Kamakura

to the Wegman's cheese aisle, but I don't think I've ever been bombarded like this before. Japan just has so much food. Different kinds of food that has different tastes, textures, flavors that I've There have been times where I have been overwhelmed by food, such as the time I walked in never experienced before. For example, last night I tried natto for the first time. This is a fermented soybean product that is sticky, really sticky. It oozes, stinks, and strings all over the place. Japanese either love it or hate it. I don't really know what to think of it because its so different. It's quite fermented, there is a spicyness to it that isn't from pepper. It's whatever fermented chemical happens when soybeans sit for a while. Straight miso has the same flavor and the Japanese love it. On this trip to Kamakura, we walked down a magnificent street with all kinds of shops selling their specialties. Shishoku---Taste tasteSweet potato ice cream. It was wonderful and tasted like a very sweet, roasted sweet potato minus the roast. Japanese sweet potatoes have purple skin and a yellow interior. They were selling this stuff everywhere


Mame-bean/legume products. This store had 300 types. All dried in snack bags. Plum flavored, wasabi flavored, seasame and wakame balls, I bought black soybeans called kuromame. I don't think they were roasted or sweetened but they had a nice deep sweetness to them, relly natural tasting.
Tempura as part of lunch. Best I've had ever. Batter was light and you could taste what was fried. I really never liked it all that much but if its this good all over japan I'm in trouble. 4 pieces-hot pepper, shrimp, lotus root (renkon...great veggie), and sweet potato.
Local specialty-shirasudon. Shirasu are baby sardines. They are on top of rice. Odd, but not all that bad. Probably wouldn't get it again though. Usually I don't run into mind over matter issues but this was one of them. Some soy sauce made me forget most of it though.
Hijikinori. Thick, black, picked seaweed. Probably the best tsukemono I've had. Bought a big bag. Next to it is picked, sweetened, garlic. Also a big bag.

Pickled sardine parts. No way. Who the hell pickles sardine parts?

Onaka ga ipai desu (I am full)

Today was a good food day...got to eat lunch and dinner out.

But first, salmon jerky that I found at the 7-11. Imagine finding salmon jerky in one of our convenience stores. I love smoked salmon but this stuff was pretty horrible. Guess I should have opted for the dehydrated sardines.











Then lunch with host mother and sister at a local ramen shop. We got the mixed bowl that had ramen, sliced pork, an egg, and delicious bamboo pickles. The japanese pickle everything. I love it. Their pickles are more than just vinegared though, some are done in alcohol, sugar, rotting rice bran, or combination of methods. They can be sour, bitter, sweet, and spicy all at the same time. I'm looking forward to my trip to Kamakura. Supposedly there is a shop that sells 50,000 kinds of pickles and gives samples. The setup of the shop was a bar around the open cooking area. Ramen was constantly going in and out of the water and being topped by whatever you wanted. It was a clean, efficient process. The place was jammed too.



We stopped for coffee and an amazing cafe. The Japanese do cafes the right way, European style. I got a wonderfully rich cappucino, but the best and most surprising part was the stirrer was an authentic stick of Ceylon Cinnamon, true cinnamon different from what is commonly available in America. It had a sweeter taste, not the big bold spicyness we are used to.


Went to a kaitenzushi place in Shinjuku with some friends for dinner. I ate myself silly. I only took a picture of one sushi in particular, a seaweed sushi that was sour and spicy. Not quite sure what it was called but I liked it and had never seen anything like it. Total bill came to 2300 yen for 20 pieces of nigri sushi and a beer. Among the night's victims were scallop, tuna, king salmon, uni, yellowtail, and spanish mackerel. I had wanted to find this place, had read about it only. I looked up some directions from a certain exit in Shinjuku, but there were about 4 South Exits an I just happened to wander in the right direction after making a loop around the station. I was very proud of myself.


I had a nice little espresso with a shot of amaretto after the sushi at the italian cafe next door. (?) I don't think that even New York could match that one.

