Monthly Memo From Doi's Culinary Philosophy
Original text by Doi Yoshiharu
Translated by Yoshiko Fukuda
February-Kisarazuki
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●A Mizuna Hariharinabe ----Casserole
"Now that it is getting really cold, I bet mizunas are probably fully grown and tasty just ready to be had". (mizuna---Chinese potherb mustard / Japanese salad green) When the weather started to bring only chilly days, I would often hear this phrase either from my grandmother or my mother. And on those day, dinner was always set to be "hariharinabe". ("harihari" is onomatopoeia for the sound that represents crispiness and "nabe" means pot, hence the meal is a casserole with long stem vegetables that is served when still firm and 'crisp')In the strongly seasoned broth, whale meat was simmered and dipped in to beaten egg before eaten just like sukiyaki. Mizunas are briefly dipped into the boiling soup just long enough for the leaves to change color and then they were quickly taken out of the pot. As a child I received great joy and satisfaction from this process of dipping and fishing out at the right timing the amount of mizuna just for me.
After eating this hariharinabe one will finally realize the accurate meaning of harihari and its texture along with the pungent mustard taste of mizuna leaves. Whale meat and mizuna, or other meat and vegetables, whatever the case may be, in hariharinabe, the meat seems to be the main ingredient yet exactly the opposite.▼A Destined Pair
Like mizuna and whale meat or yellowtail and white radish, there are perfect matches in cooking where the ingredients seemed to be just made for each other. Although I cannot appreciate that taste any more, I would not forget the savor of whale fatty meat with crisp mizuna. Losing its destined pair, mizuna do not play an active part in hariharinabe anymore, and as for me, I am never presented with the opportunity of eating that much mizuna at once.▼Mizuna and Mibuna
(Mibuna is a open pollinated variety of mizuna; mibuna has less pointy leaves, but similar mustard taste)
One whole Osaka mibuna is bigger than a whole barrel shaped Chinese cabbage. The difference is clear when mibuna is placed in a shopping basket, since the fully grown mibuna is big enough to take the whole space up by itself. At supermarkets in Tokyo, a smaller genetically altered version of the mizuna is sold, even though the taste is nothing comparable. Mizuna is unique to Osaka. "Mizuna of Osaka has jagged leaves but because the soil is different in Kyoto the leaves are rounder and it becomes a mibuna". Some time ago, this was written by Mr. Tsujidome, a distinguished Japanese cuisine chef.
▼"Kyouna"-Kyoto Greens
At markets in Tokyo, not only mibuna but also mizuna is sold as Kyoto greens. I was especially surprised when I saw the familiar vegetable, white cabbage(more commonly known as bok choy) which I have been eating ever since I was a child, sold at markets as Kyoto greens. It appears that if a vegetable is labeled with a Kyoto brand it sells better than the others. People living in Tokyo must be vulnerable when it comes to things from Kyoto. "Yodo" white radish, leafy burdock, bamboo shoots of Kishiwada, endoumame (edible vegetable soy beans) of Usui, udo(asparagus like vegetable) of Yao, Senshuu water egg plant(*Monthly Memo June 1999 issue), and onions…. There are countless delicious vegetables in Osaka also, but it seems that the Osaka merchants are losing their spirit and losing to the popularity of Kyoto vegetables.
●Chines cabbage Wearing a Hachimaki?
( hachimaki---refers to a towel or strip of cloth worn around the head; it is worn at times of heavy physical labor or arduous work)
This year because the average temperature remained moderately high, not many delicious winter vegetables were produced. Winter should be cold and freezing just as winter is meant to be.
During the winter season at fields, have you seen any white cabbages that are tied at the top with a rope? By tying together the leaves, the outer part will not fall apart, which prevents the vegetable from rotting away caused by collected rain droplets. When the temperature drops, white cabbages will freeze, yet by the afternoon they will defrost and dry Soon after the temperature will drop enough to turn the vegetable into ice. Because this process is repeated, white cabbages will adopt a sweet flavor and crisp texture when they mature. Even without boiling, raw cabbages are still sweet. That is why with only a little bit of salt seasoning, the lightly pickled white cabbage encapsulates the wonderful savor of the vegetable.▼Flavor over Looks
These kind of white cabbages wearing a hachimaki is not exactly appealing. After the brown outer leaves are peeled off the inside seems like left over part of the white cabbage in a size smaller than a football, that could not be used for cooking. That is why most of these cabbages will not make it to the markets but instead most of them will remain with the farmer who made them. In another words, the Chinese cabbages wearing a hachimaki is actually for the farmers who are capable of appreciating the disguised taste of a unsightly Chinese cabbage.▼Ignorance
I remember times when I was astonished to find myself unfamiliar with various vegetables and when they were in season after having practiced cooking as a profession for long time. When I could not figure out what kind of vegetable it was just from seeing a young immature vegetable, I was truly embarrassed. Everything began with the Chinese cabbage wearing hachimaki.
