Seryna - Kobe Beef Shabu Shabu

Update:  This post was originally published on April 23, 2009 soon after I returned from Japan. I have since updated it with more pictures and more text in conjunction with A Culinary Tour of Asian Hot Pots as Part III of this mini-series.  The other part of this series can be found here: Part I: A Culinary Tour of Asian Hot Pots, and Part II: Preparing Filet Mignon For Hot Pot.

 -------------

Seryna is known to have one of the best Kobe beef shabu shabu in Japan.

I typically don't even eat much meat when I eat hot pot / shabu shabu because I just don't enjoy meat that much.  I find it sort of tough, dry, lacking in flavor.  I tend to focus on the vegetables because they have so much inherent flavor.  Honestly, on a typical hot pot night, I'll have at most one or two pieces of meat the entire night.

I realize now that I avoided the meat not because I did not like meat, but because I had never had really good meat.  REALLY good meat.  Meat that's decadent, buttery soft, and utterly deliciously full of flavor. Meat that has absolutely no hint of toughness when you chew it.  Meat that almost melts in your mouth.

Hello Kobe beef.  Shabu-shabu meat at its finest.  Really, it does not get better than this. 

The meat was SUPER soft - it almost seemed to melt in your mouth. The flavor of the fat was rich, but it didn't feel at all fatty in a bad way. As I've mentioned before in a previous post, Kobe beef has a higher percentage of monounsaturated fat (good fat). I wonder if that's why it doesn't taste greasy, but instead just rich, buttery, and absolute heavenly.

For $150 you get 150g of meat and a small portion of vegetables on the side. I have to say, after being used to US portion sizes, I was a bit disappointed with the vegetable sides. Literally, it was like 1 mushroom, 1 tofu piece, 2 leaves of lettuce, etc. Clearly, the focus was on the meat.

But man, it's really good. Although very expensive, I think it's worth trying once, because it's so different from any other type of meat.

At Seryna, they give you three types of sauces. A sesame paste, a ponzu sauce, and a spicy one. I liked all three. The spicy one was the most flavorful, but the ponzu sauce was crisp and light, and served as a nice light interlude between bites of meat with the heavier sauces.

The Japanese are meticulous about cleanliness.  Every diner receives a bib/apron of sorts to protect your clothing from any potential splashes or spills.

The waiter also periodically comes by and scoops out any stray bits that are floating in the broth. It's very important that the broth remains pure and clean.

At the end of the meal (which doesn't take that long since there's actually not THAT much food), you get a small bowl full of noodles. The waiter fills it with the delicious clear, kombu-based broth from your hot pot. The soup is clear, light, and cleansing after a rich meal.  A perfect finish to a perfect meal.

I highly recommend coming to Seryna and ordering the Kobe beef shabu. Compared to the meat you typically eat at a shabu shabu restaurant, it's like nothing you've ever had before. This and Kyubei were probably the two best meals I had in Japan.

On a side note, thinly sliced filet mignon is actually really good in shabu shabu as well, and much cheaper! Maybe in a future post I'll talk about Click here to find out how I purchase filet mignon meat from Costco, partially freeze it, and then thinly slice it myself for shabu shabu (hot pot) meals we have at home!

Enjoy!

Seryna - Kobe Beef Shabu Shabu

Update:  This post was originally published on April 23, 2009 soon after I returned from Japan. I have since updated it with more pictures and more text in conjunction with A Culinary Tour of Asian Hot Pots as Part III of this mini-series.  The other part of this series can be found here: Part I: A Culinary Tour of Asian Hot Pots, and Part II: Preparing Filet Mignon For Hot Pot.

 -------------

Seryna is known to have one of the best Kobe beef shabu shabu in Japan.

I typically don't even eat much meat when I eat hot pot / shabu shabu because I just don't enjoy meat that much.  I find it sort of tough, dry, lacking in flavor.  I tend to focus on the vegetables because they have so much inherent flavor.  Honestly, on a typical hot pot night, I'll have at most one or two pieces of meat the entire night.