Food at Miraikan and Onsen

More on Japanese textures. Two items of note...Tamagodofu (egg tofu) and kohizeri (make coffee)



Tamagodofu was squishy, very squishy, like a very soft jello. Japanese typically use silken tofu of this texture as opposed to the dryer, pressed curd thats used in Chinese cooking. I like the Chinese type better but with the egg in it, Tamagodofu had a pretty good flavor, if you could get over the feeling of eating slugs.




For dessert I got something called kohizeri. It was coffee flavored jello with tapioca balls floating in a vanilla cream. Delicious. It really tasted like a light, sweet, coffee. The cream was pretty thick. You can see one of the little tapioca balls that are used alot in Chinese bubble tea. Again, very odd texture. Firmer than the jello and slightly sticky. I didn't like these as much. We should have coffee jello in the USA. Imagine the jello shots.

Foodie Walk

I am in love with the street food and I haven't even eaten it yet! Everywhere I look there are bento shops, sushi-ya, udon and soba joints, curry and beer. I made the mistake of eating on campus today and had another run in with Konnyaku pieces in my salad. It wasn't that bad, but I missed out.

Food for the day:
Sakana "set" Bowl of rice topped with fish (snapper?) with salad of eggplant, white beans, konnyaku. Also came with tea, soup, seaweed salad.













Konnyaku-please click to zoom in. I got a good high-res pic of this strange substance. Lunch was alright, but the best part was that I saw on the menu that Waseda has its own brew of beer and they sell it on campus. Our country is screwed up.



On my food walk of shame from Waseda to my station, I saw a sushi place that had great deals under 1000 yen (10 dollars) of sushi and udon. Maybe get a little japanese beer too.
There was an udon shop that smelled heavenly. Udon bowl goes for around 300-400 yen. Next I stopped at a vending machine and got Asahi Fire Black. A little shot of black coffee. The also had Asahi African Black Coffee but thats just not nice. I am getting addicted to vending machines and convience stores. They are just so shiny and tempting with all kinds of new things to try. In the winter I need to get Oden at a convienence store. It's assorted stewed seafood, eggs, and rice balls.














Moral of the story is don't eat on campus, but around it. Next time I'll have a more exciting story but at least I captured the elusive konnyaku on camera.

4 meals today

Went shopping today with my host mother. I had told her that I liked food and wanted to learn about Japanese cuisine. All she told me was "tabemeno, ikimashou" (Food, lets go). I guess she understands the way I think because in no time we were heading to their supermall, an 8 floor behemoth with 2 grocery stores, a drug store, electronics store, homegoods store, and Starbucks. Yeah, they made it over here.

First grocery store:
Dry goods and bottled drinks. Japanese love dry goods. They had everything pre-packaged, dehydrated, canned, and ready to go. Toast spreads, chocolate, fish crackers, tofu bites, you name it they have it. Of course, everything was in Japanese so I could only decipher a few. Like everything else in this place, the supermarket is spotless, the workers will bend over backwards for you, and is disgustingly efficient. As a side note, for all the rubber stamps, red tape, certifications and departments in the government and education system, it all works. You don't wait on line for everything and everyone you deal with knows what they are doing, which is good since if they didn't the entire city would stop. There are police on every street corner in their little boxes waiting to help you. Wherever there may be extra traffic (enterence to parking deck) they station 2 traffic cops to make sure everything goes smoothly. Back to food. You walk through the grocery store and every aisle has samples. I got some corn on the cob, shabu-shabu, tea candy a gyoza, and spaghetti. The gyoza was the best I ever tasted, the shabu-shabu was spectacular, the corn was corn, the spaghetti sauce almost made me puke. Good thing I'm here to show this country how to do sauce. One of hte many things I like about Japan are the beverages. Everyone has bottled iced green tea and iced coffee, unsweetened. No snapple or frappucino garbage in bottles. O yes! The tea! Holy crap is it good. Hot, cold, green, roasted. I love this stuff and can't get enough of it. The green tea is green and so clean tasting. Even better is the roasted green that tastes a little like coffee.

