japanese cooking

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Gohan cookbook review

Emiko Davies, the Australian-Japanese cookbook author based in Italy, is mostly known for her Italian cooking.  She’s written five books on Italian cooking, and I recognize her name from the work she’s done for Food52.  My introduction to her was a Food52 Youtube video in the days of the covid-19 pandemic where she made Torta Caprese.  But more recently, in September 2023, she release a Japanese cookbook with Smith Street Books.

“Gohan”, by Davies, almost feels like looking through a family photo album. At first glance, the recipes are unpretentious and ageless. Here, you’ll find basic Japanese cooking and flavors.

The book is divided into:

  • Home-made pantry staples
  • Rice
  • Noodles and street food
  • The West meets Japan
  • Japanese Breakfast
  • Vegetables
  • Family favorites
  • Sweets

When I say basic Japanese cooking, I mean items like onigiri (rice balls) and grilled fish.  It’s humble, and not glitzy for internet fame. You can also find recipes like:

  • No-waste furikake seasoning
  • All-purpose soup base
  • Tonkatsu sauce
  • Pickled ginger
  • My mother’s lemon-pickled daikon
  • Scrambled eggs with garlic chives
  • Salmon donburi
  • Fried and braised lotus root and carrot
  • Golden taro and potatoes in soy butter
  • Cold somen noodles with cucumber and ginger
  • Winter hotpot (oden)
  • Potato salad
  • Curry rice
  • Japanese milk bread
  • Red bean buns
  • Kanten fruit jelly cups

The first recipe I made from the book was for braised tofu. The ingredient list is uncomplicated: firm tofu, onion, scallion, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and water.  The results were pretty much what I imagined they would be. It’s a simple but tasty way to consume tofu. (Typically you would serve with rice, but I must admit that I ate with broccoli and pasta instead.) I will definitely remake in the future.

The other recipe I made was for kinako and chestnut cake. It’s made with lots of butter, sugar, Okinawan black sugar (alternately brown sugar), lots of eggs, all purpose flour, kinako (aka roasted soybean powder), and whole chestnuts.  For the chestnuts, I cheated and used one 100g bag of roasted chestnuts from the market. I adore chestnuts but I don’t really eat them in other dishes, so I was curious how this dessert would turn out. I’ve also never thought about using kinako in baked goods. I’ve only used it as a condiment for Korean BBQ. This recipe ended up being surprisingly difficult for me. I probably should have stayed away when I realized that there were no leavening agents. All of the loft is made from the eggs (which I am generally not great at). I followed the recipe to the T, making sure that the wet ingredients were well mixed with an electric mixer and timed it. But the batter is extremely thick and sticky, almost more like a cookie batter than like a cake batter. By the time I folded in all of the flour, I worked out too much air from the eggs.

My cake still rose, but not much, and I ended up with a fairly dense crumb. But more importantly, how was the flavor? It was not at all what I was expecting, but at the same time, it is the epitome of a Japanese dessert. (I know that’s a terrible description.) It’s not too sweet, and it’s very light in flavor. I’m not sure I’d make it as written again. Next time, I will give in to the temptation to add some baking powder. I might also add some vanilla, or alter the sugar ratio for more brown sugar (I do not have black sugar in my pantry). I’m not sure. It’s probably the American in me, but I wanted just a bit more oomph (especially for the amount of effort).

Baking technicalities aside, I’m glad I made it. A more talented home baker will not have trouble with it. (Or do I remake it as written just to prove to myself that I can do it? Hmmm…) I wish a little that I made the matcha almond cookies recipe instead. I didn’t choose that one because my matcha powder is old and the bright green color has oxidized into a dull green.

I think anyone who appreciates Japanese food will enjoy this book. I think the photos are gorgeous, and there are lovely stories and ingredient information. My only caution is that this book is in weighed amounts, no US volumetric.

Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Smith Street Books/Rizzoli New York for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  This cookbook is available for purchase from your favorite bookshops.

Reference Links:

https://food52.com/users/23872-emiko/articles

https://www.emikodavies.com

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Tokyo Up Late review

You might be thinking, “another Japanese cookbook?” Yes, and I’m not sorry. Not to insult the two previous books, this book might be my favorite of the three. “Tokyo Up Late: Iconic Recipes from the city that never sleeps” is the second cookbook published from Brendan Liew, who has worked in top notch restaurants in Japan and Hong Kong. He is not a well-known chef in America, probably because he’s based in Melbourne, Australia.

