Japanese Grocery Stores - Sauces Part 1

So, I posted on my Facebook page about doing a grocery store post and I received quite a few comments and requests. A couple of people wanted to know more about the many sauces sold in Japan so I thought I would do a series of posts about shopping on the local economy. Starting with this post on sauces. I am certainly not an expert on Japanese sauces, nor do I claim to be. I am just a foodie who grew up in Iwakuni and also grew up eating foods prepared with some of these yummy sauces. I hope this helps you as you go out and explore the many grocery stores in Iwakuni, and I hope you will pick up a new sauce or two and give it a try!

I think that the most important sauce of all in any Japanese home is soy sauce, or "shoyu" as we call it. My mother always cooks with shoyu, but when I was little there was just a small selection of shoyu at the store. The biggest and most popular brand (and quite possibly the only brand carried at most majoy grocery stores) at the time was Kikkoman. When I moved to the states for the first time as an adult, I bought a bottle of Kikkoman shoyu and I was so excited to be able to find Japanese shoyu! Then I tried it and ..... I spit it out. It was disgusting. I didn't realize it was made in the U.S. and "geared to American taste". I don't know who thought of that, but I think they were way off base! That bottle of shoyu went right down the drain and I called my mother to see if she could send me a care package with a bottle of the "real Kikkoman shoyu" as I put it. Fast forward a few years (okay...maybe a little more than just a few), and it's amazing to me how many different types of shoyu there are now. Grocery stores in Japan have a huge section of an aisle that is just shoyu. There's regular shoyu, usukuchi (lighter flavor) shoyu, sashimi shoyo (which seems a little thicker and smoother), and on and on. I could probably do an entire post on the different types of shoyu, but I know a lot of people are wondering more about the other sauces they sell in Japanese grocery stores. Before I get to those sauces though, I do want to post a picture or two of some organic shoyu that is sold at Fresta. I know there are quite a few people out there who are very interested in organic products.

The shoyu in these two photos are all organic.

Let's check out the other sauces....


YAKINIKU SAUCE-

Yakiniku means "cooked meat" or "grilled meat" and it's what you usually eat when you go to JanJaka. You can make something similar at home. There are so many different types and brands of yakiniku sauce that I can't tell you which one is the best. I think I buy a different kind each time so I can see what the difference is. The problem is that I forget to take notes and remember which ones I really like. You can also get different levels of spiciness. Please keep in mind that sometimes when it says "spicy" it doesn't necessarily mean hot spicy. Sometimes it means "salty" or spices spicy. So, they have "Amakuchi" which is not spicy at all and means "sweet taste", "Chyukara" which is "medium spicy", and then "Karakuchi" which is "spicy taste". I personally like to mix the amakuchi with the chyukara because I don't like my sauce sweet, but I don't like it too spicy either. Mixing the two usually balances it all out for me. There are different ways to cook with yakiniku sauce. You can marinate some thin slices of meat in it and then grill the meat. Another way to do it is to grill the meat first and then just dip it in the sauce or pour some sauce over the meat. I have also taken thinly sliced beef (thickness is really up to you, but I like mine to be sliced pretty thin), sliced onions and sliced green bell peppers and stir fried it all in a little bit of oil. Right before you take the pan off of the stove, pour some yakiniku sauce on it, stir it around to get it on everything and then remove from heat and serve with some rice. Make sure you don't put the sauce in too soon because sometimes the sauce will burn if it cooks too long in a hot pan.


SHOGA YAKI SAUCE -

One of my favorite dishes is Shoga Yaki. Shoga is ginger and yaki is cooked. In this case, it is pork and cabbage that is sauteed with this delicious sauce. Some restaurants serve "Shoga Yaki" and a lot of times it is just thin strips of pork sauteed and covered in this sauce. I am a huge fan of pork and cabbage together (may have something to do with always eating tonkatsu and cabbage together....don't know what tonkatsu is?? Hmm..I feel another blog post coming..) so I usually take thin slices of pork and some cabbage, saute them together and when it's almost done put some of this sauce on it. Remove from heat right away so the sauce doesn't burn. Personally, I don't think this is super heavy on the ginger flavor so even if you aren't a big fan of ginger you should give this a try.
I know some of you are looking at the photo for this sauce and thinking the main bottle in the front is slightly out of focus, but the one behind it on the left is in perfect focus. I meant to do that. Uh huh.... yup... sure did. Wanted to see if anyone would notice.

