Bento

Here is Part 2 of my interview with @Ironjack about his site, EatinginaBox.com, and his techniques for planning and and preparing his bento creations. (See Part 1 here.) In this part of the interview, Ironjack reveals some of his tips and tricks for keeping portions and costs under control.

If you like what you see here, be sure to visit EatinginaBox.com.

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Do you have any special tips or tricks you recommend to people who are just starting out preparing bentos?

To start: keep it simple. There are a lot of different philosophies in bento creation. You’ve got the bento folks who make pretty bentos (mostly rice and a lot of hot dogs). You’ve got the folks like me going for theme. And you’ve got the traditionalists, who create the typical bento that Japanese school children eat. I really admire the traditionalists, they have the art of fast, tasty and healthy down pat. So if you’re asking for tips I’ll have to take the page from them:

Rice freezes well. Just microwave it to bring it back it’s original consistency.
Have a plan. There are even folks out there that have a template you can follow.
Look in your fridge. Many bentos are about reusing what you have to economize.
Minimize work. The easier it is to build lunch for yourself, the more likely you’ll do it often.

Miso Glazed Salmon Bento

I’ve tried to prepare my own bentos in the past, and I’ve always had a hard time getting portions correct. Any tips for measuring and gauging calories?

My biggest ally when gauging calories (especially custom creations) is a kitchen scale. The scale I use even has a code system that determines the calorie count depending on what you are weighing.

If you use recipes from the web, a lot of them have calorie counts on the recipe. I tend to try to cut some corners on those recipes as they aren’t always “lo cal”. You can use sweeteners or vegetable fillers instead of starch. Also, if you are trying to cut calories, cutting portions is a very good way. For instance, say a recipe serves four at 300 calories. If you cut a few bites here and there, you can stretch the recipe to serving six portions and drop the per serving down to 200 calories.

One final note, a lot of recipe software, and even web recipe sites, will allow you to upload your custom creation, and they’ll use USDA databases to determine the nutritional values. Just be warned, they are sometimes not very accurate. I try to count on my scale, and any cans/packages I use to hand count that information.

What would you say the average cost of each of your bento boxes is?

The rule for my site is $6 (US) per box. That’s just food cost. I make no money off this venture. You can keep track of this via your receipts. The tough part is that some of the recipes have a big overflow of food (e.g. cooking a turkey), so you have to discount for what I get to keep and cost what is actually going in. Some of the boxes I’ve done have cost as low as $1.50. Others have gone past that. The idea is that to bring variety to my “Eaters” (as I call them), I will economize where I can to then bring in some luxury items (e.g. miso glazed salmon).

Tools of the Trade

Where do you get your bento supplies from? (non-food, such as the boxes, etc.)

The actual boxes I use come from the folks at Obentec. Great lunch boxes, and they really fit my need for everyone having the same containers. Ebay is a great source for egg molds, sauce cups, food picks. I’ve also used a place called J-List. It also helps that my sister lives in San Francisco, where they have plenty of Japanese “dollar” stores that have all sorts of great stuff. Basically anytime I’m in a city that has a Japantown, I go over and load up and bring it home. Locally, I go to the various Asian grocery stores and, of course, Asahi Imports, our only Japanese grocery store in Austin.

Ever thought of publishing a recipe book?

You know, a lot of folks have asked me this question and the slight variant on this question, “Why don’t you post your recipes on the blog?” So I’ll answer the second question first, it’s not that I wouldn’t post a recipe if asked. In fact, every request I’ve gotten I’ve always posted the recipe in the comments responding to the request. There’s usually four up to five items in a bento, all of those recipes would dominate a post. I didn’t want to be yet another recipe site, my blog is about my passion for food, healthy cooking, and food photography. But again, if you see something you like, ask. I’m happy to oblige.

Thai Bento

Back to your first question: sure I’d publish a book. I don’t know how, but I’d be open to it. There’d be a lot of credit to hand out as not all of my cooking is from my creation. Usually one of my dishes is a result of researching many variations and coming up with my “Frankenstein” version that fits budget, diet and my personal taste. That said, with the Martha Stewart post, I took those right from the magazine.

Any parting thoughts on either bento boxes or food preparation?

For me, food is from the heart. If you’re heart’s into it, it’s not a chore to prepare. In fact, I use my time preparing meals as a Zen activity to get away from the stress of day-to-day life. Have fun with it. You are what you eat.

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In addition to being the “Live Music Capital of the World” and home of the University of Texas Longhorns, Austin is also a city with lots of great food. And with great food comes great foodie bloggers, like Rob Balon and Johnny Flapjacks, who cover the abundant and colorful food of Central Texas.

I had a chance to meet one such blogger, Ironjack, in my last job. This bento blogger extraordinaire and owner of EatingInABox.com really takes the art of bento creation to a whole new level. Rather than strictly posting recipes for Japanese bento, Ironjack incorporates food from around the world into these attractive and cost effective lunches.

I recently had an opportunity to ask Ironjack about his site and what inspires him to create his bento masterpieces. Here is Part One of that interview.

