Transcript Document 7342853

Japanese Cuisine
Geography:
Four large islands: Hokkaido,
Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
40ºN
Df Climate
Cf climate
30ºN
Physical Geography of Japan
Mountainous region, with ¾ lands are
mountains. Located on the ring of the
fire, earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions are common.
Only 13.9% of land are agricultural;
66.7% are forests
Cold winter and hot humid summer
(rainy June, and hurricanes later
summer)
Staple food: rice
Rice is the most important of all food stuff to
Japanese. It is the only agricultural product that is
self-sufficient for its country
Rounded and sticky cool weather variety rice is
preferred over the warm spices of narrow long, not
sticky ones (easier to pick-up with chop sticks)
2000 varieties have been cultivated in Japan to
match environments and technical requirements of
different growing areas and tastes.
Compare rice with bread
If the protein required to maintain the human body
is ingested solely from rice, a person weighing
70kg must eat about 0.8kg (uncooked) rice per
day. (farmers can eat 1.5 kg of rice/day during
labor-intensive season.
If bread made from wheat were to be used as a
sole source of protein, 3 kg would be eaten per
day which is impossible. So bread diet must be
supplemented with meat and dairy products. With
rich animal protein, bread becomes necessary
only for its calories-providing carbohydrate content
Rice alone can give the body everything it requires
apart from certain vitamins and minerals. Thus, if
an adequate supply of rice can be guaranteed, the
problem of sustenance is largely solved.
Characteristics of Japanese food
uses fresh ingredients that are found in season and
enhance natural flavor
Prepare food as close to its natural state as possible
with minimum artificial technique (as opposed to
others that regard cookery is the art of transforming
materials that are not yet edible into palatable items)
Emphasize on the visual appeal of food
Absence of oil and fat
Traditional meals are often named by the number of dishes
that accompany the rice and the soup. Examples: IchijuIssai which means a “soup plus one” or “one dish meal”;
Ichiju-Sansai- “soup plus three (odd numbers are preferred;
rice, soup, and pickles are not counted as dishes)
Fish is very important: “Eat raw if you can, otherwise
grill it, and it that won’t work, simmer it”
Fish in Japan
Japanese eat more fish than any other nations
Buddhism’s influence of no flesh of mammals
Long coastal line and easy fishing
Warm Japan current from south and the cold
Kurile current from the north facilitate more
species of fish than all but a few areas of the world
Fermented fish:
fish, shellfish, squid, or meat (rarely) pickled in salt
(25-30% volume) in a container for a long timepaste produced
Eat with rice, drink with sake
Fish sauce: fish and salt sealed for a longer time
until fish and organs are decomposed completely
into a liquid form, then strained.
Popular in wet-rice paddy area-small scale fresh
water fishery in rice field or crustaceans (large
quantity of small just spawned fish caught at once
in rice field during monsoon rain)
Sushi
Originally referred to the long-fermented type of fish packing
salted fish and boiled rice in a sealed jar for a long time
forms rice ferments. Fish can be kept for a year or more and
pasty remains of the rice are discarded and fish is sliced and
eat in raw.
Sushi chefs are man (1) bare hand with rice and raw fish.
Woman’s hands have fragrance of cosmetic transmitted to
the food (2) it is one of the last occupations that still
maintains the proud manliness of the Edo workman.
Sushi rolls
Nigiri-zushi
Sashimi: raw fish is sliced to a size that can be grasped with
chopsticks dipped in soy sauce with grated wasabi (first
class meal)
Soups
The most common soup is Miso (eat three meals a
day)
Miso is made of fermented soy bean paste and
rice; rich source of various amino acids including
glutamic acid: a taste enhancer (MSG)
MSG: monosodium glutamate. Invented by
professor Ikeda Kikunae, University of Tokyo.
(Glutamic acid was isolated from wheat, artificially
formulated, and produced in crystallized form as
the chemical flavoring)
Tofu, seaweed and green onions can be added to
Miso
Served in lacquer bowls not ceramic ware. (keep
warmth better and look warm)
Soup stock is made by dried bonito, dried sardines,
kelp, and dried shiitake mushrooms (behind the
scenes, do not be seen in soup)
Other food styles
Sakiyaki: many varieties of recipes: thinly
sliced beef (high-grade sirloin, soft and
marbled with fat), welsh onion, tofu,
noodles and others (mushrooms,
spinach, wheat gluten, etc) cooked on
the table either in sautéing with fat or
broil.
Shabu-Shabu: Japanese version of the
Mongolian hot pot (sounds of meat
swirling in the broth)
Mochi
Glutinous rice cake associated with
sacred occasions. Due to labor
intensive was only eat at special
occasions before animal-powered or
water wheeled were used.