What I immediately liked about “Tokyo Up Late” is that some of the recipes are not ones you typically see in an English-language Japanese cookbook. That’s not to say that the recipes are obscure. Many of the dishes invoked a lot of nostalgia for me. The recipe grouping is also a bit unusual. Rather than group recipes by a course or a common main ingredient, the recipes are grouped by the environment in which you would find them. The main chapters of the book are:

  • Izakaya (Japanese bar food)
  • Makanai (family meal at traditional Japanese restaurants)
  • Fast food
  • Konbini (Japanese convenience stores)
  • Back home

There is so much that I want to make out of this book. Here are some highlights:

  • Nikumaki (pan-fried vegetables wrapped in meat)
  • Tonteki (soy-based grilled pork steak)
  • Red wine honey soy tare
  • Nasu nibitashi (dashi braised eggplant and shiitake)
  • Hiyajiru (rice and toppings with chilled sesame soup)
  • Okowa (steamed chestnut sticky rice)
  • Anmitsu (mochi and red bean paste with black sugar syrup)
  • Meron pan (melon bread)
  • Katsutado pan (custard bread)
  • Mont Blanc
  • Ochazuke (tea over rice) (comes with general guidelines and three specific variations)

The konbini chapter might be my favorite overall, so I started with Liew’s recipe for nikuman, aka pork buns. The dough is made water, yeast, sugar, flour, milk, and lard (or oil). While the dough is rising, a filling is made from rehydrated shiitake, minced pork, unsmoked bacon (optional), onion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, chicken bouillon (optional), salt, and white pepper. When both dough and filling are ready, the dough is divided into 8 pieces, and each piece is rolled out into a circle, and filled with meat. The dough is pinched closed, and the buns are rested before steaming until cooked through.

I had a lot of trouble making nice looking pork buns. Just based on prior experience, I recommend flattening each disc of dough so that the middle is thicker than the edges, like you often see done for dumpling wrappers. When the bun is pinched closed, it helps to keep the seam from being too thick, and helps keep the bun be more uniform in shape. My dough turned out a little too sticky. I probably should have used less water. I can’t get bao flour (or at least I haven’t seen it in the Asian markets closest to me) so I just used all purpose flour from Trader Joe’s. My flour is unbleached so I knew up front that I wasn’t going to get the pretty white exterior that one normally associates with Asian steamed buns. Another factor in the appearance of steamed buns is the steamer set up (which, as far as I can tell, the book does not mention). I do not have a bamboo steamer which is ideal. I only have a metal steamer. The problem with metal steamers is condensation. When water drops onto the bun, it bubbles the texture. I tried to mitigate this by wrapping the lid with a clean tea towel, which definitely improved matters but didn’t solve it completely. You can swipe back and forth to see the difference between my first batch and my later batches. The first batch was too thin on top and tore easily, and too much water had condensed on the surface. My later batches don’t look as ugly.

I don’t remember what convenience store pork buns taste like in Japan (it’s been too long). Appearances aside, the filling was really flavorsome, so it was still worth making. If making buns seems too daunting, you can use the filling in some pre-made dumpling wrappers and cook in some soup.

The second recipe I made was much easier. The wafu pasta in the Back Home chapter might be more delicious than the buns (if you like mushrooms). First you make the mentsuyu which is a dipping sauce/soup base. Then you cook up the mushrooms in olive oil and butter, and finish with the pasta, mentsuyu, scallions, shiso, shredded nori, and lemon wedges. I went with nicer quality, locally made butter and locally made fresh pasta.

I forgot to pick up shiso or parsley but that was ok. The flavor is largely driven by the winning combination of butter, mushrooms, and mentsuyu.

I also love how sophisticated it looks just off the stove with the pop of color from the scallions, and the texture of the nori before they both wilt.

Luckily for you, Smith Street Books was gracious enough to let me share Liew’s pasta recipe.

Give the pasta recipe a try, and if you like it, I highly recommend picking up your own copy of Brendan Liew’s “Tokyo Up Late” from your favorite book distributor.

The only person who might not be suited for this book is someone who absolutely refuses to use a kitchen scale. US volumetric measurements are not provided. But I think, for most cooking enthusiasts, this is a non-issue.

Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Ryland Peters & Small for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  

Reference Links:

https://www.smithstreetbooks.com/catalogue/tokyo-up-late/

https://www.instagram.com/brendanliew/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/chottomelb/?hl=en

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Otsumami, a cookbook review

Despite my slightly higher than average exposure to Japanese food and culture, I’ve not previously heard the word “otsumami.”  Per Atsuko Ikeda’s new book, “Otsumami,” it’s the word “given to snacks and simple dishes, designed to be eaten alongside a drink.”  I don’t drink much, but this cookbook caught my attention because the recipes more modern/more fusion than the Japanese cookbooks I own.

The book is divided into:

  • Party planning
  • What to drink with food
  • Cocktails
  • Furoshiki
  • Essential Ingredients
  • Kitchen Tools
  • How to cook rice
  • How to make dashi
  • Sauces and dressings
  • Flavoured miso
  • Flavoured mayonnaise
  • Simple light bites
  • Meat and poultry
  • Fish and seafood
  • Vegetables
  • Tofu and eggs

Some of the recipes I want to try are:

  • Rainbow dips (the red dip – has baharat, pink – has beetroots, orange – has butternut squash and ras el hanout, green – has cilantro and lime juice, brown – has mushrooms, yellow – has tofu and turmeric)
  • Ground meat on chicory
  • Balsamic chicken wings (see link at the end of this post for the recipe)
  • Meatloaf with ankake sauce
  • Chicken dumplings
  • Chicken ramen noodles in salty citrus soup
  • Miso and maple marinated salmon
  • Cold miso soup with smoked mackerel
  • Mushroom and miso gratin
  • Rolled Japanese omelette 3 ways

The first recipe I tried was the spicy tuna tartare on nori chips.  It’s basically a twist on the filing that you would use inside a spicy tuna roll (which typically uses sriracha or chili oil).  This version uses sushi grade tuna, pear, gochujang, soy sauce, sake, light brown sugar, garlic, toasted sesame oil, mayo, and fried nori chips (aka toriten).  I did  use plain nori instead of noriten but that’s because 1) I was lazy and 2) my Japanese market was missing the pre-made noriten on the snack shelves.  It’s mostly for texture so I wasn’t too worried about it.  I’m a fan of gochujang, so I really didn’t want to skip this recipe.  Results?  Lovely!  The crunchiness/juiciness/sweetness of the fruit was a great contrast to the tuna/gochujang.  And the gochujang changed the flavor  enough to make feel new.  While I liked it with the nori, I also took the route of serving it over white rice.  I liked the rice version better but I think it’s because it made it feel more like a meal.  If you’re truly aiming for serving apps and drinks, the nori chip version is the way to go.

The second recipe I made was supposed to be the cold miso soup with smoked mackerel, but my Japanese market didn’t have any shiso or myoga on hand (these ingredients are technically toppings, but they are bold flavors and I worried I was changing the recipe too much for this review by skipping both).  Instead, I made Ikeda’s version of smacked cucumber.  I’ve made a version of it before but the version I tried wasn’t interesting enough to stay in my cooking repertoire.  This version has soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, sugar, garlic paste, and toasted sesame seeds.  (Shichimi spice mix is an optional ingredient.  I left it out because I couldn’t remember where I had stored mine.)  The recipe isn’t drastically different from what I’ve made before but the additional of the garlic puree definitely made it better.  It also added just the tiniest bit of spiciness. The only swap I made was to use toasted black sesame seeds instead of white, because that’s what I had. It’s a simple and easy salad to prepare, and to wolf down. I made a half batch and finished it in one sitting. (Don’t let the photo fool you. There was a larger portion off camera.)

For people who like pictures with every recipe, this book isn’t it.  But there are photos enough for me, and I think they’re well done.  The styling is very cozy and warm looking.  I’d rather this than lots of photos that I hate (super contrasted/pumped up colors, I’m looking at you). I’m optimistic that the rest of this book will be as good as the recipes I tested.  That’s in part because I have Ikeda’s previous book, Atsuko’s Japanese Kitchen, and I liked that one a lot.  (I realized halfway through Otsumami that the author was the same person. lol! I’m bad with people’s names.)

The book is out now, if you’d like to pick up a copy from your favorite book seller. If you do, let me know if you’re enjoying it as much I am.

Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Ryland Peters & Small for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  

Reference Links:

https://rylandpeters.com/products/otsumami-japanese-small-bites-appetizers?_pos=4&_sid=9795df4c3&_ss=r

https://rylandpeters.com/products/atsukos-japanese-kitchen?_pos=2&_sid=9795df4c3&_ss=r

https://rylandpeters.com/blogs/food-drink/balsamic-chicken-wings-japanese-recipe?_pos=6&_sid=9795df4c3&_ss=r

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Cooking with Japanese Pickles, cookbook review

Pickles as a category wasn’t really something I grew up with, probably because my parents didn’t care much for acidic/sour foods.  As for fermented pickles, Korean kimchi is really the only one I eat consistently.  (I don’t even eat sauerkraut much, or dill pickles.  On the rare occasion, I’ll eat some bread and butter pickles, or relish.)  Meanwhile, Japanese pickles aren’t something I’m familiar with at all.  So for my next book to review, I got a copy of “Cooking with Japanese Pickles” by Takako Yokoyama.  There are 97 recipes in this book, 76 are pickle recipes and the rest are recipes using the pickles made.

The book is divided into:

  • Quick pickles
  • Classic Pickles
  • Pickling with the season
  • Traditional pickling

Some of the recipes that interest me the most are:

  • Napa cabbage in ginger soy sauce
  • Eggplant in sweet mustard
  • Mizuna greens in mustard soy sauce
  • Rice bran pickled daikon radish
  • Frozen ume in sugar
  • Garlic preserved in soy sauce
  • Pan-fried garlic pork
  • Ginger in sake lees
  • Enoki mushrooms in sake lees
  • Mixed vegetable pickles

A lot of the recipes required more time than I had available, and I was trying my best to use what I had on hand.  So, the first two recipes I made were miso pickled shiitake mushrooms, and potatoes pickled in sweet vinegar.

The mushrooms were really easy.  You simple rehydrate some dried shiitake, then boil for a few minutes, drain, and spread some miso into the caps.  Let it sit at room temperature overnight, and then eat.

The potatoes were more effort.  You cut them into matchsticks, rinse and drain a couple of times, and then pan fry.  While still hot, pour a sweet vinegar mixture over it.  Weigh this down for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until ready to serve.

The mushrooms tasted pretty much as you imagine they would.  I tended to just snack one while I was making my lunch or dinner.  But I liked the potatoes more than I expected.  The potatoes are a touch sweet, a touch acidic, and mild overall.  I suspect that this is the perfect pickle for people who think they don’t like pickles. I mostly ate the potato pickles in salads.  

And then I was just eating the shiitake and the potatoes together in one salad.  If you were to add dressing to this salad, I think it’d end up too salty.  I kept it pretty simple with lettuce greens and tofu.

For fun, I took a recipe for mizuna greens in mustard soy sauce, and altered it around what I had on hand.  It’s supposed to be mizuna greens, salt, karashi mustard powder, and usukuchi soy sauce.  I used green cabbage, salt, standard yellow mustard powder, and Bragg’s liquid aminos.  The end result was good but I found it more difficult to pair the flavor with.  I tried it in a couple of different salads, and didn’t love it.  However, when I served it over plain white jasmine rice, I thought it was great.

Alas, no photos of my off-script batch of pickles because I kept forgetting to take one. Honestly though, it doesn’t look that much different from something like sauerkraut.

Overall, the cookbook is easy to follow. It’s great resource if you’re interested in expanding your repertoire of Japanese side dishes. The only downside is that acquiring some of the ingredients may be a challenge. I’m very fortunate in that there’s a Japanese market in my town, and I suspect that they carry everything I need. Otherwise, I don’t think I have a local resource for getting items like rice bran that isn’t just ordering online. If you’re feeling adventurous, I hope you pick up a copy!

Disclaimer – I kindly received a copy of this book from Tuttle Publishing for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  

Reference Links:

https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/japan/cooking-with-japanese-pickles

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The Gaijin Cookbook, a review

“The Gaijin Cookbook” is a very different creature from its predecessor “Ivan Ramen,” both books by Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying.  When “Ivan Ramen” came out, it was self evident that the recipes were from the noodle restaurant of the same name, and artisan ramen is a complex process.  The Shio Ramen chapter itself is divided into making the eight components of the dish. “The Gaijin Cookbook” is practically the antagonist to the first book.  It’s about cooking Japanese food at home for a weeknight or for a party.

