ingredients

The Mystery of Japanese "Sauce"

Bulldog sauce bottles

Miso, soy sauce, bonito flakes...these are the kinds of ingredients you'd expect to be used in Japanese recipes. But there's another ingredient that appears very often, and it's usually just called "sauce" or so-su (ソース). What is this "sauce" anyway?

Type:  feature Filed under:  japanese ingredients yohshoku

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Butter shortages in post-modern Japan.

Filed under:  essays ingredients japan japanese culture

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Did you know that mirin used to a a high class, expensive beverage rather than a cooking ingredient?

Filed under:  japanese ingredients washoku writing elsewhere japan times

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A new article in the Japan Times about bamboo shoots, a quintessential springtime vegetable.

Filed under:  japanese spring ingredients writing elsewhere japan times

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About a trend in Japan towards growing delicious artisanal rice - article in The Japan Times.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients rice japan writing elsewhere japan times

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This month's Japanese Kitchen column in the Japan Times is about "kanbutsu", traditional dried food products.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients writing elsewhere japan times

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While it is possible to substitute other types of rice for Japanese rice (see: Looking at rice) sometimes a Japanese dish just isn't right unless you use Japanese-type or japonica rice.

Whenever I write about Japanese rice, I always get asked about the best brands to get, whether rice grown in Japan is worth the extra cost, and so on. Here's what I recommend, depending on where you live.

Filed under:  japanese ingredients rice

plate of chicken

A little musing on chicken.

Filed under:  ingredients chicken thinking

Japanese Cooking 101: Lesson 5 theme and ingredients revised to - Fish!

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I've revised the plans for Lesson 5 of Japanese Cooking 101. We'll be tackling fish!

Type:  feature Filed under:  ingredients fish japanesecooking101

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