Shad Roe Pasta シャドロウパスタ

This was the second dish we made using shad roe. Since we like “tarako” pasta たらこパスタ (using Japanese udon うどんnoodle), we decide to try “shad roe” pasta. Our version of tarako pasta starts with caramelizing onion and instead of spaghetti, we  use thin udon noodles (“ito-udon” 糸うどん). This time we had a small amount of  leftover shimeji mushroom, so we added it. It is amazing that this dish tasted exactly like one with tarako cod roe. Definitly this is a good dish to make with shad roe. We topped this with thin strips of nori seaweed (“kizami nori”) (picture #1).

Picture #2 is before we added the nori. you can see the roe and shimeji mushroom and caramelized onion.

Ingredients: (2 small servings)

Half sac of shad roe, scraped off from the membrane

Two servings of cooked thin udon noodles

1 onion, cut into thin slices

shimeji mushroom, optional

1 tbs vegetable oil and 1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbs lemon juice

Marinade for shad roe

1 tbs sake

1 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce)

Directions:

Add the shad roe to the marinade and let it marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator (#1 in the composite)

Add the oil to a frying pan on low heat, add the onion and caramelize (10-15 minutes)

Add the mushroom and cook for 1-2 minutes and add the cooked noodle (#2 in the composite)

Add the shad roe with the marinade (#3 in the composite)

Mix and cook for 1-2 minutes, taste and if needed add salt (#4)

Off the heat, add the lemon juice and mix

Serve with a garnish of nori strips (picture #1)

This is a good dish and we really like it. Only problem (?) is that we cannot tell the difference between tarako pasta and this dish except the grain of the roe is larger in the shad roe. Both taste good but the difference is negligible. 

Simmered Shad Roe with Vegetables シャッドロウの煮付け

I usually make this from “tarako” cod roe たらこの煮付け. Since we got some shad roe, I figured the same recipe should work and tried it. I also added daikon and carrot and garnished with salt broth soaked sugar snap  スナップ豌豆の塩びたし. I served this as a small appetizer dish. It is good but tasted very similar to the tarako version. The vegetables are good as they soaked up the flavor of the broth.

Ingredients:
Half sac of shad roe, roe sac (membrane) cut lengthwise only on one side and then cut across to bite size.
1 tsp ginger root, peeled and julienned
Precooked daikon and carrot (optional)

Cooking liquid
1/2 cup Japanese dashi broth (from dash packs, bonito and kelp)
1 tbs mirin
1-2 tbs x4 Japanese noodle sauce or soy sauce

Directions:
Add the ginger to the cooking liquid and heat up to simmer
Add the roe and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes (roe will “blossom” since one side is still connected to the roe sac membrane)
I also added precooked (boiled) daikon and carrot to the simmering broth

This is a good appetizer dish.

Shad Roe from South Carolina 南キャロライナからのシャド魚卵

Although fish roe are very popular in Japan, it is not common in U.S.. Few exceptions are, of course caviar, bottargo, and shad roe. We posted a shad roe dish in 2012 but since then we have not had it until now. Turns out my wife’s sister loves shad roe. (According to my wife when she was a kid shad was considered a “trash” fish but the roe were considered a delicacy. Her grandfather particularly liked shad roe and shad roe season was an eagerly anticipated event. He particularly like the roe sautéed with bacon and served with eggs for breakfast. Due to her grandfather’s enthusiasm my wife ate a fair amount of shad roe in her childhood.) My wife’s sister apparently inherited Grandad’s appreciation for shad roe and had an arrangement with a company called “Charleston Sea Food” in South Carolina. They call her every year to let her know when the season opened and she would immediately sign up for a delivery.  Although she would relay the information to my wife, my wife had not inherited Grandad’s level of appreciation and previously never pursued purchasing some. But this year we decided to try it. We got 4 sets meaning 4 pairs of egg sacs (minimum you could buy). It comes fresh vacuum packed and can be easily frozen for later use. It arrived in ice packs (picture #3). As before, we cooked in the very traditional way; pan fried in bacon drippings (#1). I fried blanched broccoli in the same frying pan as well as sage brown butter maitake 舞茸 “hen of woods” mushroom (subject to a separate post) as sides.

