Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag
Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook
Directed by Erin Redden, Nicholas TreeshinS3 • E21 Mar 16, 2011 30m
Anna and Kristina are feeling a little out of their element and comfort zone in preparing dishes from "Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook" as it is food they feel best left to the restaurateurs who know what they're doing and have the time to do it. However, as izakayas, the Japanese equivalent of a pub, are springing up across North America, they are willing to give the recipes in the cookbook a try, despite what they perceive as the finicky preparation, especially in the exacting presentation of the final product. They are preparing six dishes in three hours: spinach with black sesame sauce, fried tofu stuffed with raclette cheese, tuna with nuta miso mustard dressing, ume-shiso rolled chicken, foil-baked mushrooms, and steamed and grilled pork with salt. Their guest taster is Koji Zenimaru, the executive chef at Vancouver's Kingyo Izakaya. He intimidates them solely because of his larger than life attitude (he seeing himself an entertainer before a chef) and that his expectations are "higher than Mount Fuji". He does surprise the pair with his entrance into the house. In addition, Anna and Kristina get a lesson in izakaya etiquette.
