A Key Flavor Enhancer
Umami Revisited
In recent years Japanese cooks have become more interested in exploring uses for a culinary staple called Shio Koji. The name comes from Continue reading
Shio Koji / 塩麹
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Category Archives: Materials and Ingredients
Winter Melon 冬瓜
The Biggest Melon
A Cold Food for Slimmers
The Winter Melon (Dong Gua in Mandarin) may be the biggest melon, even bigger than Watermelon. It can grow as big as 45 kilograms, though the ones found in shops are usually much smaller.
A native of the area around Thailand, Malaya and Java, Winter Melon has been known in China for a long time, since Continue reading
Steinbeck, East of Eden and Ng Ka Py 五加皮
Steinbeck, Rotten Applies and Ng Ka Py 五加皮
For Cooking or Drinking?
An Epic of Biblical Proportions John Steinbeck’s masterpiece novel “East of Eden” is an epic full of good and eveil, hatred and love, failure and redemption. It has been regarded as Continue reading
Prepared Sesame Seed
Essential Korean Seasoning
This form of prepared Sesame Seeds is essential in Korean cooking. Fortunately it is easily made: Continue reading
Has Anyone Tried This Japanese Hot Sauce? Hint – It’s Not….
Hot Chili Sauce (Rayu) But Something Else
A Shocking Spice
That would be Sanshio Hot Pepper Sauce, made with Japanese Hot Pepper or Sanshio.
Is anyone else familiar with this Sauce and its uses?
Sanshio is a spicy powder that comes Continue reading
Snow Peas
Gregor Mendel’s Peas?
Crisp and Tender, Raw or Barely Cooked
Until recently, Snow Peas were considered an exotic Oriental specialty in North America. Now they are available most places at supermarkets and in frozen form around the year.
There is a question where this vegetable comes from: Some Japanese encyclopedias and cookbooks assert Continue reading
Grenadine Syrup
The Quintessence of Pomegranate
Use for Persephone Cocktails
Pomegranates
Of course Grenadine Syrup — a key ingredient in several classic cocktails including the Persephone — is available commercially in bottles. But many purists will want make their own, for its distinctive and unique flavor, which is the embodiment of the Pomegranate.
Grenadine Syrup
Ingredients:
5 or 6 fresh Pomegranates
Continue reading
Chicken Stock
Good for Teriyaki or Soup
Nobu’s Chicken Stock
Fresh Ginger
This way of making Chicken Stock is from Nobu Matsuhisa’s Restaurant Nobu in New York and has been called Nobu’s Chicken Stock. He uses this stock to prepare Chicken Teriyaki at Nobu’s, but it would also work as a soup base or for a variety of vegetable dishes. Continue reading
Bitter Melon
Quinine-Like Bitterness
Mentioned by Kipling
The house-beams shall fall,
And the Karela, the bitter Karela,
Shall cover it all!
— Kipling, Jungle Book
Bitter Melon
Bitter Melon is sometimes called Turia, Kerala or Karela in English, the last names alluding to its possible Indian origin.
The vegetable is also known as Bitter Gourd or Karela. In botany its name is Momoradica charantia. It is one of Continue reading
Kalua Pig
This is Luau Food
Making Kalua Pork without an Imu
In a traditional Hawaiian Luau in the Islands, Kalua Pig is an essential.
In the real deal, a whole pig will be baked for hours in an underground earthen oven called an Imu.
The pit will be lined with volcanic rocks and hot embers and often water is added at some point to create steam. Continue reading