Tag - home-cooking

 
 

HOME COOKING

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Sep 16, 2016
How Chinese stir-frying snuck into Japanese homes
Stir-frying, often thought to be a part of all East and Southeast Asian cuisines, has a fairly short history in Japan. The method of rapidly cooking chopped food in oil over a hot fire was first introduced to the country by Chinese immigrants in the Meiji Period (1868-1912). This was the era when restaurants...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 13, 2015
Eat Osaka teaches you how to cook like a local
Here's a joke unlikely to be endorsed by the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau: "There are three great reasons to visit Osaka: great people, great food and because Kyoto doesn't have an airport." The truth hurts, even if it's also mildly humorous.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2014
Holiday gifts they'll cherish from cover to cover
As the holiday season rolls around, it's time to dash about in a mad panic in search of gifts that say "I've given this one some thought, honest." Or you can just let us do the thinking for you, with gift suggestions from our regular book reviewers — tailor-made for the Japanophile reader.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Oct 28, 2014
'Nukadoko': The kitchen helper with a mind of its own
For years, I'd resisted the urge to start my own nuka-pickle pot.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Oct 14, 2014
Japan's take on the humble burger
There are two dishes that can be translated as "hamburger" in Japan. One is the all-American favorite, a beef patty sandwiched in a bun, which in Japanese is called hanbāgā. The other kind is similar to a Hamburg steak or Salisbury steak, made with chopped onions, breadcrumbs and egg mixed with the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Sep 16, 2014
The raw appeal of eggs
The average Japanese person eats around 320 eggs (tamago) per year, according to the International Egg Commission, placing it in the Top 3 worldwide. (In comparison, the average American eats around 250 eggs per year.) Eggs are enjoyed in many sweet and savory dishes, such as the famous (or infamous)...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Aug 19, 2014
Japan's historic love of corn
The fact that corn or maize has a Japanese name — tōmorokoshi — indicates that it entered the country centuries ago, before it was the norm to import the name of a food as-is and spell it out phonetically (as with tomatoes or asparagus, for instance).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Jul 29, 2014
Meet the artisan family striving for a better fish flake
The local train bound for Yamakawa bucked and buckled down the coast, jouncing us until our teeth rattled, and Yamakawa was so dinky we had to walk across the train tracks to exit the station. The taxi took us through a confusing rabbit warren of streets and, after asking directions several times, we...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Jul 29, 2014
Expo shows industrial-kitchen tech to fuel any foodie’s product lust
On a rainy day in June, the exhibition halls inside Tokyo Big Sight were brightly lit, accentuating the metallic gleam of the high-tech equipment on display at the Japan Food Machinery Manufacturers' Association expo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 19, 2014
Umami: the taste we love but can't describe
The word "umami" is, in many ways, literally a mouthful. First coined in 1909 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, the term translates roughly as "deliciousness." With its satisfying, round consonants and open vowel sounds, the word approaches onomatopoeia — a phonetic approximation of the gustatory...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Jul 15, 2014
Japanese summer garnishes invigorate the taste buds
In Japanese cooking, garnish is not just added to a dish to make it look pretty. The word to describe the herbs and vegetables that accompany a dish is yakumi, which means "medicinal flavor," and originally referred to the concoctions that practitioners of Chinese medicine made using various ingredients...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Jun 17, 2014
Traditional jelly noodles are cooling as well as healthy
Summertime is the season for cooling jellies, and one of the most popular kinds in Japan is kanten. Overseas, this is known as agar-agar, but here kanten and agar are confusingly considered to be two distinctly different substances.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
May 20, 2014
Why not add a little booze?
Mirin is a staple of Japanese kitchens, yet few people know what it actually is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NATURE'S PANTRY
Apr 29, 2014
A natural miso and soy factory that is always full of beans
Although rice is certainly the king of Japanese food, soybeans are the queen. Small makers of miso, soy sauce and tofu dot the landscape of Japan, but blink once and you will notice that the local shops are closing up as supermarket culture takes over daily life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Apr 29, 2014
How to sharpen your homemade sushi skills
"Why don't you come around to the other side of the counter?" sushi chef Junichi Onuki chirped from behind the bar. He laid down the sharp yanagi-ba knife he'd been using to slice fillets of sea bream and beckoned in a gesture of welcome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / JAPANESE KITCHEN
Apr 15, 2014
Springtime for bamboo
Few plants are as useful as bamboo. A member of the grass family, it is fast growing and very prolific given the right growing conditions, which makes it eco-friendly too.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2012
No shortcut to the master level
A thank you to Amy Chavez for her Dec. 1 column, "The best-ever tips on learning Japanese." I am pleased that Chavez knows how to write the truth with heart. Her article is the stake in the heart of those that whine about Japanese being difficult to learn.

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'