Basically the “hearty” feeling is generated by MSG(Monosodium Glutamate) in some form.

One thing that quite a lot of people are not aware of is MSG exist in natural food. Meat product, Chesse, potato, tomato, mushrooms, eggs are natural MSG sources. And these natural food do possess a high amount of natural MSG – that is why they all taste so good most of the time. In Japanese cuisine, miso paste are widely used (and in other variation, konbucha is also used). Most of the miso paste is added with MSG, and usually the MSG is extracted from seaweed. This is also one of the open secret why Chinese food taste so good. It is because of the MSG.

MSG can either be extracted from meat or vegetables. In meat, pig protein is used as a cheap means of extracting MSG. While to make the MSG kosher, it can also be extracted from plants like seaweed.

My view on MSG is that it doesn’t really harm you. Added MSG and natural MSG are the same. It is not neccessarily unhealthy to have MSG as long as you are not eating excess amount of it. And having some MSG in food (natural or not) will sometimes reduce the urge for salt. The good side is you will consume relatively less salt and might yield a better option if your diet has a constraint in daily salt intake. There are certainly people who are intolerant to MSG, but the occurance of such events are actually not especially high, and unfortunately most of the processed food will use MSG as a form of addictive to make their product taste better.
What is umami? Look below!

There are so many different variation from the original spelling in Japanese, but I believe the best one is “Konbucha”, directly translated from the Japanese word 昆布茶.

It is not to be confused with Kombucha, which is a fermented tea drink.

Definition from Wikipedia: Kombucha is the Western name for sweetened tea or tisane that has been fermented by a macroscopic solid mass of microorganisms called a “kombucha colony,” usually consisting principally of Acetobacter-species and yeast cultures.

Japanese people drink that as a kind of tea, but personally I don’t really think it is a tea or a drink at all. Sounds pretty eerie to me

Back to Konbucha powder, I used Konbucha powder (dried seaweed powder) as a kind of herb, which usually I add when I was cooking a clear broth and sometimes you can add in konbucha powder when you are making seafood omelet. There are a few recipes that I have seen recently that made good use of Konbucha as a key ingredient. I think it brings out the savoriness out of the food, and is an alternative form of MSG (umami). One of the recipe that I can share.

Recipe

Crab Omelet with Konbucha (serves 4)

Ingredient:

1 can of crab meat (~60g)
grounded chicken meat(~120g)

Condiment A :

• cornstarch 2 teaspoon
• salt 1/4 teaspoon

Condiment B:

• sugar 2 teaspoon
• light soy sauce

6 Eggs
Soy Milk (80 ml)

Sauce:

• Konbucha 2 teaspoon
• light soy sauce
• cornstarch 2 teaspoon
• water 1 1/2 cup

Step 1:Mix crab meat, chicken meat and Condiment A in a bowl.

Step 2:Beat eggs and mix soy milk with Condiment B together, then mix all the food from Step 1, mix well.

Step 3:Heat a pan and add oil afterwards, add 1/4 of the mixture into the pan, flip after seeing the egg batter transform into semi-transparent state. Repeat the process to make 4 omeletes.

Step 4:After finishing, put the sauce to a boil in the pan and add in some black pepper when needed. Pour sauce over the completed crab omelete.

Step 5: Serve with rice/pasta.

Above is of the brand that I use, and it seem to be pretty prominent in Japense shop. This version of it doesn’t add the plum flavor, and I like it because it is more managable.

Unforunately, in a lot of the places you are being served imitation wasabi.

But real wasabi is really expensive. You have to pay probably 3-4 dollars for 1 wasabi plant which might only be able to serve 2-3 people in such amount. Not to mention it is hard to find in the US and you have to buy and serve it fresh. Real wasabi should look like the profile picture, it should look like some gratings from a yellowish green plant, but not the solid translucent green that you see everywhere in all sushi restaraurants.  Real wasabi don’t taste that spicy or pungent to the nose (those are effects from the mustard in imitated wasbi paste), but  a rather mild with a pleasant minty after taste.

Most of the wasabi you see are fake. Probably you should grate your own wasabi from the market if you really want to try. You can buy them in Japanese Supermarkets. Nijiya Markets in the West Coast sells them, at a highly inflated price!

