Recipes
Cherry blossom ice cream
Whisk all ingredients together in a saucepan and heat to 73 Celsius where you will continue to stir for a few minutes until your anglaise is visibly thickening. Remove from heat and chill in ice bath or refrigerate overnight .
pour into your trusty ice cream machine and let magic commence.
Subtle, refined, delicious. Enjoy this ice cream with your favorite sake.
By jason toner
Dashi
Of course you can use this broth for soup, hotpot etc but it works especially well in place of water for your favourite bread recipes.
By jason toner
Pickled new ginger (gari)
Gari as it's known in sushi restaurants is simply new ginger (shin shoga)that has been pickled in a salt,sugar, vinegar mix. It gets its pink hue from the colored tips of the young ginger and not from food coloring as is sometimes thought.
By jason toner
Umeshu
Ok this requires a metric, you know what, load of patience but don't be put off as you will be rewarded with an elixir unlike anything else you have ever tasted before.
You will get a decent, if immature, tasting result after 3 months stored in your deepest, darkest cavernous area of your abode but for best results just let it be for at least a year and preferably longer.
I also make mine with a combination of shochu and other drinks such as calvados, brandy and rum which plays to an extremely warm welcome.
By jason toner
Rakkyo (pickled shallots)
Get your pickle on with these delicious shallots as a garnish for japanese curry, snack with Shochu or sliced and added to cha han.
By jason toner
Shio koji
Add verve and swagger to meats, vegetables, vinegars, soups etc with this basic shio koji. It may not look like much, but the reason people who are in the know about Shio Koji profess the upmost enthusiasm for it do so because it transforms the most rudimentary cut of meat into a succulent dining experience of opulent proportions with umami to spare. Don't miss out...
after you have the first batch under your belt its time to start experimenting with different flavours!
By jason toner
Seaweed salad
This umami Goliath of a side salad will make you happy, healthy and definitely smarter and with about a minute in total prep time it just got a whole lite more sensible if it wasn't already. Ne...!
By jason toner
Sea bream with shiso, yuzu, dashi
What you will get here is a refreshing taste of land and sea which is quick to prepare and equally delicious without the dashi for a bit size canapé .
By jason toner
Ochazuke
This delicious breakfast staple will be a revelatory experience as long as you use good quality ingredients.
In our house this dish is usually served simply as per the recipe, but sometimes salmon is added so feel free to try it in different ways. You could also use nori instead of kombu and add mitsuba or negi on top but try it simply first to get a feel for the flavour interactions.
By jason toner