You can see the grain of the roe on the cut surface (picture #2). This is much coarser than “tarako” たらこ cod roe or “kazunoko” 数の子 herring roe. The texture and flavor are difficult to describe but we like it. To me this reminded me of the roe of a Japanese fish called “Hatahata” ハタハタ but the Japanese fish has a different texture (a bit slippery texture).

We cooked exactly the same as before (in the previous post) but I did not finish it in the oven. I repeat this again for my convenience.

Ingredients: (small servings for two of us, this will be one serving for most)
One sac (half of one set, picture #3 g one set, came fresh and vacuum packed ) of shad roe, removing attached vessels etc but keep membrane intact
2 strips of bacon
6 florets of blanched broccoli (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Fry the bacon until crispy and fat rendered, remove the bacon and set aside on paper towel lined plate leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.
Add the shad roe and adjust the flame to medium.
After one side is browned (5 minutes) turn it over cook for another 5 minutes (picture #4). Place the lid and cook 5-10 minutes until fully cooked (no pink inside)
Add the broccoli 5 minutes before the roe is finished and season with salt and pepper
Season it with salt and pepper
I cut into short segments and served.

This was not bad at all. I served it with sides of the broccoli and hen of woods mushrooms which went well. I will try cooking it Japanese style to see how that works. I have to say shad roe fits seamlessly into my Japanese fish roe palette…also, I have to appreciate that my wife’s Grandad was a man of fine taste.

Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!

11 (or 12) Appetizers 11種類の酒のつまみ

This is another version of multiple small appetizers dishes. I used the divided plate with space for 9 dishes. But I had more than nine to serve so I doubled up in the divided space.  But I still needed to add two more small bowls for a total of 11 small dishes. If you count each part of the doubled up item (lotus root tsukune 蓮根つくね was divided and served with quail eggs and ginko nuts) (bottom row left and center), it would be 12 appetizers. None of them are new recipes. Even though the single portion is small, we were quite full after working our way through 12 of them.

To highlight a few the one shown below is Name-take mushroom なめ茸 (top row right),

simmered taro “satoimo” 里芋 potato and carrot with “Kouya-dofu” 高野豆腐* and sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし (middle row right)

and two small bowls; tofu and shimeji with oyster sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース(top),

simmered shirataki and deep fried tofu 白滝と油揚の煮物 (bottom).

*Kouya-dofu is freeze dried tofu (for preservation I suppose) which creates unique texture and absorbs whatever liquid it is cooked in.

These appetizers are mostly comprised of vegetables and provide so many different textures and tastes. We really like this type of classic Japanese multiple appetizers.

“Name-take” as a part of 9 Appetizers 自家製なめたけ

This is another installment of 9 appetizers served on 9 divided plate. There are a few repeats but no store-bought items.  Among these 9 items, the new ones are home-made “name-take” なめ茸* (in the center) and seasoned and grilled quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵 (in the bottom row, center). 

The top row from left to right are fig and edible chrysanthemum イチジクと春菊の和物 (I added sesame dressing this time), sugar snaps in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし,  simmered mushrooms “tsukudda-ni” キノコの佃煮.  The he middle row left to right are “hoshigaki” dried persimmon with daikon namasu 干し柿大根なます, nametake なめ茸, “kinpira gobo” burdock root 金平牛蒡.  The bottom row left to right are grilled “ginnan” ginko-nuts with salt 銀杏**, grilled seasoned quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵   lilly bulb with ikura salmon roe 百合根のイクラ載せ.

*I thought I have not posted home-made Name-take but when I searched my blog I found two enoki mushroom dishes one is home-made name-take in 2011. I will list the recipe again for my own convenience. Nametake is most commonly available as a rice condiment in a jar.

** It may be spelled as “gingko”. We used to be able to get a small can of boiled ginko nuts but in recent years, it has disappeared. This may be due to the fact that ginko nuts contain a small amount of toxin called MPN, or 4'-methoxypyridoxin. If consumed in a large quantity, especially among children, could produce intoxication. We could harvest ginko nuts since ginko trees are around, the preparation (to remove the meat of the fruit) is messy and smelly which I am hesitant to do). Very recently, however, we could get boiled and packaged ginko nuts (China product) from Weee.

