Japanese cuisine is not limited to sushi and battered shrimp. The country boasts a variety of unique dishes. Did you know that the Japanese do not use forks and table knives, like to combine salty with sweet, and do not use shelf-stable foods? Read our article for everything you wanted to know about the national cuisine of the Land of the Rising Sun and even more.
Features of Japanese cooking
This national cuisine is undoubtedly one of the most exotic. It is radically different from the European one - in etiquette, serving, and products used.
The main features of Japanese cuisine are:
- eating seasonal food;
- unique table etiquette;
- the use of umami, the taste of protein products, as a base when preparing dishes;
- widespread use of seafood, and a wide variety of them;
- specific serving with an emphasis on the aesthetic appearance of food and the table as a whole;
- small portions. There is a preference for more dishes rather than a single serving size;
- the Japanese do not consume canned or shelf-stable foods, with the exception of rice and various sauces;
- the predominant use of fresh products, during the preparation of which the Japanese try to preserve their original appearance;
- unique cutlery – chopsticks. Some dishes are eaten with hands; spoons are very rarely used. That is why dishes are served in small slices to make it easier to grab with chopsticks;
- lack of forks and knives in serving.
By the way
A drink for smart people. Sake is perhaps the most famous Japanese drink. The process of its production is reminiscent of making rum, where rice is used instead of sugar cane. The vast majority of sake varieties have a strength of 14 to 20 degrees. Sake is one of the rare drinks in the world that is drunk both heated and chilled. It is believed that light and sweet sake is best drunk chilled on a hot summer day, while strong and spicy sake is drunk in chilly windy weather. By the way, professional tasters distinguish up to 90 shades of the aroma of this drink. And scientists from the University of Tokyo conducted an interesting study, during which they found that people who drink sake every day have an IQ score that is on average 3 points higher than that of abstainers.
Read also about the pros and cons of the Japanese diet >>>
Rice dishes
Rice in Japan is one of the pillars on which the national cuisine is based. Mostly cereals are used, which are highly sticky. This is necessary so that the rice, after heat treatment, forms small lumps that are convenient to pick up with chopsticks.
Rice is prepared as an independent dish and also serves as the basis for various recipes. This cereal goes well with seafood, vegetables, and herbs.
Onigiri
These are rice balls served with various sauces. The name of the dish comes from the word “nigiru”, which means “to compress” in Japanese, which clearly indicates the process of preparing the dish.
Warm, boiled unleavened rice is carefully shaped into plump triangles, often wrapped in dried seaweed nori. There are onigiri with filling, as well as spherical shapes.
Sushi
The dish became widespread in other countries in the 1980s. According to Japanese transcription, it is correct to say "sushi", but throughout the world the pronunciation as "sushi" has taken root. For the dish I use:
- special small-grain Japanese sumeshi rice, also called “vinegar rice”;
- dried seaweed leaves or nori;
- fish, only ocean varieties, because they are less likely to contain parasites. Salmon and tuna fillets can only be used after deep freezing;
- pickled vegetables (most often daikon, ginger);
- wasabi (a special type of horseradish);
- soy sauce;
- rice vinegar.
Sushi can be of various shapes - thin, large, twisted, pressed, etc.
Oyster capital
On the shores of the inland sea (as the Japanese call the bay, which is located between the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu) the city of Hiroshima is located. The region in which the city is located also has an ancient culinary tradition. But if you ask any Japanese what is the most delicious thing in Hiroshima, he will answer without hesitation that it is oysters and okonomiyaki.
Hiroshima can be called the oyster capital of Japan. Everything here says about oysters: restaurant menus offer various oyster dishes; a lot of souvenirs are sold that in one way or another copy this symbol; Tourists are offered educational tours to farms where oysters are grown.
Many dishes are prepared from oysters, but true connoisseurs prefer to eat them raw. While Russian nobles in the 19th century ate raw oysters sprinkled with lemon juice, Japanese gourmets prefer to dip them in soy sauce before eating.
Let's dwell on the most popular oyster dish in Japan, which is often prepared by housewives. It is called “kakifurai” (kaki - oysters, furai - deep-fried). Oysters are marinated for several hours in soy sauce with grated ginger, then dipped in egg yolk and breadcrumbs and fried in boiling oil.
