Recipe: Miso Soup

This recipe posted here is the one i used to make my miso soup served in my Fall Coronation 2015 feast. It got many rave reviews and asks about a recipe, so I figured as I am working on more regular blogging I will share it here! The recipe is broken down to serve 5-10 people.

Miso soup

Ingredients:

3 quarts water - I use standard tap water here, nothing fancy

1 quart of fish stock - This one is a bit tricky, and will depend on how crazy you wanna go. For the stock, I made it from lightly boiling tuna. You can of course buy fish stock in Asian grocery stores (or the odd Publix wth a large international selection), but I made it fresh.

1/4 cup dashi granules - Can be purchased in any Asian grocery store

1/4 cup miso paste - Can be purchased in any Asian grocery store, but I have seen at Publix and Whole Foods!

Salt to taste - I used sea salt, but use your favorite salt here!

1/2 pound fresh cold wakame - I have only found this is Asian grocery stores, but I've heard this can be found in Whole Foods as well.

Instructions

1) In a large pot with a well fitting lid, add in water and fish stock. Bring to a rolling boil.

2) Once water and fish stock have reached a rolling boil, add in dashi granules. Stir for one minute, until granules are fully mixed in.

3) Once granules have been mixed in, add in wakame. Stir vigorously, until the wakame is broken up and softened.

4) Whisk in miso paste, until water has turned one solid color. Drop heat to a simmer, fit tight with a lid and let simmer for 25 minutes.

5) Remove lid, stir to mix up wakame that may have settled. Sprinkle salt to taste, serve hot.

Enjoy!

Post-foodem Part 2: 30th Year Feast Dishes

In this second part, I want to break down all the dishes and some thought on each one. Lots of pictures here!

Ah, white rice. This came out lovely, Mikey had a much better way of cooking this than I had on hand which gave the same light and fluffy texture. Good stickiness, and Corey shaped the domes perfectly. Love this rice!

This was my collection of pickles; ginger, plum, carrot and turnip. The plum was intense, a sweet and spicy mixture I found tantalizing. The pickled carrots and turnips were a classic hit, a lovely flavor. What surprised me was how popular the pickled ginger was, for it was a very harsh flavor but I didn't have any left over at the end of feast!

This was my Fresh "Crane" soup, and it was one of my better dishes. The duck I used for flavor was light and frothy, providing a great flavor. The mushroom water added in rally bolstered the flavor without overpowering. I wish I had added a little more salt to the finished product, I thought it would have made it ZING!

Water chesnuts were water chestnuts. They were meant to be eaten with other items, and as a palette cleanser. SOOO glad I bought pre-sliced ones, saved me such more prep time.

I swear, there were sick sticks on here...these were one of the most popular course items. I'm super proud of them, and glad I decided to lengthen the marinade time on the chickens. Each stick had alternating chicken and squash chunks, and the squash was super fresh and yummy. I never actually ate the finished product of this one after testing,just licked the glaze off a spoon...

My Uji River! Presentation on this didn't look how I wanted, this nori was a little softer than I had licked and I switched plates for ease of service, but the noodles were PERFECT thanks to Jason! The Udon was super tasty, and most people were surprised at the cool noodles but greatly enjoyed the flavor and texture. I ate a crap ton of these myself.

This pine cone tofu looks so perfect, isn't it cute? Tasted so terrible though...I had some people try and eat it, but I hate tofu. I loved reading the little poem with this dish, it made me smile!

This was my rock-star dish, I am so proud of this miso soup. Thanks to Andi for the suggestion of the fresh wakame, this already amazing soup became stellar. The secret ingredient was fresh fish stock, I used the water made from parboiling the tuna sashimi. So good...none of this came back!

This is two dishes, the sushi on top and the sashimi underneath. The fish was expertly cut by Corey, and the rice shaped by Andi/Jason/Mikey. As per period accounted, the sashimi was lightly teamed/boiled to heighten the flavor but not cook, while the sushi was served fresh with a strong rice vinegar rice bed. This was perfect and beautiful.

Another presentation piece I wasn't very thrilled with, issues in creation meant my bird heads never were able to be made. That's ok, I still topped them with a nice treat designed by Andi! I loved how the eggplant did a great job cooking and toasting the items inside, made a very tasty meal.

