Getting Acquainted with the Cuisine
In my research of Korean cuisine, I have learned that, although exotic to my western palate, the most popular traditional dishes are mainly composed of commonplace meats, seafoods, vegetables and seasonings. No doubt, it’s the way they are combined that give them their ethnic flair. Typical dishes include fresh green salads, hearty soups, savory stews, meats and seafoods simmered with fresh vegetables, barbequed meats, fermented seafoods, pan-fried omelets, rice medleys, steamed or pan-fried dumplings, and boiled, pickled or sautéed vegetables. The most esoteric ingredients appear to be chrysanthemum greens, bellflower root, and chili paste. Other than that, even the spicy kimchi recipe doesn’t call for anything I can’t buy at my local grocery store.
02:08 AM PDT Permalink |

My Cookbooks
The Essentials of Asian Cuisine has recipes for quite a few classic Korean dishes such as a hot-pot called Shinsollo, a rice dish called Bi Bim Bap, pan fried vegetables called Jeon, a salad made with mesclun, a spicy kimchi recipe, and a Korean barbeque dish called Dak Kui. The ingredients to prepare them are all remarkably commonplace, and don't seem to need any exotic condiments or spices. But I'm still going to seek out a few other recipes from the Internet before I make my final decision on the menu.
12:29 AM PDT Permalink |

Looking for Recipes
Today I spent a couple of hours browsing through my cookbooks looking for Korean recipes. The Essentials of Asian cuisine offered quite a few traditional dishes, but it was the only book in my collection with any Korean recipes. So, I turned to the Internet instead. There I found a wealth of alternatives, especially on AsiaRecipe.com, the Food Network website, and AsiaFood.org. So with all the choices I discovered, I need look no further.
12:06 AM PDT Permalink |

My Korean Cuisine & Cooking Experience
My experience with Korean food is very limited. I've never cooked a Korean meal in my own kitchen, and I've only eaten in a Korean restaurant a few times in my life. There was a Korean Barbeque restaurant in the Tokyo suburb of Shinjuku, near the conversation school where I worked. It was one of those places with the little grills in the middle of the table, and the waiter would bring all the raw ingredients for you to cook yourself. I've always enjoyed that type of dining, so I used to eat there once in awhile when I had plenty of time to relax and idle over dinner.

So...needless to say, the learning curve is going to be rather steep on this month's Dinner & a Movie. But after last month's Japanese extravaganza, I think I'm up to the challenge.
12:12 AM PDT Permalink |

July's Dinner & a Movie
Welcome to July's Dinner & a Movie. After the two easy choices of The Scent of Green Papaya and Tampopo, last week I spent a whole afternoon researching all the films from each Asian country. I want to include a widely varied mix of cultures and cuisines for my monthly Dinner & a Movie project. What I found, however, was somewhat surprising: many Asian countries have a very limited film industry, and those films that do exist are rarely available on video. Nonetheless, I did manage to put together an eclectic list of twelve films that I think will be of interest to all. So, this month's Dinner & a Movie will feature Korean cuisine and the Korean film 301/302. I'm definitely looking forward to both.
12:00 AM PDT Permalink |

Tampopo Film Review
Here is a link to my review of Juzo Itami's Tampopo, my favorite food movie of all time:

Film Review: Tampopo (Written, Directed and Produced by Juzo Itami).

12:28 AM PDT Permalink |

Tampopo Dinner & a Movie Recipes & Cost of Ingredients
Here is a link to the recipes and photos for making a traditional Japanese dinner:

Tampopo Dinner & a Movie Recipes and Photos

The cost of the ingredients for my Tampopo Japanese dinner are listed below. Keep in mind that the prices are based on buying everything new rather than using ingredients that I already had in my pantry. Of course there were lots of things left over for future meals, so the actual cost of the dinner based on the quantities of the ingredients used to make the dishes will be much lower than the grand total of stocking a pantry from scratch for preparing Japanese cuisine.

The Cost of Ingredients:

Sembei Crackers - 3.00
Tobiko (Flying Fish Roe) - 2.52
Nori (Seaweed Wrappers) - 1.59
Sushi Rice - 1.99
Rice Wine Vinegar - 2.29
Sesame Oil - 1.99
Miso - 5.33
Wakame Seaweed - 1.79
Tofu - .79
Kombu Seaweed - .99
Daikon Radish - .25
Wasabi - 1.59
Kazuo (Bonito Flakes) - 2.99
Sesame Seeds - .99
Soy Sauce - 2.99
Mirin - 3.79
Gari Shoga (pickled ginger) - 2.99
Tempura Batter - 1.59
Soba Noodles - .99
Sake - 6.99
Sapporo Beer - 7.98

