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Kitchen Culture Cooking Club
EXPLORE and PRACTICE Japanese cooking in your own kitchenAbout 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 Salmon
![cooking with salmon collage update](https://tasteofculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cooking-with-salmon-collage-update-scaled.jpg)
SALMON・鮭・SAKÉ
PROJECT SALMON is about preparing salmon, and sharing with fellow members of the Kitchen Culture Cooking Club a salmon dish that you make in your kitchen. Salmon lends itself to variety of cooking methods — it can be skillet-seared, steamed, broiled, grilled, braised, smoked, poached and fried.
You’ll find lots of suggestions and recipe resources here. Share a tried-and-true favorite salmon dish with us. Or, try making a salmon dish you’ve never made before and let us know how it went.
In the photo above, upperleft, clockwise: SHIO YAKI (salt-cured beni-zaké, broiled and served with grated radish and lemon); TAKIKOMI GOHAN (Rice cooked with Mushrooms and Salmon); GINGAMI MUSHI (salmon and mushrooms steamed in foil); SALMON FLAKES to toss into rice or stuff onigiri with; SMOKED SALMON (garnished here with capers).
![kasujiru harako meshi collage](https://tasteofculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/kasujiru-harako-meshi-collage.jpg)
Recipe resources at this website include a belly-warming salmon and root vegetable chowder called KASU-JIRU and HARAKO MESHI rice cooked with salmon and topped with roe.
Further recipe resources for preparing salmon from previously published cookbooks (available through CKBK):
An American Taste of Japan (William Morrow, 1985) pg 142 Camellia Sushi made with smoked salmon.
An Ocean of Flavor (William Morrow, 1988) pg 114 Red and White Half-Moons made with smoked salmon and white radish.
Visit the KITCHEN CULTURE post on SALMON to learn about wild-caught varieties commonly found in the Pacific rim.
![](https://tasteofculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/salmon-sushi-sashimi-collage.jpg)
October 2022 newsletter about sāmon
The newsletter’s main story is about sāmon, salmon served as sushi and sashimi. Download a copy of the October newsletter here.
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.
Cold Noodles Part Three: Hiyashi Chuka
For centuries, the Japanese have adapted and adopted foods and food ways from many culinary traditions. Asia in general, and China in particular, has probably been the greatest source of “inspiration” over the years. In fact the highly popular Japanese summer noodle...
UMÉSHU Plum Wine
In Japan, early June is the time for UMÉ SHIGOTO (plum work), transforming the harvest of not-yet-fully-ripe fruit into a sweet liqueur (uméshu) and/or sour, lip-puckering salt-cured uméboshi. If you are able to source green, not-fully-ripe Japanese umé plums it is...
Project OCHA-ZUKÉ
The two major components are: BROTH and TOPPINGS. Start by picking a broth that will define the character, and general flavor profile, of your ocha-zuké. The recipe for making KELP-ENRICHED TEA BROTH offers several options for using different teas such as smoky hōji...
Ocha-Zuké
Ocha-zuké, rice moistened with green tea broth, is Japanese comfort food at its most basic – a reliable stand-by that can be quickly assembled as hunger, or the mood, dictates. A delicious way to enjoy leftover rice, ocha-zuké is a favorite, late night snack of...
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