I realize now that I avoided the meat not because I did not like meat, but because I had never had really good meat.  REALLY good meat.  Meat that's decadent, buttery soft, and utterly deliciously full of flavor. Meat that has absolutely no hint of toughness when you chew it.  Meat that almost melts in your mouth.

Hello Kobe beef.  Shabu-shabu meat at its finest.  Really, it does not get better than this. 

The meat was SUPER soft - it almost seemed to melt in your mouth. The flavor of the fat was rich, but it didn't feel at all fatty in a bad way. As I've mentioned before in a previous post, Kobe beef has a higher percentage of monounsaturated fat (good fat). I wonder if that's why it doesn't taste greasy, but instead just rich, buttery, and absolute heavenly.

For $150 you get 150g of meat and a small portion of vegetables on the side. I have to say, after being used to US portion sizes, I was a bit disappointed with the vegetable sides. Literally, it was like 1 mushroom, 1 tofu piece, 2 leaves of lettuce, etc. Clearly, the focus was on the meat.

But man, it's really good. Although very expensive, I think it's worth trying once, because it's so different from any other type of meat.

At Seryna, they give you three types of sauces. A sesame paste, a ponzu sauce, and a spicy one. I liked all three. The spicy one was the most flavorful, but the ponzu sauce was crisp and light, and served as a nice light interlude between bites of meat with the heavier sauces.

The Japanese are meticulous about cleanliness.  Every diner receives a bib/apron of sorts to protect your clothing from any potential splashes or spills.

The waiter also periodically comes by and scoops out any stray bits that are floating in the broth. It's very important that the broth remains pure and clean.

At the end of the meal (which doesn't take that long since there's actually not THAT much food), you get a small bowl full of noodles. The waiter fills it with the delicious clear, kombu-based broth from your hot pot. The soup is clear, light, and cleansing after a rich meal.  A perfect finish to a perfect meal.

I highly recommend coming to Seryna and ordering the Kobe beef shabu. Compared to the meat you typically eat at a shabu shabu restaurant, it's like nothing you've ever had before. This and Kyubei were probably the two best meals I had in Japan.

On a side note, thinly sliced filet mignon is actually really good in shabu shabu as well, and much cheaper! Maybe in a future post I'll talk about Click here to find out how I purchase filet mignon meat from Costco, partially freeze it, and then thinly slice it myself for shabu shabu (hot pot) meals we have at home!

Enjoy!

Preparing Filet Mignon for Hot Pots

This post is the second part of a mini-series anchored around the following post: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia.

Filet Mignon for Hot Pot? 

Are you serious?

Yes I'm serious, and let me tell you.  It's totally worth the extra cost.  It is soooo delicious.  It's got the most buttery and soft texture.  You'll never go back to supermarket pre-sliced hot pot beef.

If people are willing to dip Kobe Beef into hot pot, then filet migon really shouldn't be a stretch, should it?

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I had recently discovered the amazing taste of filet mignon in Chinese hot pots.  My brother-in-law first introduced this awesome idea to us, and we have been hooked ever since. The first time I served it to dinner guests, it was the most popular item of the night! They couldn't stop eating it!

Unfortunately for us, most Asian restaurants do not sell filet mignon pre-sliced into those thin slices that are ideal for hot pot. So, I had to take matters into my own hands.

It's virtually impossible to slice meat thinly when it's at room temperature.  So, the first step is - freeze the meat.  It's probably best to separate the meat out into manageable chunks before freezing.  I accidentally forgot to do this, and I struggled a bit in the beginning to chop up that huge hunk of frozen meat (see above) into manageable sized pieces (ideally about 3 inches by 4 inches or so - sliceable chunks).

Once you have manageable pieces of frozen meat, take each chunk and, using a cleaver, slice away (see picture above).  The result won't be as thin as what you'd get from a meat slicer, but it won't be bad, and it will still be better than what you could have done with refrigerated meat.

Finally, let it finish defrosting, and serve! There is probably a window of about 30-45 minutes in which you can work once you start defrosting the meat. If the meat gets too soft, it becomes hard to slice thinly. If it's too frozen, well, it's hard to slice at all.  Use your judgment.  Work relatively quickly, but don't fret too much - you do have some time and you should be able to finish with no problem.  I was able to slice almost 3 lbs of Filet Mignon without having it get too soft.

Most important tip!
Don't cook this meat for too long in the hot pot!  Don't EVER let it drop into the bottom of the pot and get lost (and then overcooked!)  That would just be TOO SAD! Instead, hold onto your meat (either with chopsticks or with a wire mesh spoon), stick it in the boiling broth, and swish it around for about 5-10 seconds.  Our waiter from Seryna in Tokyo taught us to swish the meat while chanting three times: "Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu."  Then quickly remove the meat from the broth, dip in your desired sauce, and enjoy.

Not sure if chanting is a foolproof method, but it's fun to do.  In any event, the closer the meat is to being rare, the better it will likely taste.  :)

Enjoy!

Preparing Filet Mignon for Hot Pots

This post is the second part of a mini-series anchored around the following post: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia.

Filet Mignon for Hot Pot? 

Are you serious?

Yes I'm serious, and let me tell you.  It's totally worth the extra cost.  It is soooo delicious.  It's got the most buttery and soft texture.  You'll never go back to supermarket pre-sliced hot pot beef.

If people are willing to dip Kobe Beef into hot pot, then filet migon really shouldn't be a stretch, should it?

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I had recently discovered the amazing taste of filet mignon in Chinese hot pots.  My brother-in-law first introduced this awesome idea to us, and we have been hooked ever since. The first time I served it to dinner guests, it was the most popular item of the night! They couldn't stop eating it!

Unfortunately for us, most Asian restaurants do not sell filet mignon pre-sliced into those thin slices that are ideal for hot pot. So, I had to take matters into my own hands.

It's virtually impossible to slice meat thinly when it's at room temperature.  So, the first step is - freeze the meat.  It's probably best to separate the meat out into manageable chunks before freezing.  I accidentally forgot to do this, and I struggled a bit in the beginning to chop up that huge hunk of frozen meat (see above) into manageable sized pieces (ideally about 3 inches by 4 inches or so - sliceable chunks).

Once you have manageable pieces of frozen meat, take each chunk and, using a cleaver, slice away (see picture above).  The result won't be as thin as what you'd get from a meat slicer, but it won't be bad, and it will still be better than what you could have done with refrigerated meat.

Finally, let it finish defrosting, and serve! There is probably a window of about 30-45 minutes in which you can work once you start defrosting the meat. If the meat gets too soft, it becomes hard to slice thinly. If it's too frozen, well, it's hard to slice at all.  Use your judgment.  Work relatively quickly, but don't fret too much - you do have some time and you should be able to finish with no problem.  I was able to slice almost 3 lbs of Filet Mignon without having it get too soft.

Most important tip!
Don't cook this meat for too long in the hot pot!  Don't EVER let it drop into the bottom of the pot and get lost (and then overcooked!)  That would just be TOO SAD! Instead, hold onto your meat (either with chopsticks or with a wire mesh spoon), stick it in the boiling broth, and swish it around for about 5-10 seconds.  Our waiter from Seryna in Tokyo taught us to swish the meat while chanting three times: "Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu - Shabu Shabu."  Then quickly remove the meat from the broth, dip in your desired sauce, and enjoy.

Not sure if chanting is a foolproof method, but it's fun to do.  In any event, the closer the meat is to being rare, the better it will likely taste.  :)

Enjoy!

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . .

We just experienced our first major snowstorm of the season!  Snow has been falling outside continuously for the past 15 hours.  It’s times like these when I just want to stay indoors and enjoy a nice, warm hot pot with family and friends.

Although I've grown up eating hot pots Taiwanese-style, this past year I had the opportunity to enjoy hot pots from a variety of cultures and venues.  Join me as I take you on a culinary tour throughout Asia, exploring various renditions of the hot pot.

What is a hot pot? 
Well, most simply, it’s a hot communal pot in the middle of a table filled with a flavored broth. Diners cook their own food by briefly dipping raw ingredients into the hot broth. Ingredients can vary widely, but typically include thinly sliced meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, fish cakes, and the like.

