First Cook on New Viking

Just finished a minor kitchen makeover. Swapped out our Viking 5 burner electric cooktop for a 6 burner gas model. While I had the island ripped apart, I took the opportunity to add a tin ceiling to the area above the island (the painted ceiling was impossible to clean, and the heat and steam from cooking made the paint peel).

Following my phone call to Tony Bourdain I had Takoyaki on the mind so I searched around, found my special pan and whipped up a batch for breakfast today. I couldn't get octopus, so I substituted squid (legs only), which I boiled and chopped into bite size pieces. For the batter, I combined one egg, 3/4 cup of flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda and 1/2 cup dashi (the batter was a little too thick so next time I will try equal parts dashi and flour).

While the pan preheated, I assembled my mise en place, which consisted of the chopped squid legs, finely diced ginger and thinly sliced scallions.

To cook the takoyaki, I filled each recess in the takoyaki pan halfway with the batter, then placed several chunks of squid legs in the batter, sprinkled with ginger and scallion and topped with more batter.

Using a wooden barbecue skewer, I loosened each takoyaki ball from their individual compartments and then turned them over to cook the other side.

To serve, I arranged the balls on a plate, drizzled with Japanese Worcester sauce (see our first post for info on this ingredient), and sprinkled with bonito flakes. Eat with chopsticks or by stabbing a ball with a toothpick and popping it in your mouth!

I'm still trying to find a way to make this dish without the special takoyaki pan. One thought is to make the batter thicker and drop it on to a griddle in silver dollar pancake size, then top with the rest of the ingredients, pressing them down into the batter before it sets. You will end up with a flatter pancake like product instead of the characteristic ball shape, but the flavor will be the same. I was also wondering if I could make this in small ring molds, placed on a hot griddle.... Gotta play with that idea.