Low rent tastes here. I miss konbini sandos. Shokupan has been sold out and tuna was a little too thick, but still felt close. Secret imo is to use Kewpie's eggy mayo and a blender to get more of a pate consistency rather than flaked.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...16e48735b.jpeg

My local Japanese grocery is an hour away but unfortunately their food court and sister stores are currently closed. Made the following to tide me over until the next visit. Hopefully they still have prepared food still available.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...795f854952.jpg
Chicken Shoyu Ramen

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...19dadeea7e.jpg
Sous-vide gyukatsu-sando (Recommend the shokupan recipe from the NYT Cooking)

I found a picture of the musubi that my SO took.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3635ef631.jpeg
No furikake but it tasted nice.


I also made some cheese buldak with leftovers from breaking down a whole chicken.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...2b535dec8.jpeg
After first cook.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0dcfb65c7.jpeg
After second cook under broiler and addition of cheese to half

I could have broiled it longer for a slightly crispier cheese texture but the chicken was already incredibly spicy as the sauce reduced.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b0fbd0e24.jpeg
In taco form for lunch the next day. I had to serve it with avocado, the smooth texture and cooling mixed perfectly with the spice of the chicken.

Love that as everyone is going down the - now crowded - sourdough starter route, you are careering down the yudane highway.

I got a text today saying that the dried yeast I finally managed to source is being packed and shipped. Now that eggs are available again, and with decent amount of yeast (500g - woohoo) a sweet milk bread will be a welcome alternative. Just need some harts horn salt and I can tackle melon pan.

I jumped on the sourdough train about a year ago. Judging from social media trends, its a very crowded train. Looking forward to going down the yudane highway, now that I learned the proper Japanese term and can look for more recipes. Most places I've referenced use the Chinese term, tangzhong.

Lucked out with yeast and the flour, I happened to stock up on a large package of instant yeast and a large (10 lb) sack of flour a month before the stay at home order. I'm glad the large packs of European-style butter (82% butterfat) are still available.

Melon pan has been on my hit-list for things to bake. Do you have a good resource for Japanese pastry/baking recipes?

These pics take me back to the two times I had buldak in Korea. First time, it was barely after one month living there and still wasn't used to spice levels yet. Local friends decided to take me out for the cheese buldak, since it was good for "beginners".:D That was definitely not the case, felt like fire from my mouth all the way to my stomach.

Second time was with close friends and their parents. After a super greasy dinner of grilled duck, my friend's dad wanted to go for round #2 and decided on a bar/buldak restaurant. We did not get the cheese buldak, just straight-up regular. Initially this was better than my first experience. I was offered copious amounts of soju (local alcohol, for those wondering) during both rounds, which helped dull the burning sensation. Also, according to social etiquette, you have to accept whatever is offered by elders during dinner. So, couldn't really refuse Mr. Kim's offers of more soju and buldak. I soldiered through round #2 and somehow made it back to my apt. The rest of the night was spent dealing with an angry digestive system full of duck grease, soju, and spicy chicken.

I got really into baking with yudane about 8 years ago, but then stopped due to health issues and then gave up most carbs as a way to recover (which was very successful).
Am going to go back into it. During my 2011/2012 personal “yudane boom” I used this recipe (Hah! Just realised I’m in the comments!), which in turn led me to using a few Chinese sources for Japanese style baking projects. It’s rather easier to get Japanese tutorials nowadays than it was back then.
Asian-Style Pain de Mie | The Fresh Loaf
It’s excellent, but it is a three day process. Which means there’s never been a better time to get back into making it.

Can’t remember which recipe I used to use for melon pan. Have just ordered the hartshorn salt from a vendor in Bulgaria so I have a bit of time to decide (I used to buy it from a Scandinavian grocers in London, but they don’t have it now). If anybody knows of a great recipe, would love to see it.

Found it! This is the recipe I used to use for melonpan. Not as convinced about it as the enriched pain de mie though. I do remember it was good, but keeping evaporated milk AND condensed milk AND milk powder is too tricky.
http://web.archive.org/web/201102031...hristines.html

Am enjoying the tutorials by this Japanese baker. Will try out his melon pan.

After you master the melon pan, can you then take on curry pan ? :tu:

That involves deep-deep fat frying doesn’t it? Afraid that’s a dead end for me.

But I will be thinking of you when I make the Asian style Pain de Mie and comparing it to that Hiroo Shokupan.
My ultimate goal is to make something that approximates Mont Thabor’s Hokkaido Milk Bread.

You can bake them too .......:D

Thanks, I will look up his recipes.

I've been following this Japanese-American home-cook on Youtube. Her recipe on melon pan is one I'm eyeing at:

https://www.justonecookbook.com/melon-pan/

JOC is one I've used for a while, particularly for her recommendations of local US substitutes of harder to find ingredients. Also like NHK's Dining with the Chef for both the recipes and programs.

Made gyudon with this NHK recipe and the wife said it was better than my usual one from JOC (sorry Nami!).

https://www.nhk.or.jp/dwc/food/recip...ers_31210.html

Our lockdown is considerably more stressful than it should be due to an ongoing... err... “situation” in the household next door. Cooking (and eating) has been a big comfort during this time. If we’d been in Japan we would have missed the worst of it, but that’s 2020 for you. Our dearest are doing fine, MrLapLap hasn’t been conscripted into an army, my daughter still has a semblance of a school life. We have blessings to count despite it all.

Two days ago we broke out one of the packets in MrLapLap’s Fukuoka and Tokyo haul from his visit in February.
It’s from Ajinomoto, and it’s called Ma-bo Chezu, which seems to be a sort of Mabo Nasu (Nasu is aubergine/eggplant)
https://www.ajinomoto.co.jp/cookdo/l...awase_001.html

Was very nice to eat something that didn’t taste anything like mine or MrLapLap’s cooking - just as a change.
Looked like this (with beef instead of pork mince) and we had it with rice and salad in a rare quiet moment out in the sunshine.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...150b380a0.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cd1f18c2f.jpeg
The challenge today is to make it without the packet. Have a few dregs of very salty toban djan (Lee Kum Kee) left and will substitute miso for tian mian jang.
I knew about Mabo Doufu but hadn’t come across Mabo chezu or Mabo nasu before.
Will try this as it doesn’t seem too complicated
https://translate.google.co.uk/trans...ml&prev=search

EDIT TO ADD:
That worked out well. Followed the Ajinomoto packet’s recommendation for vegetable quantities and frying (although with my big European aubergine I sliced, salted, drained, rinsed and squeezed it first as they aren’t as tender as the Japanese kind).
Then removed the vegetables and fried the mince as in the Kikkoman recipe recommendation. Instead of the tian mian jang I subbed a bit of miso and some oyster sauce.
The biggest difference between this version and the one from the packet was the absence of a hint of Chinese star anise, so I’ll add a little of that next time I make it. Added a little spring onion/scallion and had it on rice with shredded cucumber on the side.
Suspected it would be rather salty, which it was, so didn’t add any of the salt the recipe called for. The rice and cucumber moderated the saltiness. Find this happens every time with Lee Kum Kee condiments.

Shocking to hear this from someone who is half(?) Spanish :D