PROJECT Serving Chawan Mushi

PROJECT Serving Chawan Mushi

PROJECT: Serving Steamed Foods Piping Hot This PROJECT is about serving chawan mushi, a dish that requires heatproof cups to cook the egg custards in and to bring them piping hot to table. Because Japan’s food culture places importance on the presentation of...
PROJECT Setting the Autumn Table

PROJECT Setting the Autumn Table

Setting the Table, Setting the Stage This project PROJECT is about setting the table… to set the stage for autumn’s culinary pleasures. One simple and fun way to do this is by choosing fall-themed HASHI OKI (choptsick rests). Pictured above are a few of...
Autumnal Culinary Pleasure: SANMA

Autumnal Culinary Pleasure: SANMA

The Japanese speak of aki no mikaku (autumnal eating pleasures). Of the many foods placed in that category, a slender, sleek, and steely-colored fish called sanma (Pacific saury; Cololabis saira 秋刀魚) has always been considered shomin no aji, or “food for the...
Project Eat to Beat the Heat

Project Eat to Beat the Heat

This project is about making foods that are refreshing and restorative when the weather is oppressively hot and humid. Mouth-puckering UMÉBOSHI have long been touted as a way of ensuring food safety on hot days because of their anti-bacterial properties. Members of...
Eat to Beat the Heat

Eat to Beat the Heat

  The Japanese have long believed that foods beginning with the syllable “U” (written” う in hiragana), have special beat-the-heat properties. Most famous is UNAGI (eel, rich in vitamin B1) known as an antidote for summertime lethargy. The current custom of...