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Eating in a Box Website

Your blog posts on EatinginaBox.com go back to September of 2007. What inspired you to begin blogging about bentos at that time? How long have you been preparing bento boxes?

Well, it really started off with a confluence of my various hobbies. As an amateur photographer, I needed a good excuse to buy a light box to practice my macro photography. What better way to practice than with food photography? It’s a good thing I love to cook. Right around that time, some of the bigger bento blogs started to show up on Slashfood, but the real catalyst was my wife’s interest in eating a bit more healthy. Bento-ing was the perfect way to control portioning. And what better way to bring all my passions together than to blog about it? I’ve always loved cooking but really didn’t start preparing bento boxes until I started the blog.

You often mention being raised in a “food culture.” What does that mean?

Well growing up my parents owned a restaurant, and the moment I was able to stand on a chair and reach over the counter, I was immediately put to work at the register. From there I learned everything there was to running a Chinese restaurant. I watched and learned as my Dad prepared dishes for the customers. I learned how to prep and take apart chicken, and I developed my passion for food. Obviously we rarely “ate out”, we just ate at the restaurant. In fact, to get a break from all of the “boring Chinese food,” we’d hit the fast food. My sister and I would consider that a treat. (Man, we had it good, and we didn’t even know). More importantly, as a culture, Chinese show their hospitality and their respect through food; so food means everything to our family.

Later as I left home, I began to really take cooking seriously. I have a goal to take as many cuisines and cook from appetizer to dessert and learn everything I can about that style of cooking and add it to my own skill set. I think my record was a 14 course Greek dinner I cooked for my friends. Being a big nerd, I’m also big into food science (Alton Brown is my hero), so that really contributes towards full food immersion.

Classic Japanese Bento

Did you grow up with bento box lunches?

Actually, yes. My sister was not a big fan of attracting attention. She was happy with a brown bag containing a sandwich and fruit. On the other hand, I hated sandwiches. I’d make my mother send me in with all sorts of stuff — noodle soups, her sushi rolls (no fish so it’d keep) and rice balls, fried rice… At some point, my mom started to pack double because my friends would always wanted to try the stuff I brought. My first bento on the blog is an actual lunch my mom use to pack for me. Lunch time was always fun. My friends would always eagerly ask what was for lunch.

What would you say is the big attraction to bento box lunches? For you and for others.

Quite a few things really make bento lunches attractive. You can save a lot of money bringing your lunch instead of going out. You can control how healthy (or unhealthy) lunch can be, especially if you have dietary restrictions. (We tried a few types of diets.) I also like the artistry. I’m not as good as some of those that make the pandas, Hello Kitty’s, and picturesque scenes, but I’m a firm believer that good looking food helps contribute the overall enjoyment.

Korean Bento

What would you say is the biggest challenge in running a foodie blog?

Content. By and far keeping a weekly post is difficult when I have a real job that takes up real time. I suppose it’s not just posting, a post really comprises of a good bit of cooking and some bit of food styling. If you look at some of my earlier posts I took far fewer pictures and spent less time on plating for a picture than I do now. It’s an evolving thing, I’ll expect that the blog will take a few twists and turns as more time goes by.

A strange secondary problem is defining my blog. Local food reporter Addie Broyles helped organize and get all of Austin’s food bloggers together, and we’ve all be invited to various events. It’s been wonderful, and I’ve met so many great people and gotten to participate in a lot of great events. What’s the problem with that? The problem is to limit how many posts I push out that are non-bento related, especially when work has me traveling and I miss the ability create and post. Dunno it’s, I guess it’s a personal limit.

Persian Bento

Of the recipes you’ve posted, which are your favorites?

Ouch that’s a tough one. I actually just reviewed all the bentos with my wife and we just realized how many there were. My wife’s comments: all the bentos you’ve done with hot and sour have always been a hit, like Pantry Raid and my first Chinese bento. But for personal favorite dishes? Hard to say, my Persian bento has a special place in my heart since I learned the recipes from some really good friends that once owned a restaurant here in Austin.

Do you follow any other bento bloggers?

Oh absolutely! I keep a blogroll of all of the Austin food bloggers that I’ve met as well as some of the ones that I drew my initial inspirations. The foodie community here is very tight– a great bunch of folks, and it is always a joy to see them at various events. A lot of creative work out there that has contributed towards helping me create my own dishes.

How long do you hope to keep blogging about bentos? In what direction do you hope to take the blog?

For as long as I’m able to post and cook I will keep my blog alive. It might get slow sometimes, but that’s the nature of the beast. I think some of the things I’d like to start to incorporate are some technique posts and maybe some more on the gadgets I use (I tend to get more questions and comments there). One of my friends has been pushing at putting videos on, I’m a bit shy on that but maybe they’ll prevail.

Some newer directions: I may open it towards not just lunch for my wife maybe how we might bento on dinner and such, those I would probably exempt from six dollar rule, basically portions and variety outside of lunch. I have another concept of whole week cooking and folding that into easy to make lunches, but I’m still figuring out the logistics. It may go beyond the scope of my blog. I suppose I should say, “stay tuned and find out ”