tokyo food file

Summer Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 2: Unagi

 

Unagi eel, prepared in the traditional kabayaki style – broiled and basted with that delectable rich savory-sweet sauce, and served over rice. It's the taste of midsummer, the one food above all others that is supposed to get you through the long, punishing days of heat.

So what better time to celebrate this supreme summer specialty than the official "Unagi Day" – Doyo Ushi no Hi (the Day of the Ox in the Summer Mid-season)?

The image at the top is the official poster from the Unagi Association. Here (below) is it hanging outside an old favourite unagiya (Yoshino is not famous, not the best in town and only worth knowing if you're in the area) that still prepares the eel in the traditional way, over charcoal.

 

What, no photos of the food itself? Not this year, and especially not on this day of all days. The hype and hullaballoo about eating unagi in summer has driven the fish to the brink of extinction.

So I won't be joining the herd by actually ordering kabayaki today. But I've put up plenty of blog posts in years past. I shall feed my eyes on those and look forward to some future time when I know that unagi stocks have stabilised.

Here is what I ate a couple of years ago at this same unagiya…

Here is how they do it at the wonderful Nodaiwa in Azabu (which makes a point of staying closed on "Unagi Day")…

And here is one of the classic (though not so old) unagiya of downtown Tokyo that I just love for its unassuming architecture and careful craftsmanship.

 

Summer Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 1: Hanabi

Summer in Japan is few people's favorite season. Anyone who has spent even a couple of days in Tokyo in the heat of late July, August or early Spetember will know it is a steamy cauldron of sweat and potential heat stroke.

But that is not to say there are no upsides. Quite the opposite. Summer has plenty to celebrate. Cue this new series: Summer Reasons to be Cheerful.

 

Starting right here, with hanabi — the beautiful "flowers of fire".

They're all good. But fireworks festivals over water are best of all. Not only is there usually a cool breeze off the lake or sea, you also get to see reflections. 

 

Best of all, you can bring your own drinks. And there's often a cool food stall nearby, such as Twitch's Jamaican jerk chicken grill, down on the beach in Hayama.

   

Two generations of umeboshi: bright & brash vs mellow & mature [plus one in between]

Umeboshi & umezu 2013: As we get ready to dry this year's newly-pickled umeboshi, it's time to pull out last year's batch. The fruit and the liquor (the umezu; the juice from the pickled ume) have been aging – "left to rest" as they say in Japanese – in separate containers. Here they are, side by side.

Firm soft fruit. Beautiful bright red liquor. Saltiness still sharp and intense. Brash acidity. Deep mouth-puckering sourness. 

The perfect pick-me-up to help mitigate the malaises of the muggy midsummer. 

 

Umeboshi & umezu 1996 (below): Stashed away and left to mature – OK, yes, we forgot about them until we cleared out our pantry – for 18 years. The inner juices exuded as a crystal jelly, still surprisingly tart.

Deep umami and hints of almond. The saltiness well mellowed. The colour faded to that of a well aged sherry. Can I call these the oloroso of umeboshi?

 

 

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PS: Just for comparison's sake, here (below) are some from an in-between vintage (2008): 

 

The umeboshi have turned a mature brown. And they have developed an amazing amount of "jelly", most of which is still at the bottom of the jar. 

 

Meanwhile the umezu, which was bottled separately, still retains a lovely bright clarity, which is reflected in the brisk flavor. This could be the perfect balance between young and old.

 

Our ume tree is getting old now and giving us fewer fruit. But its youthful vigour lives on, here in our pantry with this pickled legacy.

Noodles to go: breakfast up in the hills

A quiet rural railway station at 7:15 am. At least the food counter is open. What's on the menu? Noodles and rice balls.

 

First you buy a ticket from the machine…

 

Then you hand it over to the auntie behind the counter…

 

And in minutes flat breakfast is ready…

 

Sansai soba: buckwheat noodles topped with mixed wild herbs and fungi – basically warabi (young bracken), udo stems, and nameko mushrooms – plus a good mound of chopped negi scallions.

On the side is a heaping container of agedama – crisp deep-fried batter bits (I like to call them tempura "croutons") – and a shaker of ichimi togarashi "one-spice" (i.e. not shichimi seven-spice) chili powder.

Just grab a pair of those vermillion chopsticks and start slurping.

 

Nothing gourmet or artisan. Machine-made noodles; sansai preserved in brine – it's too  late in the season now to expect fresh herbs, even up here in the highlands – but it hit the spot beautifully.

For those with more of an appetite, there are also rice balls. Or as it says on the bright green noren: o.ni.gi.ri.

 

"Genki" means "healthy/full of energy". And that's what you are after a breakfast like this. Showing that fast food doesn't necessarily mean junk food.

And just to prove the point, there's a little stand of fresh-picked – well, the previous afternoon – produce, including small courgettes and genki-looking negi, all at prices that put to shame the supermarkets in the city.

 

And this was the view outside: what a great setting…

 

Today's shiso day

Today's the day. Time to add the akajiso (red shiso) leaves to the ume we're pickling…

The first step is to pluck the leaves off the stems.

 

The air fills with the heady aroma of this wonderful herb…

 

 

Next step: out with the aku. 

It's always a surprise how much juice comes out of those seemingly-dry leaves as you knead and squeeze the salt into them…

 

Caught red-handed: after tipping out the black, brackish aku juice, it's time to knead them with shiro-umezu, the clear salty ume juice from the pickling crock.

This produces such a beautiful bright red/purple colour...

 

Finally, the shiso leaves (and that bright red juice) go into the crock on top of the ume fruit, to impart their gorgeous colour and natural preservative properties. 

 

Now we pack them up and leave them to pickle some more, until the end of July — doyo ushi no hi (the Day of the Ox) to be precise. 

Lots more about this stage of the umeboshi process on my parallel blog, which I put up last year but which has been reworked and is now called Umeboshi 2014 — here…