1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (202 page)

Mail order:
Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
; amazon.com (search instant loquat throat comforter; loquat tea leaves; loquat honey syrup; loquat chili grilling glaze).
Further information and recipes:
Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables
by Elizabeth Schneider (2010);
saveur.com
(search lamb meatballs with loquats);
specialtyproduce.com
(search loquats).
Special event:
Loquat Festival, Suzhou, China, May/June,
en.visitsz.com
(search loquat festival).

The musty matsutake.

Musty and toasty, the scent of the matsutake is as strong and memorable as the mushroom is elusive. The woodsy Japanese fungi (
Tricholoma matsutake
) grow wild in the red pine forests where they pick up their heavy signature aroma. Nature’s trickster, they grow sparingly, and never in the same place twice. Their rarity and their pungent flavor, along with a satisfyingly thick, meaty texture that goes through their stems, make them a sought-after luxury. Depending on its size and condition, a single matsutake can cost $20 to $50, making it the most expensive mushroom variety in the world. (Its competition, the truffle, is technically a spore and not a true mushroom.)

In their home country, matsutakes are foraged intently during the fall, with a fervor appropriate to a national pastime. Finding them is considered a rare burst of good fortune, not only because of their aroma and price tag but also because mushrooms are revered in Japanese culture, shrouded in mysticism, folklore, and ceremony. Symbolizing fertility, good health, and happiness, the matsutake is the most prized of all, and after the autumnal forage, whole meals are
often constructed around the mushroom. Such a meal may begin with the most popular preparation, a dish called
dobin mushi
, which involves steaming the mushroom in a special teapot in its own broth, a method thought to enhance both the fragrance and the flavor. That may be followed by grilled caps and later, small bits steamed with rice.

Matsutakes may be imported—nestled in sawdust in little pine boxes—but the cost is generally prohibitive. Commercial cultivation of the mushroom has so far been a failure, but the good news is that an American variety (
Tricholoma magnivelare
) grows wild in the Pacific Northwest: the so-called white matsutake, not as powerfully flavorful, but less expensive.

Both varieties are worth the price, for tasting the earthy matsutake is a transformative experience thought to be a perfect evocation of umami, the Japanese term for “savory.”

Mail order:
For high-quality American white matsutake, Oregon Mushrooms, tel 800-682-0036,
oregonmushrooms.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Kaiseki
by Yoshihiro Murata (2006);
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
by Shizuo Tsuji (2012);
latimes.com
(search grilled matsutake);
japanesefood.about.com
(search matsutake gohan).
Special event:
Matsutake Festival, Bhutan, August,
tourism.gov.bt
(search matsutake festival).
See also:
Tartuti de Alba
;
Truffes Noires
;
Borovik Ceps
.

The savory broth can be bolstered with a few clams.

Care to swap that breakfast cereal for a steaming cup of cloudy, salty miso broth? It’s estimated that more than 70 percent of Japanese citizens begin their day with a bowl of the savory soy-based soup thought to alkalize blood and revive the nervous system. But the dish is a mainstay well beyond morning there, available almost anytime, anywhere, and in endless variations; in the U.S. it is almost always offered at the start of a meal in Japanese restaurants. Done correctly, miso soup is a deeply satisfying tonic, a staple of the samurai warriors who developed their strict strength-building diet of soup, grains, and vegetables some seven hundred years ago. Not recommended for breakfast is the very best, strongest version, featuring whole clams—the bivalves’ briny hit of salt water adds an irresistible depth and richness to the broth.

Actual miso—a mix of fermented soybeans, rice, salt, and water that is formed into a protein-packed paste similar in texture to peanut butter—is centuries old. Its roots are in
chiang
, a fermented soybean paste that was developed in China more than 2,500 years ago by Buddhist priests. (The Chinese
chiang
character was pronounced hishio or misho.) Other components of the fortifying soup generally include dashi (a flavorful broth made of kelp and shaved bonito fish flakes that is a key component in most Japanese soups and noodle dishes), a protein such as tofu (or clams, if you’re lucky), and a vegetable garnish such as scallions.

Unlike the chicken soups of the world, which take days of careful simmering and straining to prepare, miso’s mix comes together relatively quickly. A good thing, considering the frequency with which it is consumed. Not fast enough? In Japan, you can help yourself to an instant cup of the stuff from miso-specific vending machines for a mere pittance.

