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November 11, 2004

Miyazaki' s Potato Shouchus at AOBA: The Shouchu and Seasonal Japanese Food Restaurant

Hi this is Chie, I’m a business lady who lives for great shouchu and fine cuisine. Nice to meet you, and thanks for dropping by! Today I’m blogging with Yakaken in support of shouchu made with a pride and passion! Here’s hoping it doesn’t get washed away in the boom. Cheers!!

This time round we took our shouchu and dropped in on AOBA in Nakameguro, Tokyo. The first time I came here was with someone from a club I was in at university, and I’ve been a regular ever since. With a great combination of fabulous cooking, wide shouchu assortment, the great owner, and not to mention the cool atmosphere, I completely fell in love with the place.
So yeah…we took with us six types of Miyazaki shouchu. You can see these in the first photo, Kameshizuka, Superlight Kanro, Kanekyo Kanro, Kanro, Tokusen Kanro, Jidaigura Kanro (from left to right). Each of these is slightly different whether it be the alcohol percentage, type of malt, type of potato, even down to the way the potatoes are peeled.
Today, the owner of AOBA, Mr. Hayama, is going to check these out for us. We’re going to be chatting about shouchu and asking his opinion of the six shouchus. Meanwhile I’ll be trying some of his incredible cooking, which is incidentally the perfect complement to shouchu!
“Miyazaki’s shouchus tend to be about 20% alcohol, and many of them are really easy on the palette,” comments AOBA’s owner as we settle down for the evening. By this time I’m really wondering what kind of food goes well with these shouchus? And what are we going to talk about!! I’m so looking forward to this!

Before we moved onto the main event, we quenched our thirst with some Ebisu beer, and also tried some Komgagi Dadacha beans from Yamagata Prefecture. Check them out! They’re so incredibly furry! This fur and the sweet aroma that exudes when you boil Dadacha beans is their defining characteristic. If you eat these straight after boiling, when they are brimming with flavor, the sweet taste will come surging forth…. knock that back with a cool fresh beer, and it is truly orgasmic!

Hayama handles all the cooking at AOBA, and on the night we dropped by he was very busy. Until things cooled off a little in the kitchen, I decided to try out a few dishes myself and see how well they went with shouchu. Firstly, thinking “if it’s got potato in it then it’ll be good”, I decided to go for the deep fried sato imo (I believe you call them taros in English). In this dish, the sato imoes were deep fried and served with a pinch of salt. They’re crispy on the outside, and this makes for an exquisite balance with the sticky inside. When added to this sticky sensation, the shouchu we brought with us resonates even more with the flavor of the sato imoes. It was an excellent and a very reassuring start to the evening!!
If you want to refresh after the greasy deep fried food, then I recommend the fresh Kameshizuku, Superlight Kanro, or the Kanekyo Kanro. If you want to enjoy the combination of sato imo and sweet potato, then I’m sure the Kanro, Tokusen Kanro, and Jidaigura would be a great complement. With such a range of shouchus, you can really have a lot of fun choosing the best shouchu for what you want to eat.

Anyway, let’s move on. Next up...I asked Mr. Hayama for some of his general views on shouchu and cooking…
“Even when we talk about Kyushu shouchu there is clear categorization, such as Kagoshima shouchu is made from potatoes, and Kumamoto shouchu from rice. Miyazaki represents the crossover point of all these shouchu cultures. There they have potato, rice, and barley shouchu. None of them have an overpowering aroma or flavor, and so they’re all easy to drink. That’s why they complement all kinds of dishes.”
Considering that shouchu is already said to be great with food, to further say that it isn’t overpowering really means that it can meet a wide demand. For people who want to chill out and enjoy food and drink, shouchu is sure to be warmly welcomed. But having said that, what we are looking for today is something that complements shouchu perfectly, and AOBA’s owner suggests jidori (naturally grown chicken). I think many of you may already know that Mayazaki is famous for a range of dishes made from jidori, including charcoal grilled chicken and southern fried chicken dishes. Local dishes and local shouchu!…without hesitation I started by trying the charcoal grilled jidoril!!

