Single Gaijin male seeks help with main course at dinner party

February 28, 2008 12:51 PM

I will be hosting a Japanese dinner party on Sunday night. What should my main course be?

Specifically my regular dinner club is getting together, and each month we choose a different theme. I'm hosting, so I chose Japanese food. I'd like to do something that's both easy and impressive. (and wouldn't we all, right?)... so what would you suggest? I have done a little bit of Japanese cooking for myself (I own Mr. Bento, see previous discussion) so I have a few things already in my place, and I don't mind going to H-Mart to pick up some extras. There'll be about 10 people, so I guess "one-pot meal" style would be ideal, but I'm up for anything that doesn't take a lot of deep frying (I just don't have the space for that). Thanks, hive mind!

posted by indiebass to food & drink (25 comments total)

Shabu shabu!
posted by ottereroticist at 1:19 PM on February 28, 2008

I can't exactly vouch for the results, but this recipe has been on my to-do list since having a similar miso marinated cod dish at another (much cheaper than Nobu) restaurant that was delicious. Looks incredibly simple, even for a big group.
posted by hihowareyou at 1:40 PM on February 28, 2008

Japanese curry is easy and delicious. I usually add some mirin to it for flavor.
posted by Quonab at 1:40 PM on February 28, 2008

If you could somehow make ramen with shredded pork the way they do at Momofuku, you'd be the toast of the town. Sorry I can't provide a recipe, though.
posted by saladin at 1:45 PM on February 28, 2008

Sort of getting away from a main course, but I've made sushi rolls (with and w/o fish) for dinner parties and people have been like "wow, you can make sushi" - who knew it was so hard...
posted by jeffe at 1:47 PM on February 28, 2008

The Shabu sounds a little complicated for my studio apartment... but I'm going to have to try and convince one of our other friends to let us do it at their place. ^_^

The fish seems really easy, but I don't know if I'd be able to start it until Saturday night. I'm definitely going to keep it on the table (pun intended...)

And I didn't know the Japanese did curry. I'm going to investigate that further. Thanks for everyone's help so far!
posted by indiebass at 1:48 PM on February 28, 2008

Japanese curry (either S&B or Vermont Curry) is foolproof and addictive, but lacks plate appeal on its own. Solve the problem by making the curry with small bits of beef and vegetable, then serving it with short-grain rice, finely shredded cabbage salad, and panko-breaded fried prawns on top of the curry. Japanese soul food!
posted by Enroute at 1:53 PM on February 28, 2008

2nd'ing Black cod. Japanese curry is like fast food. And S&B and Vermont brands are pretty nasty at that.
posted by mphuie at 1:58 PM on February 28, 2008

You could also do a broiled mackerel like this.
posted by mphuie at 2:00 PM on February 28, 2008

You might find this website helpful.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 2:06 PM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yosenabe is a Japanese stew-type deal with lots of ingredients but most importantly fish, mushrooms (enoki, maitake) and some cabbage. It is often eaten as a sort of main course when having a big multi-course meal. It varies a lot in quality, depending on the quality of what you put in it, but is often excellent , satisfying and relatively cheap. Especially when it's cold. The best I ever had had a giant red snapper head in it, and the eyeballs, cheeks and nape of neck were divvied up like treasure.

If you serve that with a some tempura, some sashimi and some short grain rice and some sake or shoyu you have roughly approximated a Japanese feast.
posted by kickback at 2:09 PM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Fingers of fire: that website is helpful in MANY ways! Thanks! (I can't believe i haven't seen it before).

I like the Yosenabe idea... it's definitely one-pot cooking.

The other thing, which I hadn't mentioned, was that as the host I'm only making the main course. The other people who are coming are all bringing the side dishes, salads, desserts, etc. so you never know what combination you're going to get. I really like that about our dinner club, and it's only resulted in a couple people bringing identical side dishes a few times.

(Oh, and saladin: now I wish I had another question to ask, so I could say "does anyone know the recipe for Momofuku ramen? I want to eat that right now, in fact.)
posted by indiebass at 2:16 PM on February 28, 2008

Glad to be of assistance, indiebass. The only recipe I've been brave enough to attempt off of that website is for Japanese salad dressings, which is quite good, I must say.

Also: one of the most illuminating things about my trip to Japan about a year ago was how much the cuisine is about lots of small dishes, rather than a main and sides. I realize that this might not jibe so well with your dinner club, but on the other hand maybe there's a way to incorporate? Just sayin'...
posted by fingers_of_fire at 2:28 PM on February 28, 2008

Everything Enroute said about curry, and he's even got the best brands picked out for you!