Nametake:

Ingredients: (the seasoning can be more stringer/salty (more soy sauce)
I package (200 gram) Enoki mushroom
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (or x4 concentrated Japanese “mentsuyu” noodle sauce

Directions:
Cut off the end of the enoki, cut in half, separate the bottom parts
Place it in a small pot and add sake on low heat with a lid on. After 5 minutes, stir to mix. The consistency changes and thickens. Add the seasoning and increase the heat, stir until no free liquid remains.

Imitating the commercial products, I put  the home-made nametake in a jar (below) after sterilizing the inside of the jar with 50 proof Vodka.

The way this is cooked and seasoned are identical to mushroom tsukuda-ni but the difference is that “Enoki mushroom” cooked this way produced unique texture on the surface of the mushroom (somewhat slippery coating).

Seasoned quail eggs: (I think we figured out how to boil and peel)

How to boil and peel the quail eggs
In a pan add enough water and boil. When the water started boiling, add small mount of cold water to stop rapid boiling and add the cold (refrigerated) quail eggs using a slotted spoon. Gently stir in first 1-2 minutes so that the egg yolks center. Cook in gentle boil for 4 minutes then soak the eggs in ice water (mixture of ice cubes and cold water).
After 10-15 minutes, make multiple cracks on the shell (I used the back of the knife) and put them back to the ice water for 10-15 more minutes.
Peel the shells using a thin stream of cold water could help peel the shells.

Marinading the eggs:
I simple marinate the eggs in x4 Japanese concentrated “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ noodle soup. Alternetively mix equal amount of mirin and soy sauce as a marinade.

Before serving, I toaster oven for 5-6 minutes.

We like these small dishes. The quail eggs have delicate seasoning from the marinade and creamy yolk. The grilled ginko nuts with salt is unique texture and taste for autumn and a quintessential drinking snack in Japan.

Soft Boiled Duck Eggs 半熟アヒルの卵

This is continuation of the duck eggs we got from Weee. Since we do not want to worry about a potential Salmonella problem, I pasteurized the duck eggs. I managed to make soft boiled duck eggs with runny yolk (see below). I somehow cut across the egg rather than usual halving the egg length-wise. In any case, the yolk was very rich and creamy. Interestingly, egg white clearly (more pronounced as compared to hen egg) showed two layers; an inner layer that did not congeal as firmly as the outer layer egg white.

I topped this with “ikura” salmon roe and a bit of soy sauce. This is a very luxurious appetizer.

Actually, this was part of the evening offerings. I made “bo-zushi” 棒鮨 of pickled mackerel with kelp. a very small sashimi assortment.

1. How to pasteurize duck eggs: Since duck eggs are larger than hen eggs (in our case no more than 30%), I used 57C for 2 hours instead of 75 minutes for hen’s eggs. As before, when the 2 hours were up, I immediately soaked the eggs in ice water for 30 minutes or more and placed them in the refrigerator.

2. How to make soft-boiled duck eggs with runny yolk: According to the on-line instructions I found, place the duck eggs in cold water and when the water starts simmering, cook another 6-7 minutes. I was not sure if I should pierce the shell on the air cell side (bland end) to prevent the egg from cracking. In the end, I did. One of the eggs extruded a thin thread of yolk. Next time, I will not pierce the shell and see what happens. After 7 minutes, I soaked the eggs in ice cold water. We peeled the shell after 30 minutes and the eggs were cooled down. It was difficult to peel. My wife did a better job.

We are quite satisfied with the soft-boiled duck eggs only if we can peel it more easily.

Lily Bulb with Ikura; Eggplants and Wood Ear in Mustard Dressing 百合根とキクラゲの辛子和え

This is on the theme of multiple small appetizers served in a multi- divided  plate. We got delivery of some Japanese vegetables which included eggplant, lily bulb and wood ear mushroom among other things. I served five appetizers. Two of them are new and are the ones I am presenting here.

Lilly bulb with ikura. This is a very simple but good dish. I separated the lily bulb into individual pieces and briefly boiled them. After they cooled I refrigerated them. I served them as shown below. I just topped each lily bulb cup shaped piece with marinated ikura salmon roe. Due to its simplicity I did not include a formal ingredients and directions section for this dish below. The slightly sweet and mildly crunchy texture of the lily bulb went well with the taste of the marinated ikura.

The picture below shows the eggplant and wood ear mushroom dish. I dressed it in mustard sauce which was slightly spicy, vinegary and sweet. The sauce gave an unexpected but nice bright note to the dish while the texture contrast between the thinly sliced eggplant and crunchy wood ear mushroom was a nice combination.

