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July 24, 2006

melon sorbet

Melons are big in Japan. Not really size-wise, more in popularity. And price. And sometimes weirdness. Take, for example, this:

It's not just on The Simpsons....

While (sadly) not usually square, melons in Japan are reliably delicious, sweet and juicy and full of flavor, which is more than can be said for 90% of the melons sold in the U.S. So even though I wasn't sure I wanted to adulterate my beautiful, perfect, expensive melon, I decided to go for it and came up with this sorbet, using this recipe and this overview of sorbet-making. It's sweet, cool, melon-y and takes up less room in my teeny tiny refrigerator than a real melon would. It's the taste of summer, frozen!

Melon Sorbet

Makes 8 servings

about 1 pound (500 grams) diced melon
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs sake
1 cup sugar, or to taste

Process the melon in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and process for 30 seconds. Taste for sweetness. The mixture should be hovering on the edge of too sweet; frozen desserts seem less sweet than they actually are. Process in more sugar as needed, then pour the mixture into a lidded container. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Put mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. (If you don't have an ice cream maker, there are instructions for freeze-and-stir sorbet-making in the sorbet overview I linked to above.) Transfer to a lidded container and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.

Posted by anjali at 9:59 AM | Comments (4) | Categories: Recipe | Summer | Sweets

July 12, 2006

eau de butter

In 1863, a Japanese man who had been working at a Dutch-owned, Westerner-supported dairy in Yokohama opened his own shop in the area and began selling milk to Japanese patrons.

Thus, the dairy industry in Japan was born.

Soon after, he was asked by Gyūba Kaisha, the government's newly-established milk and meat monopoly, to train its workers in Western milking techniques. (Unfortunately, Gyūba Kaisha lasted only a year because, in an attempt to help the legions of restless, out-of-work samurai, the government had filled the company's ranks with only ronin. The samurai, finding the milking of cattle less glamorous than sword fights and seppuku, conducted business in a haughty, disinterested manner, which damaged the company's reputation beyond repair.)

To encourage the normally meatless and dairyless people of Japan to get on the cow, the company distributed propaganda which linked meat-eating and milk-drinking with national pride, propaganda which included statements like, "By utilizing milk to live a long life, maintain a healthy body and invigorate the mind, the Japanese shall save their name from dishonor." (Had it been a century later, they could have just imported a whole lot of Strawberry Quik and had no problem getting people to finish their milk.)

Before the 1950s, milk was mainly sold in drinkable form, not processed into cheese or butter, and usually consumed by only the young, the ill and the weak. Even today, with many people in Japan consuming milk and yogurt on a daily basis, natural cheeses and butter are less popular than their processed counterparts (nearly-plastic cheese and margarine, respectively). The aversion to butter may be due to butter's disastrous Japanese debut in the 1930s when, because there were no production facilities in Japan, butter had to be imported from far-off countries and often went rancid on the long boat ride over. During the late Edo and early Meiji periods, an insulting way to describe someone who ate Western food or adopted Western manners was "stinking of butter" (bataa-kusai). Butter has never really recovered from the blow.

Posted by anjali at 6:01 PM | Comments (1) | Categories: History | Western Food

July 4, 2006

kinako ice cream

As much as I'd like to believe the health benefits of kinako are retained when it is eaten in ice cream form, I have a feeling the whole milk, heavy cream and egg beat the soy into submission. I suppose you could try making this recipe with soymilk. But I like my ice cream deliciously detrimental to my health.

Kinako in ice cream form does, however, retain its nutty flavor and general yumminess. If you like peanut butter, you'll like this.

Kinako Ice Cream

Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup kinako (toasted soybean flour)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the sugars and milk. Gradually stir in the kinako. When the mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat, and whisk half of the mixture into the egg. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, and stir in the heavy cream. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about two minutes. Remove from heat, and strain into a container with a lid.

Chill in the refrigerator, ideally for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. This will improve the texture. Pour chilled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Posted by anjali at 10:40 PM | Comments (2) | Categories: Recipe | Soy | Summer | Sweets