Japanese Knife Skills

One of my favorite knife skill videos ...

Cooking at home

Here are some more dishes created during the year.

Salad of spanish anchovis, green olive, tomato and mushrooms.

Perfect in autum time - chicken stock with lots of vegetables and herbs.

Perfect summer time dish - fresh oysters with eschalote vinigar and Sancerre white wine.

Fresh squid salad with carrots and celery.

Japanese Knife Society

Some great videos showing knife skills introduced by Jon Broida from Japanese Knife Imports and the Japanese Knife Society.

Konosuke Sakai Knives

Here is another example of excellent handmade japanese knives.  I have ordered them directly at Konosuke Sakai.  The order process was straight forward and Kosuke-san is a very nice person to deal with. He answered all questions very fast and gave really great advice, which was very much appreciated. The knives are again for lefthanded.  The knives are forged using White Steel #2 (Mt. Fuji). The front side of the Sakimura Takohiki is mirror polished.

Deba (16.5cm, octaconal ho wood handle)
Sakimaru Takohiki (30cm, octagonale ebony handle with silver inlay)

Homemade Japanese Food

These were my first trials at home to make sushi rolls and a clear soup with prawn.  Turned out quiet nice for the first attempt.

Homemade dashi stock with spinach and prawn.

California rolls.

Curcumber make, crab stick maki.

Japanese Dinning (Itacho Sushi)

Another new great place in Singapore to eat sushi and sashimi is Itacho Sushi.

Selection of sushi: otoro, tai, saury, saba, hotate, tako

Shima aja, otoro

Ark clam shell

Tako, hotate, saba, foi gras

Japanese Dinning (Wahiro)

I am a great fan of Japanese food.  During my last visit in Singapore a good friend and former collegue brought me to a nice and cosy japanese restaurant (Wahiro Japanese Restaurant).  We asked the itamae to serve us whatever he feels is the most fresh.  The food was deliceous and I am looking very much forward to my next visit.

Grilled Sweet Fish

Sashimi with fish liver

Saury sashimi

Deep fried saury bones

Ark clam shell sashimi

Itamae

Fish and seafood selection

Sushi (unagi, flounder, tai, otoro)

Foi gras sushi

Grilled smelt fish

Sea snail sashimi

AOKI Hamono knives

These are two AOKI Hamono knives made by Keijiro Doi in Sakai. They are specially made for me (lefthanded). The are made of White Steel #2.

I have purchased both knives via a very humble and reliable dealer in Germany (Japan Messer Shop). Mr. and Ms. Horie are very nice to deal with.

Sakimaru Takohiki (30cm, octagonal ebony handle)

Usuba (18cm, octagonal magnolia wood handle)

Blog reactivated

I have decided to reactivate my blog. I am getting tired of facebook and will leave soon. My blog will be mainly about cooking and japanese kitchen knives.

Baby Squid

Today we found for the first time fresh baby squid at our super market. I bought two pieces to try. After cleaning and slicing the baby squid it was simply pan fried in olive oil and sprinkled with some sea salt and black pepper. The baby squid was very fresh and tender. Looking already forward to buy some more.

Ragout Fin for New Year eve

For the New Year evening I tried the first time Ragout Fin. The veal meat was cooked with a lot of vegetables which makes a nice veal stock. This time I used the first time our pressure cooker to make the stock - very fast and the stock was very rich and tasty. The stock was then used for the white sauce made with flour and butter, mushrooms, asparagus, pies, and cubed veal.

More japanese beauties arrived ... ;-))

Two new japanese kitchen beauties arrived: a Yanagi (240mm, white steel) and a Kamagata Usuba (180mm, white steel). Both custom made for left handed by Shinichi Watanabe. All knives are single beveled and sharp like razor blades.

Beef filet and oven baked tomatos

Today we had beef filet and oven baked tomatos. The tomatos were deskinned, quatered and deseaded. They were put on a plate sprinkled with olive oil, custard sugar, pepper and salt. Some garlic and rosmary were added. Everything was put for around 1.5 hrs. to the oven at 100 deg. celsius.
The beef was pan fried at strong heat (two minutes each side). Afterwards the beef was put for 45 minutes to the oven at 100 deg. celsius.
The sauce is made with sherry, mushrooms, green pepper and cream.

Tom Yum Kung Soup

Tom Yam Kung Soup is a thai sour, spicy soup with prawns and straw mushrooms. The recipe in short is: de-shell and devein the prawns. Keep the shells and heads. Heat oil in a huge pot and roast the prawn shells and heads. Add 1L of water and add lime leaves, lemon grass and chilies. Boil for 5-6 minutes. Drain the stock through a sieve into another pot. Add mushrooms, tomatos and prawns. Add finely chopped coriander, sliced spring onion, sliced chili, fish sauce and lime juice.

Amaebi Miso Soup

Today I tried a new variant of miso soup. I de-shelled and deveined some fresh tiger prawn. They were coated in some cornstarch and afterwards slightly boiled in salt water for 2 minutes. The prawns are arranged in a small bowl together with some carrot decoration, wakame seaweed and sliced spring onion. The miso soup is poured carefully over the prawns.

Again - vegetable soup

Today I prepared again vegetable soup. Some frozen vegetable soup stock was still in the freezer. Together with some fresh potatos, carrots, mushrooms, and pies a very nice vegetable soup. Helen added some egg noodles. I had some sliced, smoked sausage added, that gives a nice salty, smokey flavour. As garnish some finely sliced spring onion.

The new kitchen beauty arrived ...

After some hassle with the German custom I have now my new kitchen beauty. It is a custom made deba knife made by Shinichi Watanabe (http://www.watanabeblade.com). It is honed at the left side so that lefthanders can cut properly with this single beveled knife. Another optional feature is the octagonal ho wood handle. I am looking very much forward to use this knife.

Forelle Blau (trout blue)

This is a traditional receipe from south germany (Baden). It is called "Forelle blau". It is poached trout. The stock (Court-Bouillon) is constisting of carots, fennel, leek, shallot, garlic, parsily, thyme, white pepper corns, bay leaf, juniper berry, salt, Noily Prat, and white wine vinager. The trout is poached for 15-20 min in the stock.

Japanese Knives

One of my new hobbies is collecting knives - especially handmade japanese knives. It is not only collecting - also using in the kitchen.


The Cheff Wa Gingami 3 - a sashimi knife with a length of 210mm with a Ho wood handle


Sirou Kamo - Migaki Nikari 165mm - a vegetable knife with Ho wood handle

Healthy Vegetable Soup

Last night I prepared a nice vegetable fond. I used celery, carots, leek, onion, broccoli, mushroom (fresh and dried), garlic, white wine, cloves, bayleave, roasted onion.
Today I prepared a vegetable noodle soup using carots, spring onion, celery, fresh peas, bean sprouts, fresh mushrooms and yellow egg noodles. As an additional dip I prepared some sliced chilies with soy sauce and lime juice.