Bearly What We Expected

Dearest Rachel –

So I finally took a crack at this recipe last night; it was meant to mimic what we’d eaten at Gibier Natural back in Sapporo. I’d been hesitating about doing this for some time, despite having collected all the ingredients about a week and a half previously.

You see, for all that I talk about experimenting in the kitchen, this was taking things to a whole new level. This time around, while I was following a recipe of sorts, the recipe was entirely drawn up by AI, with the idea of making beef taste like bear – a tall order if ever I heard of one. The computer was confident that the flavor profile could be attained, but then, these machines are confident about everything they discuss; that doesn’t make them right.

The beef was just regular stew meat – as opposed to the chuck or shank I was recommended to get (which might have made a difference) – which I left to thaw in the fridge overnight Thursday evening after those several days in the freezer. Meanwhile, the ginger root wasn’t at its best either, texture-wise, after all that time, although it was in considerably better shape than the garlic bulb, which had been sitting around the house for a much longer time. After it fell apart while I attempted to peel it, I just decided to throw it out and used a spoonful of minced garlic instead. Finally, way too much of the liquid we’d simmered the meat in boiled off in the ninety minutes we were told to let it cook (possibly due to using a lid with a vent hole, allowing steam to escape, and with it, most of the water).

There were a few more mishaps throughout the process, including my dropping a paper into the pot that sat underneath the meat on its styrofoam tray to absorb some of the extraneous juices, and occasional swings of the camera as Daniel had to determine whether to point it at me or the pot. Yeah, that was another twist in the story; for once, he was fully involved in the shooting, rather than just being a silent bystander, since I couldn’t cook and film with the few hands that I have.

Silent he may still be – at least on camera, since he still doesn’t like the sound of his voice – but not inactive, as he also had made plans to put together an alcohol-free lemon sour like the ones we had on our flight over in February:

In any event, putting the drink together was his little mission (complete with a trip to Whole Foods in order to get a bottle of yuzu bitters), so I made a point of showing him working on that part of the preparations as well. But the bulk of the time was spent putting together the entree – to the point where we didn’t give any thought to a side dish of rice or some such.

So, was it any good? I think the three of us boys agreed that it was, despite the fact that Daniel and I also agreed that it didn’t really taste all that much like bear – or at least, not like the bear dish we’d had. It could have stood a little less salt, and – it shocks me to say this – a little more sweetness, not to mention a bit more liquid. We’ll want to do this again, but modify it a bit before it’s ready to present to company. But given what it was, and what it tried to be, it was more than worth giving a chance or two more.

Incidentally, I still don’t know how you managed to stay up to all hours after cooking something elaborate like this; after putting all this together (and filming it, which may have added to the work involved), I was pretty nearly wiped out by nine, and bundled myself off to bed shortly thereafter. Granted, if I had someone to hang out with, like the boys do with each other, that might be another story, but as it was, once we’d polished all this off, and done all the cleanup, there really didn’t seem like much else to do with the evening, and my body just decided to switch off for the night.

And, in fact, I’m thinking I ought to be doing that right about now, too, in fact. So I’m going to bid you goodnight, honey, with the usual request to keep an eye on me, and wish me well, as I always insist that I’ll need it.