Articles
The Yorkshire Pud
The Hub is the most popular British bar chain in Japan. You can find them everywhere, there a common place for people to gather for a good old knees up (party gathering). The good thing about the hub is it has a good variety of imported beer for a decent price and you cant find that easily in Japan.
8th May 2011
Crispy, soft in the middle delicious and sweet. Yes thats right a pudding thats sweet. With living in Japan I get many people asking me why are there many puddings in England that are not sweet. To be honest I dont know and I dont care but what I do know is Yorkshire puddings are a necessity for a roast beef dinner. Its like a party with no alcohol, a bedroom with no bed or a bed with no woman (you get the point) it has to be there.
I always remember when my mother used to bring the roast dinner to the table on a typical Sunday afternoon and on the odd occassion there would be no Yorkshire puds on the plate. I would never knock my mums cooking and I would never complain because she would tell me where to go and rightly so but if there was no puds next to the roast beef I couldnt help but feel a sense of disappointment. "Have you got any Aunt Betty frozen Yorkshire puds to throw in the oven" I would say to my mum to a stare from her that said shut up and eat your cabbage.
Not that I recommend frozen Yorkshire puds, one of the great things about home made cooking is making it to your required taste or required size. If you ask me a king size Yorkshire pudding like a toad in the hole classic is just the best. Its the size of your plate with mashed potatoe, vegetables, sausage and drenched in onion gravy to add some moisture at the bottom of the Yorkshire pudding, you cant go wrong.
I was on a date one time with a Lancashire girl who what I thought was a nice girl and she ordered the toad in the hole and I ordered the scampi and chips. I know what was I thinking! Her meal arrived looking ten times better than mine and she didnt even offer me a bite. Those Lancashire Lasses all self- didnt see her again.
So if you ever have any flour, salt, butter, eggs amd milk make yourself a nice Yorkshire pudding. I recommend Brian Turners recipe, hes a born and bread Yorkshire man and a top chef. Heres his website.
www.brianturner.co.uk
The HUB
02/02/2011
So lets talk about the food, as you can see from the picture above the portion size is nothing like a real fish and chip portion in England. If you can count your chips and the battered fish is the size of a kingsize fish finger its a problem for me but at least they give you some vinegar with it. I cant be too critical with the portion size because of course this is in Japan and the food has to be adapted to the Japanese.
When Ive been here with my Japanese friends they really like the food especially the roast beef. I tried this and it was pretty cheap costing 520 yen so there was a plus already and when it arrived it was served as a kind of delicacy. However It was so small I thought I could finish it in two spoonfulls, it was like finger food. On the upside as a snack to eat with a pint of bass it goes down well, the beef was tender, nice fluffy mash, decent gravy sauce (but a bit sweet for me). Yes it could have been made much better because rather than some honest, tough roasted beef I felt like I was eating in France rather than a English pub on a Sunday afternoon. It was trying too hard on the presentation rather than the reality and honesty of British food.
Overall though not a bad little dish for 520 yen. I can see why the Japanese like the food here but its not like back home in England. The gravy would be thicker, a plate full of mash, more sliced beef with english mustard and a bit more hearty. It might sound like Im attacking the hub but I applaud them for trying these dishes and making the style of hub bars look similiar to British style pubs. As a business Im sure its making alot of money I would just like to see a bit more variety of dishes on the food menu as a British food lover but I understand that the imported beer, brand of Britain and nightlife party atmosphere is the main focus of attraction for them rather than the cuisine. I have to say they do quite a good job, after all theres usually nowhere better to go for a nice scotch whiskey and a snack after work for a decent price.
The beauty of beef stew
16/11/2010
The winter is here,always a good time for some beef stew and crusty bread. What I love about beef stew is you can basically put in any vegetables you want in it and its easy to make. The one I cooked above is just some left over vegetables, carrot, onion broccoli, potatoe and I threw in some beef stock and your pretty much done. I only had shredded beef but it still tasted good enough for me. I recommend using tough chunky pieces of beef and when cooking a stew always simmer to make a nice thick sauce. These were the best ingredients I had in my house from my local supermarket. In Japan obviously beef stew is not popular but you can find some good Japanese nabe.
Nabe is like a stew for me, there are many types of nabe, spicy, salty, chanko nabe (usually served to sumo wrestlers). Like the beef stew in the Uk the Japanese eat nabe as a winter warmer dish. Ive cooked some beef stew for my Japanese friends which they were fond of immensely. The simplicity of it and dipping in the crusty bread went down well, great for mopping up the plate (and makes cleaning the dishes easier). More beef stew in Japan?
If anyone has any good beef stew recipes please send me a link to my guestbook and I will show them on my website.