Culinary Tour Stop 1: Sichuan, China
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the hot pot style of eating first appeared in China, although Chinese scholars have found evidence of people cooking and eating around a boiling pot of broth as far back as the fifth century B.C. However, it was not until the Ming and Qing periods (1368-1911), that the hot pot actually gain popularity. In fact, the imperial court of the Qing dynasty served hot pots both on the emperor's winter menu and also at the feast celebrating the new emperor, Jia Qing in 1796.*

What sets the Sichuan hot pot apart from typical Chinese hot pots is its classic spicy broth. This wonderfully flavorful, numbingly spicy broth gets its characteristic flavors from Sichuan chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. The chilies give the soup a fiery burn, while the peppercorns have an unusual numbing effect on the tongue. The Sichuan hot pot originated from the city of Chongqing, where street peddlers would sell "beef trip hot pot," a hot, spicy soup consisting of chopped up water buffalo innards cooked in a spicy broth filled with chilies and Sichuan peppers. In the 1930's, the hot pot became elevated to restaurant status with the opening of the first hot pot restaurant in Chongqing. It has been popular since.*


Dining Out at a Classic Chinese Hot Pot Chain

Because I can't just hop over to China for this post, I am taking you to the next best thing.  Little Q is a well known hot pot chain in China and (lucky for me) migrated over to Boston a few years ago.  It is the best example of Sichuan Hot Pot here in Boston. The mala (literally "numbing and spicy") broth is my favorite, and I like to order that one in conjunction with a non-spicy broth in a "ying-yang" pot (pictured above), thus allowing a balance of flavors.  Little Q offers a variety of meat, vegetables, and all sorts of other hot pot sides, including exotic ones like tripe, intestines, beef tongue, and pig's blood.  It's most fun to visit with a large group, as you will be able to enjoy a much larger variety of things.  For more details on Little Q, please check out my previous post on this restaurant here.

Cooking@home

I also recently tried a home-version of the mala broth based on a recipe by Fuchsia Dunlop from her highly regarded book, Land of Plenty.  Fuchsia Dunlop was the first foreigner to study Sichuanese cooking at the acclaimed Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, China. Stay tuned this week as I share Update!  Here is the recipe and a photographic tutorial on how to make your own spicy mala broth!

Culinary Tour Stop 2: Tokyo, Japan
The Japanese version of hot pot is called "shabu-shabu" and was invented after WWII in 1952 by Tadakazu Miyake, owner of a restaurant called Suehiro in Osaka, Japan. The story goes something like this. During WWII when Japan occupied Manchuria, Japanese soldiers had the opportunity to try “Syu Wan Yan Row,” a Chinese dish where lamb is eaten with sauces made from sesame seeds or soy sauce. Combining that with the traditional Chinese hot pot, Miyake perfected these ideas to open his first shabu restaurant in 1952. He named this new cuisine "shabu-shabu" because, one day, as he was watching his assistant wash towels in a large basin, he thought the swishing sound of towels in the basin sounded like the sound of raw meat being dipped and "swished" in the broth. His restaurant became so popular that he eventually trademarked the term "shabu-shabu".

Japanese shabu differs from traditional Chinese hot pot in a lot of ways. First, the broth is simple - a light dashi based broth made from kombu (Japanese seaweed). Unlike the Sichuan Hot Pot, which arguably does not need a broth because the soup itself is so flavorful, Japanese shabu-shabu usually comes with a few dipping sauces, such as ponzu, sesame seed sauce, and spicy sauce.

When Bryan and I went to Tokyo this past spring, we decided to treat ourselves to the most decadent shabu-shabu imaginable - Kobe beef shabu-shabu, truly the pinnacle of this once humble dish made with water-buffalo innards on a riverside! After doing some research, we found out that Seryna was the best known shabu-restaurant in Japan.

I must say, that the Kobe beef was incredibly decadent, buttery soft, and utterly delicious.  Check out the fine marbling in the picture! It's insanely expensive (the meat is literally $1/gram) but totally worth it - at least once! An interesting difference we found between traditional Chinese hot pot and Japanese hot pot is that the Japanese are pretty meticulous about keeping the broth clear. A waiter would come by periodically and scoop out any stray bits that were floating in our soup. I find this greatly amusing because Chinese people couldn't care less about that. We think that the more stuff that's in there, the better tasting the rich broth!