In this case, the jidori was actually farmed in Tokushima. The front right of the photo shows the heart, and at the back white liver. White liver can only be obtained from about 1 in 20 chickens. The jidori was charcoal grilled, and then mixed with a sauce containing sesame seeds and yuzu pepper, lemon is added to taste. “It’s fresh, so we only need to grill it lightly. But the heart has to be cooked for longer… it tastes better if it’s a bit firmer,” says Hayama.

Even the preparation is interesting!　Despite the fact it was only cooked for a moment, it is actually really firm and tasty to the bite. But what really sets this great dish off is the yuzu pepper and lemon. On cooking the liver, it loses a lot of its fat, and doesn’t have that raw meat smell. And then when you try it with the shouchu…Mmmmm…perfect! Actually, I didn’t even notice what is often referred to as the potato smell of the shouchu. And by saying that, I don’t mean that it’s a non-potato potato shouchu…it certainly leaves a great after taste. What I mean is that the shouchu doesn’t overpower the wonderful taste of the jidori, yet at the same time the strong flavor of the jidori does not constrain the flavor of the shouchu.
I also asked Hayama for his thoughts on the shouchus and how they should be drunk.
“Kameshizuku is really easy to drink, even for newcomers to shouchu. I like it straight. The aroma of the Kanekyo Kanro suggests that it is made from black malt. The Kanro is a really well-balanced shouchu. It has the distinctive flavor obtained from the Kogane Sengan potato. It tastes great on the rocks. The Tokusen Kanro is made using white malt and by atmospheric distillation, so it will probably taste good served with hot water. Generally speaking, atmospheric distillation of white malt yields shouchus that go well with hot water.”

We have only had time to cover which dishes each of the shouchus best complement, and I didn’t go as far as to consider whether they should be served straight, on the rocks, with cold water, or with hot water. Nevertheless, it is so interesting to hear the Hayama’s informed opinion about the ways to drink shouchu, and complementary dishes.
Hayama also made me maguro chutoro (medium fatty tuna cut from the upper belly) to go with the Kameshizuka. The tuna was freshly delivered today from Oma in Aomori Prefecture. Hayama cooked it just quickly on one side, and served it with ponzu (a sauce containing soy sauce and vinegar or citrus juice) to give a very refreshing dish.
“Japanese sake plays the roll of neutralizing dishes, while shouchu is thought to relieve the oiliness. This shouchu actually performs both of these rolls,” says Hayama “It acts to both soften the fresh smell of the fish, and really helps wash away the oil.”
It was the Kameshizuku, endowed with both of these characteristics, that Hayama served with the oily fish. It truly did tone down the fresh smell of the fish, thereby delivering a very refreshing dish that was most enjoyable! As Hayama suggested, the shouchu and maguro chutoro blend together in your mouth to give a unique taste sensation. First, a delightful mellowness forms in your mouth, and this is then followed by a refreshing sensation. This is the kind of experience that makes you feel glad to be alive!
It appears the various shouchus can be a complement to a range of different dishes, so you really can choose to drink them in whatever style you like.
As a writer, there is nothing that would make me happier than if this blog either creates even more interest among shouchu lovers, or sparks the interest of those who had previously given shouchu a wide berth. With the aim of making a blog to do just that, I’ll be listing my ideas each and every day. Please drop by and see us again!!

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Featured bar/restaurant: AOBA
Address: 1F Meguro Haitsu (Heights), Aobadai 3-22-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo-to 153-0042
Tel/Fax: 03-3716-8600
Dinner:
7:30pm ~ 3:00pm (Mon~Thu)
7:00pm ~ 5:00am (Fri~Sat)
(Closed on Sundays and National Holidays)

Posted Admin : November 11, 2004 06:56 PM