THIS is wasabi:

I like to eat gari and it taste really good with sushi. My habit is to eat 1 piece of it between sushis and it taste pretty good in that way. Actually when you are served a plate of nigiri sushi, ginger is always served (usually wasabi might not be served in real japanese restaurant, because it is already added to the sushi). The ginger(gari) is more than a decoration itself, it serves as a tool of dipping soy sauce! (that is somethine a lot of people don’t know, including me in the past). You are suppose to dip the soy sauce with the ginger and apply it to the top of the nigiri sushi before eating the sushi. It is the “proper” way of eating the sushi and I think it make sense because 1. you wouldn’t contaminate the soy sauce with the fish , 2. you won’t mix different flavors of fishes together, and 3. you add in the flavor of ginger into the fish. Hmmm, that is a good way of serving food.

This is the only good clip I saw on teaching how to do pickled ginger.

Homemade Pickled Ginger:

This is how they do it.

How to make sushi rice(shari):

And after making the rice, you need a good chef to put the rice and sushi fish together. Don’t think it is easy either. Try it yourself! It is really hard to squeeze the correct amount of rice let alone make the rice adhere to the fish. This is one example of how you can do it. Maybe it is too quick a demonstration, but you really need real time practise on this- it is easy to watch but hard to do.

Tamago sushi is one of the few cooked sushi entrees.

Simple but nice, it is a pice of rice with a sweet egg omelette on top. Seriously they usually taste more or less the same since it is made from egg and sugar. Nonetheless, this tamago sushi is one of the best way of using an egg and turn it into a delicacy.

Be careful, this cold egg sushi contains lots of cholesterol because it is full of egg(with soy sauce/fish broth)

Best guide I can find for making tamago batter (the sweet egg omelet)

Sometimes when people translate Uni, they would say sea urchin roe, it is not really correct. It is the organs that produce the roe, the gonad. It sounds kind of gross but I think it is really tasty. (Maybe that is why the restaurant name it sea urchin but not sea urchin gonad)

I have heard that the best uni is red in colour, with orange and yellow as the 2nd tier and 3rd tier. Luckily it all taste good when it is fresh. When it is not, it taste rather disgusting like a rotten egg. Sea urchin lovers beware of your cholesterol level too, it is realy high in cholesterol and fat and you should desist after 2 or 3 pieces (probably you can’t afford it anyways, it cost 3-4 dollars for apiece)

Wonder taste and aftertaste, buttery and fatty. Also love-it-or-hate-it kind of food.   Not recommended for first time sushi-eater or people who don’t like fishiness. But it is my favourite seafood so far. Use of sea urchin includes: chirashi(sashimi bowl), nigiri sushi, sashimi served with cucumber or seaweed, fried rice, steam egg with uni, many chef creation rolls etc….. Let me know if you can think of more.

Tai is a commonname containing a variety of different fishes in the Pagellus catagory. The English commonname is (red), (blackspot) sea bream. I think this is not a very prominent fish in the US since I don’t see them being advertised a lot in Japanese restaurants here.

Probably one of the reason it did not get as popular in US is because of its inflexibility in the use of the fish as a cooking ingredient. It is a shiromi (white meat fish) and is mild in taste. Since sashimi in US has to be flash frozen before consumption, the taste would just be quite undesirable to consume as a nigiri sushi or sashimi. It would not be a good ingredient to make a chef’s creation role either. The texture is quite chunky, and since it is not a fatty fish, you can’t really bring in extra flavour in a fish. The next best thing besides making it in nigiri sushi might be grilling it with a sweet sauce.

Probably you should eat this fish either very fresh or don’t bother to eat it at all. It’s hard to find a good one in sashimi grade.

The abalone in the sushi is usually sliced raw in very thin slices (I wonder if it is poached slightly) . The himo (the legs, the overcoat and the ligament) of awabi is usually served as an appetitizer and is also very tasty.

Abalone is one of the more expensive shellfish among all sashimi. Besides Japanese, Chinese people treated abalone as a premium food. Often served in expensive restaurants, abalone is served steamed in a whole shell, or it can be used as ingredients in soups because of its very fresh taste. However due to over farming of abalone by human, the supply of this delicious seafood has dropped and the price of abalone has increased a lot since then. Most of the abalone that you are eating now might have been farm-raised, and these farm-raised abalone taste a lot more inferior than the wild caught ones (who knows what food they are being fed).

Abalone is high in cholesterol and should be consumed in moderate amount only.

Sushi Birthday Cake

I have been there for about 30-40 times so far, and, the restaurant have changed hands for at least 2 times over 3 years.

The thing that I appreciate is their chirashi.

The staffs are ok, not too bad and friendly in general.

One recently surprise: the new management decided to give the whole birthday party a 20% off (book in advance) if there is anyone in the group who has their birthday on that day. And they will include a complimentary sushi cake above – something I have never seen before. The outer rim is full of crackers with spicy tuna & jalapenos paste . The inner ring has 3 kinds of seaweed rolls(tuna,salmon and tamago). And the center ring has a bunch of futomaki rolls in it. I am impressed by the restaurant for the first time. (Probably I will give them a B grade on my birthday when I receieve so much goodies).