As mentioned, these were two among the 5 appetizers I served. I made two 5 dish appetizer plates one evening as shown below. (One for myself and one for my wife). The picture shows the two dishes discussed above along with the other three that made up the 5 dish plate.  From left to right are; store bought fish cake warmed in the toaster oven, the eggplant and wood ear dressed in mustard sauce, lily bulb with ikura, eggplant “agebitashi” with mushrooms, and hijiki and fried tofu stir fry.

The eggplant and wood ear dish in mustard sauce (recipe came from eRecipe - in Japanese)

Ingredients:
One Japanese (Asian) eggplant (long slender kind)
Wood ear (I used fresh which was blanched and cooled) if using dried, hydrate and removed the hard parts and blanch it, amount arbitrary

For dressing: (amount all to taste)
Japanese (hot) prepared mustard, amount arbitrary, from tube
Sweet vinegar (this was home-made) or sushi vinegar
Soy sauce

Directions:
Cut the eggplant with stem end removed, in half length-wise and then cut thinly across on the bias
Soak the pieces in cold water for 5-10 minutes, squeeze out water and add salt and knead. Let it stand until some moisture comes out and the slice of the eggplant has wilted
Wash in water and squeeze out the excess water
Cut wood ear into bite sized pieces. If attachment ends are hard, remove them.
In a small bowl, add the eggplants, wood ear and the dressing and mix well

“Hoshigaki” Dried Persimmon “ Daikon-namasu 干し柿入り大根なます

Last year, we got “Hoshigaki” 干し柿 or dried persimmon from “Japanese taste”.  Since “kaki” 柿 persimmon is harvested in the fall and processed during the cold winter to make “Hoshigaki”, it usually becomes available in January. I requested that they notify me when it became available and they did recently. I ordered it immediately and (surprisingly) it came directly from Japan within only 4-5 days. This is again one of the best quality hishigaki called “Ichidagaki” 市田柿 from Nagano 長野 or “Shinshu” 信州 (old name of Nagano). It came in a nice box containing 24 or 2 dozen.

The surface is all coated with what appears to be powdered sugar but I am sure this is a natural sugar from the hoshigaki.

You can pull the fruit apart by hand revealing the pudding-like very sweet inside with concentrated persimmon flavors. Some have almost no seeds but others have large seeds like this one below. (See arrow). We enjoyed them straight out of the box at first then my wife suggested it may make them even better to warm them up a little bit. She microwaved one for 10 seconds. I agree it was much better. It got a bit softer and the flavors were enhanced.

I made “daikon-namsu” 大根なます with hoshigaki. I was thinking of using the left-over daikon-namsu from the new year’s dishes I made but by the time, I got around to it, we had finished all the daikon-namasu. So, I made a small new batch with finely cut strips of hoshigaki. I did not add any carrots. The sweet hoshigaki and crunchy daikon with sweet vinegar all worked well.

I served this dish with two other dishes to start the evening. The left side is dashi-maki だし巻きomelet I made. As an innovation I added small pieces of pre-seasoned herring roe or kazunoko 数の子 which I got from our Japanese grocery store for the new year. It happened to be rather too spicy to eat “as-is”. So I added some to the omelet which really toned it down and made it much more gentle and palatable. The center is left-over Russian salmon marinade 鮭のロシアずけ topped with ikura.

Although “hoshigaki” is excellent as is as a snack or dessert, I may explore other ways to incorporate it into other dishes. (That is if any are left by that time.)

Small Rice Bowl using the last of Osechi お節残り物丼

We had a lunch yesterday of mochi rice cake and cheese 焼きチーズ餅 and some side dishes. Today is the end of the first week of the new year called “Matusno-uchi” 松の内, I made a small “donburi” rice bowl topped with three of the last items from Sushi taro osechi box. (It would appear that I make a similar dish almost every new year). This time, I added a scrambled  egg with blanched broccoli florets. This was just a perfect size dish for us.

The small fish shown at 12 O’Clock is “Jako-no-arima-ni” 雑魚の有馬煮.  At 9 O’Clock is “soboro” そぼろ which I made using  the meat removed from a grilled small “tai” snapper 小鯛の姿焼き included in the osechi box and cooked in “mirin” sweet Japanese cooking wine and soy sauce until almost dry. I also garnished with ““ikura-no-shouyu-zuke いくらの醤油漬けor marinated “ikura” salmon roe.