Fresh Ingredients:

Cucumbers - 2.97
Tuna - 8.37
Salmon - 4.25
Crab - 1.99
Scallions - 1.00
Garlic - .49
Lemon - 1.00
Avocados - 3.00
Chicken Breasts - 7.99
Thin Sliced Beef - 2.03
Large Prawns - 4.03
Ginger Root - 1.05
Carrot - .50
Green Pepper - 1.37
Red Pepper - 1.44
Large Mushrooms - 1.50
Zucchini - .35
Spinach - 2.50
Eggplant (Japanese) - 1.69
Napa Cabbage - 2.02

Basics: Eggs - .50
Sugar - .50
Oil - 2.50
Cornstarch - .10

Total: $108. 56

12:30 AM PDT Permalink |

How Everything Turned Out for My Tampopo Dinner & a Movie
Last night's Japanese dinner was Oishii! Delicious! ...and Yokkata! Wonderful. I knew going in that, with so many dishes, I had composed a very challenging menu, but I really wanted to do it up in authentic Japanese style. And believe it or not, there were hardly any leftovers. Rene and Will really did my dinner justice. After 10 hours in the kitchen (that's right, t-e-n hours, non-stop), I was still too revved up to eat everything on my plates. So I enjoyed the sashimi, miso soup, and tempura with a couple of Sapporo beers, which helped me relax, and then, along with a little hot sake, I continued to nibble on the rest of the dinner throughout the movie.

Although I often make Japanese-style dinners, this was by far the most elaborate attempt I have ever made, and I wanted everything to be perfect. And with few exceptions, it very nearly was. My presentations and garnishes turned out exactly as I had envisioned them, and the flavors were very close too. The only things that didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped were the sushi rice, the Eggplant with Miso, and the tempura. Although they were all delicious, they weren't quite perfect. The sushi rice wasn't quite sticky enough. I think it needed to cook a little longer, and could have used a little more vinegar and sugar. The Eggplant with Miso was a little less glazed and a little more saucy than I'd imagined, and a little salty as well. But Rene thought it was delicious and said it was one of the best dishes on the table. The tempura was tasty too, but the batter didn't explode into that lacy, crispy, golden crust that I'd hoped. I think my oil may not have been quite hot enough. So I think I'm going to make another batch of tempura later in the week, all by itself as a main course, so I can focus on refining the technique.

The photos turned out pretty good too. Unfortunately, since the camera arrived so late, we didn't have the luxury of time to fully explore its features. My son Will played photographer, standing by with the camera as each dish was plated up. He took a photo of each one, and then carried them all to the table. I couldn't have done it without him.

It was such fun watching Tampopo again. I'd seen it several times already, but Rene had only seen it once before, and it was the first time for Will. He was delighted, and Rene remarked throughout how many funny scenes he had forgotten. And of course, the Japanese banquet we'd just enjoyed made it all the more relevant.

When it was over, Rene succumbed to sleep, and Will toddled off to play a late night online video game on the computer. And although I had spent the entire day on my feet, I still mustered the motivation to clean the kitchen. I don't know where I found the energy, but I'm glad I did. And when I awoke this morning, Will had already put away all the dishes and the kitchen was in apple-pie order!

So...I'm declaring my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie a big success, and I'm already looking forward to the next one. Tomorrow I'll be uploading all the recipes and photos, and the day after, a link to my Tampopo film review.
12:03 AM PDT Permalink |

Otsukari-sama deshita!
It's 4:15 a.m., and I just finished cooking a 12-course Japanese dinner for three, watching Tampopo, my favorite food movie of all time; washing at least a hundred dishes and downloading all the photos from my digital camera...And lived to tell! The food was fantastic, and the film was delightful as ever. Needless to say, but I'm going to anyway...I'm exhausted. Tune in tomorrow for all the details.
04:22 AM PDT Permalink |

I'm Good to Go
Today is the eve of my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie, so I went shopping this afternoon for my fresh fish. I bought a half pound each of sushi-grade tuna and salmon, as well as a dozen large prawns and a couple of ounces of tobiko, the tiny orange flying fish roe. Everything was delivered fresh today, so it should be fine wrapped up tight in my fridge until I prepare dinner tomorrow evening.

When I got home, I made green tea sorbet and teriyaki glaze, and got out all my frozen items to thaw. In my freezer, I had a package of thinly sliced sirloin for my Ginger Beef, a package of imitation crab for my California rolls, a package of ground turkey for my dumplings, and a bag of edamame, soybeans in the pod.

