“Tsukudani is a condiment for rice made of seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin.” RiceJapanese FoodCondiments Book:The Joy of Rice Source: The Joy of Rice
“This is salmon takikomi gohan. You slice the salted salmon into fillet strips and grill just its skin first to give it a savory scent. Then you cut it into cubes and cook them along with the rice. By placing some Japanese wild parsley on it before eating it, the fishy scent will disappear, making it even more better to eat." "Hmm. I like how they grilled the skin first to give it the savory scent. And cooking the bones with the rice really brings out the flavor." "This takikomi gohan lets you taste every essence of the salmon." "The next one is a classic maze gohan, hijiki rice. A good hijiki is one that's thick and long, with a slight firmness to it. You cook that hijiki along with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, lotus roots and thin fried tofu into a sweet and salty taste and then mix them into the cooked rice." "Ha ha ha. This is definitely a very Japanese flavor!" "It's rustic, but it has a rich, fertile flavor that moves my heart.” RiceSalmonJapanese FoodAlgaeMixed Book:The Joy of Rice Source: The Joy of Rice
“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
“Look at the way the rice is shining... it looks like jewels. Each grain of rice retains its original shape... and they're all the same size too. It's stickiness and scent... it's been washed to perfection. Washing the rice just to rinse off the dirt and excess bran without wasting the flavor and scent of the rice is extremely difficult. I made my fortune before the war at the rice market... I still find time to do research on rice. I'm sure I can figure out what this rice is and where it comes from... It's Sasanishiki... but it's not from Miyagi. It's Shonai rice, from Amarume-Yamagata prefecture! Well?! " "That is correct!" "Wow... he guessed the type of rice and where it came from!" "I don't believe it!" "This rice has been dried under sunlight, not by machine--- and you milled it right here, just before washing it, didn't you?" You cook it over an old-fashioned furnace using firewood for fuel... and just before steaming it, you throw a handful of straw into the fire if you want to cook rice like this." "Yes." "Then this miso soup too... Ah... it's real miso made from domestic soy and natural salt. The dashi is made from katsuobushi, an obushi from Makurazaki. And he used the good part in the center. And the tofu is made with domestic soybeans and real brine. Aah... this is so good that it's making me cry!” RiceWashingTofuJapanese CookingMiso Soup Book:The Joy of Rice Source: The Joy of Rice
“It has such a warm and gentle flavor." "The rice has soaked up the rich flavor of the scallops. Could you teach me how to make it?" "Of course. You mix soy sauce with sake and boil it, then place the scallops in it and cook it for about a minute. After that, you take the scallops out, place them on a different plate, and start cooking the rice. And when cooking the rice, you pour the broth you used to cook the scallop into the rice. You won't get the full flavor if you don't cook the black area called the midgut gland together with the scallop. Once the rice is cooked, you put it on a plate and place the scallops on top. That's when you take the midgut gland off." "Keep the midgut gland on when cooking the scallops, and take it off when mixing them into the rice. That must be the secret.” RiceJapanese CookingScallops Book:The Joy of Rice Source: The Joy of Rice
“In France, caviar, truffles and foie gras are considered to be the three major delicacies. And when the French eat caviar, they don't drink wine with it. The French aren't stupid. They're more than aware that no wine goes well with caviar. That's why they drink vodka with it. But they don't know about sake." "You're right. Vodka's usually served with caviar." "But vodka really isn't a drink to have during a meal." "It's not just caviar--- I don't think wine goes well with any kind of seafood. It doesn't matter whether the fish is grilled, simmered, raw or in a bouillabaisse. And it's completely out of the question for things like raw oysters, karasumi and sea urchin. Wine contains far more sodium than sake. And some of those sodium compounds do not mix well with the fats in the fish, so that distinctive seafood flavor ends up being emphasized even more. On the other hand, sake has hardly any sodium, so it doesn't bring out the fishiness. And the sugars from the rice starch enhance the flavor of the food." "Hmm." "Come to think of it, shiokara tastes a lot better when you eat it with rice than when you eat it on its own. I guess this is the same thing. It's the power of rice.” RiceSeafoodSodiumFood ScienceRice Wine Book:Sake Source: Sake