Later on this week I will post a Update! Here is the detailed description of our meal at this most fabulous and decadent shabu-shabu restuarant.

Culinary Tour Stop 3: Taiwan
I have enjoyed hot pots at home for as long as I can remember. In lieu of the traditional turkey dinner during Thanksgiving or the goose served during Christmas, my family has always enjoyed a hot pot. Here I will share with you how my Taiwanese family typically enjoys the hot pot.  This past Saturday, as part of Foodbuzz's 24, 24, 24 event, I enjoyed a Taiwanese-style hot pot at my home with 9 other guests.

The Taiwanese version of hot pot involves various forms of thinly sliced meat, fresh seafood, and fresh vegetables.

You can typically buy thinly sliced beef, lamb, and pork at Asian grocery stores.  These are perfect for hot pot because they cook quickly.  Plus, it's hard to slice meat so thinly at home. Various forms of tofu are also very popular.  The deep-fried tofu square are especially popular because they absorb the flavors of the soup very well.  Various types of fish-cake type balls (fish balls, beef balls, shrimp balls) are also popular.  Chinese fish balls are similar to imitation crab meat, which is also made from a similar type of fish product.

I recently discovered, thanks to my brother-in-law, that sliced filet mignon tastes absolutely fantastic in hot pot!  You can pick up filet mignon for about $11/lb at Costco. This was definitely the hit of the night, and my guests could not stop eating it!  Later on this week, I will post a Here is the tutorial on how to prepare filet mignon for hot pot!

Hot pot is typically pretty healthy because of the vegetables that you eat.  You can use whatever you like. The most classic vegetable used in a hot pot is called "Tong Hao" (a green leafy vegetable, also known as edible chrysanthemum).  Other common vegetables include watercress (upper left), enoki mushrooms (upper right), sliced lotus room (lower left - my favorite!), and shitake mushrooms (lower right).  Napa cabbage (already in the broth) is also a classic - the sweetness of this vegetable flavors the broth really nicely.

The broth is typically made of a light stock, such as seafood stock or chicken stock. You can heat up chicken stock and just add some aromatic vegetables, like some Shitake mushrooms and napa cabbage, like I did in this case. For a Taiwanese hot pot, the broth flavor does not matter as much because the meat and vegetables added later will continue to flavor the broth.

Also, similar to the Japanese, the Taiwanese use a dipping sauce. The most popular dipping sauce contains a mixture of Satsa (Chinese BBQ Sauce), a raw egg, and soy sauce. The theory is that the boiling hot food from the hot pot will "cook" the egg briefly as you dip it into the sauce, thus preventing any risk of diseases from eating the raw egg. At our dinner party, almost everyone used the raw egg, although typically there are some that are squeamish (like me!) who choose to forgo the egg and cook it separately in the hot pot instead!

Interestingly, one of our guests' family was from Southern Taiwan.  He mentioned that his family typically adds peanut butter to this mixture of Satsa, raw egg, and soy sauce.  Several of our guests tried this concoction and  reported that they liked it very much.

When it's time to eat, everyone can just starting throwing whatever they want into the pot! The hardest part is being famished and waiting for the water to boil again so you can eat!!

At the end of the meal, we add rice vermicelli noodles to the pot and end the evening with a nice bowl of noodle soup.  At this point, people are typically stuffed, although it's hard to avoid hunting the pot to see if there are any treasures that were left unearthed!

Trying Your own Hot Pot
If you ever want to try your own hot pot, it's pretty easy.  I usually use an electric skillet which I just plug into the wall.  It keeps the broth boiling, and is wide and flat enough so that everyone can access the food relatively easily.  Furthermore, they are inexpensive and work quite well.

There are also dedicated hot pots that are sold in Asian grocery stores.  These are more convenient because the inner part of the pot can be removed for washing.  With an electric skillet, you have to make sure that you don't get water on the electric outlet part!

