For Non-Japanese Food posts go to

http://jonfromconnecticut.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Quick Bite with Tony Bourdain

I switched on my Sirius radio this afternoon and to my delight Tony Bourdain was a guest on the Martha Stewart channel taking calls. I couldn't resist calling in because in addition to loving Kitchen Confidential, I really enjoyed his No Reservations episode about Osaka in which he ate basically nothing but street food. I talked about my time in Japan and my love for "real" Japanese food, and the host asked me what was my favorite Osaka street food. I debated about a milisecond and replied Takoyaki.





Straight translation, "Cooked Octopus"


Takoyaki is basically a savory donut filled with octopus. It shares some similarities with the okonomiyaki described in our first post, but the batter is thinner and instead of being mainly cabbage, the star of the show in this dish is the octopus itself. In order to make takoyaki, a special pan is required which looks like a cast iron egg crate.


Wikipedia has a pretty good description of takoyaki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki

Hardcore fans can search the internet and find a takoyaki pan, but it would probably be what Alton Brown calls a "unitasker". Chiko and I are playing around with ideas for a takoyaki-like recipe without the need for special equipment. Stay tuned for an update.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a lovely blog! Thanks for letting me know about it. I will definitely check in again. Okonomi yaki & tako yaki are tough to make though! My first attempt at tako yaki was a total disaster...

Jeff Martinek said...

You got some octopus balls on you, Saru-san, talkin' tako yaki and whatnot wit Tony B. He's a freakin' MADE GUY. Watch yer bacon bits, there, sizzle-chest!