Tendon with Kakiage — cookly.recipes

A batter kept cold and stupid, and a tare thick enough to sit on tempura without softening it.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Deep pan, Probe thermometer, Flat ladle, Wire rack
Allergens: Gluten, Egg, Crustaceans, Soy, Sesame
Method: 22 steps · 18 photographed · 6 filmed
Components: 3 made from scratch
Films: 3, 16 min

3 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Tendon tare

Soy, mirin, sake and sugar reduced until it is glossy and heavy enough to spoon.

Thin tare runs straight through the tempura and turns the rice to soup; this one sits on top and stays there.

Soy sauce000 g
Mirin000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 5
Time: 30 min
Hands-on: 12 min

Makes 200 ml · keeps 1 month refrigerated

Up to 1 month ahead

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Cold batter

Film

Egg yolk and iced water combined first, then flour folded in with a few strokes and left lumpy.

Overmixed batter develops gluten and fries into a shell. The lumps are not a mistake, they are the texture.

Low-protein flour000 g
Egg yolk000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 3
Time: 8 min
Hands-on: 6 min

Makes Enough for 2 bowls

No — mixed at the fryer

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Kakiage

Film

Onion, carrot and prawn tossed in dry flour, bound with a little batter and slid in off a flat ladle.

Dropped straight from a bowl it disintegrates. The dry flour and the ladle are what hold the raft together.

Onion000 g
Carrot000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 6
Time: 25 min
Hands-on: 22 min

Makes 2 large fritters

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Prawns000 g
Onion000 g
Carrot000 g
Mitsuba000 g
Low-protein flour000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

3 films · 16 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING5:00

Prawn size, and straightening them before the batter

TECHNIQUE4:00

Ten strokes and no more

KIT7:00

Oil blend, depth, and reading the bubbles

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 22 STEPS

18 photographed · 6 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 18 of the 22 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 6 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: holding the kakiage together as it enters the oil — step 13 of 22.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 16 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

3 things Kenji Sugimoto watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
Keeping the batter bowl in ice
What to do about it
02
Sliding kakiage off a ladle
What to do about it
03
Draining on a rack so the base stays crisp
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The batter temperature and mixing count, plus the oil blend that gives the aroma without the bitterness.

Written by Kenji Sugimoto. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $2.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

175 verified cooks · 88% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $2.99 ONCE

175 people cooked it, 88% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $2.99 rather than nothing. In 25 more cooks the price becomes $6.99. Your copy never does.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription