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 KUSHI (skewers)
PROJECT Kushi
This Kitchen Culture Cooking Club PROJECT is about making SKEWERED FOOD in YOUR kitchen… and sharing with fellow members what you have made.
Many recipes for skewered foods can be found on this website:
Black Sesame Miso Tōfu Dengaku
Crunchy Kushi Agé
Fuki no Tō Miso Dengaku
(Vegan & Vegetarian Options) Oden Part One
Oden Part Two
In KANSHA: Miso-Slathered Nama Fu (page 148) and Miso Oden (page 171) and Mitarashi Dango (page 228)
The theme of my March 2022 newsletter is SKEWERS.
Japan’s repertoire of skewered foods is extensive; just a small sampling of savory options above (from upper right, clockwise; KUSHI calligraphy in the center):
Hatcho miso tōfu dengaku with kinomé garnish; mitarashi dango in soy syrup; Sendai miso tōfu dengaku; Sendai miso konnyaku dengaku with white poppy seed garnish; Shizuoka-style oden with ao nori and sanshō pepper; savory miso-and-walnut stuffed shiso maki; blended miso tōfu dengaku; green yomogi and blond awa fu dengaku with dark and light miso.
Visit the Kitchen Culture blog post for more information.
Looking forward to seeing YOUR KUSHI (skewer) 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.
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...
Japan’s Version of Valentine’s Day
A sampling of Japan's chocolates (clockwide from top right) chocolate covered yuzu peel, bonbons filled with various shochū spirits, bonbons filled with saké, matcha infused chocolate planks, white chocolate animal characters, a variety of elegant truffles.The...
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