Closing words . .
So our tour has finally come to an end.  From a classic Chinese Hot Pot chain in Boston, to a high-end shabu restaurant in Tokyo, and then finally to a Taiwanese hot pot party in my humble home in Cambridge. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Bon appetit!

*Land of Plenty by Fuschia Dunlop, pages 344-347

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . .

We just experienced our first major snowstorm of the season!  Snow has been falling outside continuously for the past 15 hours.  It’s times like these when I just want to stay indoors and enjoy a nice, warm hot pot with family and friends.

Although I've grown up eating hot pots Taiwanese-style, this past year I had the opportunity to enjoy hot pots from a variety of cultures and venues.  Join me as I take you on a culinary tour throughout Asia, exploring various renditions of the hot pot.

What is a hot pot? 
Well, most simply, it’s a hot communal pot in the middle of a table filled with a flavored broth. Diners cook their own food by briefly dipping raw ingredients into the hot broth. Ingredients can vary widely, but typically include thinly sliced meat, seafood, vegetables, tofu, fish cakes, and the like.

Culinary Tour Stop 1: Sichuan, China
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the hot pot style of eating first appeared in China, although Chinese scholars have found evidence of people cooking and eating around a boiling pot of broth as far back as the fifth century B.C. However, it was not until the Ming and Qing periods (1368-1911), that the hot pot actually gain popularity. In fact, the imperial court of the Qing dynasty served hot pots both on the emperor's winter menu and also at the feast celebrating the new emperor, Jia Qing in 1796.*

What sets the Sichuan hot pot apart from typical Chinese hot pots is its classic spicy broth. This wonderfully flavorful, numbingly spicy broth gets its characteristic flavors from Sichuan chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. The chilies give the soup a fiery burn, while the peppercorns have an unusual numbing effect on the tongue. The Sichuan hot pot originated from the city of Chongqing, where street peddlers would sell "beef trip hot pot," a hot, spicy soup consisting of chopped up water buffalo innards cooked in a spicy broth filled with chilies and Sichuan peppers. In the 1930's, the hot pot became elevated to restaurant status with the opening of the first hot pot restaurant in Chongqing. It has been popular since.*


Dining Out at a Classic Chinese Hot Pot Chain

Because I can't just hop over to China for this post, I am taking you to the next best thing.  Little Q is a well known hot pot chain in China and (lucky for me) migrated over to Boston a few years ago.  It is the best example of Sichuan Hot Pot here in Boston. The mala (literally "numbing and spicy") broth is my favorite, and I like to order that one in conjunction with a non-spicy broth in a "ying-yang" pot (pictured above), thus allowing a balance of flavors.  Little Q offers a variety of meat, vegetables, and all sorts of other hot pot sides, including exotic ones like tripe, intestines, beef tongue, and pig's blood.  It's most fun to visit with a large group, as you will be able to enjoy a much larger variety of things.  For more details on Little Q, please check out my previous post on this restaurant here.

Cooking@home

I also recently tried a home-version of the mala broth based on a recipe by Fuchsia Dunlop from her highly regarded book, Land of Plenty.  Fuchsia Dunlop was the first foreigner to study Sichuanese cooking at the acclaimed Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, China. Stay tuned this week as I share Update!  Here is the recipe and a photographic tutorial on how to make your own spicy mala broth!

Culinary Tour Stop 2: Tokyo, Japan
The Japanese version of hot pot is called "shabu-shabu" and was invented after WWII in 1952 by Tadakazu Miyake, owner of a restaurant called Suehiro in Osaka, Japan. The story goes something like this. During WWII when Japan occupied Manchuria, Japanese soldiers had the opportunity to try “Syu Wan Yan Row,” a Chinese dish where lamb is eaten with sauces made from sesame seeds or soy sauce. Combining that with the traditional Chinese hot pot, Miyake perfected these ideas to open his first shabu restaurant in 1952. He named this new cuisine "shabu-shabu" because, one day, as he was watching his assistant wash towels in a large basin, he thought the swishing sound of towels in the basin sounded like the sound of raw meat being dipped and "swished" in the broth. His restaurant became so popular that he eventually trademarked the term "shabu-shabu".