Meh...wasn't that thrilled with this one. I feel like it looks pretty, and is just tasty for me, but most people found the cabbage a bit too chewy That's a bit frustrating, and I know a lot came back, but you can't win with every dish. Next time I do fresh cabbage like this, I will just salt and sit instead of the saltwater brine.

Fresh fruit is so darling, and such a rarity in European cooking! I loved the floral arrangement for the citrus, and the pears just had this sharp elegance in the way they were cut. It looks like small stones of white and green blooming from a flower. Very lovely!

Another dish combination, this is my red bean paste dessert and the fresh mochi. The red bean desert was weird, I wasn't sure of the texture at first but it and the taste won me over rapidly. Thanks to Corey for the shape, he did a wonderful job on the cutting process. The mochi was also so yummy, and the green tea flavoring was refreshing! I'm not a big fan of the seeds on it, the texture tasted a bit off to me, but the kinako flour on the other just heightened the natural flavor.

Thank you for taking the time to follow my adventures in this feast! If you would like any of the recipes for any of thee dishes, feel free to email me at canatsey86@gmail.com and I would happily share them.

Post-foodem Part 1: 30th Year Feast

I've taken a lot of time away from this feast, to digest and decompress everything that happened. I read through my notes I made, got feedback from patrons and fellow cooks, and now feel confidant to tackle this detailed breakdown.

To start...I kinda rocked the house. Everything went great, the food looked good and tasted good, there was just the right portions and I had a wonderful time. I had some of the best help a head cook can ask for, and some of the most loyal friends. This was an amazing effort from everyone involved, and we all knocked this shit out of the park. I know I already made a large thank you post right here, but I just wanted to stress that point home.

Top 5 What Worked - 

1) Study - I spent a whole bloody year putting myself out of my comfort zone, studying a new culture as well as cooking style. Spending all that time becoming so familiar with the food to truly know it was a huge advantage, when issues and errors happened I was able to quickly react to fixing it.

2) Trust the experts - Who prepares Japanese food better than the Japanese? I purchased pre-made pickles, pre-made miso and other critical ingredients from the culture to best recreate the food. The grocery store clerks gave me the best options for cooking many foods and often recommended ingredients that I normally wouldn't have purchased (but came out better because of their recommendations). Yes I studied for a year, but these people have lived this food for decades and they will understand it better in ways I never will.

3) Trust my volunteers - One of the hard things is always letting go and trusting others when they have the ball, even when you're the team captain. There were plenty of times where I trusted the fantastic instincts of Corey when it came to cooking food, when I couldn't see what he saw and let him go. When you assigning tasks to folks you are trusting that they'll follow instructions to get what you want, but also trusting that f they can improve it they will. A good example is the red bean paste desert, I had envisioned tall/thin cuts in a deep pan, but Corey was confidant that short/wide would get the better result and look. And he was totally right, I was so much happier with the finished cut he did than my own. That's trusting your volunteers.

4) Feast menu's, schedules and instructions - I loved how I posted everything on the walls. Having it out in the open for everyone to check, double the sheets to force me to double check everything, and having in high traffic areas really helped a lot. Definitely adding this to my feast prep package.

5) Portions - Nuff said, I portioned the hell out of this feast and am proud of my math. I went to the limit on so many dishes, I was very proud of my math and my purchasing ability (all which was double/triple checked by my wife thank goodness!).

Top 5 What Didn't Worked - 

1) No solid book - I loved how I did my menu's and schedule this time, having it posted in multiple spots was really awesome. But what I found myself missing was an actual feast book, like I've done in the past. I didn't like the loose leaf copies of recipes, and many times I felt myself looking for my book. I think I'm gonna do the postings and the books, for my own sanity.

2) Not scheduling enough water/food breaks - Yeah...I failed on this one. I got stressed a lot during times, and it took me a while to realize I wasn't eating/drinking enough. I normally have to schedule myself these breaks, and I didn't put in as many as I needed this time around. Next feast I need to take care and take care of myself better, so I don't get too hungry or thirsty.

