Bunny McElwee wrote:

> My husband loves the "Big Block" of rice you get when you go to one of
> those Japanese Steak house restaurants (like Myobi's, Kyoto's, Yokoso's,
> etc) where they cook on the big grill in front of you. I'm curious as to
> how they make this rice and what kind of rice they use? Seems like simple
> ingredients, rice, some sort of flavoring sauce (Maybe soy?) and usually
> sesame seeds (at our restaurants, placed on the big block of rice in a
> smiley face pattern). Any recipes out there for this type of rice as well
> as how to cook the rice they use for this dish?


I'll go ahead and save you some trouble. You're NEVER going to get that
same flavor at home... even with the Benihana recipes. The grill imparts
a certain flavor that can't really be replicated at home... though a
high-heat wok can give satisfactory results. Here's some tips

Use day old rice - 1 cup of water per cup of short grained rice rinsed
well. You don't want your rice sticky.

Don't go crazy with the soy sauce - add towards the end AFTER the rice
is nice and toasted - use lots of salt 'n peppa

Add sesame seeds

Sneak a little MSG in there somewhere

Use butter as your fat - a lot of it

Cook rice in wok over high-heat for longer than you'd think before
adding soy sauce... you want to get that 'grill flavor' into the rice as
best as you can. It takes time.

The best thing about these places are the dipping sauces... try here

http://www.levelwave.com/recipes/Benihana.txt

~john