Japanese Food! Comments, suggestions, feedback!

[Tri-ring]

Ok, let me answer as much questions as possible.
First of all, beef for gyudon.
It's usually the cheapest at the shop.
I think Yoshinoya uses boneless short rib portion in the thinnest slice possible.

The broth is made from;
Katsuo dashi 50cc
Soysauce 1/2~1 tablespoon
Sake 1/2 tablespoon
Sugar 1/2~1 table spoon
Sliced onions 1/4~1/2

Simmer the katsuo add all the ingredients wait till the onion becomes translucent
add beef cook till color changes topped it on a bowl of hot cooked rice and you have Gyudo.

I also add shaved Gobo(burdock), ito-konyaku(string konyaku), various mushrooms, tofu and top it with beated raw egg.
This is called Sukiyaki-don since all are ingredients for Suki-yaki.

As for curry it was first introduced as a dish on a passenger ship in the Meji era.
Instead of beef the first curry was served with frog legs. I think the recipe is floating around on the internet.
The Japanese version was introduced through the British so some call it Ou-fu(欧風） or European style to distinguish it from the original Indian version.
Curry became inseparable part of Japanese culinary recipe after the Japan-Russian war being served as a military dish. After the war servicemen who were hooked made it at home.

Nikujaga, this dish is interesting since this is not an Japanese original but actually a substitute of BEEF STEW.
I believe it was Natsume Soseki after coming back from his England diplomatic tour craved for it but was not able to obtain ingredients so he improvised substituting red wine with soy sauce and sake, beef chunks with sukiyaki beef and so on.
Cooking it is quite simple, you just cook it like beef stew.
Saute potato,onion, carrots and thin slices of beef then add katuo dashi, sake and sugar.
Add ito-konyaku after removing lye.
Add soy-sauce when vegetable is 60% cooked and simmer till sauce becomes half the original amount.
Temupra, this was adopted around the 16th century from the Portuguese.
In fact Tempura itself is a Portuguese word.
When making the Japanese version make sure all ingredients you use for the batter is cooled, Japanese Temupra chefs even adds ice cubes in the batter.
Beat the egg into the water before you add flour and DO NOT beat the batter to make it a even mix. Don't worry if there some blotches of powdery flour still left.
The chrispyness is achieved by avoid creating gluten within the batter as least as possible.
Bon Apitite

[Mystique]

*reads above*
Okay, I'm still gonna look up a recipe guide that breaks it down into step by step with measurements xD
I've made nikujaga before, but my host mother was assisiting me and since it turned out great, there was more intricateness to it then the simple version you have as far as i remember. I guess i wanna make it as good as i did before
But thanks for the base tips for both recipies, first off is yakisoba!

[knightdondon]

I was doing some holiday shopping on Amazon.com, and I came accross Marble POP which is this new ramune drink, I guess. Well, anyways, I thought the packaging is so cool! Especially the Marble Man! haha I ended up ordering the variety pack! LOL

[Shadow Kira01]

I love the taste of ramune, but since people had choke over konnyaku jelly, the chances of having the marble slip into your throat isn't entirely impossible. I will stick to cola instead. A can a day isn't all that bad. Usually, I drink on average 2-3 cans of cola a week.

[Mystique]

Mystie's 1st time japanese cooking attempts over November...

Yakisoba = completed!
Gyouza = completed! (Helped to have gone to a gyoza resturant with some friends, which gave tips on how to cook the perfect gyoza, so i noted the instructions, lol)
Tamagoyaki = need a little more practice, but the 2nd time wasn't too bad
Okonomiyaki = I can make this okay in London, but wanna improve on it with the proper ingredients now.
Curry = yet to try, gonna get some onions and other bits to add then attempt it. >.>
(only concern is measurements, but obviously after a few attempts, i'll get the measurements down by eye)
Nikujaga = need to get tsuyu first, then can attempt to make that and other general soba and udon soup.

Fish is fish, buy some salmon, grill it, boil some veggies and rice = typical japanese meal, lol.
I don't seem to be starving yet, so seem to be doing okay

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Mystique

Okonomiyaki = I can make this okay in London, but wanna improve on it with the proper ingredients now.

Curious, what style/recipe did you make? There's like a different version for every city, prefecture, or household

So far I've tried two - one was called Osaka style and the other Tokyo style but I understand there are many variations within that.

I've had pretty poor results mostly due to problems with the inner core remaining too batter-y (uncooked) to avoid burning the outside (i.e. standard pancake techniques don't seem to work). I've been able to get a good resulting serving only about 10% of the time so now no one will try it anymore

[kyon.haruhi.suzumiya]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Curious, what style/recipe did you make? There's like a different version for every city, prefecture, or household

So far I've tried two - one was called Osaka style and the other Tokyo style but I understand there are many variations within that.

I've had pretty poor results mostly due to problems with the inner core remaining too battery to avoid burning the outside (i.e. standard pancake techniques don't seem to work). I've been able to get a good resulting serving only about 10% of the time so now no one will try it anymore

Okonomiyaki doesn't have any fixed style, actually. It's more of an up-to-you kind of dish. Though, I think for starters, sticking to the recipes usually should be better. I tried to subsitute too many ingreidients, and added Japanese curry on top... I was feeling funny after that.

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I've had pretty poor results mostly due to problems with the inner core remaining too batter-y (uncooked) to avoid burning the outside (i.e. standard pancake techniques don't seem to work). I've been able to get a good resulting serving only about 10% of the time so now no one will try it anymore

Have you tried using a lid and cooking it under a low fire?
There is two way to do it actually.
Create a very thin cake by evening it out or cover the frying pan with a lid and roasting it under a low fire. Before serving open the lid and add additional cooking oil and turn up the heat to obtian a crispy surface.