3) Serving the H.A. room - I had a blast serving this room, and my two servers did a great job with me, but in the end it made me more twitchy than I prefer. I don't like being out front when I cook feast, I like to be in the kitchen and hear reports. I'm glad I did this for the experience, but in the future I will stick to my kitchen!

4) Measuring cups - Soooo much food was so tightly controlled, it'show my portioning worked as well as it did. But that meant I needed TIGHT portion control of ingredients, and the kitchen was lacking severely in various cups. I know for future adventures that I need to bring my own if I am in need of a specific size measuring tool.

5) No solid cleaning plan - Unlike Ocala or other sites, I've never had to worry a great deal about dirt and outdoor mess getting into the kitchen. Not true with this site, the doors and airflow bring in a crap ton of dirt and muck from the outside into the kitchen. I didn't have a plan for dealing with this, so I frequently found myself delayed as I wiped or swept various areas. Need to remember at least every other hour cleaning checks.

Next post I will break down each dish and make a few comments on each.

Preparations of a Feast Part 5

So far we've talked about the food culture, what food is being served, its flavor profile and appearance. Today, in my final post before the event, I want to talk about how you the guest should go into my feast to get the best eating experience.

When you sit down, the table will be decorated simply. This is done intentionally, to help you get into the simplistic mindset that the food will be dwelling in. Chopsticks will be provided for each guest, though not required it is highly encouraged that you eat with them to get the best experience. The chopsticks are very important, they will control your portioning as well as keep you eating each bite in the proper method. Japanese food culture evolved around chopsticks, using them will help you best experience this.

On the table before you will be some paper explaining much f what's on the table, and encouraging you to explore it. Once table service has begun, drinks will be served to refresh and prepare the palette for the food that will be consumed. The first course will be served as it would be for the Shogun himself, the dishes will  be announced and one at a time will they be presented. The Shogun (in this case TRM Trimaris) will approve the first course and the dishes will be given to the populous. The dishes can be eaten in any order or combination, each "course" is designed for all the food to be eaten as one, but there is a recommended order to trying them and the servers will bring the dishes in that order. 

With my artistic pieces, the servers will present this dish then read a haiku for the table. This poem pertains to the dish, it is meant to be pondered and considered as it is eaten to better enjoy, or if you wish to abstain then to simply admire the art and think on what the poem means to you. 

Each course will be brought out in such order, until the meal is complete. Take your time, enjoy each bite and relish the flavors as they blend and work within you. Your bites will be small due to the chopsticks, savor each one. Enjoy the work put before you, and let it inspire you and cause you to think of your own art that you endeavor. This is simple pleasures, simple joys of nourishment and companionship. Let the meal slowly ebb and flow into you like the tide, in no hurry and at its own pace.

For those sitting in my special seating, your experience will be quite similar but still has its unique qualities. Beyond the room decoration, each place setting will be provided for you. You will dine on pillows as is tradition, and will be honored guests of the Shogun and thus will be served by the head cook directly. It will be a fun time for everyone!

Thank you for following this progress, and for supporting me in this endeavor. This feast is by far the most complex I've ever done, and it is a labor of love not just by me but my friends and family as well. Expect a recap of the meal after the event.

Preparations for a Feast Part 4

As I said in a previous entry, one of the things I felt the need to touch on was how important the image of the food was to the meal itself. Yes the mood had to taste good, yes the food have to taste CORRECT (which I covered in Part 3); but almost as importantly the food had to LOOK artistic as well. Especially considering the “optional” food dishes, this is a topic I want to discuss in depth here.

    In Japanese high culture, art was the thing. The house was designed with art in mind, the clothing was an art, the weapons and armor had an artistic bent and to that even the food was artistic in nature. It was a sign of high culture, of refinement, that you were able to produce not only a good tasting meal but a good looking one at that. Understanding the artistic styles and applying them to food was an amazing gift that was meant to be shared, this is an aspect I am trying to emulate upcoming feast.

    So let’s talk about that, shall we? The food itself is to be a work of art, so it must look the part. Sauces will be carefully placed, not to smear or dribble about in presentation. Vegetables and fruit will be cut as square and clean as possible, to show off the angles of the cut. Plating will be warm and inviting, food will be arranged to create shapes or images (like my Triskle Chesnut design I’m gonna do) and the colors will be vibrant to stand out against the stark white serving gear. The idea for this artistic display is to heighten the taste of the food and appreciation for the skill of the artisan crafting it. It wasn’t just what was served on, it was the served items themselves.

