What I Mean When I Say "Japanese-American" Food, or, I Am a Horrible Cook

Yesterday I tried out a vegan panna cotta recipe from the Gochiso magazine I picked up at a local Nijiya store. By the time I finished making it I had been reminded of one fact:

I am a horrible cook. And I am an even worse baker.

In Yoshimoto Banana's Kitchen the protagonist describes how she had to learn patience to become a good cook. She had to take time to wash and cut things properly. She had to wait until pans heated thoroughly. She had to wait until things cooled down. She had to measure and weigh ingredients accurately. In the kitchen, to be a good cook, she could not rush.

Well, I'm just bad at that. In fact, I am horrible not only at being patient, but also at measuring properly, mixing properly, even getting the right ingredients together. I am too lazy to wash two bowls, so I just mix in one. I am too lazy and cheap to assemble the necessary ingredients, so I make (often fatal) substitutions. If a recipe calls for sifting flour, I won't even bother making it.

But there is one thing that does get me to make things: the thought of wasting food, or put more bluntly, knowing that something will spoil unless I use it—now.

That was what led me to make this vegan panna cotta. I've only had soy milk spoil on me once in my life, and I was not going to let it happen again. So there I was, Saturday morning, making vegan panna cotta.

The recipe reminds me of what someone said about Japanese-American (or was it Hawaiian?) cooking: Every dish must contain tofu or jello—or both. Of course this is a lie, but I do like the Tofu Key Lime Jello Pie that my family friend always made for us (and for which she gave me the recipe, and upon remembering it, I think I'll have to make it soon). Anyway, here is the recipe from Gochiso, and below is more play-by-play of the disaster that transpired in my kitchen.


Tofu Panna Cotta (recipe by Kei Hasegawa, printed in Gochiso magazine)
Makes 8 servings

1 silk tofu
1 cup soy milk
2/3 sticks agar [the kind from a Japanese store]
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup olive oil
Peel of 1 lemon
Black nectar [that's molasses, right?], to taste, for sauce

1. Soften the stick agar as instructed. [At Japanese stores it's called 棒寒天.]
2. Heat the tofu in the microwave and turn into a paste using a whipper.
3. Drain the stick agar and combine with soy milk and lemon peel in a pot, heating to melt the agar. Bring to boil.
4. Once (3) boils, add to (2) while straining.
5. Add maple syrup and olive oil to (4) and pour into preferred mold(s). Chill.
6. When chilled, cut to preference and dress with black nectar [or molasses, if I'm right].


I'm sure the real thing is lovely. My version was not so felicitous. I'll start with the smaller disasters and move my way up.

- One cup maple syrup might be too much, though this is hardly a problem, since I love excessively sweet things. But for what I made, I think I could've used less. (Of course I didn't have molasses anyway, so without the final sauce, this was just fine.)

- I didn't have agar. I'm sorry, this was already non-vegan before I got started. I used gelatin powder instead (with a "sell by" date of 2009.09.29...but for gelatin powder, does it matter?). I think it didn't matter ultimately, but I felt a pang of guilt making vegan panna cotta with gelatin.

- Since I didn't know what a whipper (ホイッパー) was, I used a rubber spatula to make a paste out of the tofu. Except that was hardly possible. (Also, I should've drained the heated tofu before I attempted to paste it.)

- I didn't have a lemon, so I used an orange. And instead of using peels I grated it. That was just my misreading of the recipe. It made for a sweeter taste, not as refreshing as it could've been.

- Rather than straining the soy milk mixture into the tofu, I attempted to "strain" the tofu into the soy milk. This wasn't such a bad idea (since the tofu was hardly a paste at this point), except that it wasn't possible.

- Since the combination of the tofu and soy milk mixture hardly looked ideal, I used a hand mixer at that point to blend it together. Then I thought, "Oh, maybe this is what he meant by 'whipper.'" (Indeed, a Google Image search for ホイッパー calls up whisks and hand mixers. ::sigh::)

- After adding the olive oil (the one good choice I made—using the Persian Lime flavor EVOO that Buddy's mom got me for Christmas) there was a disturbing film of oil at the top of the mixture. I had no idea how to get rid of it—hence the film of oil at the top of the ones in the photo.


All this made a mess of me and my kitchen. I tell you, I am sticking to my Campbell's soup casseroles and tofu/Jello pies next time.

[P.S. I must say, however, that the recipe is great: Despite my lack of cooking skills, the final product tastes good—creamy and sweet, surprisingly light. If I had treated the tofu more thoroughly, the visual texture would be even better as well.]