September 15, 2009

Takoyaki/たこ焼き

Like I said before, I am a Kanto (Eastern Japan) man, so I'm not qualified to talk about okonomiyaki and I'm not qualified to talk about takoyaki, either.
Rumor has it that every household in Osaka (in Western Japan) has a takoyaki griddle, and according to one survey, about 60% of the household in Osaka have one. Anyway, the people in Kansai (Western Japan) should have a lot to talk about okonomiyaki and takoyaki.
前にも言った通り、私は関東人なので、お好み焼きについて語る資格はないし、また、たこ焼きについても語る資格はありません。
うわさによると、大阪(関西)ではどの家庭にもたこ焼き器があるそうです。またある調査では大阪の家庭の60%に、たこ焼き器があるそうです。
とにかく、関西の人たちはお好み焼きとたこ焼きについて語ることがたくさんあるでしょう。
Obviously, tako (octopus) is a necessary ingredient of takoyaki.
もちろん、たこはたこ焼きに必要な材料です。

I also used wiener sausage as a filling, as you can see from the photo.
写真を見て分かるとおり、中に入れる具としてウインナーソーセージも使いました。

Can you tell what the sheet of rolled paper towel is for?
丸めた一枚のキッチンペーパーは何のためか分かりますか?

To apply some oil to the takoyaki griddle.
たこ焼き器に油を塗るためです。

My son helped me a lot, enabling me to take some photos.
息子が手伝ってくれ、写真を少し撮ることができました。

From left to right: Katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), takoyaki sauce, and aonori (a type of seaweed)
Options: Mayo and ketchup
左から右へ:鰹節、たこ焼きソース、青海苔
オプション: マヨネーズとケチャップ
Sorry, I was into eating the takoyaki and forgot to take other photos!
すみませんが、たこ焼きを食べるのに夢中で、他の写真を撮るのを忘れました!

6 comments:

Uncle N said...

I happened to stumble into your blog and enjoyed it very much. In US or other countries, you could probably use an Ebelskiever pan to make takoyaki. I am a Japanese who has been living in US in the past 30 years and like to cook including Japanese food. I started my own food blog recently as well as wine tasting blog (this one is several years old). If you are interested, please visit.
norioonwine.blogspot.com
winepath.blogspot.com

Mama said...

Hiroyuki, those look so good! I love takoyaki, but have yet to had a really good one in the US. The tako is always either too hard, or too small of a piece. Your takoyaki looks amazing!

Hiroyuki said...

Uncle N: Yes, the type of pan you mentioned can be used to make takoyaki, as someone has mentioned before here:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/36914-the-takoyaki-topic/
Thanks for your links. I visited your blogs, and would like to make some comments soon.

Hiroyuki said...

pink: Thanks for your compliment. We are not good at making takoyaki, but we manage to make passable to decent takoyaki. As you may know, takoyaki must be crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, and it takes time (almost ten minutes!) to make such takoyaki.
In Osaka, it's common practice to have takoyaki with two toothpicks, not chopsticks. I tried a few times last night, and then I switched to my chopsticks.

J said...

Hi Hiroyuki, I've always wanted one of those takoyaki pans! But they're just too heavy to bring back as a souvenir.

Hiroyuki said...

Jan: Cast iron takoyaki pan should be heavy, but electric ones like the one I have are not so heavy, right? I hope you enjoy your takoyaki in your country some day!