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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 NYUMEN
![various nyumen collage](https://tasteofculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/various-nyumen-collage.jpg)
Above, Four Examples of Nyūmen:
Hakusai, Carrot and Shiméji (top left); Egg Drop, Shiméji and Scallions (top right); Chicken and Mitsuba with Sanshō (bottom left); Shiitaké, Shiméji, Carrot and Mitsuba.
煮麺 ・Nyūmen
This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club PROJECT is about making NYŪMEN (sōmen noodles in piping hot broth) in YOUR kitchen… and sharing with fellow members what you have made.
On chilly days nyūmen makes for a quick, belly-warming light meal. Use this BASIC RECIPE as a point of departure for developing your own house version.
There are many members of KCCC who eat plant-based foods exclusively. For those, and others who would like to increase their consumption of non-animal foodstuffs, note there are MANY vegetarian and vegan options listed in the basic recipe.
Scroll down for several BROTH OPTIONS.
NOTE: the classic version of nyūmen features a subtly nuanced savory broth. Spicy flavorings such as yuzu koshō or shichimi tōgarashi are rarely used, though on occasion, a pinch of tongue-tingling sanshō is added as a finishing touch. There are those who add curry roux, in the same way that some Japanese favor curry udon.
Classic nyūmen is a clear broth soup-noodle dish. However, sōmen is added to miso soup (especially in the summertime in the Kansai region). When sōmen is placed in miso soup it is no longer called nyūmen though. Instead it is called sōmen iri miso shiru, or “sōmen in miso soup.”
Curious about how sōmen is made? Want to know how to buy, store and cook sōmen?
Take a look the Nyūmen Kitchen Culture blog post.
![making various dashi collage](https://tasteofculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/making-various-dashi-collage.jpg)
Simple vegan broths can be made using either Kelp Alone Stock or a mushroom-enriched version called Sankai Dashi (literally Mountain-Sea Stock). Using several varieties of kombu will add depth and complexity of flavor to your noodle soup.
Stocks using fish such as Standard Sea Stock (and Smoky Sea Stock) and Sanuki Sea Stock (made with iriko or niboshi dried sardines) are the most commonly encountered.
Looking forward to seeing YOUR NYŪMEN dish at Kitchen Culture Cooking Club.
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.
The Japanese Culinary “Alphabet” SA, SHI, SU, SÉ , SO
Sa = sato (sugar); saké also begins with “sa”; Shi = shio (salt); Su = su (vinegar); Sé = sé is currently pronounced shō and stands for shōyu or soy sauce; So = misoThe Japanese Culinary "Alphabet" To maximize flavor and achieve tenderness with minimal cooking time...
Displaying Dolls for Doll’s Day
The Andoh Family's full set of HINA NINGYŌ Just off camera is a wind-up music box that plays Ureshi Hina Matsuri うれしひな祭り. Download a chart explaining each of the dolls, and words to the song. 雛祭り Hina Matsuri Doll's Day For ancient agrarian societies, quirky winter...
FUKI no TŌ
Fuki no Tō 蕗の薹BUTTERBUR (Petasites japonicas) Sansai, literally “mountain vegetables,” are foraged from woodland areas in various parts of Japan as winter thaws into spring. When sansai dishes appear at table, it signals the start of culinary spring fever: an...
KASU-JIRU
Salmon Saké Kasu Chowder 粕汁SAKÉ KASU-JIRU A belly-warming salmon and root vegetable chowder, shaké no kasu-jiru, is standard wintertime fare throughout Japan’s northeastern region, the Tohoku. Every household seems to have its own rendition, but with this master...
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