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Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

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Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#141

Post by WillyF »

notyourday wrote: post #63
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #3

So is most truffle oil. Canned reindeer meat in the Nordic countries can be up to 40% pork. Budget-brand soy sauce might actually be "soy sauce powder" mixed with water, as opposed to something straightforwardly brewed. If you travel the developing world, you may find that what is sold as chocolate actually has no cacao in it. Lots and lots of disappointments out there in the food world. I find reading labels careful…

There's no such thing as a non-synthetic truffle oil. It is not made from truffles what so ever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle_oil

Even "real" truffle oil (or butter or some other fat) need not contain real truffles. It's quite easy to infuse fats with truffle aroma. If you put truffles and a fat (with sufficient surface area in contact with the air) in an enclosed place like under a bowl in a refrigerator, you will get a very significant truffle aroma/flavor in the fat.

I've done this with Oregon white truffles (tuber oregonense) that I harvested with the help of my dog. Kept the butter frozen for over a year, and it still had the truffle aroma when I pulled it out of the freezer.

I actually think the infusion method adds a lot more flavor/aroma than adding pieces of truffle, but the pieces are clear evidence that what you bought actually came in contact with real truffles--it's pretty much just marketing.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#142

Post by Quiark »

tru3_power wrote: post #24
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #3

So is most truffle oil. Canned reindeer meat in the Nordic countries can be up to 40% pork. Budget-brand soy sauce might actually be "soy sauce powder" mixed with water, as opposed to something straightforwardly brewed. If you travel the developing world, you may find that what is sold as chocolate actually has no cacao in it. Lots and lots of disappointments out there in the food world. I find reading labels careful…

Another one is Kobe beef. Real Kobe beef is from the city of Kobe in Japan and is only served in a handful of resturaunts in the US (I think 1 in NYC and a few in LV). So next time you see Kobe beef on the menu- you know it’s most likely a lie.

When I was in Kobe I had a hard time figuring out which restaurant sells the real thing.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#143

Post by js2 »

mikekchar wrote: post #110
doktrin wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you NEVER dunk the rice into a mixture of soja-sauce and wasabi (no matter if real or not) why not?

The rice is already seasoned with sugar and salt (quite a lot of it, actually). Also, the flavour of the rice is enhanced dramatically by the air between the rice kernels. Part of the art of nigiri sushi is making sure that you squeeze it enough that it sticks together, but not enough that the air is forced out. If the fish has not been seasoned, it's usual to dip it in soy sauce (by turning the sushi over and just d…

Another trick is to use a piece of ginger dunked in the soy sauce to paint the soy on the nigiri to lessen the chances of the nigiri falling apart.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#144

Post by js2 »

naravara wrote: post #39
tptacek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could say the same thing about vanilla, for which Cooks Illustrated was infamously not able to triangle-test a meaningful preference between artificial and real in a baked goods panel (IIRC, the Milk Bar cookbook went a step further and specified recipes that only worked with artificial vanilla). Sometimes, the artificial ("beer-grade") version is a legit advance. A big problem with truffle oil is that it's too e…

>You could say the same thing about vanilla, for which Cooks Illustrated was infamously not able to triangle-test a meaningful preference between artificial and real in a baked goods panel (IIRC, the Milk Bar cookbook went a step further and specified recipes that only worked with artificial vanilla). Sometimes, the artificial ("beer-grade") version is a legit advance. True. (And TBH I prefer a decent beer to an equi…

My two favorite things to entomb in gelatin are vodka (jello shots) and cream (panna cotta). Mostly the latter though.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#145

Post by pvaldes »

mikekchar wrote: post #109
tptacek wrote: post #5

In high-end Japanese restaurants, you can often get real wasabi (it'll be listed at the bottom of the menu). My experience with it has been that it's usually coarser, more watery, and less pungent than the "standard" wasabi. I do not prefer it; whatever combination of horseradish and mustard restaurants default to is, I think, the better product. If I was eating wasabi on its own and trying to, I don't know, apprecia…

Wow. That's amazing to me (and also that so many responders agree). I love wasabi! It has a clean, sweet, chlorophyll taste to it. However, there are a few caveats. Real wasabi needs to be mashed, not grated. If you cut the cell walls it doesn't produce the flavour properly. You need to break the cell walls. That's why you use a shark skin "grater" (and it's important to press hard and "grate" in a circular motion be…

> I find winter wasabi to be much sweeter than summer wasabi

This is a normal response in many plants. They accumulate sugars in cells in cold months. Sugar acts then as antifreeze protecting the cell's integrity.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#146

Post by showdead »

phonypc wrote: post #139
graphitezepp wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't they became rare, it was ubiquitous refrigeration that made them popular. It was prison food because it was basically spoiled.

You typically keep lobster alive until cooking, I don't see refrigeration changing much.

The popularity of lobster is generally attributed to it being canned and served on the railroads (thinking that they could get away with serving cheap meat to customers in the midwest unfamiliar with it) and then people developing a taste for it.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#147

Post by tptacek »

buu700 wrote: post #125
tptacek wrote: post #5

In high-end Japanese restaurants, you can often get real wasabi (it'll be listed at the bottom of the menu). My experience with it has been that it's usually coarser, more watery, and less pungent than the "standard" wasabi. I do not prefer it; whatever combination of horseradish and mustard restaurants default to is, I think, the better product. If I was eating wasabi on its own and trying to, I don't know, apprecia…

Sounds like what you were given was just a coarsely ground and non-fully-dehydrated version of the root? At home I use off-the-shelf wasabi powder, and after mixing with a small amount of water the resulting paste's texture is consistent with that of faux-wasabi. Edit: I'd bought my wasabi powder under the pretense that it genuine wasabi imported from Japan, but now I see several Amazon reviews alleging that it's fak…

No, it's the actual root, grated with one of those weird Japanese wasabi graters.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#148

Post by atomical »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #137
atomical wrote: post #15

At what point does fake become the real thing? Do people really aspire to more than they are getting? At some point _pure_ becomes obnoxious.

Just a truth-in-labelling thing. Not obnoxious; its consumer protection.

If consumers like the fake wasabi and most consumers have only had fake wasabi then it's not really protecting the consumer.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#149

Post by buu700 »

tptacek wrote: post #147
buu700 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like what you were given was just a coarsely ground and non-fully-dehydrated version of the root? At home I use off-the-shelf wasabi powder, and after mixing with a small amount of water the resulting paste's texture is consistent with that of faux-wasabi. Edit: I'd bought my wasabi powder under the pretense that it genuine wasabi imported from Japan, but now I see several Amazon reviews alleging that it's fak…

No, it's the actual root, grated with one of those weird Japanese wasabi graters.

Thought so. I just meant that your experience seems more related to the difference in processing than the difference in root species.

Re: Most Wasabi Is Fake [video]

#150

Post by JoeAltmaier »

atomical wrote: post #148
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a truth-in-labelling thing. Not obnoxious; its consumer protection.

If consumers like the fake wasabi and most consumers have only had fake wasabi then it's not really protecting the consumer.

Sure it is; those that know the difference. Just call it something else. Like horseradish for instance. Which is what it is.
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