Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Back in Japan (Spring 2015)...Outdoor BBQ and Tempura Lunch, Very Kaga Style

Best ingredients from Kaga!

(April 2015)

After a lot of walking in the mountain in the rain, we were so hungry.

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The head chef of our hotel was waiting for us at a park and getting ready for our lunch!

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Young wild boar, hunted by a local hunter was going to be grilled and also to be served in a donabe miso hot pot. Onigiri (rice balls) looked so delicious, too.

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The chef set up a tempura station and started making tempura with all different kinds of local mountain vegetables including the ones we just harvested.

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Our freshly-harvested wasabi was used, too. Lunch was simply so amazing! It was such a special experience. We were so thankful to the owners of the chefs of Beniya Mukayu, Nishiyama-san and Katsuragi-san, for organizing such a special tour and gourmet experiences!!

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After lunch, we visited Yamanaka Shoyu, which is an artisan soy sauce brewery. The same family has been making soy sauce for over 100 years. The owner/ brewery master, Konishi-san, specially welcomed us and gave us a tour of the brewery.

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We climbed up to the aging room, and there were large barrels of aging soy sauce all over the space. I got to try stirring the moromi (mash) and learned it was such a hard work. It was another very special experience. Their soy sauce tastes really wonderful.