Kandouko

Inspired by Ichibay's post about warming sake, I decided that I too wanted a kandouko. I also determined, yet again, that I could make it myself at home, for nothing. As usual, I failed at the "for nothing" part, but compared to the prices I saw in Japan (well north of $1,000), my $50 and a couple of harrowing afternoons spent wandering through the local IKEA were well spent.

The materials I used were a large glass bowl, a wooden plant stand for the top, some cork coasters, a stainless steel measuring pitcher to function as the brazier, a small grill I picked up at the Vietnamese store, and two Greek ibrik, long-stemmed coffee pots, for warming the sake. First, I used a router to create a channel for the glass to seat into, for security - didn't want everything sliding around. Next, I needed to drill the holes. Not having a bunch of giant hole saws laying about, I tried using an adjustable hole cutter... not pretty, rather a hack job, unfortunately. But, the holes were created, and the cork coasters (plus some wood glue) covered up the mess quite nicely. Anyways, I was just trying to warm up sake, not win awards for carpentry.

The test run was very successful. Since I was using this outside, in winter, and not really knowing anything much about the glass, I was a little concerned about thermal shock. Fortunately, it all worked out just fine, the water getting hot, but not anywhere near boiling, the sake quite quickly getting up to desired temperatures. Having two warming vessels is the key to providing a constant supply, but that means you need to call your friends over. Can't complain about that! And the grill worked swimmingly too - I quickly grilled samosas, cutlets, edamame. I'm sure some sausages, little fishies, and onigiri will all work out fine too.



Trials completed, so last night was time for the first public unveiling. After dinner at our favorite local Ethiopian restaurant, we retired to the balcony to enjoy the cold night air (thanks to a couple of outdoor space heaters, and this, "inside space" heater.) Over the next three hours, 6 of us polished off this isshobin of Daishichi Honjozo Kimoto, and also an isshobin of Shichifukujin Tokubetsu Junmai. Both are nice sake for warming, I think, because they both have a bit more substantial savouriness and complexity to begin with, and both took on a delightfully smooth and rounded expression. Our friends, who've to date only had bad "hot sake" experiences, were very pleasantly surprised, and I've now got requests to build more.

I don't know the exact temperatures we drank at, it probably varied a little bit over the course of the evening, depending on how quickly we were consuming. I'd estimate that we started out somewhere around hito-hada-kan, i.e. "body temperature", but as the charcoals settled themselves and we started grilling, it was generally jo-kan, "upper hot", with occasional, welcome forays into atsu-kan, "hot hot"! It was a bit chilly out!