Besides for the big surprise, pleasant surprises nomore. The cooked food is bad. Their tempura is extremely non-Japanese where they don’t even use tempura platter to fry the tempura, they use cornstarch and breadcrumbs (not panko).

Good: Chirashi is good-valued, rolls are pretty innovative, only place for Sunday sushi buffet. 20% on birthday party.
Bad: Bad cooked food in general

Conclusion: You can only go there for sushi, and still don’t expect high quality fish.

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Address:715 N University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Phone:(734) 213-3044
Open Mon-Sat 10am-10pm; Sun 11:30am-9pm

It is a 3-in-1 restaurant owned by a japanese family and they offer sushi bar, shabu-shabu and teppanyaki together.

On that night I tried the shabu shabu and it was very good for the money paid. I have tried both the seafood version and the beef version.

Beef Shabu Shabu

The seafood shabu shabu contains a selection of seafood including scallop, king crab, a kind of white fish, mussels and some fish balls. The waiter included some miso soup on the pot for me to boil the seafood, together with a basket of fresh vegetables and udon on the side. It taste good all together and they also have a range of condiments that can be added to the pot to enhance the flavors of the shabushabu. For sauces they have a mildly sour vinger sauce(I suspect it is the ponzu sauce), and a seasame peanut butter sauce for dips. For condiments for the soup they have scallions, giner grates, S&B 7 flavour power, hot chili peppers and some grated white carrots. The food taste pretty fresh.

As for the beef shabu shabu, they give you what you paid for. Thank you for my neighbouring friend (Wilbur) would gave me a portion of his beef because of my insatiable appetite. Meat is freshly prepared and is done properly.

Special appetizer that they have: jalapeño poppers. jalepeno stuffed with diced white tuna, deep fried. Wow, not too spicy but it taste rather nice!

Jalapeno Poppers with Tuna Filling

Good: I love the shabu shabu- and the appetizer a lot.
Bad: Please don’t try their ice-cream! It is surprisingly horrendous.

Will come back again.

Shima
13700 Roswell Ave, Chino, CA
(909) 590-1233

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Phone: 734.998.3484
Address:
403 N. Fifth Ave – 1st Floor
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://yamatoinc.blogspot.com/

I think this is a relatively old restaurant in Kerrytown Ann Arbor. It has been around for at least 10 years and is operated by a Japanese couple. When you go into the entrance, you will see a lot of old photos with a lot of customers’ comments. The chef has been working as a chef for a long time and some Japanese friends told me the family moved to USA about 2 decades ago to start this Japanese restaurant.

Usually food tends to be better at a Japanese restaurant if the chef is Jap. It turns out pretty true. The food served is not too much influenced by Western elements and most of their dishes do still emphasize on a tradition Japanese feel. Like the duck udon that I have, they are still using a long Japanese green onion instead of the cheaper green onions that can be found in Chinese grocery stores. And for that it makes the duck udon taste better. I appreciate the chef has a good selection of raw materials.

Too bad I cannot find any photos about their sushi bento, but I do recommend them nonetheless. it is a bit expensive for a dinner bento ($25), but you get what you paid for. Sashimis are cut fresh and nicely, with a daily entree to go with the sushi in a 3-slot bento box.

However, beware the food are coming in pretty slowly because they do not have a lot of staffs as the restaurant is family owned.

Recommended items: Fried oyster bento set, duck udon, uni(ask if it is fresh enough), sashimi bento.

Rumours say that they are trying to sell their business because they want to retire.

Good: Authentic Japanese food, the sushi fish are relatively fresh in the area and the bento has a really good presentation and taste. Will recommend sushi items. Lunch sets are quite a good deal.
Bad: Really slow service because there is only 1 chef(the husband) and 1 waitress(the wife). Dinner is a bit too expensive($20-25)

Conclusion: You should prepare to wait for your food, or else you will be starving to death.But then the food is worth the wait, sometimes and for someone.

It was the first time that I learned that there are simple but savory ways of eating an una don (Grilled Eel bowl). Three Ways.

1. Serve Grilled Eel Don from Wooden Bucket

Eel Eaten 3 Ways： 1. Eaten from a Wooden Bucket

2. Adding fresh wasabi rind and chopped Negi (Japan green union)

Eel Three Ways: 2. Add in Wasabi rind and green onion, together with some Yuzi salt

3. Adding Dashi made of bonito & konbu(seaweed kelps)

Eel Eaten 3 Ways： 3. Add in Fish Broth(Dashi) made of Bonito and kelp

So good.  Also tried their skewer – they have eel liver, eel head, eel lungs kushi.  Yum.  Eel everything is in the house.