The layout of the book is a bit odd.  I’ve added quotes from the book about what each chapter is about.  And each chapter had some recipes that were grouped together, and sometimes recipes that only related to the chapter and not to each other.  So I’ve done my best to reflect that.

  1. The Recipes by Category
  2. Eat More Japanese – “… foundational recipes and flavors that taught [Ivan] to understand Japanese food”
    1. The Vanishing Japanese Diner
    2. Natto [Fermented Soybeans]
    3. Feeding Our Kids
  3. Open to Anything – “… fusion… recipes that have mingled… leading to new and delicious collaborations”
    1. (various recipes)
    2. Sandwiches
  4. Empathy – “nurturing through food”
    1. (various recipes, mostly rice and stews)
    2. Nabe
  5. Otaku [Geeking Out] – “more intensive recipes”
    1. (oden, dan dan noodles, gyoza)
    2. Frying
  6. Good Times – “dishes that are conducive to sharing while you sip on an adult beverage”
    1. (various recipes)
  7. New Year’s – “symbolic snacks that will ensure prosperity in the coming year”
    1. (various recipes)
    2. Jubako
  8. Pantry

 

If this were a novel, I’d be ok with this layout.  But as a cookbook, I find it a bit confusing if I’m looking for a recipe.  It almost feels random instead of intentional. If there’s a specific recipe you’re looking for, it’s the index you’ll need to depend on.

But the recipes themselves look good.  Here are some of the recipes I want to try:

  • Seasoned Ground Chicken (Tori Soboro) – I want to compare this version to the soboro I already make today
  • Mentaiko Spaghetti
  • Miso Mushroom Chili
  • Pork and Tofu Meatballs with Buttermilk Sauce
  • Smoked Fish Donburi
  • Okinawa-Style Soba with Pork Belly and Tatsuobushi
  • Salmon and Miso Hot Pot
  •  Sweet Dashi-Poached Prawns
  • Candied Sardines
  • Sesame Furikake
  • Katsuobushi Furikake

 

For my inaugural recipes, I made shimeji mushroom rice from the Empathy chapter, and the chicken meatballs (tsukune) from the Good Times chapter.  Both were straightforward to make, and ingredients were easy to come by where I live.

For me, the meatballs were decent but not necessarily a recipe I will remake as written.  It’s just a very ginger forward flavor even with the accompanying sauce. But I still like the general instructions, so I’m thinking about messing around with it, maybe using Chinese black bean paste as the flavoring agent.  It’s just a personal preference, not a critique on the recipe.

That’s when I decided to make the mushroom rice.  I wanted to see how a second recipe would work out, and I loved the results.  It’s a light flavor, and the cooking instructions are spot on. I used haiga rice (haiga is a semi-polished short grain rice where the bran is removed but not the germ, and cooks like white rice), and skipped the bonito flakes.  The recipe instructs you to soak the rice for at least 20 minutes, and up to 1 hour. I chose 30 minutes. For garnish, I just used scallions (no photo documentation, but I also used store-bought furikake as a garnish when I was eating leftovers).  Next time, I’ll use the katsuobushi and see how it changes the flavor. I can see myself making this regularly going forward as it stores in the fridge well and is great for meal prep.

Another thing that I enjoyed about this book was the photography.  The food photos are enticing. The portraits of Ivan scattered among the pages give insight to his personality.  And because I’m a romantic at heart, the photos of Ivan and Mari are endearing.

If you don’t have a cookbook on everyday Japanese cooking or don’t have one you like, give “The Gaijin Cookbook” a try.  I think it’s very home cooking friendly, and there’s a good diversity of recipes.  

Disclaimer – I kindly received this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.  The book is released September 24, 2019.

Reference Links:

https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Gaijin-Cookbook/9781328954350

https://www.ivanramen.com/

 

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Atsuko’s Japanese Kitchen, a cookbook review

If I had to name a cookbook that both embodied home cooking and simple elegance, it would be Atsuko’s Japanese Kitchen by Atsuko Ikeda.  It’s the reason why I was looking forward to this review.

Back when I first started to cook, I was drawn to Japanese cuisine.  Shabu shabu, Japanese curry, miso soup with a proper dashi, etc. were the things I was trying to make in my home kitchen.  Somewhere, I stopped cooking Japanese food (with the exception of the occasional nabe). I’m not sure why. Maybe because it stopped feeling new to me?