YAKITORI SAUCE -

Yakitori is the little pieces of chicken on a stick. You all know what "yaki" means now so I'll just let you know that "tori" means "bird"...which in this case means chicken. Yakitori are mostly found at izakayas and you can get yakitori at just about any festival in Japan. You can make yakitori at home with this sauce and some chicken and some sticks. You can buy the sticks just about anywhere (they just look like super long toothpicks). If you are grilling these, I highly recommend you soak the sticks in water for a little while. It keeps them from burning. Cut chicken into chunks big enough to put on the stick. Don't make them too big or too small. I had to play around with it because I kept making them too big. It's fine, but it takes longer to cook. Place about 4 pieces of chicken on each stick. Lightly (very lightly) salt both sides and throw on a hot (medium heat) grill. You really have to watch these so don't walk away too much. When they are almost done, dip them into some yakitori sauce and throw them back on the grill for a few mimutes... maybe 1-2 minutes on each side. Are you like me and don't own a grill? No problem. I take a chicken breast or thigh and cut it into chunks and because I like the fat green onions (I'm not sure what they are called in the US... but they are like big green onions... and I believe they are in season in the winter months), I'll cut up one or two of those also. Saute the chicken and green onions in a pan and right before it is done, cover everything with a little bit of the yakitori sauce. Stir it around for a minute, remove from heat, and serve over a bowl of rice.

Am I starting to sound like a broken record with my statements on making sure you don't add the sauce too soon because it may burn? I think that because a lot of sauces have soy sauce, they tends to burn a little easily. Burnt sauce does not taste good. At all. How do I know you ask? Well..... I maaay have had an accident or two when cooking with yakiniku sauce.

To be continued....

Jan Jaka

Jan Jaka is a nice yakiniku restaurant that is not too far away from the base. They have some pretty decent lunch sets so that was where Kimberly and I decided to go for lunch the other day.

They do have English menus and their staff can speak a little English so ordering is not a problem.

After looking over the menu for a few minutes, neither one of us wanted yakiniku. She ordered a salad and some spring rolls (SUPER yummy!!) and I ordered the Ishiyaki Bibinba set. Ishiyaki Bibinba is a rice dish that has vegetables and egg and a little bit of meat in it. It is served in a really hot stone bowl and you are supposed to mix it all up right away and press it into the bowl a little. You can also add some hot sauce to make it spicy if you like. I love bibinba. Even when I go for dinner I order a bibinba with my yakiniku.

Here is the set I ordered -

I took some pictures inside so you could see how nice it is. You can also see that there is a grill in the middle of the table. All of their tables have the grill.

They also have some larger rooms in the back for parties. I've organized a dinner there for 12 people and there was plenty of room for a few more.

It wasn't long before they started bringing our food out. The salad that Kimberly ordered looked so good. The sesame dressing there is AMAZING. I think all sesame dressing is amazing, but theirs is like the amazingest! Is that a word?

AND the dressing comes in these cute little bowls!

Kimberly also ordered some Bibinba Spring Rolls....

......OH - MY - GOSH! They're yummy.

My lunch set came with a little salad and some soup and you could either choose a drink or dessert. I chose dessert.
This is how they bring the Bibinba to you -

and this is how it looked after I mixed it up....

.....and took a few bites. I meant to get a picture right after I had finished mixing, but I was talking and listening and talking....and talking. Hey. Kimberly and I haven't seen eachother in a while. We had lots of talking to do!

Here's my little salad.

They don't put sesame dressing on the little ones that come with the set, but the dressing they do use is very tasty. You can probably ask them to change it to sesame though. The worse that can happen is they say no and you still get some yummy dressing.

