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horse shashimi and natto one meal
a writeup i stole:
Basashi (馬刺し, lit. "sliced horse") is frozen raw horse meat, sliced very thinly and served on a bed of ice, usually with some daikon shavings and a heavy dollop of garlic paste on the side. If you like sashimi and can overcome your prejudices, you will find that good basashi tastes as smooth and creamy as the best tuna belly. However, if the dish thaws too much, the tasty morsels will degenerate into stringy red strips that taste way too much like, well, raw horse meat.
Delicious in a traditional Japanese breakfast. This would usually be served with a bowl of plain white Japanese short grain rice, a bowl of miso shiru, some sheets of toasted nori, some Tsukemono (Japanese Pickles) or Kimchi and perhaps some grilled tofu or fish.
With the tips of your hashi (chopsticks), whip the natto about until it becomes lacy. Pick up a bit of rice with a sheet of nori and put a bit of natto on top. Close the nori and pop the package in your mouth.
Natto has a strong flavour, much like a Stilton or Roquefort cheese. If you find the flavour too potent, add some shoyu (soy sauce) and minced scallions. Also, the more that you whip it, the more that the ammonia element of the fragrance dissipates and the "sliminess" vanishes. The Nihon Hoso Kyokai (NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) aired a special program on natto in late 1998 which said that mixing natto 424 times (don't ask) removes its "sliminess".
The beans which are used are soy. The fermentation process makes natto a rich source of vitamin B and other nutrients. It is thought to be effective in prevention of heart attacks, strokes and osteoporosis, as well as food poisoning and intestinal disorders. It can be heated but an enzyme called nattokinase, natto's blood clot dissolving agent, is destroyed at temperatures above 70 degrees C, so it is best eaten raw.
Balut with another meal.
another writeup i stole:
Balut is the name for an embryonic duck egg that is boiled and consumed. Considered a delicacy in its native Philippines and oft-celebrated by the Filipino diaspora, balut is unfortunately lampooned by many outsiders though some other cultures in Southeast Asia consider embryonic eggs a delicacy.
Making the balut
To produce balut, a duck farmer incubates fertilized eggs in layers of hay or rice husks insulated by burlap. After six days, the eggs are checked for embryonic development. Unfertilized eggs are culled and cured in brine while dead embryos are discarded. Slow-developing embryonic eggs are culled, boiled, and sold by the name of penoy. The remaining, healthy embryos are placed back in incubation. Those remaining healthy and alive at the two week mark are boiled and sold as balut.
Off to market
Much like an ice cream man, a balut vendor will take a cart of freshly boiled balut through neighborhoods at dusk, crying, "Balut! Balut! Penoy! Balut!" Wallets will open, money will exchange hands, and a lucky consumer will take a some warm balut back to his family or eat one on the spot.
Eating balut
Gently tap the bottom of the egg and peel off just a thumb's width to access the succulent and nutritious amniotic sac, adding salt to taste. Drink the amniotic fluid then continue to peel the shell and savor the balut.
According to my family, balut with just a hint of soft down is considered culinary perfection; that is when the embryonic duckling is at its most tender.
Mmm.. Mmm.. good
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