Food, Food, and More Food Thread

To the person who voted for 7-Eleven sushi...

I actually like 7-Eleven sushi!!! :D In Hawaii 7-Eleven's, they sell mostly maki sushi and cone sushi. They also sell several types of bentos (unfortunately, not arranged like thos photos), and even sweet pork manapua. So anytime I'm nearby a 7-Eleven and I'm hungry, I'll go there and grab something.

One note: The chain of Hawaii 7-Eleven's is actually owned by a Japan-based company. The other United States stores are owned by that Texas-based company (forgot the name).

--- groink

Sake ne can be serve both cold n Hot... ;) ..
Quite strong for a drink especially if u drink too much [ A definet bang after u wake up ] :mrgreen:
A big bottle cost Rp250.000,- here pricey ne..well most of Jstuff is pricey :mrgreen:

Groink, don't forget about the spam musubi (spam sushi) in hawaii, they are EVERYWHERE there!

Homebrew Sake

Homebrew Sake is very easy to brew using your simple cooking tools and you can enjoy Sake taste.

Homebrew Sake,we call 'doburoku', rather haze Sake, had been a culture of Japan and even under the previously strict control of Liquor Tax law,some Buddhist temples or Shinto Shrines have been brewing thier own 'doburoku' to serve their festival or ceremony.

Following is one of the simple Sake brewing procedures to enjoy Sake taste.

Materials:
1500g(3.3lb) rice,
400g(0.9lb)Kome-koji,
5g(0.18oz)citric acid
Water.
5g (0.18oz) dry bread yeast. Or equivalent amount of Beer Ale yeast,Wine yeast or Wyeast Sake depending on you taste.
You will be able to get Kome-koji made from Koji or Koji-kin, a kind of white fungi, together with steam cooked rice at your grocery stores or homebrew stores. If you only can get Koji or Koji-kin, you can easily make your fresh Kome-koji together with steam cooked rice by yourself using your picnic ice box. Later I will show you how to make Kome-koji. If necessary, I can send you some Koji or Koji-kin by air mail, because Kome-koji is too heavy and too easily going bad to send over the ocean.

Equipment:
Electric rice cooker(steam cooker is better).
Basket to cut water.
10liters(2.6gal) enamel or stainless steel deep cooking pot with lid.
(Equivalent plastic or glass container can be used.)
Big spoon(stainless is better) .
Procedure:

1.Wash and soak the 1500g(3.3lb) rice for about five hours and then put the rice in a basket for at least 20 min. to cut water.
2.Cook the rice with 1800ml(0.48gal)water using the rice cooker. Steam cooking is recommendable for better taste. I used a pressure cooker to steam cook rice using stainless steel bastket suspended in it.
3.After cooking the rice,cool down the rice to 30deg C(86deg F).
4.Melt the citric acid with 2.4liter(0.5gal) water in the enamel cooking pot. Citric acid will prevent the contamination of bacteria and add slight sour taste to your Sake. Depending on your taste, you can reduce the Citric acid. Also you can use Lactic acid or you can use a Lemon or Lime juice.
5.Add 400g koji and well melt it by agitating with the big spoon.
6.In thirty minuets, add the cooled cooked rice and well mix by agitating with the big spoon.
7.Pitch the yeast and place the lid on the pot and keep it at room temperautre. Lower temperature will cause slower and longer fermentaion and will result in better taste.
8.Stir it at least once a day. In two or three days you can enjoy very nice Sake aroma. Be careful about bacteria contamination. I used 70% ethyl alcohol spay around the pot and to myself every time.
9.In two weeks fermentation will seem to end.
10.Filter the sludge using a sterilized basket or cheese cloth.
11.Enjoy the filtered Sake. Do not drink too much. Alcohol content is two to three times more than beer. Cooling the filtered Sake is the best way to taste. If you want crystal clear Sake,separate the further sludge by decanting. This will greatly reduce Sake yield.
12.Remaining sludge can be used to cook vegetable pickles in a refrigerator. A cucumber is the most suitable vegetable. Of course you can put white fish meat and then grill them.