I hadn't written about food in a while so there was alot to get through. Back on track.
Store 2:
Meat, fruit, dairy, etc. The meat in Japan, the wagyu beef, is ridiculously fatty and marbled. I am not talking about Kobe per say, just ordinary supermarket meat. It looks nothing like the beef in America. It makes American beef look like a celery stick as far as fat content goes. The first night when we ate at the steakhouse I could definitely taste the difference. Very fatty, sometimes not desirably fatty. All the fruit was enormous, figs, apples, and oranges especially. Best thing though were the mushrooms. Japan has mushrooms like you wouldn't believe. There was half an aisle of fresh mushrooms at cheap prices.

My extra meal came from the coveyor belt sushi restaurant set up in this enormous mall. I saw it and couldn't resist plopping myself down and eating myself silly on all the sushi I wanted. Prices ranged from 110 yen to 350 yen for two pieces. AMAZING. Some of the highlights were giant clam (geoduck), salmon, broiled salmon belly, and octopus. The sushi was very generous. Huge hunks and slices of fish. Everything was on the conveyor belt. Sushi on top, wasabi, gari, soy sauce on the bottom along with the tea cups and soy sauce dishes. Tea was in a powdered form on the table and you had your own hot water spigot. So cool.



Dinner was at an okonomiyaki restaurant. It means "cook what you like" and gets its name from the egg-based omelet, but the meal had a lot more. Japanese like many courses at dinner. Started with a seaweed salad that I'm addicted to and soup with some strange substance called "konyaku." Best way to describe it is a firm, gelatin substance with flecks, tasteless. Really don't want to go near it again. From then on, everything was grilled at our own little grill in the table.Then there were potatoes, some strange pouch of stuff. There was "monjayaki," a vegetable mixture in a milk or yogurt base with some pork, flavored with fish roe. It was salty but delicious, especially the burnt bottom. Little burnt pieces are good eats in any cuisine. It was served with a tamarind sauce, similar to Worcestershire. The okonomiyaki had shrimp, squid, eggs, pork, beef, garlic, and peppers in it. After cooking, we put dried, smoked fish flakes, a sweet soy sauce, and nori flakes. Mayo was offered but I refused.

Japanese food tastes different, but whats most apparent is the different textures. Textures range from the sticky natto and konbe (seaweed pickles), to a soft and mushy mochi ball (rice), to that strange, compacted gelatin texture of "konyaku" and "anko" bars. Anko is a sweetened red bean paste. Japanese can take a lot of textures that Westerners would balk at. I have to admit I think some of the textures are pretty nasty and I like everything.

The Queen's Pie

Oh Margherita!

I did another sesame pie and a Margherita for dinner. Both wowed our dinner guests. The "San Marzano" sauce got quite a few compliments. Other comments were "the crust is so light" "look at those bubbles," etc. There is a definite difference in the extra heat and San Marzano tomatoes. The tomatoes have a milder, earthier taste. The sesame pizza took 3 minutes, the Margherita, 4 minutes. I am sitting here jumping out of my skin the night of my last pizza making for about a year. It's been two years in the making.

Victory is Mine

My at the buzzer shot, my swan song of pizza, two years in the making, I did it. Real. Good. Authentic. Neapolitan. Pizza. And here are the goods to prove it.

I didn't have the camera right when it came out. I had to eat it hot and fresh, hence the missing pieces.
Bottom, nice irregular char
Check out that bubble
Salute!

You may ask "Where's the sauce?" It's coming later today, I was just to excited about this first true success that I had to post. But first of all, saucy, pizza began as a piece of dough fired at incredible temperatures, topped with olive oil, sesame seeds, salt, and a trace of garlic, which is exactly what this is. Consider this day one in my pizza history because this is how pizza was meant to be.

Here are the specifics:
Dough
3 cups high gluten flour
1 cup and 3 Tbsp cold water
2 Tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)
1.5 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt

Combine in bread machine, set on dough cycle (about 25 minutes kneading in mine)
Remove dough, shape into ball. Spray a large bowl with oil and place dough in bowl to rise. Spray with more oil, cover with plastic, stash in fridge overnight.

