About Barware

In recent years, there has been a plethora of sushi establishments opening in my community, and with good reason. Despite there being a sushi restaurant on virtually every street corner, the lines at these eateries still go out of the door on a Friday or Saturday night. Tired of the long waits and exorbitant prices, I have recently endeavored to learn how to create my own sushi.

Admittedly, my first few attempts were feeble at best. However, after some trial-and-error, I have become adept at making the basics like maki and nigiri. I’ve even done some experimenting and developed a few of my own original dishes. This weekend I am going to invite a few friends over to serve as guinea pigs for my raw cuisine, and I’ll probably breakout a couple of my traditional sake sets to ensure the party is a success.

There’s nothing more fun than inviting your closest friends over for an intimate dinner. Planning themed dinners is a great way to introduce people to new foods and culture. To plan a Japanese themed dinner, you only need to buy a few ingredients to make chicken teriyaki. Just don’t forget to take out your sake sets and serve some cold beer!

Easy Marinated Chicken

~ 1 3 ½ lb chicken or 6 breast halves
~ 1/3 c. Italian salad dressing
~ 1/3 c. white wine
~ 1 tsp. basil

Skin chicken and place in baking pan. Mix remaining ingredients together. Pour over chicken and marinate in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Turn once. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. Baste occasionally with marinade.

What is the ideal temperature for serving sake? Most decent sake tastes  best slightly chilled. In short, there is no one ideal serving temperature, but cool to chilled brings our the best in most good sake, with subtle differences presenting themselves at each temperature range. A lot of good sake goes well warmed, but not too hot! Piping hot sake is a carryover from decades ago when sake was not at the level it is now, and heating it was the best way to go. Times have changed , but in Japan as well as in the US, a lot of cheap sake is served very hot

Warming Sake. If you do not recommend heating Premium Sake, then can you recommend a fine sake that will heat well for our customers who wish it warm/hot? Recommended types are Kamo no Izumi and Sake Hitosuji, both of which are in the US, for gentle warming. Also, you are opening a Pandora’s Box here, as there is no simple answer to your question. It is all about personal preference, but more often the sake that is suited to gentle warming is earthier, richer and less fruity. Often the brewer will recommend this on the label, but more often you need to trust your tasting experience and preferences.

Traditionally, sake is served in wooden box cup, known as masu; unlike other containers, it is a standard measurement, which has a volume of (1 fl oz). In the past, the wooden box was said to complement the traditionally brewed sake, as it is brewed in a wooden cask, but in modern times, the masu is shunned by sake purists because the wood affects the flavor of the sake. Furthermore, tradition requires the masu be filled to the rim as a sign of prosperity. It is now common to make masu as lacquerware or even out of ABS plastic. As the traditional sake-serving cup and a symbol of prosperity, the masu still has a place in modern times and is still used for the purpose of ceremony or to show generosity. In some of the more traditional Japanese restaurants, the server may put a glass inside the masu (or put the masu inside a saucer) and pour until the sake overflows and spills into the secondary container.

Nowadays, the sake is typically served in ceramic cups. The cups used for drinking sake are generally small cylindrical vessels called ochoko, but may also include flatter shapes such as wide-mouthed bowls. Sakazuki are more ceremonial cups used most commonly at weddings and other special occasions, but larger versions of sakazuki also exist for binge drinking. This information has been obtained from Wikipedia.

Sake set is a generic term for the flask and cups used to serve sake, the traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. Sake sets are commonly ceramic, but may be glass or lacquered plastic. The flask and cups may be sold individually instead or as a set.

The server of a sake set is a flask called tokkuri. Tokkuri are generally bulbous with a narrow neck, but may have a variety of other shapes, including spouted serving bowls (katakuchi). Traditionally, heated sake is often warmed by placing the sake filled tokkuri in a pan of hot water, and thus the narrowed neck would prevent the heat from escaping. This information has been obtained from Wikipedia.

The word sake in Japanese can refer to any alcoholic beverage, but in general, it is used in English to mean a specific type of rice alcohol, also known as nihonshu. Sake is sometimes called rice wine, but in truth, it is not a wine, nor is it exactly a beer, nor a spirit. Sake is a rather unique type of fermented alcohol.

To begin the fermentation process, sake is milled down until mostly only starch remains. At this point, the starch is fermented to turn into sugar, then further fermented so that the sugars transform into alcohol. This is somewhat similar to the production of beer, but unlike beer brewing, the starch breakdown in sake is not caused by enzymes from the malt, but rather from a special mold.

After fermentation, sake is naturally cloudy from bits of particulate left from the grains. Some sake, such as nigori, is allowed to remain clouded, but the majority is filtered so that it is clear like a spirit. Sake is best enjoyed while fresh, so unlike wine and more like beer, sake is rarely aged. Sake is fairly high in alcohol for a fermented drink, ranging from 14% to 16% alcohol – as compared to 8% to 14% for most wines, or 4% to 6% for most beers. When produced, sake usually contains around 20% alcohol.