If you happen to be a regular reader of this site, then you'll know that I love Ilikas, the soul food of Tokushima. (If you don't, you can read about it here. And if you're wondering "what's Ilikas? Please refer to Namako Man's blog)
But I've never bought anything from a specialist shop before.
I didn't know there was an Ilikas shop in the first place.
I happened to see him on Twitter and found out about Takken Ilikas Kobo.
After all, people and shops that specialise in one thing have a great deal of grace and determination.
After all, we fall in love with the atmosphere of craftsmanship.
Oops, back to the topic at hand.
I've always wanted to go to a shop and buy an Ilikas, but I finally got my wish and bought an Ilikas from 'Takken Ilikas Kobo'!
I couldn't go and buy it because of my work, but they sent me a freshly made one.
It arrived on my day off, so I decided to grill it and try it.
When I opened the box, I saw this!
They are giving away a special sticker to the first purchaser. I'm very happy about this. I think I'll put it on my top secret Tokushima notebook.
The flyer is also very good. I hope you'll take a look at it, as it explains what Ilikas is.
Yes, Takken is on Twitter.
"Ilikas are not baked... they are warmed over low heat."
So this time I'm going to follow that golden rule and grill it up!
We've been baking them to a crisp with high heat and "yum" lol.
Heat in a frying pan over a low heat: ......!
It says you can eat it warm or straight out of the package, so I took a bite of one. It was delicious, with a hint of saltiness. It's been cooked properly.
Prepare the seasonings by slowly and gently warming them up.
The seasonings we have prepared are:
mayonnaise, soy sauce, ponzu, yakiniku sauce, and lemon. I'm really excited about this. I've done something similar with venison, and it was fun to eat. The excitement of comparing different flavours of the same meat.
Well, it's baked!
Well that looks delicious!
(By the way, this is not the whole 450g, but about 250 or 300)
I'll have a quick bite!
First, soy sauce. Well, well, well, it's hard not to like it.
I dipped it in a little bit and crunched. Yes, it's good. But it's just as good as I imagined it would be, it's not over the top. Well, it's such a tasty ilikasu, so it goes well with soy sauce, which is the king of Japanese style.
No, it was good, but I think it lacked impact. But I thought it had a sense of stability, like a couple on their silver anniversary.
Next is ponzu. Strictly speaking, it's Yuzu Ponzu. It's not sudachi, is it? but it is Yuzu Ponzu. I don't know if I like it or not. But I don't think I liked the combination very much.
I thought that ponzu was a way to increase the lightness of a light dish with a different lightness, and my impression was that they canceled each other's goodness.
To be honest, the flavour of the Ilikas itself is so strong that it overpowers the ponzu.
Then I thought that the state (salt) that Takun-san finished was much better.
Mayonnaise.
Maybe my expectations were a bit too high. It didn't really hit the spot. On the way, I tried to combine it with soy sauce, but it still didn't work. No, it's good, but it doesn't surprise me. What is it?
Even the almighty mayonnaise can't compete with that.
Maybe, Takun's Ilikas is the best when it is plain. I think it's better if an amateur doesn't add anything to it.
And
"Yakiniku no Tare". This was made with Tokushima Oniuma Yakiniku no Tare.
To be honest, this was the best match for me.
As a result,
"Yakiniku no Tare" (Tokushima Oniuma Yakiniku no Tare) was the best match for Ilikas. I found it hard to compete with Takun's Ilikas unless it was well seasoned.
All I can say is, it's ilikasmaji good!
It's so good you'll laugh!
Takerun,
Thank you for the delicious ilikas!
Thank you for the food!
Ah!
And I forgot to try the lemon lol.
If you do!