The Japanese phrase, め で たべる, (me de taberu), translates to ‘to eat with your eyes’. In the Japanese culture the presentation of food is as important as texture, flavor and aroma. Simple or elegant, presentation, placement and design are paramount. This is just one of the many reasons fast casual restaurants are seeing a rise in the popularity of Bento boxes.
The Bento box has a long history in Japan, dating back to the Kamakura Period from 1185 to 1333, and traditionally contains a healthy array of many different foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, rice, and fish, crafted with care and made using high-quality ingredients. It’s taken a few centuries, but Bento boxes are finally becoming very popular on many fast casual menus. And why wouldn’t they, they offer any restaurant an excellent opportunity to create an incredibly attractive and delicious “on-the-go” or dine-in meal option.
Tonkatsu is always a favorite, light crispy Panko coated pork – crispy perfection in a box! What’s not to love about this? Another favorite is Tempura Shrimp & Vegetables, with a delicate light and crispy coating. These are just two of many perfect choices for Bento boxes. If you want to add a Bento box to your menu that will keep diners coming back for more, stick with the tried-and-true tradition of using high quality authentic Japanese ingredients.
How can you tell if you have an Authentic Panko or Tempura batter mix?
Not all Panko and Tempura Batters are created using traditional Japanese methods, or with quality ingredients, making it important to know what makes Panko and Tempura batter mix authentic so you can understand the differences and choose the best product for your restaurant. The difference between Authentic and standard brands of Panko and Tempura Batter Mix are easy to spot if you know what to look for.
Creating a light and delicate flaky Authentic Panko takes time and can never be rushed. Authentic Panko will always have a flaky light texture and sliver shape crumb. The crumb will be delicate to the touch and never oily or greasy after frying. The secret is an Authentic Panko bread dough is processed to create a crustless loaf of bread with millions of small air pockets. These air pockets provide the light delicate crispy texture and release the oil after cooking so the taste is light and crispy, but not oily.
Panko should never (ever) be hard and dense. Many standard Panko products rush the process creating a crumb that is round in shape with a hard and dense texture. This makes the coated items taste hard (hurting the roof of you mouth) with an over breaded look and taste. Only an Authentic Japanese Panko will have the light airy delicate and flaky shape, which creates the light and crispy texture, without an “overly oily” taste.
An authentic Japanese Tempura Batter Mix is always light and delicate and will stay crispy for a long time. The flavor will be neutral so the tempura batter is only adding a light crispy texture and not over powering the flavor. Authentic Tempura batter mix should have simple ingredients with no MSG, eggs, spices or flavorings. Many tempura batter mixes are made by companies that also make pancakes, waffles and muffins. These tempura batter mixes have a heavy pancake type texture that holds the oil and won’t stay crispy. An authentic Tempura batter mix will provide a light delicate texture that is not greasy or oily and delivers a light lacy texture that will stay crispy for a long time.
Tempura Shrimp
Experience A Truly Authentic Japanese Panko & Tempura Batter Mix
To create light crispy textured menu items in your Bento Boxes, we invite you to try Upper Crust Enterprises Authentic Japanese Panko and Tempura Batter Mix. We have been making authentic Panko and Tempura batter mix for over 35 years and supply Japanese Restaurants worldwide. We are now available to American restaurants through broadline distributors and look forward to being apart of helping restaurants large or small create the very best and authentic menu items.
We personally invite you (Professional Chefs, Restaurants and food distributors only) to try Upper Crust Enterprises Authentic Japanese Panko and Tempura Batter Mix – FREE.
Experience firsthand the difference an Authentic Japanese Panko will have on your menu items.
We guarantee our Authentic Panko will:
- Taste lighter and crispy.
- Have a delicate crispy texture that stays crispy longer.
- Provides a better yield than standard Panko.
- Deliver a better plate presentation making coating items look bigger but not taste bready.
Our Tempura Batter mix will never contain:
- Eggs
- Gums
- Thickeners
- MSG
- Flavoring/Spices
These ingredients will alter flavor and cause the batter to be soggy, oily and dense. Our Authentic Tempura batter mix will be extra crispy, stay crispy longer, never be soggy or oily and because it is flavor neutral you can easily create a wide variety of unique flavors by making it with any liquid instead of water.
Upper Crust Enterprises Authentic Japanese Panko and Tempura Batter Mix are available exclusively to Professional Chefs, Restaurants (large or small) and Food Distributors.
After you receive your sample visit our Recipe Suggestions and have fun trying new recipes and discovering how such a little crumb can have such a great impact on your favorites dishes!
All of our Authentic products are certified GMO Free, vegan, Kosher and Halal.
