Niboshi (煮干し)

Fishy Memory

One of my earliest memories is of these 3-4 cm long little fish which are used to make dashi, a soup or cooking stock used in Japanese cooking. Growing up in a family of recent immigrants from Taiwan, I remember being fascinated by the plastic packages of small fish. I don't recall ever eating anything made with the fish.

At age 5, it didn't occur to me at the time how bizarre the fish must seem to Americans. Looking back, it is a little strange that this product was available in Columbus, OH in the early 1980s.

When I visited Taiwan last year, I went to a seafood marketplace which sold various types of dried fish and shrimp for use in cooking.



The conical piles of dried seafood did not seem strange to me. In fact, they felt comforting.

When used in making dashi, the heads are pinched off and the innards are removed in order to remove bitterness. The niboshi are then boiled in water and strained.

Some people have found creative ways of using niboshi, such as promoting it as the basis of a new holiday which would replace Valentine's Day. If this trend caught on, I would probably then not be the only one with memories involving these small fish.

Putting Indecision in Context

What kind of indecision will we be having tonight?

At a restaurant, it is the curiosity about the choices that cause indecision. "Red miso soup or white miso soup? Both sound interesting. Which are you having?"

At home, it is ambivalence resulting from the familiarity of choices that leads to indecision. "Red miso or white miso? Didn't we have red miso yesterday?"

At the grocery store, it is the unfamiliarity with the choices that cause indecision. "What's the difference between these misos? Which one am I supposed to buy?"

Saba Battera - Sushi in a Box

New Jersey teaches a New Yorker learns something new about sushi.

At the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ, I came across a tray of sushi labeled "Saba Battera." I knew that "saba" was the Japanese word for mackerel, but I did not recognize the second word. Since I've accepted the inevitability of encountering unfamiliar words when eating Japanese, what really intrigued me about this sushi was not so much the name, but rather, the fact that the rice was yellow and was speckled with scallions. The reasonable assumption was that "battera" refered to the jaundiced rice. It didn't.

Battera sushi is a type of hako sushi ("box sushi") which in turn is a type of sushi from Osaka named oshi sushi ("pressed sushi"). The word "battera" is derived from the Portuguese (the first Europeans to reach Japan) word bateria, which means small boat. According to the Sushi Encyclopedia, an Osaka restaurant, in 1893, began using "battera" to refer to its gizzard shad sushi because it resembled a boat. The term evolved, and today, battera sushi refers exclusively to boxed sushi topped with mackerel. Considering this, it was redundant for the label to refer to its contents as "saba battera".

As seen in the photograph, the sushi is much more brick-shaped than the hand-molded nigiri sushi with which most Americans are more familiar. With hako sushi, the rice is lightly pressed into a box-shaped mold and any toppings are laid and pressed upon the rice. This solid block is then cut into rectangular pieces.

Sushi Monster describes the making of battera sushi slightly differently. According to that site, a layer of asipidistra leaves are first placed at the bottom of the box. The next layer is the mackerel, and the last is the rice. This arrangement helps preserve the mackerel because it has minimal contact with air and is in direct contact with the vinegared rice. Sushi Monster also says that the mackerel is salted, then rinsed with a vinegar mixture. As I researched for this article, I learned that mackerel is almost universally first cured before serving. Eating raw mackerel is unsanitary, and is only done by fisherman and those in close proximity to where the fish is caught.

What of the yellow rice and scallions? I wasn't able to find information via Google about it, which suggests that it probably is not a common or recognized variant of sushi.

So, how did my $6.99 saba battera taste? As good as its vehicular equivalent, the Volvo, is curvy. The special rice added nothing to the flavor, and the fish was tough and dry in texture and bland in taste. This, of course, is not the result of the fact that it was battera sushi. The battera/hako process only has to do with shaping the sushi and has nothing to do with anything that would affect the flavor.

I'll be going to Japan for about a week in September. I'll be sure to try battera sushi with uncured mackerel and other non-nigiri sushis. As soon as I do, I'll share my experiences with everybody.

Arigato gozaimasu for reading.

Thanks to:

http://www.sushimonsters.com/tutorials-start-types-oshi.php
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi/types_of_sushi.html
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/blog/2007/10/04/portuguese-sushi-battera/
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_menu/mackerel_sushi.html
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fish/seafood/sushi-glossary.asp

Review: Soto

Behind the anonymous façade of Soto, the kitchen overshadows the sushi bar.

