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 Small Plates
MAMÉ-ZARA Fun
Collecting and Using Small Plates
Part of the fun of collecting dishes and other tabletop accessories, is to assemble wide-ranging variations within a category. With mamé-zara, one way to do this is focus on a color scheme such as red and then collect as many different shapes and designs as possible.
Another might be to choose a subject like Mt Fuji … or the auspicious kotobuki calligraphy 寿
No matter what color, shape or theme you choose for organizing your mamé-zara, small plates are a great way to serve tasty tidbits, whether they are freshly made for that meal, or leftovers from a previous one.
To get you started, here are a few recipes for small bites that pair well with beer or sake or tea.
SHISO MAKI しそ巻き hails from Japan’s Tohoku region known for its walnuts and full-bodied red miso. This dish showcases both in an addictively tasty filling for herbaceous shiso leaves. Some Tohoku chefs will add a spicy spark to the sweet-and-salty miso mixture by adding a pinch of fiery shichimi tōgarashi to the filling.
and
HŌRAI-ZUMÉ 宝来詰め plump, juicy Treasure Filled (stuffed with chicken) Mushrooms, that are skillet-seared and soy-glazed.
Visit the companion blog post, Small Plates.
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.
PROJECT Setting the Autumn Table
This PROJECT is about setting the table... to set the stage for autumn's culinary pleasures. One simple and fun way to do this is by choosing fall-themed HASHI OKI (choptsick rests). Pictured above are a few of the options: autumnal maple leaves, chestnuts, shimeji...
Autumnal Culinary Pleasure: SANMA
The Japanese speak of aki no mikaku (autumnal eating pleasures). Of the many foods placed in that category, a slender, sleek, and steely-colored fish called sanma (Pacific saury; Cololabis saira 秋刀魚) has always been considered shomin no aji, or "food for the masses."...
PROJECT Eat to Beat the Heat
This PROJECT is about making foods that are refreshing and restorative when the weather is oppressively hot and humid. Mouth-puckering UMÉBOSHI have long been touted as a way of ensuring food safety on hot days because of their anti-bacterial properties. Members of...
Eat to Beat the Heat
The Japanese have long believed that foods beginning with the syllable “U" (written” う in hiragana), have special beat-the-heat properties. Most famous is UNAGI (eel, rich in vitamin B1) known as an antidote for summertime lethargy. The current custom of eating...