Steamed tamaji custard

Foie gras tamaji-mushi (foie gras steamed in an egg-and-dashi custard base) is served year-round as a stand-in for either the soup course or the opening course. Topped with foie gras as we do here, even a small portion becomes an impressive dish. This was devised by the third-generation young proprietor, Shingo Okazoe. In fact, when I asked him during this feature how he originally positioned this dish, he said, 'For my part, I thought of it as a stand-in for the opening course...' It's a versatile, easy-to-use dish — you can serve it without the foie gras in a chawanmushi cup, or mix it with a drinkable ponzu — and since it's easy to prepare and scale for catering work such as tea gatherings, and can be served piping hot, it has become a dish that captures the spirit of the times, enjoyed across generations.

1. Pass the foie gras through a fine sieve, combine it with the tamaji, place it in a vessel, and steam it. Combining the full amount all at once causes it to separate, so put the roughly chopped foie gras into a blender, add the tamaji gradually in 4 to 5 additions, breaking down the lumps of foie gras and carefully blending it in as it incorporates into the tamaji.

2. For the foie gras arima-yaki (grilled with a sansho-pepper glaze, Arima style), cut raw foie gras into portions of about 25 g each, and sear both sides in a frying pan to give them a seared color.

3. Add a grilling glaze containing Arima sansho (candied sansho peppercorns), and glaze-grill it down to a good finish.

4. Top the tamaji-mushi from before with the foie gras arima-yaki, pour the grilling glaze over it, and serve.

Shinbashi Kanetanaka