Ikimaki tempura with bamboo shoot and butterbur sprout

Tempura is a dish that came to Japan from Portugal during the Muromachi period. As for its etymology, there seem to be various theories — the Portuguese word 'tempero,' meaning to season or cook, and the Spanish word 'templo,' meaning a day on which one abstains from eating meat, among others. This time, since it's the basics of tempura, I'll talk about how to handle the flour. At our restaurant, we put a block of dry ice into the flour. This removes the moisture from the flour, so it fries up nice and crisp — please give it a try. Also, mix the egg yolk and water well, and once you've added the flour, don't mix more than necessary; move the batter bowl and chopsticks at the same time to make the batter quickly. Working quickly keeps gluten from developing, which holds down unwanted stickiness. Then, coat the ingredient well with the batter, and let the excess batter drip off well over the batter bowl before frying — this improves the texture. As for the ingenuity involved: normally, it's standard practice to fry tempura raw, but this time we cooked it before frying. Cooking it first firms up the shellfish just the right amount and removes excess moisture, so the flesh fries up soft.

By removing the heads from the shrimp (ikimaki) 2 to 3 hours before frying and keeping them refrigerated, amino acids are released and the umami increases. Also, scoring the belly side in 4 to 5 places lets them fry up nice and straight. When placing them in the oil, holding the tail with four fingers makes them curl open nicely in the oil. Try this especially when using frozen shrimp.

Remove the heads from the shrimp two to three hours ahead, rinse in water, and refrigerate.

Before frying, peel off the shell and score the belly side in four or five places.

Hold the shrimp's tail with four fingers and place it into the oil.

When removing it from the oil, drain it thoroughly.

For early-harvest bamboo shoots, remove the bitterness, then fry them as they are.

Clean any debris off the butterbur sprouts, open them up, and fry.