But mostly, my homemade butter mochi was good because it reminded me of warm, humid days, and a giant banyan tree, and piles of technicolor tropical fruit, and ocean views, and the specific sort of joy I only feel when I'm experiencing someplace new.īutter mochi is influenced by Japanese cuisine: the key ingredient is the mochiko flour. When I bit into a piece of butter mochi I made for myself at home, it was good in the way that this particular dessert is-sweet, buttery, a hint of coconut, the unique texture that I love. For me, butter mochi is evocative of a very particular time and place, one that has become especially poignant since that vacation to Hawaii was my last major pre-pandemic trip. In Hawaii, the bouncy, cake-like dessert has the sort of ubiquity that brownies do in the Midwest: you can find it at farmer's markets, bakeries, the grocery store, and on restaurant menus. In November 2019, I first tried butter mochi at the Hilo Farmers Market, and it became one of my favorite foods of that year. "When you have it here it's good because it reminds you of, like, a whole world of memories you have about being there." His son doesn't get what the big deal is, because you can get an andouille sausage anywhere.
#BUTTER MOCHI RECIPE MOVIE#
As someone who's been struggling with underemployment for the duration of the pandemic, the movie's theme hit close to home, and the lovingly styled dishes reminded me of why I fell in love with writing about restaurants.īut what stuck with me the most from the movie is the moment when the main character introduces his son to andouille sausage and starts raving to him about New Orleans cuisine. A couple of weeks ago, I re-watched Chef, a movie about a prominent chef who loses his job and is forced to reinvent himself.