[thechat] Cooking questions: Japanese ingredients

[David Wagner]

I thought about writing to Madhu directly on this, but I realized I 
should probably open it up to thechat, both to get more opinions and to 
spread his cooking wisdom to everyone.

I'm looking to improve my selection of (primarily Japanese) staples. I 
tend to use whatever's around, but I'd rather impress people with truly 
fabulous flavors. So I'm wondering what brands and varieties those "in 
the know" use of:
- cooking sake and mirin
- soy sauce
- rice vinegar
- sesame oil
- miso
- wasabi
- nori

I'm not likely to switch from Yamasa soy sauce -- it's tasty, it wins 
awards, and the US brewery is about 60 miles north of my house. But I 
have no real preconceptions about anything else.

I know that there's probably a great deal of regional difference in 
availability of certain brands, but it seems that most of the major 
producers are pretty good about their exports.

(Ooh! I just found a fresh wasabi producer that's also within 60 miles: 
freshwasabi.com. Guess that takes care of that.)

Thanks all!

--

David Wagner
dave at worlddomination.net