Japanese Recipes: Tsukemono
"Pickled Things"
In Japan, salt pickling is more common than vinegar pickling. The salt draws the moisture out of items being pickled, which creates the brine that preserves them. One of the other cooks I worked with was really confused by this. She asked me whether she should add vinegar because she didn't understand how one could take dry vegetables and dry salt and end up with brine. Trust me, it works.
Almost any vegetable can be salt-pickled; simply add 4% salt by weight and let the mixture sit for at 3-5 days before eating. The salt pickles will also keep well in the refrigerator after that time if removed from the brine and kept in an airtight container or bag. Root vegetables that are red and white are considered festive, so salt pickled daikon and carrots are a common New Year's food. Personally, I prefer the taste of pickled turnip over pickled daikon.
| Tsukemono (Salt Pickles) of root vegetables
For about 20 servings: 3 lbs turnip Peel turnips, gobo, and carrots and cut into matchsticks. |
Soy-simmering:
Simmering food in soy sauce may not seem like a good way to pickle something, but the high amount of salt the food absorbs from the soy sauce actually does pickle it. Mushrooms seem to be the best food for soy-simmering. They keep very well in the refrigerator afterwards as long as they are in an airtight container or plastic bag.
Shiitake Kara-ni (Mushroom Relish)Serves 6, Tsuji 397 1/2 cup sake If using dried shiitake, soak mushrooms in warm water for at
least 30 mins to re-hydrate. |