Prepare kakifurai . Remove oysters (10 pcs.) from shells. Marinate in 2 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce for 1-2 hours. Heat a large amount of refined oil in a frying pan. Place 3 tbsp in one saucer. spoons of flour, in another - 3 tbsp. spoons of breadcrumbs, beat 1 egg into the third. Remove the oysters from the sauce, roll them in flour on all sides, then dip them in the egg and breadcrumbs. After this, deep fry until golden brown. Serve with lettuce or any vegetables.
Another famous Hiroshima dish is called okonomiyaki (spring pancakes). But, unlike regular pancakes, flour in okonomiyaki is used only as a binding element for the filling. The filling can be noodles, finely chopped meat, shrimp, cabbage, egg and much more.
Prepare okonomiyaki . Finely chop a medium-sized head of cabbage. Mix 200 g of flour and a glass of water - you should get a liquid batter, add a pinch of salt. Place the cabbage in the batter and beat in 3 eggs, mix. Grease a heated frying pan with vegetable oil, fry finely chopped bacon - 250 g. Add bacon to the bowl with the cabbage. Place the prepared mixture into the pan. Use a spatula to compact everything into a thick pancake. Fry on one side until golden brown, turn over and fry on the other side. The resulting pancake is topped with soy sauce. Add a little ketchup and mayonnaise, sprinkle chopped green onions on top.
Seafood
The peculiarity of Japanese national cuisine is that seafood is subject to minimal heat treatment. Shrimp, fish, and shellfish are steamed or lightly fried, and according to some recipes, seafood is used raw.
Sashimi
The dish is prepared from fish or seafood fillets. The most commonly used are salmon, tuna, shrimp, whale meat, octopus, squid, etc. The products are used raw.
The fillet is cut into small pieces and served with wasabi, soy sauce, shiso leaves and slices of daikon (a spicy rhizome).
Emphasis on the seasons
A careful approach to serving is considered an important part of even an everyday Japanese-style meal. It’s not for nothing that topics on culinary forums are often replete with photographs of various Asian delicacies, which are decorated with imagination and love. Even an ordinary lunch box that children or office workers carry with them to school is usually decorated in some special way to cheer up the eater.
This decorating culture goes back a long way, as even the ancient Japanese loved to “eat with their eyes.” To their contemporaries, the habit of making everything beautiful and tasty was passed on with their genes, otherwise this craving for constant decoration cannot be explained. Another reason for the huge amount of attention paid to the appearance of food is the scarcity of the diet in earlier days. Because of this, the food seemed monotonous, which caused boredom.
Content:
- Emphasis on the seasons
- Honor to seafood
- Food that leads to hospitalization
- Land of rice ears
- Misconception
In order to somehow change the situation, the Japanese began to go crazy with decoration. Now that there are many more ingredients, the old habit has become the basis for real culinary art, which not all aesthetes can handle.
The fact that all dishes here are divided according to the seasons deserves special attention. Every semester it delights local residents with its own delicacies. And since local citizens are not used to going against nature, they enjoy the products that autumn or spring are rich in. They are also decorated accordingly.
This approach is also explained by the fact that the Japanese highly value only the freshest food possible. It’s not for nothing that many of their recipes involve the use of some raw ingredients. To do this, you need to remain confident that the component is truly natural and fresh.
Another strange thing for many Slavs, accustomed to the fact that even an ordinary dinner is bursting with culinary delights, is modesty. There will be no giant portions or requests: “For mom, for dad.” The emphasis is on the variety of ingredients in the finished dish, as well as how they are processed. But the portion itself may immediately seem too small to tourists.
But there is no point in being offended by the Japanese, accusing them of greed. It’s just that the local tradition of controlling the consumption of goodies in order to avoid overeating has developed over time. But the variety of dishes served at one time will simply amaze the imagination.
Small plates displayed at breakfast can number up to 15 or even 20 units. And this is not yet considered something significant.
A final feature that often strikes Europeans is the lack of a so-called main course. The Japanese do not even understand the standard Slavic term “change of dishes.” They simply have the beginning of the meal, its middle and the end. There is simply no changing of plates or a strict sequence of eating treats. The only thing that remains unchanged is the offer to drink green tea almost always, regardless of what a person eats: be it salty rolls or sweets.
Noodles
Noodle dishes are widespread in Japanese national cuisine. It is used as a side dish, as an ingredient in soups or salads. Most popular dishes:
- ramen - meat or vegetable broth with noodles, cooked in wheat flour, mineral water, with the addition of eggs);
- Soba – noodles made from buckwheat and wheat flour. It is served both cold and hot, boiled or fried, with vegetables or only in broth;
- Udon is a noodle that does not use eggs.