Where:
In New York
, Nobu Fifty Seven, tel 212-757-3000,
noburestaurants.com/fifty-seven
; Yakitori Totto, tel 212-245-4555,
tottonyc.com
;
in Houston
, Uptown Sushi, tel 713-871-1200,
uptown-sushi.com
.
Mail order:
For dried miso mixes and miso paste, Mitsuwa Marketplace,
mitsuwa.com
.
Further information and recipes:

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
by Shizuo Tsuji (2012);
The Miso Book
by John Belleme and Jan Belleme (2004);
epicurious.com
(search miso soup);
cookstr.com
(seach yellow miso soup).

Eggplants may have originated in India, making their way through China to Japan sometime in the eighth century. But the Japanese soil worked some kind of magic, producing a new cultivar that became integral to Japanese food and beloved around the world for its sweetness and relative versatility. Distinctively slender and small—only about four or five inches long at most—the Japanese eggplant, or
nasu
, has fewer seeds and less water than its larger, more bulbous American, or “globe,” counterpart. It’s also thinner skinned and a lot less bitter (no need to soak or salt it before cooking), with a flesh that becomes creamy and almost nutty in flavor when cooked.

Although it is treated like a vegetable, the glossy, purple-skinned eggplant is, like all eggplants, actually a fruit, a member of the night-shade (Solanaceae) family, along with the tomato, pepper, and potato. Luxurious treasures of the summer garden, in Japan eggplants are pickled (
nasu zuke
) and eaten alone or stuffed into sushi, deep-fried (as in tempura), grilled (as in
yaki nasu
, a favorite appetizer), and steamed with miso (
nasu dengaku
). They also lend themselves to the barbecue when lightly brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, and tossed onto the grill.

Now grown in California and in various parts of the southern United States, Japanese eggplants are easy to find in specialty supermarkets and farmers’ markets.

Where:
In Brentwood, CA
, Takao Sushi, tel 310-207-8636,
takaobrentwood.com
.
Mail order:
For fresh eggplants,
marukaiestore.com
; Mitsuwa Marketplace,
mitsuwa.com
; for seeds, Kitazawa Seed Company, tel 510-595-1188,
kitazawaseed.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Washoku
by Elizabeth Andoh (2012);
Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking
by Masaharu Morimoto (2007);
bonappetit.com
(search ginger miso glazed eggplant);
cookstr.com
(search eggplant with yuzo miso sauce).
Special event:
Northern California Soy and Tofu Festival, San Francisco, June,
soyandtofufest.org
.
Tip:
When selecting eggplants, look for those that are heavy for their size, and shiny and purple in appearance; dullness or brown stains indicate overripeness.

Many of the market’s vendors specialize in a particular item.

By default, any visit to the graceful antique city of Kyoto will include a tour of its many wondrous sights: the Ryoan-ji temple’s Zen stone garden; the Gion geisha district with its old wooden teahouses; and Nijo Castle, where wooden “nightingale floors” were designed to “chirp” if an intruder trod upon them to harm a sleeping shogun.… But to the food-obsessed, none seems as worthwhile as a day spent at Nishiki Ichiba, a slim, two-story, five-block stretch of more than a hundred shops and stalls selling dishes, utensils, and all manner of foods, herbs, spices, and teas. Scattered among the shops, food vendors sell inexpensive sweet and savory snacks—gently chewy rice and sweet bean paste confections, pickles, and bits of meats grilled on skewers—and hand out free samples. All inform the mind even as they delight the palate, and introduce novices to the essence of Japanese cuisine and its ingredients.

Known as “Kyoto’s kitchen,” Nishiki has in one form or another existed since the fourteenth century, first as a fish market before taking off and gradually expanding to its eclectic current configuration. Each vendor specializes in a single item, ingredient, or dish, and one stop for all should be Aritsugu, a knife shop that has operated since 1560 and is now run by the eighteenth generation of the namesake founding family. Once the official sword-maker to the Imperial House of Japan, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Aritsugus wisely transitioned from swords to sushi knives and moved to Nishiki in 1981. Eventually they expanded to produce various kitchen knives and cooking pots, all of the most impeccable quality, with prices to match, and to hold cooking classes in the shop. And for those who take their knives very seriously, they also provide sharpening services, a skill they have certainly honed over the centuries.

Where:
Nishiki-koji-dori, Nakagyo-ku, tel 81/75-211-3882,
kyoto-nishiki.or.jp
.
When:
9 a.m. to 6 p.m., stores closed Wednesday or Sunday.
Further information:
japan-guide.com
(search nishiki market).