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.

Pot au feu or pot luck ? Seafood veggie red stew.

A long time ago, a very cheerful lady asked if I liked French pot au feu and I said that was not my favorite dish. She was very disappointed as she had just discovered the dish in a “traditional French restaurant” here in Osaka, and she said : “Really I love everything spicy with tomato sauce, chick peas, seafood and hot dog sausages…”. It seems, she ate an original variation for sure that drifts far away from what most call pot au feu in France.
Well, I’ve made it today without the knackies. I don’t know if that has a name. Maybe the Spanish “cocido de pulpo con patatas”, but I don’t see it with sausages. Well, they are not here.
I have the pulpo (octopus) :

Hokkaido octopus.

Into a broth (onion with cloves, chick peas, bouquet garni, mushrooms).

Boiled.

Added potatoes. Later tomato sauce and a little red wine. a little hot chili.

Kyoto red kabu turnip.

I first added pieces of the root, then stalks, then at the end leaves.

Put it in a pottery.

Cover and announce “pot au feu” or whatever name…

Gifu squash and fondue-pa’

A little early Autumn party around cheese fondue ! There is a special guest, here is :

宿儺かぼちゃ suguna kabocha. , from Gifu Prefecture. This monster makes about 3 kg. Inside, it’s kabocha pumpkin, a potimarron and it does taste very chestnutty.

We are far away from the fondue savoyarde with mountain cheeses. Today : pumpkin, red wine and… processed cheese.

The result is incredibly yummy…

Dip in bread. Or toasted bread.

Or veggies.

Butakimchi nabe, spicy Japanese steamboat

A meaty nabe today. As previously, I only show the preparation for the night time hot pot. Buta is pork, and kimchi well, there is some in it :

That spice pickle will flavor the broth. I add miso and raw ginger too. That will even be too spicy and salty, so some more neutral ingredients are necessary for balance.