Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Donabe in Sonoma...Donabe-smoked Duck Breast over Donabe Rice ("Kunsei Kamo Don")


Last Friday, Jason and I headed up to our friends house in Sonoma again.
After a long 7+ hours of drive, we finally got there. We were so happy to see Kyle and Katina again.

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Kyle, who is an internationally acclaimed chef, is also a hard-core Iga-yaki donabe lover. He already owns many kinds of Iga-yaki donabe.

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Upon our arrival to their home, he made an elegant and casual donabe dinner for us. After the California-style roasted beets and avocado salad (with saikyo miso dressing), he roasted asparagus in tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san", and served with scallion and citrus sauce. So gorgeous.

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Here's donabe rice, mixed with charred Tokyo negi, maitake mushrooms and kogomi (fiddlehead ferns).

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This special rice was served with duck breast, which was smoked in donabe smoker, "Ibushi Gin". He first rendered the fat of the duck breast in a pan very slowly, and smoked in Ibushi Gin for relatively short time to achieve the perfect medium-rare texture. It was so complex and wonderful flavor and texture. Perfect pairing with 2011 Domaine Foillard, Morgon, "Cuvee Corcelette".

Donabe cooking, real chef style.
Happy donabe life.