Dunking Biscuits
06/11/2010
I went to one of my favourite places two days ago, Sakuragi-cho near Yokohama. Its a popular place to visit for example there is the Red Brick Warehouse, inside are lots of quality shops and restaurants and during my visit I stumbled across a biscuit and cake shop. To my delight I found Mcvities HobNobs and some digestive biscuits. Now if your reading this article from England you might think so what, whats the big deal, but bare in mind I have been in Japan for two years and not seen any Mcvities for a long time.
Anyway in my opinion and Im sure some people will agree hobnobs are best for dunking in tea. Theres nothing better than a cup of tea and biscuits, its divine comfort food. When you dunk a biscuit it releases up to ten times more flavour. Some people prefer digestives or the chocolate digestive but dunk a digestive more than three seconds and its taking a swim in your cup. Hobnobs are strong and the oat and wholemeal biscuits made with sunflower oil are top notch.
Below is what I think are the top ten biscuits for dunking in tea. If you disagree please comment on my guestbook.
1- Hobnobs
2- Chocolate Hobnobs
3- Ginger nuts (maybe a shock number three but for me the real deal)
4- Digestives
5- Chocolate digestives
6- Custard creams
7- Rich Tea (double dunk is even better)
8- Bourbon biscuits
9- Shortbread
10- Chocolate chip cookies
(11)- Penguin bars (A personal favourite)
Check out this link about a scientists study why we love to dunk biscuits.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/220400.stm
British food in Japan
Over my two years in Japan Ive not come across many British pubs and restaurants but the ones I have are just average for me. Compared to a good pub meal in the Uk the portion size is way too small. I understand they cant serve a typical English portion to the Japanese public because they wont finish it or they will end up sharing it.
I went to my favorite British pub in Ebisu called What the Dickens and they have the best beef and onion pie in Tokyo. Every time Ive been there with somebody they want to share one plate of beef and onion pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
I always remember the first time I went there with my Japanese friend. She said to me "the beef pie looks delicious lets share it" To my horror I said " Share! but erm... oh ok only if I get most of the pie and you have most of the vegetables" (fare deal I thought). Its a normal size portion in England but in Japan its fine for two people. Its always difficult to share but Im used to the customs in Japan now.
Japanese food is actually very good and healthy so I understand why there isn't much of a British food craze in Japan just yet but there is an acceptance of American fast food so why not British food? McDonalds, Mos burger, KFC and now Burger King are scattered all over Tokyo. Im convinced if people (not only in Japan) but all over the world experiment a bit more with British dishes it could become popular anywhere. In Japans case the portion size has to be a bit smaller but I guess I can adapt to that.
The majority of people dont know what British food is. They usually know, fish and chips and tea and scones thats about it. The afternoon tea thing seems pretty popular, I see branded bags and products about afternoon tea everywhere but theres much more to British cuisine than that like the examples on my food page (and theres plenty more other dishes too).
Maybe the British food manufactures and advertising companies have not promoted British food enough. The history and variety needs to be made more aware to the public.
Lets get more tea and scone shops in Tokyo or fish and chip shops in Kamakura by the sea. It will be good to freshen up the cuisine in the land of the rising sun and who knows people may like it.
Comment about this article on my guestbook
Pasty or Gyoza?
Its hard to find a good cornish pasty in Japan but at least there is gyoza. Im craving a pasty so much gyoza is going to have to take its place for me. The Japanese food is the closest thing I can find to a pasty in Japan. Its like a Japanese dumpling in a wrap and contains minced beef, pork, cabbage and green onion. A similarity is the filling ingredients for both the pasty and the gyoza should never be cooked before they are wrapped.
Gyoza is fried and the wrap, vegetables and meat compliment each other well. After cooked you dip the gyoza in soy sauce and vinegar very tasty food.
For me if I had to choose I prefer the pasty (yes Im biased) because it has that crispy texture when you bite into it and the soft meat inside. Making it is very similar in some ways. For example the shape is the same as a cornish pasty and you can pinch the edges to finish off the presentation of the semi circle delight.
The filling for a typical cornish pasty is potatoe, steak, swede and onion. There are many different types of pasties you can make like lamb and mint, cheese and onion, curry and vegetable all kinds but my favourite is steak and stilton. The best cornish I ever tried was in Newquay in Cornwall, melted stilton and tender steak, it was absolute heaven. (funnily enough there is a cheese gyoza too).
There are so many pie and pasty shops in England that I miss, like Greggs, Wrights pies and Pie Minister. I would love to see a chain of those shops in Yokohama but for now gyoza will do.
Above- Myself attempting to make gyoza
Check out this great article about the history of British food and why Londons restaurants are the best in the world to go to.
http://practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/british