2 hours before you make the pizza, punch down dough, form balls according to the size pizza you want. Let them proof covered loosely in plastic outside of the fridge in a warm place.

Shape dough after 2 hours, etc, etc.

Topping consisted of a heavy brushing of very good extra virgin olive oil, light sprinkle of garlic powder, and sesame seeds.

The pizza was baked on a Big Green Egg kamado cooker, loaded with a ton of lump charcoal. The egg was heated to 750 degrees to light the charcoal, then cooled down a bit. I put in the plate setter upright then the grill, then grill extender, then 14 inch pizza stone. I opened up the egg all the way until the walls read 350 degrees and the stone read 600. At this point the egg was belching and smoking. Very hot. The pizza was in for about 3.5 minutes. With an average air temperature reading around 650-700 degrees. The top and bottom cooked evenly and got excellent bubbles and char. When it came out, I spinkled some gray french sea salt on the top.

The pizza was nothing short of exceptional. The crust was bubbly and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and had a nice chew from the high gluten flour. It held its shape when I have it the salute! (see above). No flop. The flavor of the dough was like wheat and yeast in the best sense. The topings were simple and pure and I couldn't stop eating it. Pizza is about balance and this one was balance. The sesame seeds brought a nice mediterranean flavor (think hummus/tahini) and I can see how that is authentic to the pizza. They are a little nutty, but mostly carry an earthy flavor. Tasting it out of the tin, French Gray salt tasted like...salt. But as a finishing salt it was a much clearer saltiness, not oppressive or overpowering. From the bottom up, this was a pizza. Nothing else I've made came close.

Arthur Avenue, Antonios Trattoria Review

If I'm in the Bronx, I need pizza. The brick oven place I wanted to try, Zero Otto Nove, was closed so I found a new place called Antonios on Crescent Ave, just behind Arthur Avenue.

The place was nice, only open a year. The ideas were good, menu was great, but execution was poor.

We got two pizzas, Vesuviana (smoked mozzarella and roasted peppers) and Arugulata (Fresh mozzarella, no tomato sauce, topped with arugula, prosciutto di parma, and grated locatelli romano.) The arugula, prosciuto, and locatelli were put on after the pizza was fired in the oven.

Let's start with the good. The pizzas were piping hot. You could see the steam pouring out of the crust when they emerged from the oven. The combinations on the pizza were outstanding. All the pizzas, not just the ones we ordered, matched flavors very well. Our waiter was knowledgeable, a major plus in any restaurant. He gave us some good advice on our pizzas. The tomato sauce on the Vesuviana was nothing short of beautiful. Definitely a San Marzano sauce that I am trying to replicate. It was naturally sweet, not a hint of added sugar or residual acidity. Truely beautiful in its simplicity.

As for the arugulata, the flavors could have come together so much better if the toppings were cooked with the pizza! So frustrating because the concept of the pizza was so damn good. Argh! I don't want a salad on top of pizza bread! I wanted a pizza! I love arugula, my favorite green, but if I wanted the arugula salad I would have ordered it. The toppings were loose, disjointed, out of place. Just imagine the arugula cooking and wilting down into the cheese with some of the bitterness cooking away. The prosciutto would have crisped slightly and rendered some of its fat out into the greens and the dough and it would have all been held together by the melted locatelli. As a salad green I love the bite of arugula, but it is not the center of attention on a pizza. Pizza is about balance and this one was not balanced as it was. The waiter did give me the good tip to top it with some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This improved the flavor overall, cooked toppings or uncooked toppings, and no doubt should have been done right out of the oven.

Finally, I've seen it in a few "brick oven" places, but what gives with the crispy crust? (Unless of course it is a grilled pizza but thats a different animal) These places brag about thin and crispy crust. Thin is good, yes, under a light arrangement of toppings, but crust should be puffy, yeasty, chewy, alive with the goodness that comes with well made, freshly baked bread. This crust had no bounce. It was thin, dense and crispy. Not bad at all, but not what I want in my pizza. I don't even understand how crust like that is possible if you use a decent amount of yeast and let the dough proof and I don't plan to find out. I like my poofy, soft, and delicious crust.