    Another aspect to this style is food designed for appreciation, not so much for eating. A massive show of wealth, these were dishes that used inedible ingredients for color/shape or were often not that tasty. You were meant to reflect upon the nature of the dish, see what the dish meant to you, perhaps hear a haiku read about such a dish or just appreciate the artistic touch gone into crafting it. I have three such dishes, mine will all be edible because food science has given me a modern edge, and each is unique in its theme. The Pine Cone Tofu will be a baked tofu shaped to look like a pine cone and covered in sweet spices, it is shaped to look like a pine cone before it releases its seeds in promise of new life. The Uji River is designed to resemble the mighty river in the thaws of spring and new beginnings, Udon noodles dyed blue will run along the caramel colored sauce with pieces of Nori carefully placed along the sides to represent the green hills. Lastly is my Blue Sea Soup, a chilled cold soup of fruit juice dyed blue and topped with fresh made whip cream waves (fish shaped mochi topped with red bean paste will be served on the side which go delightfully well with the tasty dessert). 

    These dishes will be something amazing to look at, and I eagerly look forward to sharing them with my guests. This whole feast experience has been amazing, and I want to thank you for following along with me thus far. I have one last post to write before the big day, on how people who eat the food to get the full experience, which will come out soon. Stay tuned!

Preparations of a Feast Part 3

Couple of things before we get into the meat and potatoes of this post:

I recently did a redesign of my blog layout. I wanted it to be easier for everyone to read, I tagged similar posts so you could read specific posts and hopefully made this a better experience for you. Any feedback you have would be appreciated!

I did change my URL for this blog, so if you keep me bookmarked please update with the new URL above!

It’s still a work in progress, and I plan on doing more redesign work in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

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In my last post, one of the things I said I wanted to discuss was the flavor profiles of the food for this feast. The food here will be different than what most people with a Western palate are used to dining on, even more so for period food in the SCA. Japan, and other “Eastern” cultures in many extents, had a unique flavoring and seasoning palate for their food. For Japan, especially during the Edo Period, this style of cooking was already well settled into the cultural ideals and thus we have a fantastic view on not just how they viewed food but culture as well.

In French of English cooking, the use of spice and varied cooking techniques was designed to transform the food. Take the steak and vegetables, change the flavor with spice and styles of cooking, adjust and transform. All this is wonderful food, and I have cooked plenty Western styles of dish to a rousing success. But I can’t do that here...that’s not how it was done in Japan. In their style of cooking, the Japanese did not test their culinary art in how they could change the flavor of the dish but how they could accept and highlight the natural flavor of the ingredients and dish. This has been a challenge!

Take for example my Fresh Crane Soup. There are a number of challenges involved with this dish that I had to struggle with, and I want to use this as an example of Japanese flavor profiling. The Japanese viewed crane as a delicacy, something for the upper nobility, and thus this was a carefully crafted dish. The soups of Japan were more like broths, meant to prep the body for a meal and not to be a meal unto itself, so had light flavor and were served warm-to-hot to enhance the flavor. You boil and cook with natural complimenting ingredients so the flavor isn’t lost, and the soup is the lead in of another major dish. Had miso before? That’s another great example.

And thus the challenge begins. Crane is not something viable for me to get in bulk, so I had to substitute for duck (which one document I read says happened regularly as the the flavors were very close in taste). I had to unlearn everything I knew about making soup, just to perfect this dish. Instead of a chunky meal-type dish, I had to minimalize the amount of meat that would be in the soup without sacrificing flavor. To enhance I’m adding mushrooms and light spice to season, these will compliment the taste of the bird as well as enhance the flavor of the soup. I will serve is more on the warm side than the hot, to mellow a bit of the sharpness from one of the ingredients added as it blends best when warmed. The portions will be small, maybe 4/6oz of soup at MAX to not overindulge the flavor onto the guest. This way you are getting the natural, enhanced flavor of the soup expressed how it “should be”. This will be done for every dish.