But Ms. Ikeda does an excellent job of taking those familiar Japanese dishes and adding a modern flair, taking a familiar homemade dish and giving it a breath of newness.  Some examples are:

  • Smoked mackerel and dill onigiri
  • Mushrooms with blue cheese, yuzu ponzu, and truffle
  • Molten eggs with lightly seared marinated steak (molten eggs seem to be jammy eggs)
  • Mushroom and soy milk soup

 

That isn’t to say that there are no traditional recipes in this book.  For a few days, I couldn’t decide whether to test out her chicken and eggs on rice (oyakodon) recipe, or her beef and potato stew (nikujaga) recipe.  (And then I chose neither for this review.)

The book is divided into fairly standard chapters:

  • My Japanese kitchen
  • Regional Dishes
  • The secrets of Japanese cuisine
  • Small dishes for sharing
  • Soups and Noodles
  • Easy one-plate meals
  • Special occasion meals
  • Sides and Dressings
  • Desserts

 

The recipes I’m interested in making that I haven’t named already:

Glazed lotus root and chicken meatballs – I was introduced to this recipe years ago, and I may have lost the recipe.  I love renkon (lotus root) and you don’t see this stuffed renkon recipe in English written cookbooks often.

  • Ceviche-style scallops with citrus sauce – On paper, it reminds me of a dish from Tyler Kinnett, Executive Chef at Harvest (one of my favorite restaurants in the Greater Boston area).
  • Chicken in nanban seasonings with tartar sauce – Somehow, I never heard chicken nanban until recently.  It’s apparently the Japanese version of sweet and sour chicken.
  • Fried and steamed salmon in miso garlic sauce – The photo for this recipe really appeals to me.  It’s listed in the special occasion meals chapter but the ingredient list isn’t daunting, nor are the instructions.
  • Pumpkin salad – Kabocha squash, Japanese mayo, Greek yogurt, raisins, and almonds.  It sounds intriguing.
  • Azuki bean paste pancake sandwiches – It never occurred to me to make my own dorayaki.  I love red bean desserts!

 

And a shout out to the photographer, Yuki Sugiura.  Every recipe is accompanied was a gorgeous photo to inspire!

For my review recipe, I ultimately picked the chicken teriyaki with lime.  (The recipe serves it over quinoa rice, but it’s been hot here in the Greater Boston area so I chose not to cook another dish.  I ate it with store bought naan, and salad. I’ll make the rice next time.) I like Japanese teriyaki but I just never make it at home, but I was really curious how the lime matched the dish.

Aside from the chicken and the lime, I had all of the ingredients in the recipe.  (Full disclosure, I swapped the leeks with onion.) It was easy to make, so I can vouch that it’s a perfect dish to make at home.  Ms. Ikeda claims “after trying this recipe, you might never purchase ready-made teriyaki sauce again.” I’m inclined to agree! I thought this was delicious!  And the touch of lime elevated the recipe from being boring and ordinary.

If you’re interested in Japanese food, or if you’re looking for some new ideas that can be used for everyday cooking, I highly recommend this book.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I wasn’t. In fact, I think I’ll make the fried ginger pork for dinner this weekend.

Disclaimer – I kindly received this book from Ryland and Peters for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post. The views and opinions expressed are purely my own.

 

Reference Links:

https://rylandpeters.com/products/atsukos-japanese-kitchen?_pos=2&_sid=d98f195e2&_ss=r

https://www.atsukoskitchen.com/

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Anyone want to gift me a clay pot?

There are things we want, and there are things we need.  Donabe by Naoko Moore and Kyle Connaughton was definitely the former.  I won’t lie.  When I picked it up, I expected to treat it more like a coffee table book but I think I completely underestimated it.

Why did I want this book?  A handful of years ago, I read Naoko Moore’s blog regularly.  I don’t even remember how I found it.  But I did, and I’d dream about buying a donabe (particularly the rice cooker donabe) to make all sorts of Japanese inspired recipes.

You might be asking what is a donabe?  It’s the Japanese word for clay pot.

And now, you might be asking if I ever bought one?  Um, no.  To be fair, I never bought one because most of them are not recommended for an electric stove… of which  I have.  D’oh!

But still, I enjoyed Moore’s blog even though I rarely used any of the recipes she posted.

