Larry’s Things .net

My nonsensical blog  http://donoteat.larrysthings.net

The thing that really pisses me off with North Americanized japanese cookbooks is that they don’t mention the miniscule details that are necessary to make authentic japanese meals.   For example, the soup stock, or dashi , which is a fundamental core of a lot of japanese foods - you get this wrong, and everything tastes like crap.    For this blog entry, the dashi is made with iriko, which is a small dried anchovy-like fish .    Your basic cookbook will say something like:

X amount of water

Y amount of iriko

Z amount of kombu

Dump ingredients into pot of water, then boil.   Strain out contents and discard solids, and enjoy the soup stock.

What they didn’t mention is :

- You have to tear off the heads and abdomens of the iriko.   These impart a bitter taste to the stock.

- bringing it to a roiling boil will also make things taste bitter and have an “off” taste

- you must scoop out the bubbles - these will contribute to the off taste

- the kombu should be lightly wiped wiped with a cloth - but do not remove the whitish residue on them as a lot of the flavours are in these residues.   I suspect that these are a form of natural MSG , which is not a bad thing, since these glutamates also show up in mushrooms and tomatoes.

Living in North America doesn’t get you easy access to the basic ingredients, especially the good quality stuff that the conscientious japanese cook would use…  so you’ll have to make do with whatever you can get.   I haven’t had a chance to try out which iriko brand and sizes are better….    but so far, as a general rule,  smaller iriko will impart a lighter more delicate taste, whereas larger iriko will impart a stronger, smokier taste.

This is interesting…

The circuit breakers will activate for a 10% decline would be one hour if it occurred before 2 p.m., and for 30 minutes if it occurred between 2 and 2:30.   There will be no trading halt at all after 2:30.

Halt for a 20% decline would be two hours if it occurred before 1 p.m., and between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. for one hour, and close the market for the rest of the day after 2 p.m.

A market drop of 30%, at any time, would halt trading for the rest of the day.

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/

I think it’s maintained by Barry Ritzholz,  a regular on CNBC .

I actually can’t stand watching CNBC … most of the people there tend to think that if you yell loud enough,  their opinion will make more logical sense.    I’m more a fan of the Canadian Business News Network , PBS Financial news, and Bloomberg …  less yelling and more staid, monotonous droning is my preference.

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