浅草うな鐵
Japan 東京都台東区浅草1-43-7‎03-3841-1360‎
http://www.hitsumabushi.com/

Decor has its own hype.  The restaurant is decorated with LED lights that changes its colour once in a while.   Wonderful interior design it is.

Entree is satifying and is acceptable at the price.  I was not too inspired or surprised at their menu though.  I was a little bit disappointed about their sushi quality and I guess it’s not a place for sushi afterall.  Some of the entrees that I do still remember – ANGRY chicken, Kobe Beef Bim bim bop, halibut, some sushi platter,sea bass, steak, surf and turf.

Dessert – it’s very disappointing.  I just don’t get the (con)fusion of their desserts,  I remembered their coffee jelly with coconut milk tastes really bad, same goes for the flourless chocolate cake.  I wonder if that’s why they don’t put their dessert menu on the website.

I guess that’s because chef Morimoto is not the chef in house.  Too bad, but it managed to get me visiting twice, all with a big group of people.

Photos below – taken a  hurry.

Morimoto

Neighborhood: Market East
723 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 413-9070 http://www.morimotorestaurant.com/

One of the good valued (still very good) quality food in there (goes for about $80)

]]> http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/food-craving-1-all-you-can-eat-sukiyaki-teppanyaki/feed/ 2 http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/cooking-rap-cheap-cheap-chicken/ http://www.likesushi.com/2009/01/05/cooking-rap-cheap-cheap-chicken/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:34:24 +0000 Eugene http://www.likesushi.com/?p=223

A game video from a very ancient game called Parappa the Rapper.

Real version! Equally entertaining

One of my favourite seashell sashimi. The Akagai (or “red Shell fish”) is red colour because of its abundance in iron and haemogoblin. It has a chewy texture but it is not at all rubbery. In terms of taste, I think it taste better than oyster (better texture), mussel (fresher), clam (a stronger taste).

The best time to eat it is during summer, after the mating season of the akagai shell.

The parts that you are eating in sushi bar are the legs, the overcoat and the ligament (called the himo, or the fringe). All the rest of the seashell will be discarded(like the intestines and whatever nasty stuff). I think it is rather hard to prepare and cut the seashell well, so I’ll just order it in a restaurant. Maybe I will learn how to do it myself later.

I think this will pair well with hokkigai. You can eat them together and probably you should save these 2 seashells(or seashell in general) to the very last or else you can’t really taste the milder fishes.

*This is how the clam is prepared. This is a Youtube clip on how to open a Akagai shell and how to prepare it into a presentable form.

Ikura is the Japanese word for salmon roe.

The name comes from “ikra” the Russian word for (caviar). It is a high value seafood and people have treated it as a delicacy in different cuisines.

In terms of taste, ikura taste very fishy, and the strong fishy taste would definitely turn off a lot of non-seafood lovers. Caviar (Ikura) is a love-it-or-hate-it type of food. As a seafood lover myself, ikura roll is almost my favourite because of its very strong and pungent afterbreath. Fresh salmon roes should taste like a bit like fresh fish liver oil.

In terms of nutrition value, Ikura (salmon roe) is full of protein, and cholesterol. Since salmon roe is just like a miniature version of a chicken egg, and 1 chicken egg would set you up for 1 day of suggested cholesterol intake, you should seriously think to resist the temptation, although most likely your attempt would be futile if you are a big fan of ikura.

Ikura can be served on the side as sashimi in complement with the other sushis, it can also be a main dish by serving with a bowl of rice (ikura-don). In sushi item, it is usually served in a tekka roll with seaweed and in chef creation rolls it is often used as a premium ingredient.

Bonito is very fishy and sometimes you can say it smells so strong that it seems stale. I would say it is sometimes true. Sometimes I would think eating bonito fish is like eating duck meat. A weird comparison, I know, but that’s what I feel. That is why bonito fish is marinated in a vingeary sauce before serving at times or it will be paired with some ginger to remove its fishy smell.

Another fun fact is bonito fish is used in many flavor enhancing sauces, and the most common one is the soba sauce. That is what my vegetarian roommate told me when I tried to cook him some soba and serve it with soba sauce.

Pacific and Atlantic bonito meat has a firm texture and a darkish color and it is not very fat as compared to the fatty tuna. It is quite a cheap fish and Japanese people will often use bonito(non-sushi grade) for grilling and other uses.