Tempura
Originally based on Portuguese
cooking. Three theories for its name:
(1) tempera means to season
(2) Signified certain days in religion on
which fish was to be eaten instead of
meat.
(3) Has Chinese root
Chopsticks and table
manners
Do not share chopsticks even with family members.
(it is believed something touched other people’s
mouth picks up that person’s character and might
transmit a contamination spiritual and cannot be
washed away.
Noises made in eating noodles are acceptable (feel
the slipping smoothly down the throat and
consequently suck them down in a single breath
without chewing well)
Korean plates are not lifted to the mouth but remain
on table. Japanese hold bowls of rice and soup up off
the table before take food out of the container
(beggar’s manners to Korean). Chinese shoveling
rice from a bowl held to the mouth (coarse behavior).
Dicing ingredients at the starting of the cooking
process is a primary characteristic of East Asian
Cuisine (no knife or fork used on table to cut)
(chopping board in every kitchen).
Foods for Flavorings
Shoyu (soy sauce), sansho (Japanese
pepper), mirin (a type of sake but for
cooking), dashi (mixture of dried bonito and
seaweed), sugar, rice vinegar, miso (red
and white), salt, Japanese lemon, Wasabi,
mustard, red pepper, ginger, shiso leaves,
horseradish, MSG.
Onion, garlic, leek, chive & shallots were
discouraged by Buddhism but popular in
modern Japan
Sesame Seeds, Sesame oil, Walnut or
peanuts for dressing
Shoyu (Soy sauce)
Shoyu was introduced as a main sauce to replace
meat which was not acceptable starting 552A.S. when
Buddhism was introduced to Japan.
It is made by
(1) grilling wheat (or barley) in a big iron pan until dark
brown in color and then crushing the grain
(2) soybeans are boiled in a large covered kettle with a
heavy weight on the lid for 3-4 hours and cool in the
kettle overnight
(3) Grilled wheat and boiled beans are mixed together
and placed in a malt-room where malt seed is added
along with salt water.
(4) The resulting mash is allowed to ferment and mature
naturally for a full 18 months when it is pressed and the
sauce obtained pasteurized to become refined shoyu
Cooking methods
Traditional Japanese cook books are
arrange by cooking techniques not by
ingredients like Chicken, Seafood or Salad
which is common in Western cook books.
Grilling, simmering, steaming, deep frying,
poaching and pickling are the most
common forms of cooking.
A cook book would also have a special
section for soups, sushi, rice, noodle and
sweet dishes
Sake Brewing
Why Japan has Sake but not much fruit brewing?
Environmental Factor:Too slow cooling in fall turns
sugar in fruit into various type of acid and become
unsuitable for producing Fruit wine (yeast convert
sugar into alcohol). Mulberry, persimmon, myrica
and apricot wine were not fermented from the
fruits, but rather were liqueurs made by soaking
the fruits in sake, brewed from rice or in a distilled
spirit
Pure liquor made from rice using rice Kôji (mold) is
made only in Japan (malt or saliva must be used
to change starch to sugar first).
Noodles
Popular noodles
served are Udon,
ramen, somen and
soba
Udon is a thick white
wheat noodle
Ramen originated in
China and it is
yellowish in color.
Somen is a thin
spaghetti like white
noodle.
Soba is a brown
buckwheat noodle
usually eaten cold.
Japanese New Year’s Meals
Kuro-mame (Black soybeans) - "Mame"
means "health". (Wish for good health in
the New Year)
Konbu (Seaweed) - "Yorokobu" means
"joy". (Wish for a joyful year)
Tai (Red sea-bream) - "Medetai" means
"happy event". (Wish for happy events in
the New Year)
Kazunoko (Herring roe) - "Ko" means
"child". (Wish to be gifted with children in
the New Year)
Daidai (Japanese bitter orange) "Daidai" means "from generation to
generation". (Wish to be gifted with
children in the New Year)
Hot mochi soup for breakfast
Seaweed
Nori (laver): Japanese seaweed
paper (made from sea kelp)
Kimbu (giant kelp): for stock and
wrapping dried fish
Wakame: for soups, salad, or
sprinkle over rice dishes
Hijiki: for sauteing or deep-frying
tempura
Agar: agent for jellying
For fertilize agricultural fields
Resource
www.bento.com
The history and culture of Japanese
food by N. Ishige, Kegan Paul, New
York, 273pp.
The Pleasure of Japanese Cooking
by H. Tanaka and B. Nicholas,
Prebtice-Hall,Inc., Englewood Cliff,
New Jersey, 1963.