“Takikomi gohan and maze gohan are two methods of cooking rice mixed with other ingredients, and they cover a wide range of similar dishes. Roughly speaking, takikomi gohan is a dish where the ingredients are cooked together with the rice, while maze gohan is a dish where the ingredients are mixed into the rice after it is cooked.” IngredientsRiceBefore And AfterJapanese CuisineMixed Book:The Joy of Rice Source: The Joy of Rice
“Katsuobushi is dried bonito, or skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis). Chunks of the fish are smoked and dried into hard blocks, which keep for several months. Along with kombu, katsuobushi is the other main ingredient used in making dashi. Throwing the whole block of fish in the water won't work; it must first be shaved into flakes with a tool that resembles an inverted carpenter's plane. However, almost no one actually prepares the flakes by hand anymore; home cooks buy bags of them at the grocery store or use instant powder preparations instead. Although bonito is the most popular type of dried fish for making dashi, many others are used as well, such as mackerel (sababushi), bluefin tuna (magurobushi), and sardines (niboshi).” SeafoodJapanese CuisineBonitoDried Fish Book:Japanese Cuisine Source: Japanese Cuisine
“Sweetfish with pickled plum. I like it!" "This is the season for pike conger, but since they're better down in Kyoto I decided instead to use sweetfish that was caught this morning in the Kano River." "Wow, this one is such a pretty, light pink color. The flesh is smooth, and it has a nice, firm texture..." "It's saltwater eel sashimi. Tastes rich." "Lessee, then the last one is..." "It's flyingfish sashimi from Sagami Bay. Please try it with the miso vinaigrette." "Hmm... flyingfish has a strong taste that's probably too much for most people. But this miso dressing gives it a nice, rich flavor.” SeafoodJapanese CuisineCondimentsSeasonalSashimi Book:Japanese Cuisine Source: Japanese Cuisine
“Karasumi is salt-cured, sun-dried mullet roe. A specialty of Nagasaki, it is similar to the Italian bottarga, Greek avgotaraho or Turkish tarama. Kuchiko is pressed sea cucumber ovaries and comes in small, triangular sheets that can be eaten either raw or grilled. It's called kuchiko when raw and konoko when dried.” SeafoodJapanese CuisineRaw FoodsDried Book:Sake Source: Sake
“Ruibe is a traditional Hokkaido dish using salmon or trout. It uses frozen salmon, thinly cut into sashimi slices. The fish is not thawed, but eaten frozen with soy sauce and wasabi. The origin of the name for ruibe is from the Ainu word ruipe in which ru means "melt" and ipe means "food.” FrozenFishJapanese CuisineHokkaido Book:Fish, Sushi and Sashimi Source: Fish, Sushi and Sashimi
“Cubes of Mita's Kuroushi Beef." "Oh, raw meat? At first glance, it looks raw, but it's actually been cooked. And when you bite it all the juice from the meat comes seeping out!" "Ohh... if it was raw, you wouldn't get such a succulent juice coming out of it. This has been cooked very skillfully." "One has soy sauce with Japanese mustard, and the other has soy sauce with wasabi on it. Two different sauces to enjoy." "We slowly roasted a prime tenderloin of the Mita Beef, and then cut away the meat on the outside... ... to take out the meat on the inside." "What an extravagant thing to do." "Hmm, this meat is top-notch, but Mamiya's skills have definitely improved. It's not easy to cook the meat so delicately..." "This one is wrapped in a bamboo sheath... I wonder what's inside. Oh, it's tilefish." "And underneath is..." "It's shredded snow peas with tilefish on top... ... wrapped in a bamboo sheath and steamed. Please pour some kuzu sauce on it... You can also place some wasabi on it if you want to." "The fish has been steamed to perfection. If he had steamed it any more, the flesh would have become tough, but if he had steamed it any less, it would still be a bit raw. It is just soft enough, and the juice is still left in it too..." "The snow peas have sucked up the flavor of the tilefish and have bloomed in flavor.” MeatFishPeasSurf And TurfJapanese CuisineSaucesSteamed Book:Vegetables Source: Vegetables