Back in February, Mr. Tess went grocery shopping, and what did he find: a frozen 3 pound tongue! Oh no room in the freezer, so what to make with it? One recipe I made was a beef tongue stew. I did some online research and used Hiroko Shimbo’s recipe for a lamb stew as a guide to cobble together a sort of Japanese version of gyutan stew. Then one day, I was browsing Ms. Shimbo’s blog and she mentioned her mother’s beef tongue stew. Of course I had to ask!
I haven’t been doing my usual quota of blog surfing lately, but last week Ms. Shimbo posted a recipe from her mother and sister! I’m looking forward to preparing the recipe soon—Mr. Tess will be back in a day or so. And of course I very much thank Ms. Shimbo (and her mother and sister) for this recipe and for their efforts. Take a look at their recipe and see for yourself how delicious it sounds! Following is her charming introduction:
How my Mom and Yoko worked together for the creation of the dish is…my Mom asked Yoko to prepare her recipe which she acquired in Tokyo while she took many French cooking classes from a Japanese expatriate wife who lived in Paris, France, several years. My Mom wanted to compare Yoko’s recipe with her own, which derived from the French recipe introduced to Japan around the beginning of 20th century at the time when red wine, tomato paste and celery were not available for home cooks. Then, my Mom told Yoko that she will offer references to her recipe. Below is the recipe which Yoko used, and my Mom’s reference is written in italic. The idea of using apple and orange peels in the recipe comes from my Mom’s sister, Hisako. In Japan we peel all fruits before we eat them and so we end up with lots of fruit peels. Hisako learned to avoid wasting these precious leftovers and used the peels to enhance the flavor of German-Style Beef Stew that she learned to prepare in the 1930s at an elite women’s finishing school in Tokyo that specialized in training woman in all the arts of house keeping, family raising and entertaining. Such schools probably do not exist today. from Hiroko Shimbo’s blog
In an email, Ms. Shimbo noted that her mother was brought up with a very interesting food culture which did not belong to the majority of Japanese back in those days. And I think she learned from her mother how to be creative. I hope my readers are enjoying her book as much as I am.
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Tess's Japanese Kitchen 