Oh.  Maybe I do know how I found her blog.  I learned to make shio koji and I think I was researching for more background information.

https://awesomesauceeats.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/mystery-experiment-part-2-of-2/

Moore use shio koji a lot.  She even included a recipe for it in her new cookbook.

Right, back to the cookbook.

Donabe-owner or not, I think I’m going to have to cook a lot of these recipes.  I think most of it should be ok for normal pots and pans.  The exceptions to this are the recipes meant for the rice cooker donabe and the donabe smoker.  But I imagine that the rice cooker donabe recipes can be made in an electric rice cooker.  I’ll have to experiment.  I don’t have a smoker though, so those recipes are unlikely to ever see the light of day in my kitchen.   

Thankfully, there are a lot of soup recipes (I love a good nabe) and steamed recipes.  These should all be ok to make in my kitchen.  So, things on the to do list (besides more shio koji)?

  • Kyoto-style saikyo miso hot pot
  • Chicken hot pot
  • Duck and tofu hot pot (well, minus the tofu because I’m allergic)
  • Chicken meatballs in hot sesame miso broth
  • Simmered pork shoulder
  • Salmon chowder with miso soy-milk broth (I plan on using whole milk)
  • Pork and vegetable miso soup (maybe mostly because I love watching Shinya Shokudo)
  • Steamed yellowtail shabu-shabu (looks very simple and delicious)
  • Steamed enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef
  • Green tea seam cake
  • Steamed-fried salmon and vegetables in miso sauce

Obviously, it looks I’m going to get a lot more use out of this book than I originally anticipated.

While most of the recipes are Japanese, there are also some recipes with Chinese or Western influences.

Oh, and the pictures are really lovely.  I get hungry just looking at them.  At the end of the day, I’m really quite pleased to own a copy of Donabe.  Maybe one day, I’ll get around to buying that rice cooker donabe for myself.

(Haha, but right now I really want a nice carbon steel skillet.  That might be a story for another day.)

(^_^)b

Disclaimer – I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  I’m not getting paid for this post.

Reference Links

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239329/donabe-by-naoko-takei-moore-and-kyle-connaughton/

http://naokomoore.com/

http://toirokitchen.com/

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A taste of izakaya fare (or why I didn’t see Wylie Dufresne tonight)

I did not go to the Wylie Dufresne lecture at Harvard tonight.

Why?

Because I was too busy attending an izakaya cooking class at Cambridge Center for Adult Education on the other side of the square. An izakaya is a Japanese bar. Not the kind of bar that you’re thinking of, but generally a small hole-in-the-wall  where you go after work to grab some beers and nibble on food. I’ve been to Japan a few times, but I’ve never stepped into an izakaya, mostly because I don’t drink. However, after watching clips of Kodoku no Gurume or episodes of Shinya Shokudo, and hearing my friends who have lived in Japan rave about izakaya foods… I started getting curious. Luckily for me, CCAE held an izakaya cooking class for the first time ever, under the title “Japanese Small Plates” and taught by Yoko Bryden.

The only bad thing about the class? The pacing is a little weird. Class started at 6:30p, but two hours were spent making sauces, marinating, soaking rice, and answering questions. I started wondering if we’d be done before class was supposed to end. But then in the last hour, cooking and eating went fairly quickly. In fact, we finished class fifteen minutes early.

As for the food that was made:
1) raw tuna with grated Japanese mountain yam
2) lotus roots stuffed with seasoned ground beef, served with ponzu sauce
3) smashed cucumber
4) rice with scallion/miso
5) fried tofu skins stuffed with scallions and katsuobushi
6) grilled chicken and scallions on skewers

Yoko also served some hiyayakko but I didn’t partake in that because I’m allergic to tofu. (Yes, this Chinese American girl is allergic to tofu. The universe laughs at me.)

Everything tasted really good. The grilled chicken was probably my favorite.  The fried tofu was probably the second favorite.  I’m not posting any pictures or any recipes out of respect for the instructor and for CCAE, so you’ll just have to sign up for the class if possible and discover everything for yourself… and then discover that you are suddenly in the mood to gorge on Japanese food but can’t because there was only-oh-so-much food made!

^_^

Reference Links:

http://www.yokodesign.com/

www.ccae.org/

(edit to add – Yoko’s blog is currently in Japanese only.  She is working on an English version.)