How to make Kome-koji from Koji or Koji-kin.
1.Wash and soak the 400g(0.9lb) rice for about five hours and then put the rice in a basket for at least 20 min. to cut water.
2.Steam cook the rice. Steam cooked rice looks slightly transparent, not white.
3.Cool down the cooked rice to 30deg C(86deg F). Put the rice into an enamel or stainless steel thin container and add 2 to 3g of Koji or Koji-kin and well mix them. Cover the container with water moistened cheese cloth or cotton cloth to prevent drying.
4.Put the container in a picnic ice box together with 35deg C(95deg F) warm water bottles to keep the inside at 30deg C(86deg F) for 40 hours. The amount of the warm water will preferably be at least 8 litters(2 gal). If necessary, change the warm water to keep the temperature constant. In 10 hours,mix again the mixture of the cooked rice and Koji using a cooking sparula. Already you can notice the whitened rice and get good aroma. I used a digital thermometer to measure the temperature inside. Very useful.
5.Further keep the mixture at 30deg C(86deg F) for 30 hours.
6.You can get white colored Kome-koji covered with white fungus.
If real "Amasake" is available (sake sludge mixed with suger is not real amasake),directly pitch dry yeast in a bottle.You can brew Sake.

In Japan, at present, fermenting more than 1% alcohol without license is illegal. Before world war one, I heard that every family had been enjoying homebrewing Sake. It was the Japanese culture. But the war destroyed the culture too. At present,members of " Homebrew News Letter" is only arround 300. It is supposed that about ten thousand homebrewers exist in Japan. We do not only homebrew beers but also homebrew Sake.

In 1992, the minimum amount of licenced beer production was reduced from 2000kl/year to 60kl/year by the pressure from the USA. It was the dawn of local micro beer brewers. We, most of Japanese homebrewers, are wanting more pressure from the USA for free homebrew and for free trade to get cheeper homebrew ingredients.

Commercial Sake brewers use very expensive materials such as 50% polished special kind of rice,which looks very small crystal beads because of the excessive polishing process. And the special rice kinds grown only for Sake are called Yamadanishiki,Miyamanishiki,reihou,gyokuei and so on. We never eat such a rice, we usually eat slightly polished normal kinds of rice grown only for eating. When I visited Sake brewer near my house,the manager told me that he tried to eat that sake rice but that it was not tasty.

Homebrew Sake is very simple to make and satisfactorily tasty if you do not compare with commercial high class pure rice Sake. I heard that US Sake brewers have to produce only pure rice Sake because of US tax law. Pure Rice Sake means Sake only from rice. In Japan, tax law allows mixture of so called industrial ethyl alcohol into Sake within a certain percentage. Pure rice sake (Junmaishu) is very expensive.

I hope you enjoy homebrew Sake.
Mutsuo Hoshido

Kampai minna ;)

It is true that flower arrangement, tea ceremony, kabuki, no, judo, karate, etc. are those necessary which will help you understand Japan and Japanese, but others which are direct connected with Japanese daily life should be also taken up. One of them is, for example, sake or nihonshu that occupies a very important part in the Japanese food culture.

Alcoholic drinks described are only qualities which are not brewed by big sake breweries but by small and/or middle local sake breweries especially in the central and northeastern parts of Japan. They supply their products in a restricted, local area. Such products are called local sake, that is to say, jizake.

There are three sorts of jizake - junmai-shu (made out of pure rice), honjozo-shu (made out of rice and rice yeast to which a defined amount of brewing alcohol is added) and ginjo-shu (fermented in low temperature for a long time and produced for two various types of junmai-shu and honjozo-shu).

[image]


Takoyaki recipe
Source: Robb Satterwhite and Kenji Mitsuyama
Cooking time: 10-20 minutes
Servings: 50-60 pieces (4-5 persons)
Takoyaki ("octopus balls") are usually served at street stands, but they can also be made at home. However, it will help if you have a takoyaki grill, or a similar device with 3-centimeter-diameter cups.