Japanese shabu differs from traditional Chinese hot pot in a lot of ways. First, the broth is simple - a light dashi based broth made from kombu (Japanese seaweed). Unlike the Sichuan Hot Pot, which arguably does not need a broth because the soup itself is so flavorful, Japanese shabu-shabu usually comes with a few dipping sauces, such as ponzu, sesame seed sauce, and spicy sauce.

When Bryan and I went to Tokyo this past spring, we decided to treat ourselves to the most decadent shabu-shabu imaginable - Kobe beef shabu-shabu, truly the pinnacle of this once humble dish made with water-buffalo innards on a riverside! After doing some research, we found out that Seryna was the best known shabu-restaurant in Japan.

I must say, that the Kobe beef was incredibly decadent, buttery soft, and utterly delicious.  Check out the fine marbling in the picture! It's insanely expensive (the meat is literally $1/gram) but totally worth it - at least once! An interesting difference we found between traditional Chinese hot pot and Japanese hot pot is that the Japanese are pretty meticulous about keeping the broth clear. A waiter would come by periodically and scoop out any stray bits that were floating in our soup. I find this greatly amusing because Chinese people couldn't care less about that. We think that the more stuff that's in there, the better tasting the rich broth!

Later on this week I will post a Update! Here is the detailed description of our meal at this most fabulous and decadent shabu-shabu restuarant.

Culinary Tour Stop 3: Taiwan
I have enjoyed hot pots at home for as long as I can remember. In lieu of the traditional turkey dinner during Thanksgiving or the goose served during Christmas, my family has always enjoyed a hot pot. Here I will share with you how my Taiwanese family typically enjoys the hot pot.  This past Saturday, as part of Foodbuzz's 24, 24, 24 event, I enjoyed a Taiwanese-style hot pot at my home with 9 other guests.

The Taiwanese version of hot pot involves various forms of thinly sliced meat, fresh seafood, and fresh vegetables.

You can typically buy thinly sliced beef, lamb, and pork at Asian grocery stores.  These are perfect for hot pot because they cook quickly.  Plus, it's hard to slice meat so thinly at home. Various forms of tofu are also very popular.  The deep-fried tofu square are especially popular because they absorb the flavors of the soup very well.  Various types of fish-cake type balls (fish balls, beef balls, shrimp balls) are also popular.  Chinese fish balls are similar to imitation crab meat, which is also made from a similar type of fish product.

I recently discovered, thanks to my brother-in-law, that sliced filet mignon tastes absolutely fantastic in hot pot!  You can pick up filet mignon for about $11/lb at Costco. This was definitely the hit of the night, and my guests could not stop eating it!  Later on this week, I will post a Here is the tutorial on how to prepare filet mignon for hot pot!

Hot pot is typically pretty healthy because of the vegetables that you eat.  You can use whatever you like. The most classic vegetable used in a hot pot is called "Tong Hao" (a green leafy vegetable, also known as edible chrysanthemum).  Other common vegetables include watercress (upper left), enoki mushrooms (upper right), sliced lotus room (lower left - my favorite!), and shitake mushrooms (lower right).  Napa cabbage (already in the broth) is also a classic - the sweetness of this vegetable flavors the broth really nicely.

The broth is typically made of a light stock, such as seafood stock or chicken stock. You can heat up chicken stock and just add some aromatic vegetables, like some Shitake mushrooms and napa cabbage, like I did in this case. For a Taiwanese hot pot, the broth flavor does not matter as much because the meat and vegetables added later will continue to flavor the broth.

Also, similar to the Japanese, the Taiwanese use a dipping sauce. The most popular dipping sauce contains a mixture of Satsa (Chinese BBQ Sauce), a raw egg, and soy sauce. The theory is that the boiling hot food from the hot pot will "cook" the egg briefly as you dip it into the sauce, thus preventing any risk of diseases from eating the raw egg. At our dinner party, almost everyone used the raw egg, although typically there are some that are squeamish (like me!) who choose to forgo the egg and cook it separately in the hot pot instead!

Interestingly, one of our guests' family was from Southern Taiwan.  He mentioned that his family typically adds peanut butter to this mixture of Satsa, raw egg, and soy sauce.  Several of our guests tried this concoction and  reported that they liked it very much.

