![]() ![]() "Even over there, real mirin is too expensive, and very small amounts are produced," she said, adding that "it was originally a kind of aperitif, and should be as high alcohol as sake- the high-fructose-corn-syrup mirin in the supermarket is nothing like it." There, she managed to start bringing in the stuff that you just couldn't find in the U.S., like kombu (the seaweed that makes up the base of Japanese dashi), Shodoshima soy sauce, and Japanese sea salt.įor the next dish, Avocado and Salmon in Dill-Daikon Broth, she started out with a pot of dashi, soy sauce, grated daikon, and the rice wine known as mirin, which she noted is the last ingredient that she still wants to import from Japan. ![]() So, quality-wise, I was a little disappointed." And she should know quality when she sees it-as one of the country's top Japanese food consultants and author of The Sushi Experience, The Japanese Kitchen, and the new Hiroko's American Kitchen, chef Shimbo has spent her life dedicated to sharing the best of Japanese food.īut when she started going to the Union Square GreenMarket, she started to see American food in a different light, discovering ingredients like kale, radishes, and big turnips-ingredients that are "more natural or rough, but that bring a different benefit to your cooking." At the same time, she started working with the New York Mutual Trading Company, which, despite sounding like a blue chip stockbroker, is actually the area's biggest importer of Japanese products and supplier for New York's restaurants. "There are no crooked cucumbers in Japan," Shimbo said, "they're all perfect in shape, perfect in flavor. The only soy sauces and rice wines available were mass-produced and bland, the seasonal produce seemed all wrong, and the vegetables were ugly. Hiroko Shimbo, a chef used to cooking Japanese food in Japan, moving to New York 15 years ago seemed like a step down.
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