Volume 2 of Shinya Shokudo/深夜食堂の第二巻

List of episodes of Volume 2 of the manga book, Shinya Shokudo:

15 Garnish for sashimi
16 Cold soup
17 Egg sandwich (episode 7 of TV drama)
18 Salt-grilled sanma (saury)
19 Ochazuke (episode 3 of TV drama)
20 Customer in the bathroom
21 Onion rings
22 Karikari (crispy) bacon
23 Oyster fry
24 Niku jaga (meat-potato stew)
25 Sauce yakisoba (episode 8 of TV drama)
26 Waribashi (disposable chopsticks)
27 Crab (story similar to the crab story in the latter half of episode 10 of TV drama)
28 Itadakimasu
29 Purin (Japanese-style custard pudding)

15 刺身のつま
16 冷や汁
17 タマゴサンド（テレビドラマの第七話）
18 秋刀魚の塩焼き
19 お茶漬け（テレビドラマの第三話）
20 トイレの客
21 オニオンリング
22 カリカリベーコン
23 カキフライ
24 肉じゃが
25 ソース焼きそば（テレビドラマの第八話）
26 割り箸
27 カニ（テレビドラマの第十話の後半のカニの話に似た話）
28 いただきます
29 プリン

Volume 1 of Shinya Shokudo/深夜食堂の第一巻

List of episodes of Volume 1 of the manga book, Shinya Shokudo:
1 Red weenies (episode 1 of TV drama)
2 Yesterday's curry
3 Neko manma (cat food) (episode 2 of TV drama)
4 Soy sauce and sauce
In Japan, the term sauce, when used alone, means Worcestershire sauce/Worcester sauce.
5 (Oden) With gyusuji (beef tendon), daikon, and eggs
6 Natto
7 Yaki nori (roasted laver)
8 Tarako (cod roe) (story similar to part of episode 1 of TV drama)
9 Katsudon (episode 6 of TV drama)
10 Neapolitan (Japanese-style spaghetti with tomato ketchup)
11 Potato salad (episode 4 of TV drama)
12 Cucumber pickled in rice bran
13 Watermelon
14 Ramen
Aside: Katsu curry (curry with breaded pork cutlet)

漫画本「深夜食堂」の第一巻のエピソードリスト
１　赤いウインナー（テレビドラマの第一話）
２　きのうのカレー
３　猫まんま（テレビドラマの第二話）
４　しょうゆとソース
５　牛すじ大根玉子入り
６　納豆
７　焼き海苔
８　たらこ（テレビドラマの第一話の一部に似た話）
９　カツ丼（テレビドラマの第六話）
１０　ナポリタン
１１　ポテトサラダ（テレビドラマの第四話）
１２　キューリのぬか漬け
１３　スイカ
１４　ラーメン
箸休め　カツカレー

Shinya Shokudo/深夜食堂

I bought all seven volumes of the Shinya Shokudo manga book, which contains 99 episodes in total.
深夜食堂の漫画本を７冊全部買いました。全部で99話あります。

The good news (at least for me) is that in contrast to the sad ending of episode 7 of the TV drama version, in the original manga version, the entertainer and the newspaper delivery guy got back together again after the entertainer divorced the president of an IT company one year later.
（少なくとも私にとって）いいニュースは、テレビドラマの７話の悲しい最後とは対照的に、オリジナルの漫画では、タレントと新聞配達の男は、タレントが一年後にIT会社の社長と離婚してから、よりを戻したことです。

In episode 1 of the TV drama version, Kosuzu-san has an unrequited love for the yakuza, but in the manga version, things are a little different. Sometimes the yakuza ordered weenies and waited for Kosuzu-san to come.
テレビドラマの第一話では、小寿々さんがヤクザに片思いしていましたが、漫画では、ちょっと違います。ときには、ヤクザがウインナーを注文して、小寿々さんが来るのを待っていました。

The yakuza's memories of red weenies date back to his high school days, when he played baseball. The manager of his baseball club gave him a bento box full of red weenies.
ヤクザの赤いウインナーの思い出は、野球をやっていた高校生時代に遡ります。野球部のマネージャーが彼に赤いウインナーがいっぱい入ったお弁当箱を渡しました。