With a side of  salted cucumber and nappa cabbage  胡瓜と白菜の浅漬け, this was a perfect lunch.

New Year’s day Evening 元旦の夕べ

So finally, we busted into the osechi box for the New Year’s day evening feast. Like we did before, I decided to use “Tsugaru-muri” 津軽塗り lacquerware two-tier lunch box (one tier for each of us) to serve the goodies. As a side, I also served the diakon-namasu 大根なます I made topped with slices of boiled Spanish octopus leg we got from D’Artagnan  and Ikura salmon roe.

I picked up most of the key items here including our favorites like “kazunoko” herring roe marinated in miso かずのこの味噌漬け, “karasumi” 唐墨 botargo and “ankimo tofu” あん肝豆腐 monkfish liver terrine. I lightly toasted karasumi, duck breast and “sawara saikyo-yaki” 鰆の西京焼き before serving.

These small items were such a treat. We enjoyed every bite along with a sip of our house sake “Tengumai daiginjo” 天狗舞大吟醸.

Ikura and smoke salmon appetizer イクラと冷製スモークサーモン前菜

 We have been getting keta-slamon roe “Ikura” from Vital Choice. The available packages vary in size; sometimes only a tray of one kilograms is available and other time 6oz jars. In any case, we like keta-salmon roe the best among other trout and salmon roes. Our most common way to serve ikura is on blini with cream cheese and smoked salmon. This time, only small amount of ikura was left, so we made cream cheese wrapped with smoked salmon topped with ikura placed on a slice of cucumber.

This had most of the flavor and mouth feel of the blini. (Can’t beat the lovely salty burst of the salmon roe). But the cucumber was much less filling than one with blini.

Lox and Ikura "donburi" bowl 燻製鮭ロックスとイクラ丼

After making Philly rolls, I used the left over lox from Vital Choice to make a donburi for lunch.  I made the lunch in the form of a Japanese meal set or "teishoku" 定食. I served the lox/ikura donburi with miso soup made with wakame ワカメ, abura-age 油揚げ and scallion as well as cucumber asazuke 胡瓜の浅漬け

I made sushi rice from the rice we cooked a night before. I microwaved the rice first. I also warmed up sushi vinegar in the microwave and mixed them together in a warmed bowl and let it stand for a few minutes covered. I placed the sushi rice in the bottom of the small bowl. Besides the lox, I topped the bowl with scrambled egg, salmon salad (in the center), cucumber and wakame with sumiso dressing ワカメと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ (leftover), "ikura" イクラ salmon roe and garnished with thin strips of nori or "Kizami-nori" 刻み海苔.

The main ingredient "lox" is mostly hidden so I dug it out for the picture (below).

So this was quite a luxurious lunch and we were good and did not succumb to having sake with it and just enjoyed this salmon "oya-ko*" donburi 鮭の親子丼.

*”Oya-ko” means parent and offspring. The classic of this type of donburi bowl is chicken meat and egg on rice. The combination of smoked salmon (lox) and salmon roe could be also considered “Oya-ko” donburi. 

Watari bune Daiginjo 渡船純米大吟醸

This sake “Watari bune, junmai daiginjo” 渡船純米大吟醸 was a gift from a friend for a recent occasion. This is a really great sake with a slightly effervescent feel and fruity, crisp but very complex flavors. This should definitely be drunk cold. This sake is brewed by “Fuchu-homare” 府中誉 which is located in Ibaragi prefecture 茨城県. The sake rice or “sakamai”  酒米 used for this sake is also called “Watari bune” which is supposedly a very rare near-extinct sake rice which relatively recently has been revived. The famous and most popular sake rice “Yamada nishiki” 山田錦 is reportedly a descendant of this rice. Also the name “Watari bune”  渡船, which means a  “ferry” or “ferryboat”, is very fitting for sake from Ibaragi which is known for Tone river 利根川 and its estuaries criss crossing the flat delta before pouring into the Pacific ocean.This area also contains large lakes. (Such areas rich in water ways and lakes are called “Suigou”  水郷). Such topography would require use of ferries i.e. “Watari bune” to navigate the water ways.

