Japan in March I was thinking of bringing back Japanese gin but I forgot.

I am gin drinker, I am not going to claim to be gin aficionado but when I travel I try to grab local gin. My collection today are:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c1fbb45250.jpg

From left to right:
Greylock Gin (my local, Massachusetts, U.S.A.)
Whitley Neill Gin (U.K.)
Wildcat Gin (U.K.)
Brooklyn Gin (U.S.A.)
Bränneir Gin (Sweden)
Napue Gin (Finland)

I would love to add Japanese gin to my collection, but that has to wait for while. :(

I remembered your comment as I was checking out one of the bigger shops today. They carried a few Japanese Gins and picked this from Suntory

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f80e22ff3d.jpg

The clerk commented that it was a good choice, saying its pretty smooth. Not much of a Gin drinker, so my points of comparison are limited, but I agree with the clerk's assessment.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...115fc7d1f1.jpg

Botanicals used in their gin.

Alight, followed example of Gradfly and decided to see what is available locally since at this moment likely better a chance getting date with Jennifer Lopez than a chance of traveling to Japan and buy Japanese gin in Japan. :p

These are Japanese gin I found locally.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d63960ef57.jpg

Etsu Gin, it only says "Product of Japan" and "Distilled in Hokkaido." There is no information regarding distiller on the label on the bottle, label only says "Imported by Misa Imports, Inc. Dallas, TX" nothing else, that is little strange.

The second gin is bv Nikka. Little background of Nikka. The first commercial whisky distilled in Japan is Suntory founded by Shinjiro Torii. Shinjiro Torii started wine company in Osaka on 1899, then started whisky distillery at outskirt of Kyoto at Yamazaki in 1923. 1929 first whiskey distilled in Japan, Suntory Whiskey White Label was sold.

First and original whiskey distillery master at Suntory Yamazaki distillery was Masataka Taketsuru who was a son of Sake (Japanese rice wine) maker from Hiroshima who got hooked on Whiskey making. 1918 Masataka Taketsuru have accepted at the University of Glasgow for Applied Chemistry program. However, at Scotland story has it that Masataka Taketsuru pretty much went around whiskey distillery to learn whiskey making. 1920 Masataka Taketsuru returned to Japan along with his wife, Jessie Roberta Cowan, the only female medical student at the University of Glasgow at that time.

Masatake Taketsuru met Shinjiro Torii and became first whiskey distillery master at Suntory Whiskey. 1934 Masatake Taketsuru left Suntory Whiskey in good term. Went to Yoichi, Hokkaido to start his own Whiskey distillery which became of Nikka Whiskey. Masatake Taketsuru stated that he chose Yoichi because climate of Yoichi was similar to Scotland where he studied whiskey making. Masatake Taketsuru and his wife Jessie Roberta Cowan lived at Yoichi for rest of their life.

Story of Jessie Roberta Cowan is very interesting on it's own. Scottish woman living in Japan back in that era, initially both Cowan and Taketsuru families did not approve of their marriage.

Anyway, it is gin made by that company Nikka using the distillation coffey which was used for whiskey making.

On the separate note, I wanted to buy Japanese curry powder but I made a mistake at a store and picked up Japanese mustard powder.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ae384fa3d8.jpg

Now I have two cans of Japanese mustard powder. I have to find the way to use Japanese mustard. :confused: :D

Chicken Katsu sandwich with slaw:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/ch...y-cabbage-slaw

And 44 other ideas:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/s...ustard-recipes

I use a lot of mustard for salad dressings, but it would me a while to get through two tins of powdered mustard.

Yes, that is the situation. I will have cans of Japanese mustard sitting in my kitchen cabinet for long time. :o Least it is powder form so as long as I keep the can tightly sealed then will not loose flavor and take very long time to spoil. Thank you for cooking suggestions. :)

Thanks for the story of Jessie Roberta Cowan/Taketsuru. Obviously, I can’t help but have an interest given our backgrounds (albeit the MASSIVE disparity in our accomplishments!). It’s lovely to know that Kathleen Drew-Baker had a peer back then quietly making her own impact on Japan.

I bought my first tin of this kind of mustard in years a few weeks ago. It’s Colman’s Mustard powder but it is indistinguishable from the Japanese kind. Main reason was as an accompaniment to Hiyashi Chūka and for making cucumber tsukemono.

Assuming you use about a teaspoon of Karachi mustard at a time, each pot should give you around 20 servings. Another good way to go through it is as Karashi Miso Ae 辛子みそ和え. As well as cucumbers, goes well with eggplant, okra and asparagus.
There’s a recipe for Karashi Miso Ae here - https://www.nhk.or.jp/dwc/recipes/detail/264.html Just substitute a teaspoon of powder for the 2 teaspoons of mustard paste and then, once mixed, take a taste and then add another half or full teaspoon of mustard powder (or not) depending on how you like it.

EDIT TO ADD - responding inspired me to make up a hurried karashi miso mayo for a sandwich. 1 teaspoon of red miso, 1/2 teaspoon of mayonnaise and 1/2 a teaspoon of mustard powder, just combined and spread into the sandwich instead of butter. Lovely!

This Sakurao gin is a good Japanese gin. One of the ingredients they use is oyster shells, so it does have a hint of the taste of the sea. The distillery is located very near Miyajima, so next time you are there you can include a factory visit.
Sakurao Gin

Potesara: Japan’s ‘most familiar and loved salad’

Yes, it is potato salad! But wait..., it is not exactly same as potato salad I know...., but it is good...

There is something about those non-Japanese food adopted by Japanese and over time evolved to their own.

Japanese curry
Ramen
Macaroni gratin
Spaghetti Napolitan
Tonkatsu
Japanese croquette

There are so many... Now I am hungry. :D

Guilty as charged. Favorite item in the Tokyo Hilton buffet. :D

I think it's time to make mapo/mabo tofu again this week.

Probably mentioned it already, but Japanese style potato salad goes really well with shiso.
This version is very similar to the one posted by AlwaysAisle, the main difference is the lack of eggs. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I don’t.
I tend to use British New Potatoes, and slipping off the skins when boiled and still hot is a bit tedious and time consuming (and a little painful for a while). I’d never judge anybody for buying it ready made.
Am going to make Pickles bristle by admitting this but ( :whispers: ) I made a potato salad sandwich with shokupan yesterday.
I know! I couldn’t help myself.

It was alright. Better than a cucumber sandwich.

I keep meaning to add umeboshi along with the shiso to potato salad, but my umeboshi supply is dwindling and we need them for ume-shiso spaghetti (which we are going to really miss once the shiso plants die this Autumn)
https://delishkitchen.tv/recipes/146592200925380902

EDIT TO ADD - forgot to mention, Sio in Yoyogi Uehara is now offering the Yaso 80 Spirits Gin.

I've been making a ton nigiri and onigiri with scallop and other fresh seafood since moving, I've also tried my hand at a fish market street food version that turned out great. There are two different compound butters being used here. One is simple with garlic and pepper. The other is gochujang, gochugaru, and scallions. The possibilities are only as endless as your supply of shells!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...90c956b8c.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8055f3d444.jpg
I am getting a bit despondent that my SO and I are going to have to cancel our February trip to Japan. I had been hopeful until the last round of COVID spikes in the US that will likely cause us to be refused entry. We found some incredible deals on luxury hotels that are very unlikely to be available in the future as well as my work availability being suspect due to starting in a new industry. I've been planning and unplanning this trip for nearly a decade and it certainly seems like I'll be back to the drawing board yet again.