There's not a whole helluva lot I can say about okonomiyaki besides it is the ultimate awesome-leftover killer. With a base of the disgusting-sounding batter with cabbage (added to flour, baking soda, dashi, water), this stuff is really quite amazingly good. Of course, at the end, it's covered in sauce and mayo, so who doesn't like that? Some important stuff to remember: the dashi really does make this stuff work. I had some homemade stock I made from leftover yellowtail tuna, bonito, and seaweed. My house stank for 3 days, but the stock is indispensible in Japanese cooking. You can pick up tiny bottles of the dry stuff, but I can't vouch for it (though that's what I do use for my tamagoyaki). I have not used the mountain yam, which is supposed to make this stuff extra-good, because I have been too lazy to have someone pick it up for me at one of the myriad of Asian food markets within a 2-mile radius my my house.

Continue reading "Okonomiyaki, fuck yeah" »

Posted at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been trying to figure out what to include on this site. Seems rather silly, doesn't it, for a so-called cooking site. The Clever Chef. The issue with that is that I am certainly not a chef. And clever? Not unless you catch me somewhere between 4pm and dinnertime.

There are some days when I cook up a storm - from bread to bagels and lunch and dinner all from scratch - and other days, nil (tonight, sushi!). I experiment far too much to feel comfortable printing recipes, really - there's always something to be improved upon.

Lately, however, I've been reading a lot about food - I've just finished Evan Jones' "American Food", a stoic 400+ page history and recipe archive rolled into one. I made the baked beans - fantastic. But it doesn't take a cook to figure beans + salt pork + molasses + maple syrup + heat + time = fabulous. Besides that, I'm still making a ton of Japanese food (okonomiyaki this weekend), and after a trip to Fubonn, making no less than 3 lotus root recipes, sesame noodles (based upon Deb's recipe, the dressing lacking in "oomph"), a sweet chili-sauce purchase, and coriander use (an ignored herb for the most part).

It's been food, food, food for the past... well, ever, and I've nothing to write? Can't be possible, can it? Yet somehow I'm stuck and you end up with this drivel.

Thus - at least a post per week - a promise. I can't ensure goodness, quality, or completeness. And god help me if I just start spouting off Michael Polan inspired rhetoric. But maybe I can make this work. Oh, and if I state what I'll be writing about next and the end of each post, I'll remember to take photos.

So, next post? Okonomiyaki. See you then!

*Tonight's post was written 4/25/2008, long-hand at Virginia Cafe, downtown Portland, after a very long day at work.

Posted at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)