Japanese Cooking Tips

I've been watching a lot of Japanese cooking shows lately and I've been learning some interesting things. Like about cucumbers. If you rub salt all over them, they'll get shiny and extra green. I think this works mostly for long Asian cucumbers like these:

From NHK World

You can also use salt to get rid of that gross fishy odor from raw shrimps. Either soak the shrimp in salty water or rub the shrimp directly with salt (my preferred method). Rinse, pat dry and then use.

If you plan to deep-fry the shrimp, cut the tails at a diagonal to get rid of excess water. Excess water will make the hot oil go nuts and may cause accidents.

If you want to make shrimp tempura, make small cuts in the belly section (just don't cut all the way through—you want to keep the shrimp whole). This will keep the shrimp from curling during cooking. Then lightly pound the back of the shrimp with the dull side of your knife. To plumpen up the shrimp, they say.

Another handy tip: if you want to make an omelet and you're using a Teflon pan, heat the pan, add a tiny bit of oil, then break the egg directly into the pan; mix with a spatula (or chopsticks) and cook. This saves you from washing a bowl.

A lot of my tips are now coming from an interesting NHK program called
Itadakimasu! Dining With the Chef. Here's a video of the shrimp tempura show. (So sad they got rid of Shelly. About the only "normal" presenter on NHK.)

Small sausage in big sausage from Taiwanfoodculture.net

Lately, I've been going to a lot of Taiwanese restaurants but it's still not really clear to me what Taiwanese food exactly is. So I was really grateful that my husband sent me this article by Clarissa Wei: Pork-chop Gate: Why Pork Chop Over Rice Isn't Classically Chinese + Death of Authenticity. I'm not really sure if the article answers all my questions because there seems to be a lot of controversy over what she says but it's an interesting start. Clarissa is Taiwanese and her criteria seems to be "would my grandma know what it is?" Classic or not, pork chop over rice is awfully nummy. I also love the pickles you get at Taiwanese restaurants. Check out the article if you'd like to know more.

Pea Pod Shells

 

Just saw the most interesting use for pea pod shells on a Japanese cooking show. Put the washed and depodded shells in a pot of water. Add konbu (a type of seaweed often used in Japan to make stock). Bring to boil. Cool the broth and use to cook rice with! You can add peas if you'd like.

Rose-petal sandwiches

Photo from Wikipedia; author Frank Vincentz

I was doing some research on roses and their uses when I stumbled across the most interesting recipe for rose-petal sandwiches at botanical.com. Usually, rose petals are the decorative part of a cake or other pastry and I've never seen them used to flavor a sandwich before. The recipe is quite simple. Just put rose petals in the bottom of a container (I'd advice organic). Then add butter that's been wrapped in wax paper. Put the container in a cool place overnight and you should have butter with the fragrance of roses. Spread the butter on sandwich bread and voila! I haven't tried the recipe but it's intriguing. Sounds perfect for an afternoon tea.