Kitchen Culture Cooking Club

EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japanese cooking in your own kitchen

About Kitchen Culture Cooking Club

Welcome to the Kitchen Culture Cooking Club, a community space providing encouragement to those who want to EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japan’s washoku wisdom in their own kitchens.

To facilitate this, themed projects will be posted to this page periodically. Project Assignments and links to relevant reference material stored on this site will be posted to this page. Anyone, anywhere in the world, with a sincere interest in Japanese food culture is welcome to browse the contents of this page and then replicate the themed project in their own kitchen.

For those who wish to display-and-discuss their projects with like-minded people, I invite you to join the KITCHEN CULTURE Cooking Club Facebook Group (formerly the TSUDOI Project), an interactive community space.

 

PROJECT Potato

PROJECT Potato

Most white-fleshed potatoes generally fall into either of two categories: fluffy OR waxy.

Fluffy potatoes are high-starch and tend to crumble when simmered; they are perfect for mashing, and when making korokke (croquettes). The Japanese often describe these dishes as hokahoka (“steaming hot“). The most commonly available high-starch potato in Japan is DANSHAKU (男爵) — pictured above, to the left. These fluffy spuds are also good prepared as MISO KAMPURA.

Waxy potatoes are lower in starch. When you want potatoes to hold their shape and not crumble — many curries, stews and some potato salads — are best made with waxy spuds such as MayQueen ( メークイン) pictured above to the right. Dishes made with waxy potatoes are often described as shittori or moist.

Chips and fries can be made with either type of potato but tend to be crisper, crunchier if high starch spuds (such as danshaku) are used.

Try making potato dishes with both kinds of spuds.

Learn about Japan’s Potato Lingo & Lore by visiting my Kitchen Culture blog.

Read my November 2023 newsletter.

Recipes and Resources

Stock (Dashi)

Dashi stock is essential to making soups and simmered or stewed dishes. Dashi is also used when making many egg dishes and all sorts of sauces, dips and dressings. Using good dashi will make a noticeable difference in the outcome of so many dishes you prepare.

Click to download recipes for (vegan) Kelp Alone Stock or Standard Sea Stock + Smoky Sea Stock

How to Cook Rice

In Japanese, the word for cooked rice, ご飯 GOHAN, is the same as the word for a meal, ご飯 GOHAN. Indeed rice is central to the meal.  Download the Rice with Mixed Grains recipe.

How to Prepare Sushi Rice

Sushi dishes are made with rice that has been seasoned (with sweetened vinegar) AFTER being cooked. Download the Classic Sushi Rice recipe.

Quick Pickles

The Japanese enjoy a wide variety of tsukémono pickles, many can be assembled quickly and are ready to eat within a short time.

Download a recipe for Quick-Fix Hakusai Cabbage.

PROJECT Kabocha

PROJECT Kabocha

Kabocha, a pumpkin-like squash with sweet, orangey-gold flesh and dark green, edible skin, frequently appears on the menu in Japan. The classic way to prepare kabocha is to simmer it in a slightly sweet soy-tinged stock. Soy-simmered kabocha is delicious on its own…...

Kenchin-Jiru Chunky Chowder

Kenchin-Jiru Chunky Chowder

けんちん汁KENCHIN-JIRU Chunky Vegetable & Tōfu Chowder When autumn evenings turn chilly, its time for a hearty, nourishing chowder. The inspiration for this one, kenchin-jiru, is thought to be resourceful monks at Kenchō-ji Temple (建長寺) in Kamakura. Utilizing vegetable...

PROJECT Chunky Chowder

PROJECT Chunky Chowder

When autumn evenings turn chilly, its time for a warm bowl of nutritious chowder. The origins of this one, kenchin-jiru, is thought to be resourceful monks at Kenchō-ji Temple (建長寺) in Kamakura. Utilizing vegetable scraps and bits of tōfu, temples throughout Japan...

Sudachi & Kabosu

Sudachi & Kabosu

The Japanese have consumed a variety of citrus for millennia, enjoying both the juice and peels of the fruit. Many who reside outside Japan have become familiar with yuzu, a member of the Rutaceae (citrus) family primarily prized for its aromatic yellow peel but...

Recent Posts & Projects

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