Originally Posted by kyon.haruhi.suzumiya

Okonomiyaki doesn't have any fixed style, actually. It's more of an up-to-you kind of dish. Though, I think for starters, sticking to the recipes usually should be better. I tried to subsitute too many ingreidients, and added Japanese curry on top... I was feeling funny after that.

No there are two distinct styles of okonomiyaki whichi is Hiroshima style and the other being Kansai or Osaka style.
The Hiroshima style is where the ingredients are not mixed into the batter and are piled on top of each other.
The base is created using a crepe like flour batter, then you put the sliced cabbage and other vegetables on top then you pile a helping of stir fried noodles on top of the vegetables and then you create a sunny side up on another part of the fryer and turn the piled portion on top of the egg and press lightly to make surface even. The meat strips should be place over the vegetables.
The Osaka type is mixing most of the ingredients into the batter and creating a pancake out of it.

[Vexx]

Thanks I'll try that (low fire + lid).

I've been concentrating on the Osaka style (cabbage in batter) ... it seems to be the toughest to cook evenly especially if I use bonito flakes and the various other batter additives. The Hiroshima style is pretty easy in comparison.

As far as the vast panoply of possible ingredients on top, I just custom add them based on what the victim wants Sliced squid or pork seems to work well as a meat. Hmmm, the method with the egg layer is much easier than what I've seen described, thanks for that as well.

[Tri-ring]

I actually do not suggest the hiroshima type since the batter base needs to be paper thin so the cabbage can be steamed.
I also forgot to add that with the hiroshima type you need to slice the cabbage thinner and pour just alittle amount of batter on the vegetable so it will stick the vegetables like glue.

For better understanding look at pics;

[Vexx]

beautiful, thanks!

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by Vexx

beautiful, thanks!

Well just considered being warned, just be gentle with you flipping or else you'll see alot of vegetables and what nots flying around in the kitchen.

[Vexx]

aye, the first one I ever tried was quite spectacular in all the wrong ways. I use a "wide-mouth" spatula now.

[Tri-ring]

I just love listening to kitchen experiment mishaps.
Things like cooking custard pudding forgetting to put water in the pan and/or grilling fish for the first time and mistaken sugar with salt resulting to a grilled fish with a caramelized coating on it.

Yup hiroshima type okonomiyaki is one of them, with a spectacular sceen of cabbage and yakisoba flying all over because the person flipping it didn't have control over the throttle.

[Vexx]

It certainly gets an "ooooooh" from the crowd..... or an "aieeee!!!!" depending on the trajectory.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

Well just considered being warned, just be gentle with you flipping or else you'll see alot of vegetables and what nots flying around in the kitchen.

low heat + lid, yeah tri-ring's covered all my advice and stuff, there's no need for me to type i guess.

I've flipped an Hiroshima style one before, proud moment when it didn't fall apart, you just need some super quick reflexes

The osaka kind is the typical, toss it all in batter and fry, simply cause its the easiest to make among friends, but im sure Tokyo has its own version as well.
(I was aware that there were 3 kinds, hiroshima, osaka and tokyo)

The one i helped with over here (tokyo) mixed the cabbage into the batter but the ingredients were layered on top while it cooked.
And then some leet skills in flipping was needed, lol.

I'm sure there are 3 or at least, there is now 3 cause typically tokyo peeps refuse to accept or acknowledge anything from kansai without having a version of their own xD

edit:
aaah, talking about yakisoba, my short time living in an okonomiyaki shop in Okayama (so i learnt the hiroshima style) led me to the discovery of mondanyaki.

I seriously died and went straight to culinary heaven, do not pass go, do not collect £200 xD
(All this talk of one of my fav foods has left me craving for some now btw...) ;_;

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by Mystique

I'm sure there are 3 or at least, there is now 3 cause typically tokyo peeps refuse to accept or acknowledge anything from kansai without having a version of their own xD

A proud Kansai-jin will never admit nor accept there are two let alone three versions of their souls.
In Tokyo there is a thing called Monja-yaki and a proud Kansai-jin if they get a glimpse will scold them not to play around with their food.

[Mystique]

i've been to one of those resturants in the monja-yaki district
it's...umm.... well once you get past the stickiness its not too bad >.>
*laughs*
I'm guessing you're my arch nemesis and live in the west side huh?

[kyon.haruhi.suzumiya]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

A proud Kansai-jin will never admit nor accept there are two let alone three versions of their souls.
In Tokyo there is a thing called Monja-yaki and a proud Kansai-jin if they get a glimpse will scold them not to play around with their food.

Hmm, yeah, being someone who's been assimilated into the Kansai region for most of one's life, I can understand that. I mean, Okonomiyaki is a Kansai-jin's favourite fast food, in a way. I know Hiroshima has another style, and it's rather hard to get.

But Tokyo's is something different, if you ask me. The texture totally different. That's why it's given a different name! But no, I don't tell them to stop messing about with their food.

[Tri-ring]

Originally Posted by Mystique

i've been to one of those resturants in the monja-yaki district
it's...umm.... well once you get past the stickiness its not too bad >.>
*laughs*
I'm guessing you're my arch nemesis and live in the west side huh?

Actually I am a moderate "nanchatte" Kansai-jin who resides on the southern part of the eastern capital.
I have been to various monjayaki shops in tsukudajima, at least the places that I have been creates the same okonomiyaki as in Osaka.
(Yeah, they use tap water instead of using Kastuo-dashin and sake to thin out the batter to enrich the flavor but the basics are the same)
I really do not know what a kanto style okonomiyaki is.(not really enthusiastic about finding out either.)