Hi, I'm Francis,
the host of this show "Cooking with Dog."
Let’s clean the squids.
First, detach the mantle collar from the head.
Hold the lower part of the eyes and gently pull on the fins.
Peel off the cuttle bone and remove it from the mantle.
The cuttle bone may have already broken so make sure to remove it completely.
Clean the inside of the mantle with a spoon, removing the internal organs.
Next, remove the head from the arms.
Scrape off the suckers and trim off the arms with a knife.
Finally, remove the sharp beak.
Repeat the process and clean the rest of the squids.
Let’s rinse the squids.
Place all the mantles into a bowl of water and roughly wash.
Rinse the inside of each mantle under running water and place them on a bamboo strainer to drain.
Place the arms into a new bowl of water, thoroughly rinse under running water and place on the strainer to drain.
Drain the sweet rice in a strainer
and thoroughly remove the excess water with a kitchen towel.
Open the mantle collar and spoon the rice into it.
Fill the mantle with the rice until it is 6 parts full.
Be careful not to overfill it otherwise the rice will increase in volume while cooking, breaking the mantle.
Pierce the collar with a small skewer to close the mantle.
Repeat the process and you should end up with 8 pieces of Ikameshi in total.
Let’s cook Ikameshi.
Combine the sake,
sugar,
soy sauce
and water in a pot.
Stir the mixture with a ladle
and turn on the burner.
Gently press each Ikameshi, flattening them a little.
This will improve their shape.
Quickly place each Ikameshi into the pot
and place the arms alongside the edge.
Be sure to drop in the Ikameshi when the water is still cold.
This will help the rice cook slowly and avoid under-cooking it.
When it boils, thoroughly remove the foam with a mesh strainer.
This wooden drop-lid, called otoshi buta,
will help the Ikameshi cook evenly.
Simmer for about 30 minutes, cooking the sweet rice completely.
Remove the otoshi buta and reduce the broth.
You may want to remove the dark film on the Ikameshi by scraping it off with the back of the ladle.
Ladle the broth over the Ikameshi
and remove the foam and dark films.
Continue to reduce the broth while occasionally ladling it over the Ikameshi.
When the broth is reduced as shown,
turn off the burner.
Allow the Ikameshi to cool and they are ready to serve.
Let’s serve the Ikameshi.
Remove the skewers.
Slice the Ikameshi into 4 pieces.
For each cut, clean the knife with a dampened kitchen towel.
Place the sliced and unsliced Ikameshi onto a plate.
Garnish with 2 sets of arms
and pour the remaining broth onto them.
And now it’s done!
You can substitute aluminum foil
or parchment paper
with several half inch holes for the otoshi buta.
In that case, you should place some kind of weight on top, for example a small plate.
Make sure the Ikameshi are always covered with the broth for 30 minutes while simmering.
Good luck in the kitchen!