Unlike in episode 6 of the TV drama version, in the manga version, Master asks the boxer, "Why don't I treat you to katsudon?", and the boxer replies, "Could you make it oyakodon?"
テレビドラマの第六話とは異なり、漫画では、マスターがボクサーに「カツ丼おごらせてくれよ。」と言い、ボクサーは「親子丼にしてもらえないかな。」と答えます。

Kosuzu-san's memories of tamago-yaki date back to his young days, when Kou-chan, an employee of the gay bar where he worked, used to make tamago-yaki for him.
小寿々さんの卵焼きの思い出は、働いていたゲイバーの従業員、コウちゃんが卵焼きを作ってくれた若い頃まで遡ります。

Kou-chan is already dead, but his grand-son, who looks very much like him, comes to see him and makes him happy.
こうちゃんはもう死んでいますが、こうちゃんによく似た孫が小寿々に会いに来てくれ、小寿々は幸せです。

To be continued.
続く。

Summary of Tempura Making 3 (Final)/天ぷら作りのまとめ３（最終）

Finally, as I said before, making decent tempura is difficult even for native Japanese. There are two decisive factors, the temperature of the oil and the thickness of the batter.

In general, the oil temperature should be 160-170C for vegetables and 180C for fish and seafood. Obviously, thin batter results in thin coating, while thick batter results in thick coating. Ingredients that need to be deep-fried for a long time require thick batter. Sweet potato is a typical example.

Notes on kakiage: It may be difficult to make light, non-greasy kakiage. There are several techniques for making kakiage. A common one is to first dust the ingredients in a bowl, then pour some batter, mix, scoop some of the ingredients, using a ladle or a large spoon (be sure to return any excess batter to the bowl), and put in the tempura pot to deep-fry, as I mentioned here (post #43). Alternatively, omit the dusting step and simply add some batter.
Another is to add some flour to ingredients in a bowl, add enough cold water, mix, and scoop some of the ingredients, and put in the pot to deep-fry.

Tempura Kondo: Some of those who have viewed the photos of tempura served at the tempura restaurant, Tempura Kondo, may have wondered what the semi-cylindrical object was (in the top left photo as of May 21). I mean this one. It is sweet potato tempura about 7 cm in height, and it is regarded as one of Kondo's best pieces. According to this site (Japanese only), it is made as follows:
1. Cut sweet potato into rounds about 7 cm in height.
2. Coat with batter, put in a pot of 180C oil, and deep-fry while turning over frequently.
3. When the surface is done, transfer to a pot of 170C, and deep-fry for 30 min.
4. Take out from the pot and wrap in paper towel for 5 to 7 min.
5. Cut (in half? lengthwise) and serve.

So, how did Kondo come up with this unusual sweet potato tempura?

He used to make sweet potato tempura in a usual way, using thin rounds of sweet potato, but he felt it left something to be desired. He thought it was off balance, and didn't find it tasty at all.

Around dawn in late fall, Kondo was having hot yaki imo (roasted sweet potato) he had bought at a stall. He thought that yaki imo bought out the flavor of sweet potato. "Why can't I do the same by tempura-ing?"
After much trial and error, Kondo's original sweet potato tempura was completed in the fall of the second year after he opened the restaurant.

Other interesting pieces of tempura at Tempura Kondo include
Carrot tempura, made with very thin strips of carrot and
Green pepper tempura, which is a whole green pepper with seeds in it that is battered and deep-fried (I guess several holes are made to prevent explosion).

There is so much to talk about tempura, but I'd like to go on to the next topic, Shinya Shokudo!

Added to add:
This page (Japanese only) explains how to make kakiage, with photos, using the tempura mix for business use that I mentioned in Summary of Tempura Making 2.

Ingredients for three pieces:
160 g onion
30 g carrot
10 g shungiku
100 g water
100 g tempura mix

Directions:
1. Put 200 g (= 160 + 30 + 10) vegetables and 100 g tempura mix in a bowl and mix well.
2. Add 100 g water.
3. Mix well until no longer floury.
4. Place some ingredients in a ladle, unraveling any entangled ingredients fluffily(?).
5. Sink the ladle slowly into the oil.
6. When the ingredients are done to some degree, remove them from the ladle. Flip in 2 min., and deep-fry for another 1 min. Drain well.