In any case, a great sake calls for great “Tsumami” ツマミ or small sake snacks. We were lucky to get fresh unprocessed fresh “uni” sea urchin in salted water from Maruhide 丸秀 called “Ensui uni” 塩水ウニ. We also recently got frozen blocks of Bluefin tuna from Great-Alaska-Seafood. We served these items on recently acquired Japanese plates. The soy sauce in the small round plate is also a special “sashimi” soy sauce.   

I made the tuna three ways (two shown directly below. One came later). The first was straight sashimi (upper left in picture). The second was “Negi-toro” ネギトロ with slices of cucumber (lower left in picture). We enjoyed this negi-toro as a kind-of hand roll on a small sheet of nori (not shown) with the cucumber slices (shown).

This uni from Maruhide (shown upper right in the picture) is not processed with the usual “alum” and only soaked in salt water with salinity consistent with seawater. As far as I can tell, Maruhide is only source in the U.S. where we can get this. As an aside: my wife can sometimes taste the alum on uni. She immediately passes her portion to me when this happens. Not exactly a hardship for me, since I can’t taste alum. (She can also detect the alum used in some brands of baking powder).  The consistency of the uni in salt water is slightly softer than alum processed ones but it is absolute pure fresh uni. With just a little bit of wasabi and soy sauce and a sip of the sake, you cannot get anything better.

We needed a few more “Tsumami” to go with this sake. We had more tuna, this time “zuke” tuna 漬けマグロ, in which tuna slices are marinated in x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce for few hours so.  I served it with wakame and cucumber dressed in sumiso sauce 胡瓜とわかめの酢味噌あえ (left). Since my wife made blini a few days ago and we had Keta salmon ikura roe thawed, we made our usual “blini topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon and ikura” (right).

All these items are again perfect accompaniment for this wonderful sake.

Ikura from Vital Choice バイタルチョイスからのイクラ

 I am always looking out for alternative sources of sashimi items such as "ikura" salmon roe. Depending on the source, the quality and price vary a lot. Our Japanese grocery store almost always has it but the per ounce price is very high. Other sources often have Ikura but the roe are a smaller size with a smaller diameter.  We like salmon roe with a 5 mm diameter rather than the smaller ones. Sometimes the roe are identified as trout roe, but often the type is not specified so it is very difficult to know exactly what type of salmon roe we are getting. We learned "keta" or "chum" salmon roe fits our preferences best. Recently we have gotten frozen keta salmon roe from Vital Choice. It came as a package of three, 7 oz. glass jars. The price was about average, and the quality was quite good. The 7 oz jar size was also a good size for us because we could generally finish it in 5 days. We have prolonged the shelf life of ikura by adding a marinade. (I use a mixture of x4 concentrated 'mentsuyu" Japanese noodle sauce and sake). Since we used up three of the jars, I went back to order the same but the only choice at that time was a 2 lb. (almost 1 kg) tray. I thought that would be way too much for us to use up before it went bad unless we could somehow divide up the quantity into smaller portions. But the offer was too good to pass up so I took a chance and ordered it. Turned out the pack could be subdivided (see discussion below).

 Ikura can be used many different ways. The below is an appetizer of home-made blini, cream cheese, smoked salmon, ikura and chopped chives.

Another way we like it is as a topping for cold "chawan-mushi" Japanese savory egg custard.

The picture below shows how we received the package (#1). It was packed with dry ice and solidly frozen. Once I opened the lid, I saw the package was divided into 4 compartments. Each compartment was about 1/2 lb. or 8 oz). Fortunately for us, using a small plastic spatula, ikura in one compartment could easily be removed (#3). I vacuum packed three blocks (#4) and placed them in the freezer. I let the remaining block, thaw in the refrigerator for a few hours (#5).  Although the center was still solidly frozen, the peripheral portion started thawing and crumbling away from the still frozen section. I placed the crumbled portion into a separate plastic container with an airtight lid and put it back in the freezer. 

I left the remaining ikura in the refrigerator to thaw. The amount was about 1/4 lb (or 4 oz). It was just the perfect amount for us to use up in a few days. I refroze the portion which was semi-thawed (#6). Later I thawed this and it looked and tasted fine. So, buying 2 lbs of Ikura is very feasible…it was quite good, I might add.