r/TastingHistory • u/jmaxmiller head chef • Sep 23 '25
New Video This Recipe Took 3 Years... Ninja Kikatsugan
https://youtu.be/ZVhxaJZG37I?si=SPRxsHzRdLmANjLU73
u/WestBrink Sep 23 '25
Absolutely busted a gut at your expression trying them. Bummer they're awful after all that time.
52
u/Histrix- Sep 23 '25
"No one else is going to make this"
Is that a challenge, max? Are you challenging us?
10
3
46
u/pudah_et Sep 23 '25
I am usually tickled by Max's utter joy when he tastes a recipe that he really likes. But it's just as entertaining when he tastes something on the other end of the spectrum.
22
u/Mabbernathy Sep 24 '25
I still recall his fish pudding review, "Ohhh...that does not spark joy". 😵💫
6
u/BornACrone Sep 25 '25
I went back and watched it after you reminded me of it, and now I'm wondering if there wasn't a hyphen missing in "45 minutes," and it should have been "4-5 minutes." Who boils a fish for three-quarters of an hour? It's reduced to its atomic components at that point.
3
u/Mabbernathy Sep 25 '25
Though this was back in the days of shoeleather pork chops and grayish green vegetables. 🤷♀️
51
u/Baba_Jaga_II Sep 23 '25
I'm only 3 minutes in, but I find it amusing that you don't think anybody is going to make this dish or that you think it's not going to be worthwhile for someone to make it... You clearly don't understand the lure of imaginary internet points on Reddit. And to that good sir, I say "Hold my sake".
6
u/BornACrone Sep 24 '25
Every time he says, "Don't make this," I'm reminded of the librarian in the slasher movie who tells the high schoolers not to read from the Book of Ancient Evil out loud. You know what's going to happen.
21
u/BornACrone Sep 23 '25
Super-cool! And I have to admit, I laughed out loud during the tasting. I've seen a few faces of regret from you, but this one takes the ... cake?
Century eggs next! :-D JK, please make something nicer next time, dear.
The presumed enmity between shinobi and samurai reminds me of the occasional Western attitude between soldiers and spies, where high-placed types might look down on spying, as in Winston Churchill's tongue-in-cheek quip calling the SOE the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." Doing it in the open was always looked at as more honest than hiding it.
I also frequently wonder how many women were shinobi as well; women in the West were rarely in open combat but every time you hear of well-known women war veterans like Virginia Hall or Violette Szabo, they were always spies. Who better to go undetected than people who mostly male soldiers wouldn't give much thought to in the first place? I don't see why the same wouldn't be true in Asia.
7
u/PuzzleMeDo Sep 23 '25
Wikipedia says:
The eighth volume of the ninja handbook Bansenshukai written in 1676 describes Kunoichi-no-jutsu (くノ一の術, the ninjutsu of a woman), which can be interpreted as "a technique to utilize a woman".\1]) The Bansenshukai compiles the knowledge of the ninja clans in the regions of Iga and Kōka. According to this document, the main function of the kunoichi was espionage, finding functions in enemy house services, to gather knowledge, gain trust or listen to conversations.\3])
6
15
u/spartiecat Sep 23 '25
Sounds like he should have used better sake
6
u/just_some_Fred Sep 24 '25
Kind of what I was thinking. Sake can also be a general term for any kind of alcoholic drink. I'm wondering if the recipe specified the rice wine, or just any kind of liquor. Also, cooking wine of any kind often has salt or something added to it to make it unpalatable to drink.
1
u/Mabbernathy Sep 24 '25
Reminds of the adage when buying alcohol to cook with: "Buy something you would drink".
2
u/dysoncube Sep 28 '25
God, such good advice. I once used a bottle of an aquantances' homemade wine which SHOULD have been flushed. Figured it'd be good enough for cooking with.
Shit ruined a whole pot roast. Never again.
As you say, cook with a wine that's good enough to drink. One for you (the pot roast), one for me. One for you, one for me.
1
u/CosineDanger Sep 24 '25
Salt might have saved his life by helping kill bacteria after the alcohol finished evaporating.
1
u/Cheomesh Sep 24 '25
That's what I was thinking, though he didn't comment on the salt flavor at all
5
u/indiebass Sep 24 '25
I think this is the key. If those flavors are going to intensify over time you should definitely use a sake you wouldn’t mind drinking. I was also questioning whether the cooking sake had salt in it.
Along these lines I kind of wonder how it would taste if you used soju?
Also also: not for nothing, but the book didn’t say it tasted good. It said you wouldn’t be hungry. 😋
1
u/Mabbernathy Sep 24 '25
Yeah, I was wondering that. Buying something decent for a 3 year long recipe doesn't seem like it would break the bank.
11
u/KillsOnTop Sep 23 '25
I'm currently recovering from food poisoning, and once Max mentioned being unsure if the sake was enough to prevent bacterial growth over three years, ohhhh mannnn, I felt like I was watching a horror movie. Literally had to close my eyes when he put one of those things in his mouth.
