Japanese Cuisine - by food author Howard Hillman

Japanese cuisine

An insightful guide
to Japanese cuisine
for diners & travelers

by an established authority

Why Japanese cuisine

is special

Japanese cooks are legendary for the beauty of their dishes. Though more complex cuisines exist, none comes close to matching Japan's culinary aesthetics.

Insights on

Japanese cuisines

Presentation

Ingredients are artistically cut and arranged not merely to please the senses but to conform to elaborate systems of cultural symbolism.

Influence

The roots of Japanese cuisine are largely sixth-to-eighth century Chinese.

Rice

It is usually steamed and served at the end of a meal. Rice is the main starch staple in Japanese cuisine.

Regional

Cooking varies from region to region. For instance, the Kansai style cooking (around Kyoto and Osaka in the south) is perceptibly sweeter than the Edo style (around Tokyo).

Sushi

Even sushi varies by region. In Tokyo the fish is pressed onto two-inch oblong rice balls (the style followed by virtually all sushi bars outside Japan), but in Osaka the fish is pressed onto rice in a mold, then usually cut into squares or rectangles.

Japanese cooking methods

More so than any other cuisine, Japanese cuisine is best understood in perspective by knowing its four principal cooking methods:

Agemono

These are fried foods. Famous dishes include Tempura, Kagiage (a batter dipped, deep fried patty of vegetables and shrimp), and Tonkatsu (a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet).

Mushimono

Steamed foods: The celebrated dish is Chawan Mushi, an egg custard containing chicken and vegetables.

Nimono

These foods are boiled. The best known subcategory is Nabemono, one-pot tabletop cookery in which the ingredients are simmered in a lightly seasoned broth, then usually dipped into a flavorful sauce. Nabemono's best-known dishes are:

Sukiyaki Shabu Shabu
Beef, vegetables, and bean curd

Mizutaki
somewhat like Shabu Shabu, but with chicken instead of beef

Yosenabe
Fish, shellfish, and vegetables

Yudofo
Uncomplicated bean curd preparation.

Oyako Donburi

Essentially, a donburi is a bowl of rice topped with a seasoned preparation. The Oyako Donburi is uses egg and chicken.

Yakimono

Foods that are broiled. Some of the best known dishes are Yakitori (marinated skewer broiled chicken), Teriyaki (broiled meat or fish first marinated in a sweetened sake and soy-sauce mixture), Shioyaki (fish salted for an hour or two, then skewer-broiled), and Teppan Yaki (food cooked on a small tabletop grill).

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