• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Hiroshima: kaki (oysters); Hiroshima-yaki, which is Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (batter and cabbage cakes cooked on a griddle)

Hokkaidō: kani-ryōri (crab cuisine); salmon

Kyoto: kaiseki (Japanese haute cuisine); wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets); yuba (the skim off the top of tofu, or soy milk skin); Kyō-yasai (Kyoto-style vegetables)

Kyūshū: tonkotsu-rāmen (pork-broth rāmen); Satsuma-imo (sweet potatoes)

Northern Honshū: wanko-soba (eat-till-you-burst soba); jappa-jiru (cod soup with Japanese radish and miso)

Okinawa: gōya champurū (bitter melon stir fry); sōki-soba (rāmen with spare ribs); mimiga (pickled pigs’ ears)

Osaka: tako-yaki (battered octopus pieces); okonomiyaki

Shikoku: sansai (wild mountain vegetables); Sanuki-udon (a type of wheat noodles); katsuo tataki (lightly seared bonito)

Tokyo: sushi

* * *

Tofu

Usually made from soy beans, tofu is one of Japan’s most sublime creations. Tofu is sold as the soft ‘silk’ kinugoshi and the firm momen (or momengoshi). The former is mainly used in soups, especially misoshiru. The latter is eaten by itself, as agedashi-dōfu – deep-fried tofu in a dashi broth – or used in the Kyoto classic yudōfu, a hotpot dish. Both momen and kinugoshi take their names from the technique used when the hot soy milk is strained – if the material used is cotton, the resulting firm tofu is momen; when silk (kinu) is used, it’s kinugoshi.

A classic way to eat tofu is as hiyayakko, cold blocks of tofu covered with soy, grated ginger and finely sliced spring onion. This is a favourite on the menus of izakaya.

Abura-age is thinly sliced, especially thick tofu traditionally fried in sesame oil (more recently, however, producers use salad oil or soy bean oil). It is a key ingredient in the celebratory chirashi-zushi (sushi rice topped with cooked egg and other tidbits like shrimp, cucumber and ginger) and in inari-zushi (where vinegared rice is stuffed into a fried bean-curd pouch).

Yuba is a staple of shōjin-ryōri and a speciality of Kyoto. It is a marvellous accompaniment to sake when it is served fresh with grated wasabi (hot green horseradish) and shōyu tsuyu (dipping sauce). Its creation is a time- and labour-intensive process in which soy milk is allowed to curdle over a low heat and then the skin is plucked from the surface.

Shōyu (Soy Sauce)

Surprisingly, shōyu is a relatively new addition to Japanese cuisine, although a primitive form of it, hishio, was made in the Yayoi period by mixing salt and fish. Shōyu in its current form dates back to the more recent Muromachi era (1333–1568).

Twentieth-century mass production made a household name out of Kikkōman, but shōyu is still made using traditional methods at small companies throughout the country. It comes in two forms: the dark brown, ‘thicker taste’ koikuchi-shōyu and the chestnut-coloured, ‘thinner’, much saltier usukuchi-shōyu (sweetened and lightened by the addition of mirin). Koikuchi is used for a variety of applications and is perfect for teriyaki, where meat or fish is brushed with shōyu, mirin and sugar, and grilled. The aromatic usukuchi-shōyu, a favourite of the Kansai region, is best suited to clear soups and white fish. It is especially important in enhancing the colour of a dish’s ingredients.

Return to beginning of chapter

RESTAURANTS & SAMPLE MENUS

Shokudō

A shokudō is the most common type of restaurant in Japan, and is found near train stations, tourist spots and just about any other place where people congregate. Easily distinguished by the presence of plastic food displays in the window, these inexpensive places usually serve a variety of washoku (Japanese dishes) and yōshoku (Western dishes).

At lunch, and sometimes dinner, the easiest meal to order at a shokudō is a teishoku (set-course meal), which is sometimes also called ranchi setto (lunch set) or kōsu. This usually includes a main dish of meat or fish, a bowl of rice, misoshiru, shredded cabbage and some tsukemono. In addition, most