But aren't Korean makkolli/dongdongju pretty much the same thing as Japanese nigorizake/doburoku?

I think in Kazhakstan it is called muspurolini/capiponomu.

They are almost similar, yes. But on the other hand, makkoli is drunk on rare occasions only, maybe at a mountain restaurant after hiking or when celebrating a new factory building. At business dinners you would drink soju and/or beer 9/10, the rest divided among red wine, peksekchu ( with raw fish ) and raspberry wine ( with eel ). Of course, in certain parts of Seoul the proportion of wine is much higher but even there you'd be hard pressed to find someone drinking rice wine.

An article posted by Kagehitokiri which mentions Karasumi (hueva de mujol) reminded me of this thread.

I recently did get around to tasting raw sea cucumber at a repeat visit to Sushi Gin in Azabu Juban.

It was part of an appetizer dish, marinaded, I remember a pleasant texture with just a bit of 'give' to it, and very nice it was too.

Which strangely reminds me of another delicacy I had at an Izakaya in Komagome - tempura made with an extraordinary root vegetable I'd never come across before. Vaguely crunchy and light, a bit like raw Jerusalem Artichoke/Sunchoke, but more potatoey and also more like eating an apple.
Although it was the cheapest thing on the menu (100yen for a generous portion) it was also one of the most delicious. We were told that the tubers grew in the proprietor's parents' farm in Yamanishi and that there was usually a battle with the pigs in order to get the root vegetables as they are also fond of them. Alas, I just can't remember the name of them, even after two visits.

When I lived in Okinawa, I had sea cucumber a few times. The taste to my palate never improved and joined Uni as some of my least favorite sashimi/sushi.

LapLap: I suspect that the delicacy that you are talking about is burdock. It actually is quite common and if you are ever in Portland, OR, you can dig all you want on my property. Actually pretty tasty.

Nope - burdock is gobo in Japanese and is long and thin. I've seen and cooked with dark skinned and lighter skinned kinds of burdock. This was much 'fatter' with a very different flavour.

There are many, many grades of uni. Lower grades aren't that nice (often bitter). The better grades are wonderfully sweet and taste gorgeous.

I've eaten raw sea cucumber in sushi restaurants. It was slightly crunchy and I enjoyed. I've only had it cooked in Chinese restaurants and enjoyed the sushi bar version much more.

Agree with Lap Lap on uni. I always thought it was gross until I had the really high quality stuff on a visit to Japan several years ago. Now I love it, but only order it at places where the quality is likely to be very good.

I wonder if what you had was "Chinese yam" (山藥 - literally 'mountain-medicine'). I can imagine wrestling with a pig for it.

I was about to say the same - Japanese name is "Yamaimo" and there's plenty of it in Yamanashi. I think that's where I had my first taste of the stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_opposita

Nope

I make okonomiyaki pretty regularly so have done a fair bit of wresting with at least two variants of Dioscorea Opposita (there's naga imo as well as yama imo - the Wiki page shows the variant I consider to be naga imo, the kind I can score in London cheaply as Wai San root. Yama imo I think of as being longer and thinner, perhaps with slightly darker skin). MrLapLap can't go near the stuff unless it's going straight into his mouth, my skin is way more resistant to the fearsome oxalate crystals.

It isn't Curcuma Longa either - which is experiencing a bit of a 'boom' at the moment in Japan.

We had raw sea cucumber (well I should say I did, my wife declined:)) at Kyube in Tokyo, last year and I cant say it was my favorite menu item. The texture was somewhat like calamari, soft and crunchy at the same time, the taste obviuosly acquired, was not particularly memorable.

Perhaps I couldnt get the visual appearance of the animal out my mind since they are very common in the Caribbean and I wager I have seen them about 30% of my dives (scuba) In that enviornment they can grow to about 2 feet long and about 8 inches across and have a grey/brown color with the appearance of a large slug ( they are called "sea-slugs" in some placese) or sort of like a truncated elephants trunk.

mike

Yamato Imo?
(a.k.a. Itcho imo)

I had the distinct displeasure of sampling konowata (pickled sea cucumber guts) a while back, and I regret to say it was the single nastiest thing I've ever eaten -- just licking the tip of the chopstick dipped in it was enough to make me gag. :eek: And I'm usually not a very picky eater...

Quite amazing, though, how they can distil something that nasty out of something so bland and tasteless in its natural state :confused:

I'll have to make some emails to see if any of our friends remember (or can enquire).

The izakaya in question is called Tanbo
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/a682600/
Just along the tracks from Komagome station.

In fact, I don't need to send an email. The http://r.gnavi.co.jp/a682600/ page has it hand written in Katakana on the first page. The tuber is called Yaakon.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%...82%B3%E3%83%B3
Yacón in 'English'. Seems the Jerusalem artichoke and apple comparisons were spot on.

If you're into shochu - this is a good place to go.