Arthur Ave. Pizza Musings

I took my last hurrah to NYC and the Bronx today. I went with my grandparents, always a good time since they are both Bronx-born. It was odd not coming back home with a huge haul of cheese, meat, olives, oil, etc. I knew I wouldn't have the time to eat it before I leave so I left light, but not quite empty-handed.

My main pickup were two cans of "Bella San Marzano" tomatoes. Here's a nice little discussion about the brand. Here's one can.
Now this was a complete impulse buy for my pizza swan song tomorrow. I saw the words "San Marzano" and jumped on it. I didn't even realize they were cherry tomatoes grown in the area around Mt. Vesuvius where true San Marzanos (plum shaped) grow. Interesting discussion on DOP, non-DOP, and fake San Marzanos on the link above.

I had no gripes about quality. The can was packed with ripe little tomatoes and a thick puree. They made a great, simple pizza sauce. They are more acidic than true San Marzanos but much better than an American brand. Their flavor overall was exceptional. It was earthy, rich, can eat them out of the can.
Pizza sauce for tomorrow:
1 15oz can of tomatoes, blended pretty well
1/2 tsp salt
pinch sugar
1/2 tsp oregano
1 clove minced garlic
a little black pepper.

I didn't cook for too long. True San Marzano sauce is not cooked at all before being put on the pizza and has no garlic.

Tomorrow we shall see how this sauce turns out on the pizza, but I think its quite tasty.

Venison Steaks and Polenta Cakes

This summer, as with any break, I've done a whole bunch of cooking with Stefan, one of my best friends since elementary school. He's got his eye on the Culinary and I wish him the best of luck. Sometimes I wish I had the guts to drop college and go to the Culinary. It's not conventional, but it is a passion we both share; he chose to follow it.

His neighbor hunts deer, giving us a constant supply of venison. Yes, I do like eating Bambi, especially if he's on the grill. Haven't cooked Thumper yet, but I bet I can find him at Arthur Ave in the Bronx (next post) Unfortunately I forgot the camera so there are no pictures of this one.

We grilled the venison steaks very simply. The meat is incredibly lean and needs a good high flame to get it seared while leaving it rare or medium rare. Any point beyond that and its going to get tough. Stefan took care of the venison, while I worked on the polenta and broccoli rabe, our vegetable that isn't unconventional enough to mention further.

I wanted to emulate a grilled polenta that I had in Italy, soft on the inside, nicely crisped and charred on the outside. In Florence, it was topped with fresh porcini sauteed with butter and herbs. Tonight we opted for some fresh mozzarella from the deli Stefan works in. It's just as good as in the Bronx at Casa di Mozzarella, a place I contend to be the America mozzarella champion. Ideally, we would have had the time to make our own polenta, cool it down in a tray, then cut it to squares for the grill. We didn't have that kind of time so I bought a polenta log (creepy) in the store. That way we could just slice and grill. A few things went wrong here.
1. Polenta log. A mixture of cornmeal and water, maybe some salt, should not be shelf-stable, but thats how its sold. There was some sort of preservative that was definitely tasteable. The polenta was a bit acidic.
2. Stefan's grill crapped out after the venison was done. I couldn't get enough heat for crispy outside, soft inside. Instead the polenta was just warm.
Despite those setbacks, I warmed it on the grill and topped it with a slice of fresh mozzarella and a piece of fresh basil. These things will make everything taste good. The mozzarella still melted nicely and the polenta was more than willing to soak up the cream the melting mozzarella released.

I doubt I will have time before my trip to Japan to use real polenta on a real grill but its something I can keep in mind for next summer.

Vindaloo Lentils

This is my third curry. The first was a venison vindaloo, second was a eggplant and pumpkin masala. The spice blends from Penzey's Spices are excellent. The vindaloo has a a nice kick, and the garam masala is very warm. Quite a bit of tellicherry peppercorns, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc.

Here's the lentils. I added some cabbage too.










