The Japanese Food Report

On Cooking Sukiyaki

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:56:06 -0500

Sukiyaki, of course, is a classic shaved beef hot pot traditionally cooked in a special cast-iron pot. We love getting down with sukiyaki on a frigid winter night here at Brooklyn mission control. Especially when paired with a glass of great sake.

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Udon-Chicken-Clam Hot Pot

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:21:17 -0500

So I was talking to a Japanese chef friend named Rio Irie about clams, and he brought up something interesting. Cooking clams together with chicken in a liquid, Rio told me, creates a broth with a remarkable mouthwatering flavor synergy...

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Remembering Karatsu Potter Jinenbo Nakagawa, 1953-2011

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:18:47 -0500

The first time I traveled to Japan it wasn't for the food, but for the pottery. Back when I was a TV news producer in Washington in the early nineties, I caught a number of phenomenal Japanese pottery shows at the Smithsonian's Sackler-Freer Galleries that simply blew me away.

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Chef Abe's Fresh Yuzu Kosho

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:36:16 -0500

Yuzu kosho is one of my absolute favorite Japanese ingredients. A salt-cured condiment made with yuzu citrus peel and chilies, it's at once intensely fragrant, hot and alive, a zesty accent that plants a big, fat palate-popping kiss to any dish.

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Hijiki Mixed Rice

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:13:46 -0500

Ah, Japanese mixed rice. There are so many variations, and they're all so tasty and easy to prepare. So why isn't this dish a standard in every American home? It should be.

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Gobo Kinpira: Sweet-Savory Sauteed Burdock Root

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:11:35 -0500

I love grabbing a drink in Japan, because it's never just about the booze -- there's always some kind of food involved. At its most elemental, that grub is tsumami, savory finger-snacks to whet the palate, to make you wanna knock one (or more) back.

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Ton Jiru: Classic Winter Miso Soup

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:54:42 -0500

Tadasuke Tomita is the force behind an incredible Japanese-language website called Shiro Gohan ("white rice"). A self-described food enthusiast and now cookbook author, he writes that he created the site "to help people recognize the deliciousness of washoku" (traditional Japanese food).

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Yudofu Tofu Hot Pot & Ponzu Two Ways

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:36:27 -0500

This post was originally going to include three ponzu variations, but after I squeezed the juice from a couple dozen yuzu and an unbelievable citrusy perfume overwhelmed the apartment, my wife asked me to save some juice for shochu cocktails! Wait -- let me back up:

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Steaming Large Clams with Dashi & Sake

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:46:04 -0500

I found these big, hunky clams at the farmers market this weekend, each at least 2 inches across. But how to prepare them? My wife Momo found a bunch of recipes online, but we decided to go as simple as possible -- steam them with sake.

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The Dynamic Duo: Butter and Soy Sauce

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:17:38 -0500

A few years ago I interviewed the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten for a story and he mentioned something to me as an aside, that one of his favorite flavor combinations was butter and soy sauce. That stuck with me...

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Udon Seafood Hot Pot

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:26:52 -0500

Here's an example of the spontaneity of Japanese cooking: My mother-in-law Nobuko is here to visit our baby (not us, but the baby :) ), and yesterday we took her to our local farmer's market here in Brooklyn.

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Chicken Nanban with Japanese-Style Tartar Sauce

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:04:08 -0500

So I was digging up research on Japanese-style tartar sauce for the new cookbook I'm working on with Tadashi, when I came across this dish.

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The Power of Goma-ae, or Sesame Dressing

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:27:47 -0500

Here's another dish from another one of my Japanese cookbooks, this one titled "Gentle Vegetables, Gentle Tableware." This book features gorgeous shots of foods arranged in simple yet rustic and breathtaking tableware. There are no recipes, per se, just a list of ingredients for each dish, and the author's thoughts on the cooking.

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Beef & Potatoes -- Inspired by the Samurai

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:29:35 -0500

One of my favorite things to do in Japan is to browse the cookbook racks at a local bookstore. Unlike ours in America, most Japanese cookbooks resemble a cross between a magazine and book ("mook" as they're called). They're not dense tomes like American cookbooks...

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Chawanmushi or Savory Egg Custard

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:52:27 -0500

Chawan mushi is one of those Japanese dishes I've enjoyed in restaurants for years but always thought would be too hard to make at home.

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