Stuff...

[bovil]

Good: got the new Japanese costume book. It's got armor and menswear (and a bit of womenswear) from Heian through Edo.

Bad: got no actual work done on the Japanese.

Good: Getting closer to my desired result with Kung Faux chicken (shrimp, etc). The velveted chicken came out perfect, I just need to work on the sauce a bit more (it was a smidge salty, I need less soy sauce and more something else). Yay for learning and perfecting new cooking techniques.

Comments

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

what do you use for sauce? I presume you know about the corn starch...

[bovil.livejournal.com]

"velveting" invoves making an oil/cornstarch mixture and coating the meat before it goes into the pan; this creates a very thin crispy coating, thinner than breading. When I add the sauce mix (after the chicken is stir-fried), some soaks into the coating, and there's some starch that's come off in the fat that thickens the sauce.

[djmermaid.livejournal.com]

have you tried the low sodium shoyu? that's pretty much all I use - it gives the soy sauce flavor without the intense salty effect.

can't wait to see your Japanese creations!

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Worth a try... I tend to buy the big jugs of shoyu, but I'll buy a smaller bottle of low-sodium the next trip to the store.

[lferion]

Ooo! Japanese costume book? Did I miss the post where you talked about this with the title & stuff?

The fabric you showed earlier is really gorgeous, btw.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Kure, Mitsuo, Samurai: Arms, Armor, Costume, Chartwell Books, London, UK, 2007, ISBN: 0785822089, ISBN-13: 9780785822080

I thought I posted about it in my journal, but I may have only done so at gbacg_costume.