Buy the flavor bricks, not the boil-in-bag. The directions are entirely in Japanese, but basically, you boil a flavor brick with your vegetables (I recommend potato chunks, thick slices of onion, thin carrot slices, and some sorta meat - probably beef) until everything is done. I prefer the sauce thicker than it usually comes in a Japanese restaurant, but it's up to you.

Definitely serve with long-grain rice. It may sound perverse but cheddar cheese makes a delicious (warning: not authentic!) topping. The shrimp recommended above are much more authentic but a lot more work.

Shabu shabu and nabe are both a lot of fun, but can be putzy for big groups, if you don't have the right equipment, or if your friends have trouble manipulating the foods in the pots.
posted by whatzit at 2:29 PM on February 28, 2008

Agreeing with the nabe idea... maybe Chanko nabe (sumo wrestler style!).

Best way to do these is to pickup one of the portable gas stoves that use disposable butane cartridges and a cheap hotpot from an asian store so you can cook and eat from it at the table.
posted by cwhitfcd at 2:31 PM on February 28, 2008

Nabe is a perfect Japanese winter food.
posted by that girl at 3:07 PM on February 28, 2008

Nabe is great for big groups - the only preparation is the stock and cutting up the ingredients, and putting them on platters. The actually cooking is done when people are all gathered around the table, by putting lots of stuff in a pot and letting ait simmer for a little while. I had a nabe party for 10 people a little while ago, in my tiny apartment, using two nabes, and it worked great. Reasonably cheap too, if you add lots of vegetables, like carrot, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms, and onion, and tofu. For extra protein you can add thinly sliced pork, some pieces of any white fish (maybe not mackerel though), chicken pieces, fish balls, chicken balls, anything that catches your eye pretty much. Variety makes it taste better.

For the stock, you can use the basic Japanese instant dashi, or make your own if you have time, with konbu and bonito flakes. I like to simmer some carrot and onion and garlic and ginger to make the stock extra awesome.

As for flavoring, you can add it directly into the pot, eg, I like Kimchi, also Miso and Butter is a great combination. Or you can have personal dishes of Ponzu or something so people can flavor it themselves.

When all the ingredients have been eaten, then you add cooked rice and egg to the (by now) really flavorful stock, and make zousui, a kind of rice soup, and for japanese people the highlight of the nabe.
posted by Sar at 3:29 PM on February 28, 2008

This is extravagant, but jingisukan, Mongolian-style lamb and vegetables sliced thin and cooked on a grill shaped like Genghis Khan's helmet, is a popular beer accompaniment from the northern island of Hokkaido.

I imagine it might be tough to find the wherewithal to make it this time, but an honest-to-goodness jingisukan party is a worthy longterm goal.
posted by breezeway at 7:12 PM on February 28, 2008

I nearly forgot okonomiyaki, a pizza-like seafood omelet from Osaka, which is a lot of fun to make.
posted by breezeway at 7:29 PM on February 28, 2008

Or you could go for individual servings of the ultimate Japanese comfort food, oyakodon. Oh, that's so good.
posted by breezeway at 7:48 PM on February 28, 2008

motsunabe is all the rage in tokyo.
It's a cheaper, coarser version of the regular nabe dishes.
nthing okonomiyaki, it's really easy to make, it's also cheap, very japanese yet familiar.
The kanto version, monjayaki, is also good but you'll need a teppan.
posted by SageLeVoid at 8:15 PM on February 28, 2008

The Chanko nabe intrigues me... and actually seems doable. I probably wouldn't need to buy a new huge clay pot, if I just did it in the kitchen and served everyone. I also like that if people are still hungry, you just add the rice and egg and it's A.G. The pizza also seems intriguing... I could make a couple of those for different palettes.

I should have also mentioned: I don't exactly have a dining table either, so I was planning on having everyone sit on the floor... maybe around the pot with finished food?
posted by indiebass at 8:23 PM on February 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

oyakodon is a great idea.

And I say this every time I ask a question, but I love love LOVE AskMe. You all are so great! I will let you all know what I go with once I commit.
posted by indiebass at 8:28 PM on February 28, 2008

Miso cod *is* delicious. Try to get some mirin and white miso as it does make a difference.
posted by lalochezia at 8:37 PM on February 28, 2008

After almost going with the Chanko Nabe, I ultimately decided on okonomiyaki because it did seem fun to make, and I figured I could make two or three and if someone didn't like what was on one, they could eat one of the others!

Again: thank you all so much for your help. I'll keep checking back here for more comments, (as you can see i've been adding some links myself just to keep all this information in one place) though things have certainly slowed down since I got knocked off the front page. Oh, and I'm DEFINTELY going to be making some miso cod for myself... that sounded AWESOME, but ended up being cost-prohibitive for a big group. I can't wait to try it though! Thank you all so much again!
posted by indiebass at 7:30 AM on March 1, 2008