When I decided to go to Soto, I had planned on having sushi, but two-thirds of the menu at Soto is not sushi. The brilliant items on the first two menu pages lured me away from the sushi bar to the kitchen.

Most of the Japanese ingredients in the descriptions of the offerings from the kitchen were familiar to me, so I sought out what I considered the most creative combinations.



Hokki Nuta - thinly sliced sea clam with myoga ginger shoots and sesame, marinated in sweet miso mustard sauce - The acidity of the lime (seen in the picture, but not mentioned in the menu) made this a good opener. However, the lime overpowered all the other flavors, which is a shame because i really wanted to know what myoga ginger and miso mustard sauce tasted like. Still, I'll remember this dish for its soft texture and pleasant taste.



Shiro Ebi Tar Tare - seasonal white sweet shrimp with yuzu, shaved cured mullet roe, caviar, ikura, served with shiitake ginger broth - The sweetness of the finely chopped ebi was a perfect complement to the cool broth. The roes added just the right amount of saltiness and bursts of flavor. Interesting how the menu refers to fish eggs three different ways.



Steamed Lobster With Uni Mousse - layers of steamed Maine lobster and uni mousse in lotus wrap garnished with smoked uni and caviar - The lobster had the paradoxically perfectly firm, yet soft, texture that only well-cooked shellfish can achieve. The uni mousse was creamy in both taste and texture, pairing well with the lobster while remaining distinct. I felt as if I was eating soft and firm pillows. The lotus root provided a distracting vegetal firmness. Something crunchy would have better suited the lobster and the mousse.

From the sushi bar, 30 different types of fish were available, with several of them being varieties of the same type (2 types of eel, 2 types of uni, etc) and a few others being seared. What I had was fresh, but did not melt in my mouth. The rice was firmer than at most other sushi places, but still maintained a good taste. As is the practice with most higher-end sushi restaurants, the nigiri was topped with wasabi. What was new to me was that the nigiri was served tinged with soy sauce. Do other places do this?

Service was attentive, but not overly helpful in guiding you through the indecision inducing menu. The kitchen items were expensive ($28 for the lobster with uni mousse). Two omakases were available: 8 pieces of sushi for $45 and 12 for $58. A good sake and beer list completed the menu.

Date of visit: 6/7/08

Food Rating: 8/10

Service Rating: 6/10
Decor Rating: 7/10

Overall Rating: 8/10

Mortadella, a Phony Baloney?

"It's not bologna."
"But, it's like bologna, right?"
"It's not bologna."

A few weeks ago, a sandwich made with a deli meat with a macabre-sounding Italian name, mortadella, was the obvious choice for lunch over the other sandwiches made with more mundane meats. While the name alone was enough to get me to pick the sandwich, I had no idea what mortadella was.

The chef explained that it was ground, cured, and encased pork which has been spiced. He added that it was similar to bologna, but differed because of the presence of cubes of fat within the meat. As you can see from the picture above, the fat is fairly prominent. My own research later revealed that mortadella must contain consist of at least 15% fat cubes and that it originated from Bologna, Italy.

As I shared this newfound knowledge with a lunch-seeking coworker, the manager of the cafeteria passed by and just happened to hear me say "It's like bologna."

"It's not bologna," he interjected.
"But it's like bologna, right?" I negotiated.
"It's not bologna."

While insisting it was not bologna, he did not deny it was not like bologna. It may be common to mince words at a law firm, but please, not in the cafeteria! What causes a man to be so adamant distinguishing mortadella from bologna? Was there a mortadella lobby? Turns out, there is.

The Consorzio Produttori Mortadella Bologna (Mortadella Bologna Product Consortium) established in 2001, along with the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali (Ministry of Agricultural and Forest Policies), regulates the quality of mortadella, and promotes and protects the mortadella name. The consortium is made up of 30 companies who produce about 95% of the mortadella. From where does this consorzio derive its authority to execute its mission? From where mortadella name derive its right to protection?

Many food and wine products are named for their place of origin. For example, Bordeaux wines are named as such because they are produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese is from the Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, and Mantova regions in Lombardy, Italy.

