The most popular condiment in Japan, bar none, is Ponzu-Shoyu. A citrusy, soy based dipping sauce, it can be found commercially made by dozens of companies. It is, however, extremely easy to make yourself and the results are not only far superior to anything bought from a store shelf but also keeps almost indefinitely in the refrigerator. Simple ingredients, simple preparation, amazing flavor and versatility. In Japan it’s eaten with everything from Tempura, to Shabu-Shabu, to noodles, to sushi and sashimi. Some of the ingredients I’ll be listing you can only find at a Japanese grocer, but none of them are expensive and if you make it in bulk you’ll not need to make the trip to one more than once a year. It’s used fairly sparingly, being that it’s fairly strong flavored, so a little will last you long while (unless you’re like me and drink it straight outa the bottle…). The combination of flavors makes it my personal favorite condiment ever, but, if you haven’t noticed by now, I’m fairly biased toward the Japanese palette of flavors. That aside, I can’t recommend this enough! Make some, dammit!

The ingredients (for a 2 cup batch):

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Usukuchi Soy Sauce (regular soy sauce will work, but back off to an even cup)

¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons Unseasoned Rice Vinegar

2-3 Tablespoons mild Honey (optional)

½ cup Lemon juice, Lime juice, or combination of (lately I’ve been using straight Lime, but your call)
If on the extremely off chance you find fresh Sudachi, or Green or Yellow Yuzu at the Japanese market, use that!

One 5g packet Shaved Bonito flakes

3 inch x 3 inch square of Konbu (dried giant kelp)

The procedure:

Now here’s where I get to talk about some of the basic concepts that run through all of Japanese cooking. There are a couple things to remember here about the handling of these ingredients, and how these ideas should be remembered whenever you use them for any reason. Boiling = Bad. You never want to boil anything containing Soy sauce or Bonito… Period. Miso also falls into the “never boil” category, but there’s no Miso in this recipe so I’ll leave that discussion for another post. If you boil Soy sauce it tends to give it an astringent after-taste, and if you boil Bonito you loose a lot of the depth it can bring to the table. You also never want to boil any citrus juice if you want it to be a star player in the final product. Doing so takes away a lot of the freshness of flavor, and just dulls the punch fresh citrus juice provides, which is the entire reason for using it. That said, you’ll understand why I structured this recipe the way I did.

Remove the Konbu from the package and wipe with a damp cloth to remove most of the powdery white coating. Don’t be anal about this, you don’t need to get rid of all traces. Next, place the vinegar in a non-reactive pot (meaning NOT aluminum, stainless steel or glass preferably) with the Konbu and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, dissolve the honey into the vinegar (if using) and add the Bonito flakes and turn the heat down a bit. Allow to steep, much like making tea, at just under a boil for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pour the vinegar through a fine mesh strainer into a mixing bowl to remove the Konbu and Bonito and discard them. Add the Soy sauce and citrus juice. TASTE! If the vinegar is too strong, add a splash more soy. Want the citrus to be more prominent? Add some more! Once you are happy with the results pour the Ponzu into an empty bottle for storage. I used the empty Usukuchi bottle, and have also been known to use empty Sake bottles to store smaller batches.

So throw out that bottle of Kikkoman Ponzu, and make some yourself! Take notes on the process to remember how you tweaked it to suit your own tastes for the next time you decide to make this (and you will). The balance of soy, vinegar, and citrus with the undertones of Dashi are what make this my favorite condiment, and what makes me want to always have some on hand. Combined with it’s sheer versatility, it’s a must have for any aficionado of Japanese cuisine.

Live well, eat better, and as Francis says, “good luck in the kitchen!”

Jack

In this post I’m looking to set up the groundwork for (yet another) series of articles. With this series I want to focus on what makes a certain cooking style unique. I’ll be focusing mainly on nationalities and ethnicities in this series, as each one has it’s own tricks and techniques. On this maiden voyage of new topic, however, I want to compare and contrast three popular, yet different cooking styles that share a common undercurrent. Those would be Italian, Mexican, and Japanese.

Have I lost you? Yes, they absolutely share a common thread, and that would be utilizing the best ingredients available with the least amount of tampering. Let me elaborate…

If you have a perfect tomato, or tomatillo, or tuna, the last thing you wanna do is over complicate the dish you wish to use it in! Let that perfect ingredient shine on it’s own! The biggest mistake I’ve seen in my near 20 years as a chef is making a dish so complex that the “soul” of the star ingredient is restrained, over shadowed, muted, or nearly obliterated by too much medeling on the cooks part. Let me give you examples using the items I’ve already mentioned. Perfect tomato = caprese, imperfect tomato = into the sauce pot. Perfect tomatillo = salsa verde, imperfect = soup anyone? Perfect tuna = sashimi, imperfect = casserole (or some other atrocity upon which I dare not speculate…). Simplicity, more often than not, will yield the best results when dealing with something at the height of it’s season. Which is another thing these food cultures have in common, a highly developed sense of seasonality, when an ingredient is at it’s absolute peak. Every meal revolves around this concept, especially in Japan. Mexico not as much since their climate is tropical and sub-tropical they can grow pretty much whatever, whenever. Ever wonder how we get melons and berries in the winter and spring? Look at the label, their most likely from Mexico.

Every festival in Japan (and there are a ton of them throughout the year) is accented by the food selections, which are almost universally seasonal in nature. The traditional home meals follow this as well. Though, with the younger generation in Japan becoming more and more Westernized this is on the decline somewhat. Add modern shipping and flash-frozen items to the equation and for a modern nation nothing ever has to be “off the menu”. The traditional foods served at these festivals remains seasonal and local, however, and Japan is still very big on tradition.

Italy, as well, has a strong sense of seasonality and locality. Most Italian dishes can be traced directly to a region, or even a city. A good example of this is a favorite pasta sauce, Bolognese, originating in Bologna. Southern Italy where it’s warmer gave us the tomato based sauces, while northern Italy where the majority of dairy farms are gave us the cream based sauces. Fish dishes from the coast, cheeses from the mountainous north ect…

A growing number of the top restaurants in the U.S. have adopted this mantra of seasonally changing menus and buying everything locally to ensure as little time spent in a warehouse or in transit as possible. Some chefs even go out themselves and meet with the farmers and ranchers to develop a personal relationship with them to ensure the best possible quality.

No where is the concept of simplicity more apparent than Japanese sashimi. Top quality fish sliced thin and served raw. But then there’s also Italian carpaccio, seasoned and briefly seared beef (most often tenderloin) sliced paper thin and served cold and very rare. Or consider the South American delicacy ceviche. Raw fish and/or shellfish marinated in citrus juice and various other herbs and peppers, at the chefs discretion, served cold, usually with corn chips or just a fork! Or the Mexican favorite pico de gallo. A variety of raw vegetables, usually containing tomatoes, onions and always chilis of some sort, tossed in cilantro and lime juice or cider vinegar.

Point being, these three completely disparate cultures came upon the same conclusions (for the most part) regarding food. Under any circumstances, do NOT fuck with perfection! Instead, find a simple way to showcase it. Let it be the star of the “performance”. You’ll eat much better for it…

Jack