Japanese text omitted.
日本語は省略。

Tempura Making 2

Note: This post was initially published between Tempura Making 1 and Tempura Making 3, but was published as a new post here after I corrected Blogger-created stupid label to the initial one. Sorry for the inconvenience.
注：　この投稿は最初、Tempura Making 1とTempura Make 3の間に発行したのですが、Bloggerが作成した変なラベルを最初のラベルに修正したら、新たな投稿として、ここに発行されてしまいました。ご了承下さい。


I forgot to mention that I had made all the necessary preparations for the tempura ingredients before pouring oil into the pot.
言い忘れましたが、鍋に油を注ぐ前に、天ぷらの具材の下準備をすべてしました。

I then turned on the stove, and started to make tempura batter.
次にコンロの火をつけて、天ぷらの衣を作り始めました。

The standard tempura batter is a 1:1 mixture of (beaten egg + cold water) and wheat flour, but for this particular tempura making session, I decided to make batter with beaten egg yolk + cold water and wheat flour. By cold water, I mean tap water at about 21C. Cold water of about 15C is preferable but not essential, and you need not use iced water, in my opinion. For best results, the flour must be low-gluten flour like cake flour (kakurikiko in Japan). All-purpose flour (churikiko in Japan) should be OK (I have made tempura with churikiko with success several times), but don't use bread flour (kyorikiko in Japan).
標準的な天ぷらの衣とは、（溶き卵＋冷水）と小麦粉を1:1で混ぜたものですが、今回の天ぷら作りでは、（溶いた黄身＋冷水）と小麦粉で衣を作ることにしました。冷水と私が言うのは、21度程度の水道水です。15度程度の冷水のほうがいいですが、必須ではありません。また、私の意見ですが、氷水を使う必要もありません。良い結果を出すには、cake flourなどのグルテンの少ない小麦粉（日本では薄力粉）を使ってください。all-purpose flour（日本では中力粉でも大丈夫ですが（何回か中力粉で天ぷらを作りましたが、うまく行きました）、bread flour（日本では強力粉）は使わないで下さい。

Beaten egg yolk + Cold water, mixed thoroughly, the total amount of which should be 200 ml to combine with 200 ml flour to make batter):
溶いた卵の黄身と冷水を良く混ぜたところ。合計200 mlになること（200 mlの小麦粉と合わせて衣を作るには）：

If you try tempura making for the first time, I recommend measuring the flour. 200 ml or 110 g flour. And, about 175 ml cold water to make a yolk solution of 200 ml.
天ぷら作りを初めて試すなら、小麦粉の量を測ることを薦めます。小麦粉200 mlまたは100 g。それから、200 mlの冷水を黄身の溶液を作るために約175 mlの冷水。

Sift flour and add it to the yolk solution (not vice versa).
小麦粉をふるって、黄身の溶液に入れます（逆ではなく）。

Mix thoroughly (but don't overmix). Some people may tell you that the batter should be lumpy, but it need not necessarily be lumpy, in my opinion.
良く混ぜます（でも混ぜ過ぎない）。ダマが残っていなければいけないと言う人がいるかも知れませんが、私としては、必ずしもそうである必要はないと思います。

I usually start making tempura with vegetables, like many others, but I started with prawn this time, so that my hungry son could start having tempura soon. I heated the oil to 180C (my stove is equipped with a temperature control), and deep-fried prawn for about 1.5 min.
普段は、他の人と同様、天ぷらは野菜から作り始めるのですが、お腹をすかせた息子が早く天ぷらを食べれるよう、今回はエビから始めました。油を180度に加熱し（コンロには温度調節がついています）、エビを約1.5分、揚げました。

Not good examples! The prawn ended up curling, although I made several cuts on the belly side of each prawn and bent each prawn in the opposite direction.
良くない例です。エビの腹側に切り込みを幾つか入れ、反対方向に曲げたのですが、エビは丸まってしまいました。

To be continued.
続く。

Summary of Tempura Making 2/天ぷら作りのまとめ２

Batter:
I like the soft and fluffy texture of tempura made with batter of water, whole egg (or yolk only), and wheat flour, because such tempura is what I grew up with. For those who prefer hard and crunchy tempura, the type of tempura you can buy at any supermarket in Japan, which remains hard and crunchy even after it has cooled, premade tempura mix is recommended.

In particular, this tempura mix for business use is quite impressive.

