Happy Easter! Time for Sake!

Hey you guys! It's already Easter and we've got lovely weather in Seattle for once!

I'm celebrating this year with some friends with a sushi making party! I'll post more about the actual party after it happens, but of course you can't have a party without sake!

As most of your know, sake is Japanese rice wine with many different varieties nowadays. It comes hot or cold, it can be fruity or dry, there's even sparkling sake. There are kinds to fit everyone's palate. 

For today I'm looking for a Junmai Dai Ginjo. 
This type of sake can be served hot or cold, but it's also made from high quality rice that has been polished. For this type of sake the rice has been polished down, over 50% which removes fats and proteins that can cause hangovers. Yes, this sake is supposed to leave you hangover free! There are also no other additives. 

Usually when someone asks me about cold sake I will tell them that you'll like it if you enjoy dry white wines. If that's not the case for you there are flavored sakes out there, but being sweeter they can cause hangovers. Same goes for unfiltered sake (Nigori.) In a bottle of Nigori you will notice some sediment that looks like a white cloud. It's left over from the grains of rice. It should be chilled and then shaken well before serving. Nigori is good for beginners because it has a sweet/fruity/floral taste.  

It is also recommended that the whole bottle of sake be consumed after opening because it will oxidize, therefore changing the flavor.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit about sake :)
For those of you wanting to kick it up a notch: Sake goes great in some cocktails and don't forget sake bombs! I shot sake dropped into a glass of beer :D

Happy Easter!

Easy Spicy Mayo.

Hey y'all, I know it's been a while, but I'm going to try my best to catch up with this. Gonna start off with something easy! 

Anyways, most of you know what spicy mayo is. It's commonly found as a topping on rolls (usually cooked stuff.) A lot of people really love it. Personally, it's not really my thing when it comes to sushi, I'm just not a really big fan of using mayo that way. However it's pretty good as a dipping sauce or spread too. I've put it on a burger before and was pretty pleased. 

Since I'm making this for the bar it's going to be a large batch, but you can scale it down and tweak it. Just remember that tasting as you go is important. I believe it helps you get a better product. 

I used:

Mayo - 1/2 gallon (I used light mayo)

Sriracha - 3/4 of a bottle

Sugar - about 2 cups

Lemon - 1

Whisk the mayo and sriracha together first. You can add it all at once, but doing it gradually is recommended if you're looking for a certain spice level. 

Next I gradually add in the sugar. Some types of mayonnaise have stronger flavor so you could end up using more or less than 2 cups; just remember to keep tasting it was you go. For instance, the Japanese Kewpie mayo tastes a little strong to me so I usually end up using a lot more sugar. 

Finally you want to cut the lemon in half and squeeze out the juice. Be careful not to get any seeds into the mixture. Do keep in mind that adding lemon juice will thin out your sauce. 

There you go!

Of course all restaurants have their own variations. Some places use different hot sauces, some sweeten it with orange juice or sprite. All in all, a very simple thing to make. You can mess around and create your own if you so desire.