Countries in Europe have had a history of protecting, within their national boundaries, the name and reputation of their regionally produced food products. The government offered a certification to products which met defined geographic and quality standards. This certification assured the consumer that the product they were purchasing was a genuine product of a certain quality from that region. In France, the certification system is called Appellation d'origine contrôlée. The Italians call their system Denominazione di origine protetta.

The name used to identify a product from a particular place is the geographical indication (GI).

In 1992 (a strange date since the EU did not come into existence until 1993), legislation came into force in the European Union which offered the opportunity for products which enjoyed protection as national geographical indications to be protected throughout the European Union. The purpose of the legislation was to protect the regional products of a EU member country in an increasingly borderless economic environment.

The legislation created a number of categories under which protection could be sought:

• Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) - the product must have been "produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how"; for example, Roquefort cheese (France), Jersey Royal Potatoes (UK)
• Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) - the "geographical link must occur in at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation. Furthermore, the product can benefit from a good reputation"; for example; Welsh lamb (UK), Scottish farmed salmon (UK)
• Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) - -does not refer to the origin but highlights traditional character, either in the composition or means of production "(Mozzarella cheese, Jamón Serrano.

The criteria for similar national certifications may have varied from country to country, but these certifications are standardized throughout the EU community. A list of items that are protected under PDO, PGI, or TSG can be found at the European Commission's Agricultural and Rural Development website. The designations are valid and enforceable throughout the EU.





The official IGP seal (in Italian)



The European Union has certified mortadella as a Protected Geographical Indication, or in Italian, "Indicazione Geografica Protetta". Along with the Istituto Nord Est Qualità (Northeast Quality Institute), the Consorzio Produtttori Mortadella Bologna ensures that the anything being sold under the mortadella name is indeed mortadella. A producer of a mortadella-like product in Spain may not call his product mortadella.

Following the trend towards a more global economy, the territorial coverage of protection of geographical indications has expanded. In 1994, the World Trade Organization (WTO) introduced the Agreement of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). The agreement dictates that member states must "provide the legal means for parties to prevent the use of any means in the designation or presentation of a good that indicates or suggests that the good in question originates in a geographical area other than the true place of origin in a manner which misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the good." In other words, each WTO member must offer laws which prevent a producer from passing off his product as being from some place which it is not. TRIPS does not offer additional criteria for what qualifies for protection or new categories of classification. It simply requires a means of protection.

What about enforcement? A producer, or a representative of a producer, such as the consorzio, is able to bring suit against an imitator in a national or European court. However, it's not entirely clear to me what enforcement options there are under TRIPS. Must each WTO member have to recognize the GI of another member state? Could the consorzio bring a suit against an American company which made and sold a product named mortadella? Some people I spoke to who are familiar with trademark law were not certain the Italians could.

I can't be certain whether my mortadella was actually mortadella. From appearances, it fit the description of mortadella, but I'm not able to tell without seeing the packaging. Was the mortadella like bologna? Yes, maybe a little spicier, and definitely more fatty. Was it bologna? If it was a true mortadella, then technically, no. The bologna we know is ground pork sausage made from lesser quality scraps of meat which does not contain cubes of fat. There is not much information on the internet concerning the origins of bologna, but it does appear that the Italians do not use the term "bolgona" in reference to encased meat sausages. Bologna, at best, is a poor imitation of mortadella.

I'm pretty sure that the manager of the cafeteria was not thinking of protecting the good name of mortadella when he corrected me. I think he was simply trying to not give the impression he was offering bologna as a deli meat. Either way, the consorzio thanks him. And I thank him for making me think about my lunch.

Update 6/18/08: I was told that the mortadella was made by an American company in the style of mortadella. So, technically, it was not mortadella.

Sources:

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/foodqual/quali1_en.htm
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/hungrymind/designationorigin.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mortadella.htm
http://www.foodreference.com/html/fmortadella.html
http://www.foodsubs.com/MeatcureCC.html
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/Mortadella.asp
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indicazione_Geografica_Protetta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indication
http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/legal_e.htm#TRIPs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_sausage
http://theoldfoodie.blogspot.com/2005/12/some-baloney-about-bologna.html

A Simple Meal

On Sunday, I was reminded of the joy, comfort, and satisfaction of a self-prepared, home-cooked meal. I've missed out for a very long time.

Photo: Spaghetti topped with spicy Italian sausage and marinara sauce "fortified" with fresh baby portabella and porcini mushrooms, onions, garlic, basil, parsley, and tomatoes