Kaiseki

 Kaiseki is a special Japanese meal. I said earlier that I would add a post dedicated to kaiseki, so here it is.

Depending on how you count the various parts of the meal, there are ten to twelve courses.

The kaiseki menus were in Japanese except for this one. It's not the menu for the
dinner below, although the generic description of the courses is usually the
same. The ingredients vary depending on the season and locale.

First two courses are often served at the same time, Here, clockwise from the simmered oysters
topped with steamed stems of "Japanese parsley" (Cryptotaenia japonica) which
provides a color, textural and taste contrast to the oysters. Under the freshly picked
maple leaf is a small bamboo skewer with pieces of shrimp, cucumber and tofu.
Under the skewer left are two squares of an egg-tofu-mushroom mix. The lemon dish
has cooked squid, mushroom and ginko nuts in a miso sauce. Top center is the
aperitif, a sponge made with agar agar in a soy and fish based sauce.

Sashimi dressed up with a Shiso (Beefsteak plant) leaf, purple flowers (most often white)
of the shiso plant, a piece of daikon cut in the shape of a Ginko leaf, spicy red radish
sprouts and wasabi next to the squid.

From right, Kobe (Wagyu) beef  with tofu, twisted fishcake, sliced scallion and Mizuna; sliced green onion
and flavored ground daikon to go into the dipping sauce; and a parchment bowl containing a dashi flavored
soup over an alcohol burner. The vegetables and beef were added to the boiling soup and then dipped into
the sauce. Everyone was amazed that the parchment above the soup didn't catch fire.

A simmered dish of vegetables including pine mushroom (Matsutake) and deep fried tofu which was then simmered.

Grilled dish has the obligatory grilled fish and a small piece of  sushi, grated daikon topped with a some pickle, preserved
stems of fuki (Petasites japonicus) also known as butterbur and sweet coltsfoot, and another maple leaf in fall colors.

Chicken, deep fried then soaked in a savory sauce with a slice of tomato and a couple pieces of grilled scallion.

Chawanmushi, a kind of savory egg custard, containing vegetables and chicken or fish and usually a ginko nut. In this
case it was topped with sea urchin roe and a clear glaze. 

Clockwise from the rice are three kinds of pickles, green tea and miso (in this case red miso) soup.

Dessert had tea-flavored jelly made with agar agar and topped with a large sweet bean, a small slice of melon, grape
partially peeled, a piece of persimmon and two pomegranate arils, one barely visible behind the melon. The
persimmon and grape were local, in-season fruits. Fruits are often quite expensive in Japan. The melon from
which this piece was taken could easily have sold for more than ten thousand Yen ($100) and the grapes, which are
large and delicious, might sell for the equivalent of twenty-five or thirty dollars per bunch. Apples often go for
two or three dollars each. Persimmons are more reasonable at one or two dollars each, although nice ones go for
three to five dollars each. 

Although not on this menu, "chabinmushi"  is often included in kaiseki. Under the Kabosu (a kind of
citrus which tastes to me like a cross between a key lime and a grapefruit) is the top of the pot which
 is removed, turned over and used as a cup. In the pot in this case was a soup made with Kamo (a
conger eel), a few vegetables and, this time of year, it includes pine mushroom (matsutake). The
Kabosu is squeezed into the pot before pouring the first cup. The veggies and mushroom are
eaten with chopsticks as the soup is sipped from the little cup.

Back in the days when I drank alcohol, sake, shochu or even beer would accompany the first eight or nine courses. Once the rice, soup and pickle course arrived we switched to green tea.