Takashi Igarashi, the top chef at NR, speaks fervently in regards to the high quality of Hokkaido substances and the individuality of the prefecture’s delicacies. “Potatoes, corn, carrots—a lot of Japan’s finest produce is from Hokkaido,” says Igarashi. In an homage to Hokkaido, the place Igarashi grew up, he added soup curry to NR’s menu when he joined the restaurant in 2020. Soup curry is an expression of Japan’s love for curry spices, and is distinct from the roux-thickened Japanese curry that’s beloved in the usand mainland Japan. Soup curry encompasses a thinner dashi broth base, together with toppings like fried slices of kabocha squash, hard-boiled eggs, and braised hen drumsticks.
Together with soup curries, hokkaido is thought for ramen, notably within the Asahikawa area on the middle of the island. Asahikawa even options its personal Ramen Village, the place there are eight ramen eating places on one strip. Whereas ramen retailers all through Asahikawa provide their very own variations of the dish, Asahikawa is thought for a broth that attracts from each seafood and pork and is completed with Japanese soy sauce. The Asahikawa-based restaurant chain Ramen Santouka sells bowls of this Hokkaido-style ramen at outposts in cities together with Boston, Chicago, and Edgewater, New Jersey.
Whereas the island’s signature soups and ramens have gained prominence within the U.S., Maybe no merchandise is as tied to Hokkaido’s status as dairy. Cafes in Hokkaido provide varied sorts of milk for lattes and dairy-based treats equivalent to cheesecake, creamy truffles, and cheese tarts. In the identical manner that Vermont butter and cheese are acknowledged all through America, Hokkaido has a status for high-quality dairy that’s, on common, larger in fats than its U.S. counterpart. Complete milk from Hokkaido is usually not less than 3.5 % fats, whereas complete milk in America hovers round 3.25 %.
This could clarify why, when Sono first arrived within the U.S., he discovered that, as he places it, “American milk tastes like water.” Keisuke Kobayashi of Indigo Cow, a Hokkaido smooth serve store in Seattle, was equally disenchanted in regards to the high quality of native dairy. He labored for 2 years to import Hokkaido dairy earlier than opening his store in 2021, providing smooth serve that the Seattle Instances praised as “flirtatiously candy” with “pure hints of vanilla.” Whereas vanilla is usually the default of American ice cream retailers, Indigo Cow encourages prospects to understand the purity of Hokkaido dairy by providing a “Hokkaido milk” smooth serve, together with a rotating roster of month-to-month flavors together with black sesame and Japanese candy potato.
