Senmaizuke
Senmaizuke is the pickle Kyoto sends home with winter visitors: great white Shogoin turnips, sliced so thin you can read through them, layered in fan shapes with kombu and a mild sweet vinegar. Pickle shops along Nishiki Market start making it in November, when the turnips swell and sweeten in the cold, and it stays on New Year tables and beside winter rice through February. It tastes gently sweet and sour with a deep savoury note from the kombu, which turns slightly sticky and coats each slice; the turnip stays crisp at the edge and silky in the middle. Outside Japan use large, firm white turnips (or a young daikon); avoid woody, spongy ones. The common mistake is skipping the first salting: unsalted slices weep water into the vinegar, dilute it and go limp. Salt them, press for an hour and squeeze gently first. It is ready when the slices are translucent, bend without breaking and the kombu feels slick. It is a fridge pickle, not a shelf one. Chef's tip: slice on a mandoline at 2 mm and keep the slices in order, so you can stack them back into a 'turnip' shape for a pretty presentation.