You can see the difference between a piece of prawn tempura made with this mix (left) and another made with flour + egg (right) here.

This photo is from this article. 11th and subsequent photos are related to tempura.

Alternatively, you can add up to 20-30% starch, such as katakuriko (potato starch), to get a similar effect.

Some people recommend adding some baking powder to the batter (1 tsp per 200 ml or 110 g flour) to make crispy tempura. Others recommend using three parts water and one part carbonated water (or beer!) instead water to make crispy tempura. Other ingredients some people add to make crispy tempura include shochu (Japanese distilled spirit), sake, vinegar, and even mayonnaise. I can't comment on them because I have never tried any of them.

Dusting:

This site (Japanese only), created by Tempura Okamoto, a tempura restaurant located in Tachikawa, Tokyo, is a wealth of information about tempura.

For example, this page (Japanese only) lists various vegetables, whether to deep-fry them for a long time, how thick the batter should be, and whether to dust them (where to dust, cut ends and peeled portions only or entirely). If you have any questions about particular vegetables, post a question here, as a comment.

To be continued.

衣：
私は、水、全卵（または黄身だけ）、小麦粉でできた衣で作った、柔らかく、ふわっとした天ぷらを昔から食べていたので、そのほうが好きですが、日本のスーパーならどこでも買えるような、硬く、カリッとした天ぷら（冷めても硬く、カリッとした天ぷら）のほうが好きな人には、天ぷら粉のほうがお薦めです。

特に、この業務用の天ぷら粉は、すごいです。

この天ぷら粉で作った天ぷら（左）と小麦粉＋卵で作った天ぷら（右）の違いがここで分かります。

この写真は、この記事にあります。１１番目以降の写真が天ぷら関連の写真です。

または、でん粉（例えば片栗粉）を２～３割、足せば、似たような効果が得られます。

カリッとした天ぷらを作るため、衣にベーキングパウダーを入れる（200 ml、110 gの小麦粉に小さじ１）を入れることを薦める人もいます。また、水の代わりに、水と炭酸水（またはビール！）を３：１で使うことを薦める人もいます。さらに、焼酎、お酒、お酢、さらにマヨネーズも薦める人もいます。どれも使ったことがないので、コメントできませんが。

打ち粉：

天ぷら岡本という、東京都立川市にある天ぷら屋さんが作ったこのサイト (Japanese only)は、天ぷらに関する情報の宝庫です。

例えば、このページでは、様々な野菜を長く揚げるか否か、衣の濃度、打ち粉をするか否か（切り口、皮をむいた部分だけか、全体か）が分かります。或る野菜に関して質問があれば、コメントして質問して下さい。

続く。

Summary of Tempura Making/天ぷら作りのまとめ

The following is a summary of tempura making, with additional information.
天ぷら作りのまとめと、追加情報です。

Here is the equipment that I use to make tempura:
私が天ぷらを作るときに使う道具です。

I usually use the tempura pot and two or three pairs of cooking chopsticks only. I usually don't use the shifter, the pair of long, large chopsticks, the measuring cup, and the net for scooping tenkasu.
普段は天ぷら鍋と菜箸を２、３本使うだけです。普段は、ふるい、長くて大きな箸、計量カップ、天カスをすくう網は使いません。

A beginner should accurately measure the flour and water to tell what the standard tempura batter should be. Everyone is a beginner at first.
初心者は小麦粉と水を正確に測って、標準的な天ぷらの衣とはどんなものかを知るべきです。誰でも最初は初心者です。

Canola oil and hakurikiko (cake flour) that I used:
使ったキャノーラ油と薄力粉：

Use vegetable oil of your choice. Like I said before, I don't like to use sesame oil to make tempura.
好きな植物油を使って下さい。前に言ったように、私は天ぷらを作る時はごま油を使うのは好きではありません。