Ingredients:
200g chopped boiled octopus
cooking oil
benishoga (pickled ginger) (to taste)
chopped negi (or scallions) (to taste)
tenkasu (or rice crispies) (to taste)
[Batter]:
450cc water
1 piece konbu (kelp), 10cm square
15g powdered katsuo-bushi (shaved dried bonito)
200g flour
2 eggs

[Sauce]:
commercial takoyaki sauce
or worcestershire sauce
or bulldog sauce
or mayonnaise (Best Foods or Hellman's)
Directions -- batter
1. Clean the konbu by wiping it lightly with a cloth.
2. Cut the konbu into 2-centimeter-wide partial strips against the grain, but don't cut all the way to the edge -- see illustration.
3. Add the water and konbu to a pot, and cook uncovered over a slow fire.
4. Just before the water starts to boil, remove the konbu from the pot. The liquid should be a light yellowish or greenish color.
5. Add shaved katsuobushi to the water as it starts to boil.
6. After the liquid has been boiling a minute or two, turn off the heat.
7. Quickly remove the shaved katsuobushi from the liquid with a filter or strainer or cloth. Try to remove the katsuobushi while it's still floating on the surface, before it has a chance to sink.
8. Allow the liquid to cool, then add the liquid, flour and eggs to a bowl and mix.


Directions -- takoyaki
Make a small test batch of 4 or 5 takoyaki at first, to check the consistency of the batter. Add more flour or water as needed.
1. Oil the takoyaki pan.
2. Add pieces of chopped octopus to each cup.
3. Pour in the batter.
4. Add benishoga, negi and tenkasu to taste.
5. Cook the takoyaki pieces until they achieve the desired degree of firmness, turning them over frequently.
6. Remove from the pan and serve with sauce and/or mayonnaise.

Success can be in stick of yakitori

No one is born to success. Instead, success is mostly made
with hard work and perseverance. gYou only need to believe
in what you are doing and then give it your best,h says Masayuki Sakugawa, or gDai-chanh as he is called by those who know him.
And many know. He is the portly fellow who grills and sells yakitori, grilled chicken pieces on bamboo sticks, in front of ICSC shop
on Gate 2 Street outside Kadena AB Gate 2. He is serving his
delicious morsels there almost every Friday and Saturday, and
on the eve of most national holidays.

Dai-chan considers himself a success. He was born Apr. 8, 1956
and as so many young Okinawan men moved to seek his success
to Tokyo where he decided to open a yakitori bar. He worked very
hard, and was well liked by his customers. He is fun to talk with and
gets along with anybody. gAny business is difficult in the beginning
and takes hard work to become successful. But what ever one
decides to do, he or she has to put the whole heart into it. Eventually the money will come,h Dai-chan says.

Dai-chan put his heart into grilling yakitori in Tokyo for 18 years. He eventually developed his own special sauce that kept his customers coming back night after night. He also discovered not to use frozen chicken meat. Yakitori usually comes frozen and pre-skewered
on sticks from Taiwan or China, but Dai-chan prefers to shop
his chicken fresh from a local meat store. gThat is an expensive way
to make yakitori, but thatfs what it takes to be the best,h he says.

He also likes to travel. So far he has visited most of European countries, China Singapore and America. Eventually Dai-chan made and invested enough money into mostly American securities that he does not have to work full time. But he still likes to serve people the best yakitori as only he can, and keeps working two nights a week on Gate 2 Street.
Everyone can decide for him or herself. If it does not rain, he is
on his spot from 6 p.m. until all is sold. After that he goes and
enjoys a beer or two in a local bar before retiring.
That is a successful man.

mmmmmmm food

i love sukiyaki, katsudon, some sushis, tempura, and yakisoba :)

Yep Da interesting part about a food...It is a apart of one nation culture. ne Stargirl :mrgreen:

Bsalez wrote:Yep Da interesting part about a food...It is a apart of one nation culture. ne Stargirl :mrgreen:

so true!

