What does a former “MasterChef U.K.” winner know about the foods of farthest-flung northern Japan? A whole bunch, it turns out.
Available from Oct. 29, “Hokkaido: Recipes from the Seas, Fields and Farmlands of Northern Japan” is author, chef and food museum enthusiast Tim Anderson’s upcoming cookbook on the cuisine and culinary history of Japan’s vast and most recently incorporated prefecture. The cookbook covers a lot, but its strength is in presenting Japan’s largest prefecture as a detailed tapestry via straightforward recipes, some of which you may have heard of: Hokkaido ramen (Sapporo, Asahikawa and Hakodate styles are all featured), ishikari nabe (salmon hot pot) and Ainu ohaw soup. Others though, you almost certainly will not be familiar with, such as rataskep (vegetable and bean stew), “Jun Dogs” (smoky frankfurters or fried shrimp wrapped in rice) or Hakodate’s buttery and meaty “Cisco rice.”
“Those are my favorite things,” Anderson tells The Japan Times.
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