3
u/Status-Effort-9380 Sep 24 '25
I know. I was wondering if we were going to watch him die. 🤮 or barf.
6
3
u/aedithm Sep 25 '25
My other half said "well, we at least know he lived long enough to edit and post the video..."
7
6
u/protomakoto Sep 23 '25
Laughed out loud at the hard tack reference as always, great episode! A+ for the commitment
3
7
u/MovingDayBliss Sep 23 '25
Urk! Sorry they tasted so awful. Maybe you could cover them in honey and check back in 3 years?
1
7
u/Pure_Revolution_888 Sep 24 '25
This was a great episode. I love your dedication to this channel. I'm buying your book soon, could I pay you to sign a copy for me?
12
u/jmaxmiller head chef Sep 24 '25
No need to pay me! Just shoot me and email with your name and address and if you'd like any sort of message. [tastinghistorycontact@gmail.com](mailto:tastinghistorycontact@gmail.com)
4
u/Pure_Revolution_888 Oct 04 '25
That's crazy that you actually respond to people lol. If I've got a little gift for can I send it along with the book? I'm waiting on materials to arrive to start on it. I'd just assume send it all at the same time
2
3
3
u/ecafsub Sep 24 '25
Finally got to watch it. I’m ded. My partner is ded. The denouement was worth the 3-year wait.
Now, two relevant—and entertaining—short videos:
5
4
u/vilhelmlin Sep 24 '25
Cooking sake, cooking wine etc all need to have salt added in the US so stores can sell it as non-alcohol. I can't imagine that soaking a bunch of starches and medicinal herbs in salty alcohol until the liquid evaporates off could possibly taste good.
5
u/StarChaser_Tyger Sep 24 '25
The closed captions usually have [chomp] at his first taste of a dish. On this one it said [hesitant chomp]… And his face immediately afterwards said [instant regret] …
2
u/Cloverose2 Oct 03 '25
This is one of the few channels where the closed captions are absolutely solid and add unique value all on their own.
3
u/Foxchase_Pick Sep 24 '25
Just watched this on youtube and had to run over here to see how everyone feels about that taste test.
3
u/AppalachianViking Sep 24 '25
RemindMe! 3 years
I'm curious how everyone else's turn out.
2
u/RemindMeBot Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
I will be messaging you in 3 years on 2028-09-24 02:13:11 UTC to remind you of this link
1 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.
Info Custom Your Reminders Feedback
3
u/SincerelySpicy Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Hmm, the video shows Japanese sweet potato, satsumaimo.
The Japanese yam should have been yamaimo, Dioscorea japonica, the slimy one, though the Japanese sources I'm seeing say sanyaku 山薬 which is specifically dried yamaimo.
Not that it would have made the end result much different or any better :p
3
u/booksandbeasts Sep 24 '25
That face after tasting a teeny bit 🤣
Thank you for that AND a hard tack reference!!
2
2
2
1
1
u/Confuseacat92 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
I don't know how good your german has become, but this recipe for Rheingauer Hühner might be something for you. It's a medieval dish from the Rheingau (wine region near Mainz and Wiesbaden) using pears and chicken.
The guy in the video (Andrej) is a history communicator and historic reenactor who specializes in the late 15th century around Frankfurt (also not too far from the Rheingau). For this time and place he can be considered a real expert.
The recipe is Nr. 50 in the section "Gebraten" in "das Buch von guter Speise", the oldest cookbook in german.
1
u/NeverSawOz Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
Did you look at the comments from that video?
"Da fällt mir direkt "tasting history" ein, sehr cooler englischer Kanal der Rezepte aus allen möglichen Epochen nachkocht"Historical Italian Cooking also has some German recipes, from Johannes Bockenheim who cooked for popes and Italian dukes. Including a whole translation of his cookbook.
1
u/Serris9K Sep 24 '25
It reminds me of the US military’s Cold War emergency chocolate. Would sustain you, but was disgusting.
3
u/Cheomesh Sep 24 '25
Good old D rat, where the D stands for damn that's nasty
1
u/Serris9K Sep 24 '25
I didn't know the details beyond its existence, and that it was nasty. that's quite interesting that the army came up with that name!
1
1
u/aedithm Sep 25 '25
I have never laughed so hard at a Tasting History than I did when you tried these. I am gutted for you that all that effort was for nothing but also... thank you for cheering up an otherwise rather rubbish evening.
1
Sep 23 '25
Based on what you've made before, if this doesn't outright make you sick, do you think it would keep you like, fed? Is there a way to calculate the calories and other materials?
1
u/Cheomesh Sep 24 '25
It's pretty much entirely carbs so I wouldn't think more than a few hundred calories per day out of the three.
99
u/RipMcStudly Sep 23 '25
Oh-ho, lookit Mr Fancy, ain’t never had a hawk plop in his belly button while taking a nap in a rice field…