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 Yakumi
薬味
PROJECT Yakumi
This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club PROJECT is about making YAKUMI, fresh herb and spice mixtures, in YOUR kitchen… and sharing with fellow members what you have made, and how you are using it.
Use yakumi to top dishes such as chilled tōfu, fresh tomatoes or stewed eggplant. Cold noodles served with yakumi to be added to soy-based dips are a Japanese summertime classic (a great beat-the-heat strategy!). Yakumi can also be folded into an omelet.
Here’s a BASIC RECIPE to use as a point of departure for creating your own house version of YAKUMI.
More about yakumi on my Kitchen Culture post.
What will YOU make? Please post to KITCHEN CULTURE COOKING CLUB. Japanese washoku dishes are always welcome… maybe tossing with sushi meshi and making a chirashi-style scattered sushi platter? or stuffing fried tōfu pouches to make inari-zushi?
Or, try this yakumi mix tossed into a pasta… or stuffed into a sandwich…?
I look forward to seeing your post!
My June 2022 newsletter is all about yakumi.
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.
Seven Good Fortunes of Summer
Photo from KANSHA © Copyright Leigh Beisch (Styled by Karen Shinto)夏の福神漬けNatsu no Fukujin-ZukéSeven Good Fortunes of Summer Named after the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, Shichi Fukujin, this pickle is made from an assortment of chopped vegetables with the addition of...
Cold Noodles Part Two: SOBA
COLD NOODLES: Part TWOそば・蕎麦・SOBA Most soba noodles are made from 80% soba (buckwheat) flour and 20% wheat flour; these are known as hachi wari soba (literally 80% soba). If you wish to make your noodle dish gluten-free you will need to buy jū wari soba, noodles made...
Cold Noodles Part One: SŌMEN
Survival strategy for hot, humid days: Chilled Sōmen Noodles-on-the-rocks! DOWNLOAD information on buying, storing and cooking sōmen and serving the noodles.© Photo by Leigh Beisch Styling by Karen Shinto ネバネバそうめん Slithery Sōmen Noodles Mouth feel (the way a food...
Rainy Season Kitchen
RAINY SEASON KITCHEN TSUYU (梅雨 literally, "plum rain") comes to the Japanese archipelago every year as spring turns to summer. The constant dampness of tsuyu encourages the growth of kabi (mildew, and molds) requiring a strategy (taisaku 対策) ... and diligence...
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