How often do you cook with a blowtorch? Not canned heat (the fondue pot type), but an industrial grade blowtorch? We have now eaten our way across half of Japan, but tonight we witnessed a new style of Japanese cooking – flame thrower.

We left Nara around 11 AM, and arrived in Osaka in the early afternoon. I am behind in my accounts, but I must again take a side track and tell you about the food. Cassady has a good friend in Osaka, Besu, and we met her for dinner. She wanted us to go to a local takoyaki restaurant, the Pizza Ball House (Takonotetsu). The translation is loose. Trust me, there is no pizza in this cuisine other than melted cheese.

Takoyaki is similar to okonomiyaki in that both consist of mixed vegetables fried in a milk-light batter. Okonomiyaki is a fritter or patty, while the takoyaki is a similar mix molded in a ping pong-sized ball. We cooked these dough balls at our table, carefully turning them in their cast iron mold with a stiletto-like pick. The end result is a crisp doughy outside protecting a moist, vegetable and/or meat laden interior. Scrumptious.

The restaurant also served okonomiyaki, and I ordered the version with mountain vegetables. I absolutely love mountain vegetables. For those in the U.S. that have not had the pleasure, mountain vegetables consist of the fiddle leaves of ferns, mountain potatoes, wild mushrooms, and a variety of forest stems and leaves that defy description. Cassady and Besu finished off with a pizza okonomiyaki, which is the standard patty drowned in mayonnaise and cheese and then crisped by blowtorch.

Of all of the Japanese cuisine that I have experienced, I like this style the best. Okonomiyaki, like soba and udon, is Japanese soul food. I am not a fan of Japanese curry (another soul food favorite), but otherwise I can’t think of a more satisfying way to spend a relaxing evening than with friends and family, a bottle of cold sake, and okonomiyaki.

Ted
23 Mar 2010