That’s another thing I feel needs to be discussed with flavor, portion sizes. Along with the correct flavor, the correct AMOUNT of the flavor is also an important thing to take note on. In Western styles of cooking you would pile meats and sauces and vegetables high, you ate larger portions because there would be (on average) less dish options available. In this Japanese style each portion is carefully measured and weighed out to match not just the flavor but its place in the meal. My first course is SEVEN dishes, which means portion sizes will be small and gradually increase in small doses as the meal progresses. What that means is each guest will be given a 4/6oz portion of soup, 2/3 bites of pickle, 2 bird skewers, 3/4 chestnuts, one long and thick chopstick wrap of oolong noodle, etc. Each bite is carefully planned for so by the end of the meal the guest is comfortably full, each flavor is appreciated in kind and no one dish overpowers another. 

On my next post I will be discussing the illusion food aspect that I will attempt with each dish, how important it was to the dining experience and what you can expect to see at the event!

Preparations of a Feast Part 2

So in my last post we did a general overview of what is to be served at 30th year, today we discuss exactly what will be served. My menu for the event is thus:

Main Tray (Course 1)

Furesshukurēnsūpu 

(Fresh Crane soup)

Pikurusu

(Pickles)

Hakumai

(White Rice)

Kushi ni chīsana tori

(Small Birds on Skewers)

Ujigawa

(Uji River)

Kuri

(Chestnuts)

Painkōn tōfu

(Pine cone Tofu)

Second Tray (Course 2)

Fujisan no sarada

(Mt. Fuji salad)

Misoshiru

(Miso soup)

Sashimi

Jā-yaki sunaipu

(Grilled Snipe in Jars)

Edomaesushi

Third Tray (Course 3)

Mochigome

(Sweet rice)

Mikan to anto furūtsu

(Tangerines and Ant Fruit)

Burūshīsūpu

(Blue Sea Soup)

That sure does look like a lot of food, doesn’t it? A proper meal arranged like this does contain many dishes, but portion control is king in this style. One of the things to remember is that the primary eating utensil of the time was chopsticks, so each bite is designed to be properly sized for chopsticks. As well, each person can only eat so much food, and it was rude to snub a dish that was provided for you so culturally at least a bite was required. Over so many dishes, across such a wide variety of food, you would end up eating small amounts of each dish to be full in time for the end of the meal!

So when my guests sit down to dine at 30th year, they will not see mountains and piles of food on a plate but delicate and calculated portions. This is important for each of my guests to understand, so much so that I have created special cue cards for all my servers detailing not just things like ingredients/allergies but also portion sizes. Yes you may only be eating 2-3 pieces of sushi...but after already so much food will you really notice?

Another key detail is talking about some of the food itself. When a Western culture-raised individual thinks of a soup, perhaps you imagine hearty chunks of food and a creamy broth in a full bowl. You’re not wrong, and I’m hungry just thinking about it but that is not the Period Japanese style in terms of soup. A soup for them was light, sometimes savory or sweet, a deep rich broth filled with unique flavor. The soup was not a meal in itself, it was meant to be a part of a meal. With my Fresh Crane Soup for example, there will not be huge chunks of meat floating around to snag; it will be a delicate broth meant to add flavor, heighten anticipation for the next item and compliment the meal. 

Flavor profiles are something huge I also need to discuss, and will in my next post to more detail. Japanese valued a simple style in their art, and food was most definitely an art! You were meant to appreciate and admire the flavor of the white rice, the simple pleasure of melting tuna in edomaesushi, the crisp bite of eggplant or the rich soy flavor in a noodle. These are dishes not heavily spiced, or flavored to change the taste profile; these dishes were meant to be enjoyed as the flavor stood. Light seasoning to enhance the flavor will happen, and there is so much more I need to touch on this that i will on my next post.

In one last example, and another that I’m realizing needs a post all to itself, Japanese food of this period relied heavily on illusion and subtly. The art was not just in how it tastes, but how it looked. This is where things changed dramatically, yes the white rice was supposed to taste like rice but it was also supposed to be sculpted and shaped to look like a swan! Illusion food was such a commonplace that much of the text doesn’t even talk about how you should go out of your way to accomplish this; at the end it offhandedly talks about how you should make the food look. There are even dishes that are served that you are not required, or sometimes not even intended, to eat! The whole purpose of these dishes is to admire, reflect on what they mean to you and let their appearance and beauty enhance your eating experience. I have 3 such dishes in this feast alone; the Uji River, the Mt Fuji salad and the Blue Sea soup (all of which I will be discussing in detail in said next blog post).

