Recipes & Articles

Calling all tea lovers: I'll be teaming up with my friend Stebastian Beckwith, tea authority and a founder of In Pursuit of Tea, to present an evening of tea tasting and stories from Japan.

The last simple cooking method I explained, simmering, got, well, a little lengthy and drawn out - I said simple, but forgot concise! So let me make amends by offering this exceptionally delicious, exceptionally simple (and concise) method for shiso rice:

Japanese home cooking is incredibly versatile: Learn a few simple techniques and you can cook, literally, hundreds of things. But this simplicity has to be learned. That's why I'm extremely pleased to announce a series of terrific Japanese cooking workshops to be taught by EN Japanese Brasserie's remarkable Chef Hiroki Abe, and moderated by yours truly.

First, a little theory: Nimono, or simmering, is a primary Japanese cooking technique, and a vast one. Nimono dishes are considered one of the classic kaiseki courses, as well as a mainstay of home cooking.

Hey, Chefs Sono-san and Abe-san are ready to cook for you -- so what are you waiting for? Whew, it's been over two years since I posted a list of my favorite Japanese restaurants in New York -- an update is way overdue.

Chef, educator and food journalist Yukari Sakamoto has just published a new book: Food Sake Tokyo, a fabulous guide to the city's eats. Go Yukari!

Okay, time for teriyaki, but I mean the real thing, not the ho-hum dish we typically see here in America, the one with a gummy, starch-thickened sauce that drowns chicken or fish.

An extraordinary invitation prompted my trip to Japan this past June: A chance to spend a month training in the kitchen of Hyotei, the hallowed 400-year-old ryotei in Kyoto. Hyotei is no ordinary restaurant.

If you haven't ever tried edamame picked fresh from the vine, please scour your local farmers market, just in case someone's selling them. I happened to drop by the Union Square market in NYC and came across a pile -- and grabbed 'em fast.

Turnips, daikon, beets and radishes aren't only about the tasty bulbous root -- the leaves are just as important.

Paging through a review copy of A Cook's Journey to Japan, a charming cookbook filled with homestyle faves, I landed on the hiyashi chukka recipe, cold ramen noodles with sesame vinaigrette. Man, that looked good.

The intense, caramel aroma of freshly roasted hojicha tea is what first stopped me in my tracks on Amazakeyokocho Street.