Shortly after I got back from the fish market, the UPS guy showed up with my new digital camera, so I spent the remainder of the afternoon installing the software for it and learning how to use it. I'll definitely be putting it to the test taking photos of tomorrow's dinner.

So...with all the shopping done, the table set and the advance prep work done, looks like I'm good to go.
12:10 AM PDT Permalink |

Preparing the Kitchen, Utensils & Table
Today I got out all my serving dishes and cooking utensils and started setting up for my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie. I set up my long table for sitting on the floor, dressed it with a tablecloth and table runner, both in Japanese patterns, and arranged all the empty serving dishes, just so I know where I want to put everything when the time comes to serve dinner. With all the various dishes on my menu, it's going to be a tight fit, so I didn't want to leave anything to chance. This way, with the help of my son Will, he will know exactly where I want him to put each dish so we can all sit down to dinner together while everything is still perfectly chilled or piping hot. My living room now looks like a Japanese restaurant.

I emptied the fridge of all the things that don't absolutely have to be refrigerated (I keep a lot of my grains and cereals in the fridge to ward off grain moths). But they're okay on the countertop for a day or two until I'm done with my dinner prep. This way, I have plenty of empty space in the fridge to store the chilled stuff until time to serve dinner.

And all my new kitchen utensils are standing poised and ready like a surgeon's tools: a sharp new sushi knife, a cleaver, kitchen shears, and a mandolin for uniform slicing. Can't wait to try them out.
12:06 AM PDT Permalink |

Fresh Fish & Produce
I did a bit of calling around town today, trying to locate fresh seafood for my Tampopo dinner. At first I was just going to buy it at Vallergas market, Napa's best gourmet grocery store. They always seem to have a really nice selection. But the only 'sushi grade' fish they carry are tuna and salmon. And although I want to keep it simple, I was hoping for a little more than just those two varieties. So I called two of our local fish markets, and discovered that both also carry hamachi, as well as fresh scallops and tobiko, the crunchy orange flying fish roe. So I think I'll be buying my fresh seafood at Omega 3, the little fish market closest to my house. I'm told I can pick up my order either the evening before, or the afternoon of my dinner.

I've also already shopped for my fresh produce. I was going to wait til the day of the dinner, or the evening before to shop for it, but when I looked at my list, the things that were on it were all things that would easily keep in the fridge for a couple of days: Scallions, green & red peppers, lemons, eggplant, mushrooms...nothing too delicate or quickly perishable like fresh herbs and delicate lettuce. The only thing I'm missing now is the giant daikon radish root for my sashimi garnish.
12:14 AM PDT Permalink |

Taking Photos
I’m going to be taking photos of all the ingredients, the cooking process and the finished dishes again this month. They turned out especially nice for my Scent of Green Papaya dinner, thanks to Rene, my sweetheart and dinner companion. This month, however, I may put my son Will to work as the staff photographer for my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie. I've ordered a new digital camera from TigerDirect.com, which is in Florida, so I hope it arrives in time. Otherwise, we'll have to use Rene's camera again.
12:09 AM PDT Permalink |

Ready...Set...Go Tampopo
After shopping online at AsianFoodGrocer.com last month, and shopping in San Francisco's Japantown last week, with the exception of my fresh seafood and vegetables, I'm all set for my Tampopo dinner & a movie. I called Vallergas, my favorite gourmet grocery today to inquire about how often they get deliveries of fresh fish and when I should plan to shop for it. The butcher told me that I should call in a few days ahead of time, or visit in person to place my order for the seafood I will need for my menu. He recommended that I wait until the day of the dinner to pick up my fresh fish and seafoods, and promised to have my order ready and waiting for me. So...I guess I'll be shopping for all my fresh produce that day as well.
12:19 AM PDT Permalink |

Deciding on the Fresh Fish
With less than a week to go, the countdown to my Tampopo Dinner & a Movie has begun. Now it's time to decide on the fresh fish so I can order it from Vallergas tomorrow. I definitely want to include maguro, that lovely bright pink tuna. And salmon is another favorite. Hamachi is always an excellent choice, and maybe some red snapper too. Those varieties will be for both sashimi and nigiri sushi. And I want to order some imitation crab legs to make California rolls, and tobiko, the tiny flying fish roe, for a colorful garnish. I also want to include several kinds of shrimp: medium-sized prawns for sushi and the really large ones for tempura, along with a few tiny bay shrimp for my sunomono appetizer. Since I'm making so many other dishes, I think I'm going to skip the exotic stuff like eel, urchin, squid, octopus, and clams. Besides, the fresh, raw fish is always my favorite anyway.
12:12 AM PDT Permalink |