(Mrs Chiba is the wife of Mr Kazuo Chiba, head of the teaching committee of the United States Aikido Federation, Western Region. Mr Chiba is a shihan (exemplary teacher), 7th degree black belt, and former uchi deshi to O-Sensei. Chiba Sensei was responsible for introducing aikido to England, spending 10 years in London and developing a strong affection for British bitter. I take care to always have some pale ale handy when I run into him and in return Mr Chiba doesn't break my arm. He also took the time to send me this recipe for "authentic" home-style cloudy sake. When Mr Chiba tells you this is the real thing--believe me, you don't argue about it. I have yet to try this myself, but will be doing it soon. Maybe next time I meet Chiba Sensei I can offer "real" sake as well as real ale. :->)
The recipe is here offered verbatim as sent to me by Mr Chiba. Where appropriate, I've added footnotes. I have no idea how much sake this is supposed to make. Yes, I know, this is very careless of me and I will post any further information when I've experimented a little myself. But, really, this is *MUCH* easier than Fred Eckhardt's sake recipe so quitcher whining!
1. RICE: Cook 6 cups Calrose short grain white rice <1> in rice cooker <2>, in 6 cups pure water.
2. YEAST: Put a little Fleischmann's Rapid Rise Yeast <3> (store in freezer for maximum effect) in a small rice bowl--the size of a very thin dime. Add some crystals of brown sugar--1/2 dime size. Add a tiny splash of warm water, dissolving yeast and sugar with spoon edge--it should look like a 1/2 teaspoon or so of liquid. Place yeast solution in a warm place to rise. Rising will be indicated by dots of lighter-shaded brown that finally look bubbly, and might take about 20 minutes.
3. WASHING: Thoroughly wash your hands, forearms, and an 11-quart brewing container (stoneware is best, but a plastic pail is fine <4>), using hot water but no soap.
4. MIXING: After the rice is cooked, let it sit covered for 10 minutes in cooker, then ladle it into brewing container. Add 18 cups of cool, pure water, and mix with hand and forearm thoroughly. Add 3 cups koji <5>, continuing to mix with hand. Finally, add the bubbly yeast and mix in.
5. BREWING: Cover container with cloth and tie down securely. Store in a dark, cool place <6>. After 10 days, strain once with a metal strainer to separate most of the rice. It is now ready to funnel into bottles and drink at meals or other festive occasions.
6. STORAGE: Store in refrigerator if you wish the flavor of the rice wine to remain constant. After bringing to the table, gently rock the bottle on its side before opening and pouring, to obtain best consistency <7>.
Note: The strained rice from step 4 should be used to make amazake, a hot, sweet sake, by boiling with sugar and water--or to pickle fish <8>, by marinating for 3 days in the refrigerator.
<1> NOT sticky or glutinous rice. Why not long-grain rice? I have no idea, but I know the Japanese are bughouse on the subject of rice, so they might well be right.
<2> Mrs Chiba obviously has a much bigger rice cooker than I. I can just fit 2 cups in mine. Clearly, a regular pot on the stove would be adequate if, unlike me, you ever learned how to cook rice properly without a cooker.
<3> I strongly doubt that Mrs Chiba used Fleischmann's in Japan, but she probably also didn't have access to a sake strain. WYeast will have one soon; if you're in a rush do it Mrs Chiba's way. The procedure is a simply proofing; probably a good starter would work as well, but who knows what to use?
<4> My instinct, like yours, is to reach for a carboy rather than a crock, but how to get that rice in and out????
<5> If you've read this much, you probably already know what koji is, but just in case: this is a mold which provides the enzymes needed to break the rice carbohydrates down to simple sugars for the yeast to metabolize. Fred Eckhardt maintains that no koji no sake, which is to say that the mold also provides the distinctive bite that defines sake whatever grain is being used to brew.
<6> Mr Chiba told me that they only brewed sake during the cool months, with fermentation temperatures about 65-70. Clearly, the time period Mrs Chiba lists is subject to reality checks. Make sure fermentation is done before you go putting this stuff into bottles. It is NOT intended to be carbonated.
<7> Remember, this is intended to be a white sake, which seems to have some rice flour in suspension. It would be interesting to compare this sake with some that had been filtered or racked off the precipitated flour. Just don't tell Mr Chiba.
<8> Mr Chiba loves to fish, so it's not surprising that Mrs Chiba spends a lot of time thinking up things to do with it. This sounds like a Japanese version of gefilte fish or pickled herring but she probably does it with barracuda.