Now I can finally talk of Chinese cabbages preparing for winter with their hachimaki like I had known about it from a long time ago. But there are so many more things I can learn from farmers, like vegetables that assume contrasting names according to the various harvesting season. I found out about "mabikina", which are baby vegetables that were harvested early at the thinning out stage when the field got crowded. Moreover I discovered about nakanukidaikon and toutachina. "Nakanukidaikon", is a green leafy vegetable very similar to white rasish leaves but it does not have a swelled up root, which definitely explains the name. (nakanuki= taking out the middle, daikon=white radish; hence white radish with the middle part taken out) Toutachina is the stem that grew out of a bud from a radish left over from harvesting in the soil.
●Farmer's wisdom
To make delicious vegetables, the farmers must conjecture up of different ways to get the best result. However, most of the devices are thought up for vegetables that is not going to be send out to the markets. Apple growers purposely scar with a nail the apples they intend to keep for themselves. By doing so, the apple will send in nutrients to cure the scar and it will gain more sweetness adding to its luscious flavor. It is something the farmers learned from birds who would peck at the apples. Damaging the apple to make it taste better is similar to broken bones getting stronger when cured in human cases.
Similarly, the reasons behind the delicious Kouya vegetables are in fact very alike. In Kouya not only the fluctuation of temperatures during the day is great, but the duration of sunshine is shortened. Both of these environmental characteristic is extremely unsuited for vegetables to grow in. However, the vegetables save their energy for the best tempeature and the most sunlight and grow all at once in a short span of time. Then it will take in all the sunlight it can and preserve it again. Because under these harsh condition, the vegetables are filled with powerful vitality.
▼Trapping in the winter air
Recently there have been movements to preserve these farming insight and apply it to the overall benefit of agriculture and the survival of smaller farming communities. Even thought it is still in the experimental stage, the method is known as 'Cultivating with trapped low temperature' in the Touhoku(northeastern) district.
Cultivation takes place inside a greenhouse and right before harvesting time, two ends of the house is opened to let in the cool air. Vegetables that were exposed to the cold air would start producing more nutrients to protect itself. Compared to the summer harvested vegetables, the one exposed to the wintry air will gain five times as much sweetness and contains three times more vitamin C. The obvious characteristics are the strong sweetness and the stiff leaves. Freezing only occurs in between the cells when the water solidifies, but it does not effect the growth of vegetables. The actual harvesting takes place around noon when the temperature starts rising. (according to the Nougyou-shinbun; Newspaper on agriculture, article from the January 29th issue)▼Vegetables under the snow
For regions that receives heavy snow, if the vegetables are left in the fields then they will eventually be lost in the snow. Furthermore, vegetables like white radish will freeze since it is partly out of the soil. Therefore they are pulled out of the soil and put deeper back into the soil with a bamboo stick as a mark. Greens, white turnip, green onion, white radish, dried persimmon, carrot, and burdock root, are all vegetables that mature under the snow in similar methods. There are even ones that have cracked during the process and when the knife is put to its skin it will burst and crack all by itself. Carrots and the greens gain a more bright and vivid coloring through this process.
▼The City of Niigata
In the center of the city there is a market where every morning the farmers themselves will gather and sell their own vegetables. They will each open up a store right on the street. The small hand written tags will be lined up with names like white radish and carrots from under the snow, and morning picked winter greens and spinach. For people of Niigata, the famous chamame(edamame) has to be also morning picked.
The people of Niigata is just great. It has already been four years since I started commuting to Niigata so that I can be in touch with the soil and see the people who makes the vegetables that I eat.
▼Okayama prefecture
The spinach pressured by the snow of Higashiawakura already grew to be about 40 cm with its leaves spread out. When the thick dark green leaves were pulled out, the bright red colored roots appeared. After separating the stem and the leaves, the bulky stem is boiled to get rid of the harshness in the flavor. The stalks are eaten without getting pickled and without any addition like soy sauce; the spinach are at its best when eaten just the way it is .
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