When it's time to eat, everyone can just starting throwing whatever they want into the pot! The hardest part is being famished and waiting for the water to boil again so you can eat!!

At the end of the meal, we add rice vermicelli noodles to the pot and end the evening with a nice bowl of noodle soup.  At this point, people are typically stuffed, although it's hard to avoid hunting the pot to see if there are any treasures that were left unearthed!

Trying Your own Hot Pot
If you ever want to try your own hot pot, it's pretty easy.  I usually use an electric skillet which I just plug into the wall.  It keeps the broth boiling, and is wide and flat enough so that everyone can access the food relatively easily.  Furthermore, they are inexpensive and work quite well.

There are also dedicated hot pots that are sold in Asian grocery stores.  These are more convenient because the inner part of the pot can be removed for washing.  With an electric skillet, you have to make sure that you don't get water on the electric outlet part!

Closing words . .
So our tour has finally come to an end.  From a classic Chinese Hot Pot chain in Boston, to a high-end shabu restaurant in Tokyo, and then finally to a Taiwanese hot pot party in my humble home in Cambridge. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Bon appetit!

*Land of Plenty by Fuschia Dunlop, pages 344-347

Beacon Hill Bistro

Beacon Hill is the probably THE most expensive neighborhood in Boston.  It's where Senator John Kerry and Todd English live.  It's where John F. Kennedy lived before he became president.  The charming intimate neighborhood is filled with brick and brownstone homes with real gas lamps lining the streets.

Not only that, this quaint neighborhood is in an awesome location.  It is a short walk from the Public Garden, Boston Common, the Charles River, Newbury Street (high end shopping), a subway stop on the Red Line, and Charles Street, which is filled with cute artisan shops, locally owned restaurants, and a lovely little market.

Boston Bibb Lettuce, Heirloom Melon, Hearts of Palm, and Goat Cheese with Tarragon 9
Because rents are so high in Beacon Hill, it's natural to expect that prices, from a toothbrush at the local drugstore to high end dining, will be significantly higher.

I had to keep this in mind as we visited Beacon Hill Bistro.  This restaurant sits on the first floor of the Beacon Hill Hotel right on Charles Street, the cute street lined with small shops, a local market, and restaurants.

Fresh Maine Crab over Heirloom Keener Corn Grits, with Oregano and Sorrel 14
We had a coupon from Restaurant.com, which lessened the blow. 

Our over all impression? We thought some of the dishes were excellent, while others were mediocre and seemingly overpriced.  I had the Boston Bibb lettuce salad (pictured above), which was fine.  Nothing particularly special, but it was nice. 

The fresh Maine Crab, on the other hand, was really good - definitely the best item we had that night.  The sauce had a rich lobster flavor that went really well with the corn grits.  Delicious.

House-Made Pappardelle, Braised Chicken, Bacon, and Brussels Sprouts, Olive Oil Toasted Breadcrumbs 24
I was quite disappointed with the pappardelle.  I guess it was OK, but tasted pretty ordinary for the price tag.  I really think it was not even as good as the pasta at Basta Pasta Enoteca or Bottega Fiorentina, which cost a lot less.

Special of the day: Pan seared scallops with zucchini in a white wine sauce
The scallops were pretty tasty and well executed.  No complaints about this dish.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure the prices affected my over all impression of the place.  If I feel that a meal is overpriced, I begin to think more critically (and often negatively) of the food.  I adjust my expectations according to how much I pay for the meal.  If it's expensive, I expect it to be really good.  But, as I said earlier, I need to remember that rents are super high in this area, and thus I really should factor that into the prices of the dishes.

I guess if you're in the area, this is not a bad place to visit. The food can be quite good depending on what you order, though I would not call this a "destination"-worthy restaurant.

They do have a nice Sunday night special menu with pretty recession-friendly prices.  They also have a fun "Wine & Dine Mondays" dinner where you can enjoy a prix fixe menu with 4 wine pairings for $55.

Beacon Hill Bistro
25 Charles St
Boston, MA 02114