Things had been slow going between us, I must have gone to Kichisen five times to try to explain to him what I wanted to do. I even took Miwa with me a few times. He was always friendly and polite but never said yes, he didn’t say no either.

On one occasion that I went Chef Tanigawa lent me this old, out of print book about Kyoto cuisine written by one of his masters. After a month or so I thought I should return it, but before doing so, I photocopied the book as I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to get my hands on a copy again. I brought it back and he asked me if I was really done with it. I matter-of-factly said that I photographed the book. He was surprised, I assured him that I photocopied it literally from cover to cover. He said that as New Year’s was fast approaching I ought to do an article on his Osechi. I gladly agreed to that and quickly planned it into a major series!

He yelled into the kitchen for the apprentices to wrap up a big round daikon radish for me and told me to make tsukemono with it. This was the first time that I saw Kichisen apprentices scurrying about for me. Next came a bag of shinmai new rice. When I got home I laid them out on my desk in the sunny south room and photographed them.

I think that photocopying the entire book might have impressed him into taking me seriously. I really don’t know.

Almost a Year Has Passed: 2008 New Rice from Chef Tanigawa

2009: The other night the telephone rang and it was Chef Tanigawa saying that he had received his 2009 new rice and that he had made some onigiri rice balls and was having an apprentice run them up to my house. I had actually just finished dinner when the telephone rang and was not very hungry.

The onigiri were nearly gooey soft yet there was tons of okoge in them. They were not wrapped in nori seaweed or stuffed with anything. They were especially salty though and I distinctly feeling grains of salt crunching between my teeth! On the side was his beni shoga pickled ginger, also over-the-top salty.

This is what arrived in a natural wrapping of bamboo sheath.

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri and Bamboo Sheath Wrapping

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri Unwrapping and Green Leaves

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri with Beni Shoga

Notice the yellow okoge in the onigiri. The beni shoga pickled ginger is separated with a still green ginkgo leaf.

Kichisen Shinmai Onigiri with Beni Shoga

I decided that at least for myself, I wanted to recall this last year. I can’t count how many times Chef Tanigawa has called me over to Kichisen to tell me something, taste something, photograph something or give me something. It has been an experience that I never could have (or would have thought to) wish for. I am quite sure that there is no one else like him in Kyoto. He not only defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef, he beat him in a clean sweep. Yet, Chef Tanigawa is very down to earth and very accessible, open and friendly. The kind of master Kyoto needs a whole lot more of!

He is such a nut and is really into Ed Hardy. When he is not in his hard starched and pressed white chef/priest robe, he is decked out in Ed Hardy clothing, Chrome Hearts bling and a Louis Vuitton bag and Gucci shoes.

One more than one occasion I have called him around dinner time, when he is most busy to ask him how to make something in particular. Just for a pointer or two, not even a recipe and he says I’ll be up to your house in like 45 minutes! Like the day I called to ask about the broth he used for his boiled tofu dish.

Chef Tanigawa Explaining His Turtle Soup (or the effects thereof)

After Sake at Asakura

On the last night Zenchef and Norecipes were in town we went to Sake Bar Asakura to taste some real sake.

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Shiokara is a favorite of Miwa and she made some recently and it is ready for eating. Shiokawa is made of salted squid semi-fermented in its own guts and is a kind of chinmi, literally ‘rare taste’. Japanese like shiokara on rice or with sake.

Shiokara

Miwa, with some help from Kichisen, made her first shiokara. It came out very well, she reports. Here are a few photos of it served. (I took some photos of her happy face eating the shiokawa on rice, but she absolutely would not allow me to put them up on this article.

Miwa says the following about shiokara:
Shiokara on shinmai, new rice, like in the photos on this article, is a simple meal but the most luxurious meal to Japanese. Yum, yum, yum!

Even though we thought that it would be too salty, the taste definitely got more and more mild over the passing days and it is very nice now. The progression of the taste with time is something I like very much. I think Mr Tanigawa’s tip of adding high quality kelp helps a lot.

Shiokara lasts just a few weeks but you can freeze it too.

I have not tried this, but heard that you can eat on pasta too, as sauce. I am going to try this soon.

Paku says:
Please pass the karasumi.

Be sure to check out our shiokara series:
How to Clean Squid
How to Make Shiokara
How to Eat Shiokara (this article)

Squid Shiokara Served

The dark strip on the top is kombu, of kelp. Kombu is naturally salty and softens and adds complexity to the flavor.

Squid Shiokara Served – detail

Giving and receiving gifts is an essential aspect of Japanese culture. Gifts are usually small and often given spontaneously. On the way back from an appointment today I stopped in at Kisen to return a very old and precious book on Kyo-ryori to the owner that I had been lent earlier this autumn.

Itadakimono: a gift humbly received

I was seated and served tea in a room that always has a flower arrangement in which the vase or basket is attached to the wall, rather than simply sitting on a surface. I was just there to return a book. Today was yellow chrysanthemums in a ceramic vase. In an alcove behind me I notice an incredibly colorful woodblock print that was a montage of New York City.

Mr Tanigawa, the owner; part boxer, part Zen master came in in a nylon gym suit with the biggest, roundest daikon radish I had every seen while ordering underlings to bring this dried kelp and that tsukemono press, then handing the daikon off and ordering it to be wrapped up. Then, “hey, bring him a bag of rice too.” It’s shinmai, or ‘new rice’.

The rice is grown especially for his restaurant by a farmer in rural Kyoto.

Itadakimono

I was given a quick lesson on how to make tsukemono with the daikon and Mr Tanigawa ordered some out from the kitchen for me to try. I plucked out a wedge shaped slice of daikon pickled simply in salt and kombu (dried kelp).

I haven’t made tsukemono for a few years, but I am going to give it a try with this wonderful itadakimono, which if successful will go extremely well with this fine new rice.