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 Flavored Miso
PROJECT Flavored Miso
This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club PROJECT is about making flavored miso in YOUR kitchen… and sharing with fellow members what you have made and how you are using it. This page introduces two new flavored miso mixtures, one redolent with fruity kabosu, the other infused with smoky katsuo-bushi flakes and lots of zippy ginger. In addition, many recipes for flavored miso can be found on other posts to this website:
Black Sesame Miso Tōfu Dengaku
Fuki no Tō Miso Dengaku
April (2022) Kitchen Culture blog entry is about urui, a springtime plant that can be enjoyed various ways (including served with flavored miso),
Yet more ideas and instruction can be found in KANSHA: Miso-Slathered Nama Fu (page 148) and Miso Oden (page 171) and Mitarashi Dango (page 228)
The theme of my April 2022 newsletter is URUI, the elusive flavor of springtime.
There are LOTS of options when it comes to flavoring miso.
One is to incorporate the citrus ZEST. If you can source kabosu you are in for a special treat. Or, if it is difficult to source varieties of Japanese citrus, try a combination of grapefruit and orange instead. You need to use organically grown fruit to be sure the skin has not been sprayed with chemicals.
I love the combination of bitter-and-tart kabosu with yeasty-salty mugi miso. It is terrific as a dip for cucumbers or celery. Or, try a dab of kabosu miso wrapped in a soft lettuce leaf. Its is also wonderful spread on rice (mini-omusubi) or tōfu, broiled dengaku-style.
Another way to create a flavored miso is to infuse it with smokiness from katsuo-bushi (I often refer to the flakes of dry-cured bonito fish as the “bacon of the sea”).
If you like a textured miso, mince your ginger by hand with a knife, or pulse briefly in a food processor. If you prefer a smoother texture, grate your ginger, gather the gratings and press to make juice.
Looking forward to seeing YOUR FLAVORED MISO 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.
Gingery Soy-Stewed Snapper
Gingery Soy-Stewed Red Snapper, several versions 金目鯛の煮付 KINMEDAI no NITSUKÉ Nitsuké-style stewed fish is especially flavorful when cooked bone-in. In addition to slices with skin and bone intact, various fish parts including heads, and collars are delicious prepared...
Shaping Rice
Making bale-shaped rice logs 俵型 TAWARA-GATA The Japanese often serve cooked rice at room temperature, packing it in obentō lunch boxes, or making it part of a buffet-like spread to feed a large crowd. At such times, the cooked rice is likely to be pressed, by hand or...
Rolled Omelets, Two Ways
Thick Rolled Omelet Atsu Tamago Yaki厚玉子焼き A classic in the washoku kitchen, thick, rolled omelets are made by cooking a seasoned egg mixture, layer by layer, in a pan – preferably a square or rectangular-shaped one. In and around Tokyo, the egg mixture is rather...
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...
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