Sukiyaki, Japanese big dinner

As Christmas is approaching, I wish you a nice holiday season. So let’s have a sukiyaki party !
It’s a party meal designed to showcase delicious premium Japanese beef and season produce. A hot pot to cook and share on the table.

The ingredients are cut, cleaned, prepared and presented on big trays on the table.
First tray : fungi, konnyaku noodles and grilled tofu.
There were 4 types of mushrooms : shimeji, enoki, dry and soaked maitake and fresh kikurage.

Second tray : negi leeks, onions, soaked yakifu (gluten croutons) and kikuna (chrysanthemum greens).

Third tray : the beef. Wagyu, Japanese traditionally raised cows. Beside you can see cubes of beef fat.

Each eater is given a bowl with a good fresh egg. Whisk your egg with the chopsticks and get ready to dip you ingredients in this sauce.

First step : greasing the pot with fat and roasting the first slices. They can be enjoyed this way as the beef is delicious, just on its own.

That’s the technique : melt some fat, add some meat, pour a little sugar, then a little shoyu (sauce sauce), a little sake. Mix and cook.

All the other ingredients are added in small batches…

For dessert… well, there are no desserts for Japanese meal. So that’s a French tarte Tatin, made with Japanese apples.

Champilège final : genmai ‘shroom risotto

Let’s make a creamy brown rice risotto. You need a little more time, but at some point, the broth thickens just as much as with white rice.

That’s the last dish made with this basket of assorted mushrooms :

The series :
Champilège 1 : Paris in salad.
Champilège 2 : shiitake in amuse-gueule
Champilège 3 : awabitake, bunapi, in pie soup
Champilège 4 : maitake, eringi, in quiche

shiitake,awabitake, bunapi, champignon de Paris, maitake, eringi…
I had a few of each left, plus a few feet :

Minced the feet, red onion, lots of garlic…

New crop rice of this year. Tsuyahime, Princess Tsuya.
From Yamagata Prefecture, well the only problem is it’s a bit close to Fukushima. It’s a cultivar close to Koshihikari.
That’s a good risotto rice.

That’s a Japanese risotto. A fusion if you prefer. I’ve used kombu seaweed to make dashi stock. There is wine. The main seasoning is miso. Salt, pepper, olive oil, and thyme on the top :

Champilège 4 : maitake quiche

A simple quiche, with a bouquet of two mushrooms.

Eringi, (cultivated pleurotes).

Maitake.

With a little red onion.

Champilège 2 : amuse-shiitake

Amuse-gueules are small stuff to entertain your snout. The hat of a shiitake is the perfect size.

Shiitake mushrooms.

Soaked bulgur is the base, with red onion, garlic, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper…

Baked till golden. Serve hot.

Champilège 1 : Paris in salad, and Japanese mushrooms

Mushroom of Paris . Mousseron de Paris.

A florilège is a book with a collection of poems. A champilège is a blog with a collection of mushroom dishes. It’s the full season, get ready for the series.

This Paris mushroom was one of the first cultivated from 19th century and it was produced in the underground tunnels of Paris. Besides the name “mousseron” used for the wild version passed into English as “mushroom”. So now that you are more knowledgeable, you can eat some…

Sliced and sprinkled with lemon-juice (otherwise they turn dark, which is not bad, but not pretty). Add to your Autumn salads. On the first photo, they are topping shredded cabbage, and covered with a vinaigrette sauce.

Family photo :
Maitake -Bunapi (shimeji)- Awabitake
Shiitake -Eringi

You will see them in the next 3 posts.
These are some of Japan’s mushrooms. All cultivated.
They are called kinoko or ~take. I think both are cute as “ki no ko” sounds like children of trees, and “~take” sounds like mount~ . So baby trees or mini-mountains for insects.
Some other Japanese fungi :
nameko

hanabi-take

yamabushi-take

kikurage

enoki

shimeji

There is only one wild mushroom, that is very expensive :

matsutake