I guess that I need to clarify that there is Kanto-style tempura and Kansai-style tempura. The former is characterized by:
Use of sesame oil
Use of eggs in batter
More emphasis on fish and seafood than vegetables
Some tempura ya (restaurants specializing in tempura) use sesame oil only, while others combine sesame oil with other vegetable oil at a ratio of, say, 1:5. Use of sesame oil and egg in batter results in golden brown tempura. More emphasis on fish and seafood stems from the fact that in the Edo period, fish and seafood caught in Edo Bay (present Tokyo Bay) were often used for tempura, and sesame oil was used to mask the fishy flavor.
Kansai-style tempura is characterized by:
Use of vegetable oil other than sesame oil
Use of egg-less batter
More emphasis on vegetables than fish and seafood
I found one good site describing Kansai-style tempura:
Fujiyoshi
In Episode 6 of Kuitan, Kuitan's client complains about Kanto-style tempura being so dark.
Kuitan episode 6 (at around 3:05 in 2/4 of episode 6
In her thread, egullet member prasantrin talks about the tempura meal she had in Tokyo. I posted a photo of Kansai-style tempura to that thread (post #400).
Another difference is that in Kanto, tempura is often eaten with tentsuyu (dipping sauce for tempura), while in Kansai, tempura is often eaten without tentsuyu or with salt or other condiment.
関東風の天ぷらと関西風の天ぷらがあることをはっきりさせる必要があると思います。前者の特徴は：
ごま油を使う
衣に卵を使う
野菜よりも魚介類を重視
ごま油しか使わない天ぷら屋もあり、ごま油を他の植物油と、例えば１：５の割合で混ぜる天ぷら屋もあります。ごま油を使い、衣に卵を使うので、天ぷらは、きつね色になります。魚介類を重視するのは、江戸時代、江戸湾（現在の東京湾）で捕れた魚介類をよく天ぷらにしていたからで、魚臭さを消すため、ごま油が使われました。
関西風天ぷらの特徴は：
ごま油以外の植物油を使う
卵の入ってない衣を使う
魚介類より野菜を重視
関西風の天ぷらを説明する、いいサイトがありました：
Fujiyoshi
喰いタンの第六話で、喰いタンの依頼者が関東風の天ぷらは色が濃いと文句をいいます（第六話の2/4の3:05頃）。
Kuitan episode 6
このスレッドで、egulletのメンバーのprasantrinさんが東京で食べた天ぷらについて語っています。私は関西風の天ぷらの写真を載せました(post #400)。
また、関東では、天ぷらは天つゆで食べることが多いですが、関西では天つゆなしで、または塩など他の調味料で食べることが多いです。

I'd also like to talk about the difference between tempura ya style tempura and soba ya (buckwheat noodle restaurant) style tempura.
The former is characterized by tempura with thin coating that is meant to be eaten immediately after made. The latter is characterized by tempura with thick coating that is often made in advance. Some soba ya style tempura, particularly prawn tempura (ebi　ten), gets more coating while being fried to produce flowers.
You can view examples of tempura ya style tempura served at Tempura Kondo here.
Tempura Kondo is a very famous tempura ya in Tokyo.
You can view example of soba ya style tempura here in my blog.
I made tempura ya style prawn tempura once, using very thin batter. I popped one piece in my mouth immediately after deep-frying. It was one of the best pieces of tempura I had ever had. Later, my wife remarked, "It's not tasty." after having one piece that had already cooled down, and I had to agree. Less coating means less tasty once the tempura cools down.
One possible reason for less coating at a tempura ya is that the customer can have more pieces of less coated tempura, which means the tempura ya can make more money.
また、天ぷら屋の天ぷらとそば屋の天ぷらの違いにも触れたいと思います。
前者の天ぷらは衣が薄く、また、作ってからすぐに食べるようになっています。後者の天ぷらは衣が厚く、また事前に作っておくことが多いです。そば屋の天ぷらの中には、特に海老天の場合、揚げている最中にさらに衣をつけ、「花を咲かせる」こともあります。
「天ぷら近藤」で出されている天ぷら屋の天ぷらの例をここで見れます。
天ぷら近藤は東京にある、とても有名な天ぷら屋です。
そば屋の天ぷらの例は、私のブログのここで見れます。
一度、とても薄い衣で海老天を作ったことがあります。揚げてからすぐ、一つつまみました。今まで食べた中で一番美味しい天ぷらでした。その後、妻が、冷めたのを食べた後に、「美味しくない」と言いました。私も同意せざるを得ませんでした。衣が薄いということは、冷めると美味しくない、ということです。
天ぷら屋の天ぷらの衣が薄い、考えられる一つの理由は、衣が薄い天ぷらはお客さんがいっぱい食べれて、そうすると、天ぷら屋が儲かるからです。

To be continued.
続く。