Comments on: How to Cook Fresh Bamboo Shoots (Takenoko Akunuki)

By: Chris Loew

Chris Loew — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:44:09 +0000

Hi,
Your info was useful. I got a takenoko from my mother in law and couldn’t figure out if I needed to boil it. But from looking at your pics I can guess that she already did it.

By the way, I ate the tips of the leaves like artichoke and they weren’t half bad.

We are putting the rest into subuta (sweet & sour pork).

Thanks,
Chris

By: Anita

Anita — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:58:20 +0000

I finally broke down and bought a fresh bamboo shoot yesterday (after first having found out what it was-being a gaijin and never having seen one before!) without a clue as to how to deal with it. After following your directions (instead of nuka I used rice rinse water-suggestion from a Japanese friend) it came out perfectly! When i cleaned it and cut it aI almost ate the whole thing by myself! Great, explicit directions-I’d still be staring at it wondering how to tackle the darned thing. Thanks!

By: jaden

jaden — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:04:11 +0000

gosh, I haven’t been here on your blog for a while….I LOVE IT! thanks so much for all this information – including your blog as a resource when we’re editing for the next printing of the book.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:23:27 +0000

Thanks for the advice on the preparation of this particular item. I have regular seasonal access to bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, Shimeji and king oyster mushrooms and a host of others even Karhi leaves, all fresh, thanks to the large Korean population in Ellicott city near my home. And I regularly have @ least 10 different seaweed varieties stocked along with my beloved Keem, which I roast in the oven to perfection and eat with utter abandon. I love all things Nipponese with one exception (being referred to as a “gaijin”) which I find somewhat less than dignified, domo arigato gozaimasu, and be well.

By: Toluca Gourmet

Toluca Gourmet — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:56:45 +0000

P.S. I had these incredible grilled bamboo shoots at this grilled vegetable restaurant in Kyoto a couple months ago. So delicious, I can’t get them out of my mind.

By: Toluca Gourmet

Toluca Gourmet — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:55:26 +0000

Saitoko – as I understand it, the gritty white stuff you find in the prepared shoots (often vacuum packed) is the residue from the rice bran that the shoots are cooked with.
I am preparing some shoots right now – they are coming to the boil. This post has giving me some good pointers. Mind you rice bran is difficult to get in Los Angeles, so I am substituting with water I washed rice in which is supposed to be as good.

By: Saitoko

Saitoko — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:45:51 +0000

This is such an inspiring post! I was wondering, though, if you’d be able to help me with something…In pre-packaged takenoko I’ve bought from Japanese markets back when I lived in the States, I’d find a gritty white substance sometimes jammed between some of the inner fibers of the shoot. I just washed it away and it ended up being ok that time, but since then, I’ve kind of shied away from buying it fresh, packaged or otherwise. What on earth was that stuff?? >_<
The takenoko gohan cooked in donabe sounds like it could be a fun challenge for the GW break! We might go ahead and try it! Thanks again!

By: Risa

Risa — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:28:20 +0000

Thank you for this lesson! I am so jealous! Living in the U.S., I never come across fresh takenoko!

By: robert

robert — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:43:28 +0000

Thanks for this —- I was given an enormous unsold shoot on leaving the Osaka historical farmhouses museum, and was at a total loss.
On mentioning this to my Japanese hosts, I was bought some divine prepared takenoko, pointed to your site, & now have to aspire to transform my raw material into something similar. Yikes.

By: Donabe Takenoko Gohan (Bamboo Shoot Rice Cooked in Donabe) | Kyoto Foodie: Where and what to eat in Kyoto

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:46:16 +0000

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