Step 1, Lentils
1.5 cups black beluga lentils (dal), rinsed.
Water to cover
1 Bayleaf
1 clove garlic
Pinch salt

Bring to simmer, cook until lentils are al dente. You still want them a little firm. The beauty of the dal is that they are very meaty and hold up well after cooking. A great salad lentil, not for soup.

While thats going...
1 large onion, chopped
2 Tbsp Oil (I used a chili pepper infused macadamia nut oil. Any veggie oil works fine)
1 Cup shredded cabbage
Little bit of tomato (3 plum tomatoes from garden)
Curry paste (2 Tbsp vindaloo curry combined with 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
Water
Other spices if desired (hot peppers, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper all are in the vindaloo, you can add extra if you like. I went with a little salt, cumin, and cinnamon on top of the curry paste)
1/2 cup strained greek yogurt, room temperature and >5% fat

Saute the onion in a pot with 1 Tbsp of the oil. When slightly browned, add the other Tbsp, paste, garlic, and ginger. Fry until they become aromatic. Add the cabbage and tomato, and about an inch of water on the bottom of the pot. Cook on med-high until cabbage is soft. The lentils should be done around now (40 mins approx). Throw those in with a little of the lentil water if you need it. Remember to discard the garlic and bay leaf. Remove from heat. Stir in the yogurt to make it a little creamy. There should be very little residual liquid at this point. Serve. Should be spicy. Drink water/beer.

Avocado Ice Cream

Care of Alton Brown


Here you can see it out of the ice cream machine. It took a good while to set...about 20 mins. I was surprised on how much "cold" it needed. Gotta love the green color!







I had avocados in the fridge. They are similar to eggs as far as protein and fat content, making them well suited for ice cream.

1.5 cups whole mik
1 cup light cream
2 avocados, peeled and seeded
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Finely chopped lemon basil (last minute addition to blender)

Blend, chill in fridge, freeze in ice cream machine.


Serve right out of the ice cream machine for soft texture. Put in airtight container and leave in freezer for 2 or 3 hours for a firmer texture. I sprinkled a little coarse sea salt on top after I dished out the ice cream. It was a nice sweet/salty contrast and plays to the flavor of the avocado (think guacamole...sort of). Yes, the ice cream does taste like avocados and it's wonderful :)

Roasted Garlic and Zucchini Ravioli

I've had some great success with my new pasta machine, a Ferrara PastaQueen.

These zucchini came very spicy (garlic) and flavorful. I would have liked the dough to be a bit denser and chewier. I've been rolling it to the second thinnest setting on the pasta machine but think the third (out of 8) settings would be best for the texture. It will also give me a little more resilience as the pasta cooks...less breakage. I like the half-moon, agnolotti shapes. More filling that way. They turn out like little pillows.




I did these oven-baked because the filling was definitely hardy enough to hold up to a tomato sauce and melted mozzarella.

Pasta (1/2 pound approx)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup cold water

Mix the flour and salt, whisk eggs and olive oil and combine. Add water until the dough comes together. Knead for about 10 minutes on countertop, using extra flour to prevent sticking. Rest for 30 mins, then roll out pasta sheets for ravioli.

Filling:
2 zucchini, roasted at 400 degrees for 1 hour with a little olive oil, salt, pepper.
1/4 cup ricotta (dry)
1 Tbsp butter
1 head garlic, roasted
3 Tbsp grated romano cheese
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes

Blend zucchini and ricotta. Place in cotton dishtowel and squeeze out excess water. THIS WILL REDUCE BY HALF. Its important to squeeze so the pasta dough does not soak through. Mix in the rest of ingredients and fill ravioli in shape you desire. Again, I do half moons.

Review: Excellent. They worked very well oven-baked. The whole wheat added a nice nuttiness and the sundried tomatoes gave the filling a complex texture. I would have liked a little more chew to the dough.

Summer Food

So I've been negligent...
I cooked a ton this summer but since my camera was still broken after dropping it while photographing spanikopita I haven't kept track of much. My loss because I should have kept a record. I got a new camera so here are two late posts.