What you can take away from this is that the food is going to be art, not just in visual style but in taste. It is my goal to preserve and enhance the natural flavors within each dish, to shape them to be visually pleasing and give my guests a unique dining experience they many not have had before in Trimaris. Portions will be small, but the whole meal will be filing with each bite.

Next time, I will dive deeper into the flavor profiles of my meals. Stay tuned!

Preparations of a Feast - Part 1

Coming up this Labor Day weekend will be my third, and most ambitious, kingdom feast yet. I am doing a period Early Edo feast, inspired by the feast the Emperor of Japan hosted to celebrate the second Shogun of the Edo Period. There are so many facets to this feast that I need to discuss, not just the food but the culture around the food, and my Laurel found the best way to do this would be a series of blogs. She is right, as per normal on things, so I'm starting a multi-part discussion on my feast and my process.

I wanna start this off by discussing Japan as a culture, how it got to this point and what we can glean from the food. One of the things I find fascinating is I can learn so much from a culture based on what/how they eat! In studying the food and meal preparation of this feast I have learned a great deal about Japanese culture and I feel enriched like never before.

The first thing to understanding this feast was for me to wrap my head around the time period this took place. This is just after the end of the greatest Japanese civil war, the Sengoku Jidai or Waring States Period. It was a time of great strife that lasted decades, with clans rising and falling and the whole social structure receiving a massive overhaul by the end going into the Edo period. What we know from that time is that with life in so much turmoil for the populous, many traditions were held tightly to the chest and ritual habits of everyday life became sacred and gained great importance. People NEEDED some stability in their lives, it's a human trait, and that's evidenced by many of the cultural shifts and changes. This also applies to their food.

Beginning in what in Europe would be referred to as the 14th century, the Honzen-ryōri (I'll use just Hozen for short) is a style of meal designed to structure and organize the new warrior culture that arose in the period just before the Waring States. The meal would organize and "tame" the new samurai class of nobility, and into the Edo period this would become THE meal of the nobility. The traditional Honzen would begin with 3 rounds of drinks, and be followed with three round last of food with 7/5/3 courses going down. 

Looking at the typical portions and type of food for the Hozen also reflects aspects of the culture. Nothing on the trays were larger than what a pair of chopsticks could reasonably hold, the soup was mostly thin to allow ease of sipping and almost every dish had an illusion or imagery attached. Ingredients were vegetable, rice (a staple), noodles, fish/marine life and water fowel. Sauces were few and far between, and most food was eaten "fresh" in some form or fashion. 

Knowing this, what can I gleam from the culture based on the food? Their main source of protein being fish, we can see that the Japanese culture will focus heavily on water and will have many myths/cultural stigma involved in such. Fishermen will be well respected, and you can imagine that there is predominately fresh food served to everyone. With each bite of food no larger than what chopsticks can reasonably hold, eating to excess or with great gutso is not a thing easily done. The Japanese developed a cultural stigma with shoveling food, and the Hozen has strict rules on how much to eat of each course before you move onto the next. The lack of sauces imply that the culture honors purity, enjoying and relishing the pure taste of the dish instead of an altered flavor profile. This again is evidence in Japanese culture, an almost isolationism that promotes Japan over all. Fresh food being served regularly is a sign of this purity as well. The over use of illusion food, of artistic presentation being almost more important to amount/quality of the food highlights a culture striving for high arts and trying to separate itself from what it may feel are barbaric roots.

Studying the food nets the same result as studying the culture, a proud people who strove for ideological purity especially after decades of devastating war. A culture which clung to the ideals of its society, and while very expressive in the medium given is rather isolated from much influence at this time. This is a culture that honors art, and struggles to find its humanity admits the warrior struggles of the noble class. This is a people who want to be better, but on their own terms.

Next time, we will discuss more specifically what food will be served, some of its history in Japanese culture and tackling several Japanese food myths.