Mushrooms are another essential of the autumn table. I wrapped four kinds in foil with butter and grilled the parcel over the same garden charcoal that had cooked the saury. Opening it released steam and the smell of butter.
Ingredients
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Shimeji mushrooms
- Enoki mushrooms
- Maitake mushrooms
- Butter
How I made it
- Spread the mushrooms on foil, top with butter, and wrap
- Grill the parcel on the wire over the charcoal in the garden
This moment in the journey
An autumn feast
The chestnut rice turned out beautifully. When I lifted the lid of the pot, golden chestnuts tumbled into view. The foil parcel of mushrooms I grilled over the charcoal in the garden; opening it released steam and the smell of butter.
On the table: chestnut rice sprinkled with black sesame, the foil-grilled mushrooms, and the bonito and mandarin carpaccio. I poured a non-alcoholic beer, and the autumn feast began. Rich bonito and juicy early mandarin, together in one bite. Wakayama's strongest tag team, perhaps.
Seasonal flavors, made from ingredients I had harvested myself. It felt as if I had turned the page of the season with my own hands, and that made me very happy. Ah, autumn, the season of appetite. Out on the veranda, a lamp glowed in the night.
Watch this scene on YouTube4:54
More notes from this journey
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Ryoma 1865, a non-alcoholic beer
What I drank on the veranda and at dinner was Ryoma 1865, a non-alcoholic beer from Nippon Beer Co.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
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