[CH] Raw Meat
Ashkenaz, Scott (Scott.Ashkenaz@kla-tencor.com)
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 15:24:37 -0800
I was just at a Yakitori restaurant in Yokohama (yup, I'm in Japan
again...), and as one of the appetizers they served raw (just barely seared
on the outside) chicken. It was sliced, topped with nori (dried seaweed)
strips, and had a dab of wasabi to eat with each bite. Oishi! (Yummy!)
Of course, on the Yakitori itself ("chicken on sticks"), I sprinkled lots of
shichi-mi, which has Japanese togarashi chiles as part of the mix of seven.
I supplemented it with some Red Savina powder.
On the raw meat side (apologies to the non-meat eaters on the list for whom
this thread must be painful, and to the horse lovers for whom it is about to
be), I have had a specialty which comes from Kyushu (the southernmost of the
big islands) - Basashi, which is raw horse meat. The horses are raised
specifically for this. I have to say, sliced with a special dipping sauce,
it is also quite oishi.
Last night I went with a colleague to a "Mexican" restaurant in Honmoku.
(Calling this place a Mexican restaurant is like calling the Barney "I love
you" song Mozart.) I asked for the fajitas (cooked chicken this time) to be
hot, so they offered to put Jalapeños on the dish. They asked if that was
hot enough, so I showed them my ever-present Red Savina shaker.
"Aaaaaeeeehhhh? What's that?" I shook a few grains into his hand, and he
tasted one. One! "Ai! Hot-to!" He ran around letting the other staff try it,
and each let out a squeal. He came back over and asked what it was, was it
really chile (he had to reconfirm this at least five times (Togarashi desu
ka? Honto?)), and what was it called? Oddly enough (and this really is
amazing for any Japanophile) I had just found fresh habaneros in the
Kinokunya grocery store (8 pods for ¥250 - about $2.25), so I wrote out
Ha-ba-ne-ro in Katakana for him, and told him where I found it (in
Omotesando, BTW). He wanted to know if he could have a little more for the
chef, so I shook a little pile out on a plate, and gave him some chipotle as
well. He came back later and said that they were going to make pasta with it
- did we want some ("Free! Sabisu!"), but we declined. Instead, they brought
out some ice cream with chocolate syrup, on the house. I let him know that
habanero also goes really well with ice cream, and offered to let him try
it, but he declined, shocked. They are going to be talking about this event
for years...
-s