Bsalez wrote:Lipovitan Honey ne is a health kind of drink...Japan licensed :mrgreen:

how does it taste? lipovitan is sold here but they look really scary to try

It taste sweet bit sour but generally It is ok to drink...Definetly don't contain Alcohol or Acid ne Star girl ;) Pretty safe to try comapre to sake ne :mrgreen:

vienna_sg wrote:

juliana_phang wrote:

vienna_sg wrote:

Bsalez wrote:Usually Sogo have a supermarket Jstuff use for cooking...yep I cook too.
Maybe can find there Vienna chan ;)

Bsalez, thx for the suggestion. But Sogo had closed down a couples of yrs ago :sweat:

what bout takashimaya~
isnt that a good place to get Jstuff?!
esp jfoods!
mose burger!
:drooling:

I love MOS burger too !! :D Juilana, we got the same taste.
The natto, i'll go and source it out myself. :rolleyes:

i was able to try MOS burger while i was in Hawaii and it was soooo good! i wish there is MOS in the Philippines

Bsalez wrote:It taste sweet bit sour but generally It is ok to drink...Definetly don't contain Alcohol or Acid ne Star girl ;) Pretty safe to try comapre to sake ne :mrgreen:

the lipovitan here is locally made but i think it's licensed from japan. i should definitely try it at least once. also sake. do they drink it hot?

has anyone tried Yakult? it's a drink with lactobacilli and tastes really good. they say it's healthy too.

also, i love jap candies like milky. milky milky yummmmy! and peco too (or is it pecko?)!!!

stargirl wrote:
I love MOS burger too !! :D Juilana, we got the same taste.
The natto, i'll go and source it out myself. :rolleyes:

i was able to try MOS burger while i was in Hawaii and it was soooo good! i wish there is MOS in the Philippines[/quote]

yeah me toO~!!
how i wish there's 1 here too~
i only get to eat mos burger once a year
:shakehead:
not enough...
:P

stargirl wrote:also, i love jap candies like milky. milky milky yummmmy! and peco too (or is it pecko?)!!!

It's peko-chan (the candy right?). If you like sweets, then you'll probably like "wagashi". It's not a name brand, but it's candy that is made into beautiful things of japan, and why not, wagashi literally means "japanese sweets". And the best part about these candy is that they are not bad for you.(I like mine with sen-cha, hot green tea) Check it out here.

tabetai...!! just ate soba that day.. cooked it myself toz.. :chatter: or at least with leetle help.. :sweat:

juliana_phang wrote:

stargirl wrote:

I love MOS burger too !! :D Juilana, we got the same taste.
The natto, i'll go and source it out myself. :rolleyes:

i was able to try MOS burger while i was in Hawaii and it was soooo good! i wish there is MOS in the Philippines

yeah me toO~!!
how i wish there's 1 here too~
i only get to eat mos burger once a year
:shakehead:
not enough...
:P

Poor gals. SG had a couple of MOS burger stores. And one of them is near my work place and i get to eat it everyday :mrgreen: :P

niko2x wrote:

stargirl wrote:also, i love jap candies like milky. milky milky yummmmy! and peco too (or is it pecko?)!!!

It's peko-chan (the candy right?). If you like sweets, then you'll probably like "wagashi". It's not a name brand, but it's candy that is made into beautiful things of japan, and why not, wagashi literally means "japanese sweets". And the best part about these candy is that they are not bad for you.(I like mine with sen-cha, hot green tea) Check it out here.

I love rabbit sweet since young. It is make of milk. hmm..i guess it is not product of japan

vienna_sg wrote:

I love rabbit sweet since young. It is make of milk. hmm..i guess it is not product of japan

yeah~!
me too!!
cool sweet..the paper look-a-like can be eaten~
i didnt know that
hahaha
i always peel it :sweat:
humph..dont think that's jpnese product tooo