The soup is like a broth with seaweed and green onions in it. I really like their broth too.

Especially in the winter time.

I did remember to take pictures from the outside this time. I know. Impressive. It really is. I have to be one of the most forgetful people around. I blame it on getting older, but I think I've been like this all of my life.

To get to Jan Jaka, I prefer to go out of the Monzen Gate. Go right to the main road. Turn left and follow that until you get to a light. Turn right at the light and follow that for a few minutes until you see a road that you can turn right onto. Turn right and you should go over some railroad tracks. At the next light, turn left. After a minute or so, you should see the sign for Jan Jaka on your right.

Here is a picture of the entry with their hours posted on the left.

Great place for lunch or dinner. Kids love it because you get to cook your own food. I think that's why some adults love it too.

Have you been to Jan Jaka? What's your favorite thing about going there? Please share!

Kikutei Restaurant (Yakiniku)

Last Saturday night we went out to dinner with some friends. It was a farewell dinner for our friends, Kelly and Andy. It was a great time, but bittersweet also since it was going to be their last Saturday night here in Iwakuni.

We went to Kikutei for dinner and the food was good as always. I have to say I do have mixed feelings about Kikutei. Everyone usually gets the all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner when they go. There are usually coupons in the Preview for 300yen off. That's what we did last night. For me and Jason, it was 6900yen with the coupons. The spread is pretty amazing. I did take pictures (of course!).

You get a huge platter of beef and chicken and veggies.

Chicken in a wonderful sesame sauce and garlic bread. Both are super yummy!

And it comes with salad too. I don't know what kind of dressing they use, but it is very tasty.

It is a yakiniku (fried meat) restaurant so you will be cooking your own food on a little grill in the middle of your table. For those of you who feel that when you go out to eat it's so you DON'T have to cook, this restaurant is not for you. Some of you may think that is funny, but years ago I made reservations for a bunch of people at a yakiniku restaurant and one of the guys actually complained about having to cook his own food. I thought everyone would like it and think it was a neat experience. He was really upset. I never thought of it that way before because I've always enjoyed it, but I guess he kind of had a point. So, I cooked for him.

The drink menu is pretty decent. They have a good selection of alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks. I don't think it's on the menu, but I always get the ume (plum) sour. You should try a few of the sours to see which one you like the best. In the winter time I like getting umeshu no oyu wari. It's plum sake mixed with hot water. Mmmm. Perfect when it's cold outside.

This is just part of the drink menu


There are some individual tables downstairs, but if you have a group of people you can reserve the rooms upstairs. As you can see, everything is on the table and ready for you when you arrive. We were upstairs since there were eleven of us.

They won't bring the little grills or take drink orders until everyone in your party has arrived. There is a 2 hour limit for the all-you-can-eat-and-drink, and the time starts as soon as the first drink order is placed.

Once they bring the little grill to your table, you are ready to get started.

We didn't waste any time filling the grill up with food!

There are two sauces on the table for you to dip your food into once it's cooked. One sauce is a little spicy (not really) and the other one is supposed to be a little sweeter. I usually mix the two.

This is where my mixed feelings come into play. If you don't want to do the all-you-can-eat-and-drink plan, they do offer a family platter (3500yen). You can also order other items individually. I've been here a few times and I have done both. When there are children in the group, or if I know we are not going to be drinking I prefer to order the family platter. I feel like we waste food when we get the all you can eat because we always have food left over. We don't have that problem when we order the family platter, and it's less expensive.

To get to Kikutei, head out the main gate. At four corners (intersection after the railroad tracks), make a right. Go straight until you pass Fuji Grand (it will be on your right). At the second light after you pass Fuji Grand, turn left. Go straight through a mini intersection and then at the next little intersection, you should see this building on the left corner -

You have arrived!

The owner speaks English and they have English menus. The service is good and the staff is friendly. Whether you're looking for a place to have a large gathering, or you just want to have a nice family dinner, Kikutei is a definite must try. Reservations are recommended. The number is 0827-30-1234.