Miso paste
Another favorite ingredient of Japanese cooks is miso. The sauce is the most ancient and important. It is from this that miso soup gets its inimitable taste. It is great for marinating seafood, fish, vegetables and meat. And also use it as a sauce for meat, etc. It is made from beans and grains mixed with salt, which is why miso has a very salty taste.
There are also a lot of types of miso. Firstly, there is red (the taste is deeper), and there is also light (I personally like the second). The consistency is also different, with a homogeneous or more “grainy” consistency. Also, each manufacturer tries to add some kind of zest to the miso recipe by adding mustard, dashi or something else. Accordingly, the taste of the dish will differ slightly depending on the type of bean paste used.
Meat dishes
The Japanese began to use beef and pork in cooking quite late. These ingredients were borrowed from Chinese and European cuisines. Most often, cooked meat is served in thin slices - no more than one mm wide.
Niku-zaga
This is a kind of stew - meat stewed with potatoes, vegetables and spices. The Japanese are more familiar with seafood dishes, so this borrowed dish is not particularly popular in the country.
Food that leads to hospitalization
The most famous version of “raw cooking” remains fugusashi. This is the same case when a dangerous fugu fish is made into a life-threatening dish.
It is based on:
- pufferfish;
- fahak;
- diodont.
Each sliced piece is placed in the shape of petals on a plate. They are dipped in a special sauce to add piquancy. This mixture consists of:
- vinegar sauce;
- chopped chives;
- grated daikon;
- red pepper.
The full set also includes serving cups for chawan tea. This dish has a lid for ease of use. Fugu fins, previously fried until slightly charred, are dipped in sake for a minute. And the exquisite feast ends with soup from the broth of boiled dangerous fish along with rice and a raw egg.
According to statistical estimates, more than one and a half tons of fugu are eaten annually in Japan. The most amazing thing is that this dangerous raw material was consumed as food a couple of thousand years ago. This is evidenced by the results of excavations carried out in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Most gourmets are aware that this “prickly ball” contains a nerve-paralytic poison. But not everyone knows that it is almost 300 times more dangerous than cyanide. Thus, one average fish can cause the death of up to fifty people. Modern pharmaceuticals have never been able to find an effective antidote for such a potent toxin.
To prevent possible accidents, only those craftsmen who have undergone special training and received the appropriate certificate are allowed to prepare this expensive delicacy. There is even the best school in the country that provides such courses.
Soybeans
This type of legume is a product brought from China. But despite this, soy has taken root well in Japanese national cuisine. A wide variety of dishes, sauces and cheeses are prepared from it, for example:
- soy milk - this can be a puree from soaked beans or a decoction of previously fried soybeans;
- Natto is fermented soybeans that have a stickiness and a specific odor. A very popular breakfast option in Japan;
- tofu is a cheese made from soy milk. The product is known for its nutritional value and high protein content;
- edamame - boiled young beans with pods;
- Yuba – foam when soy milk boils while preparing tofu;
- soy sauce - brine obtained by fermenting beans;
- miso - soybean paste. Used as a base ingredient for soups and sauces. The product is a sediment from soy brine.
Soups
Japanese cuisine has many recipes for first courses. Soups come with various ingredients - seaweed, seafood, noodles, meat, potatoes, etc.
Suimono
To prepare the soup you will need seafood, soy sauce, mushrooms (for example, muer, a black woody mushroom used in Asian cuisine, as well as shiitake mushrooms), vegetables, fish and seaweed.
Nabe
This soup has several cooking options - it is boiled with fish or meat (pork is often used). The basic ingredients are also Chinese cabbage, onions, carrots, garlic, sesame oil, etc.
Japanese cuisine is unique not only for its exotic dishes for Europeans, but also for its special food consumption traditions. For example, men can eat sushi with their hands, but women can only eat sushi with chopsticks.
Soups are served in bowls, which are usually raised to chest level. Leaning over soup on the table is not customary in Japan and is considered an undignified act.
Shiitake mushrooms
Shiitake is used both in Japanese cuisine and in Chinese and Korean cuisines.
Japan is the leader in the production of this tree fungus. In China they are called xiangu 香菇 [xiānggū]. Today, shiitake mushrooms are popular in Europe and America; they are also grown in Russia. The taste of shiitake is reminiscent of oyster mushrooms. They are usually sold dried and soaked before cooking. Shiitake fruits are famous for their healing properties.
They contain vitamins D, PP, group B, as well as microelements: phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, zinc, copper.
