Japanese Cooking

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Cinflo58
Cinflo58 Posts: 326 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone know about Japanese cooking? I love sushi, ramen (sorry low carb folks) and all things japanese except fermented soybeans. Can anyone give me any tips or recommend a good Japanese cook book. I live near a HUGE Japanese market and don't know what to buy. The market is Mitsuku in Edgewater New Jersey. Thanks!
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  • foxyninja398
    foxyninja398 Posts: 38 Member
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    Personally, I don't think anyone sane likes natto. ;)

    I would probably do an Amazon search and look at the reviews to see what books they suggest.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    LOVE Japanese food. Sushi, sashimi, edamame, and SOBA!

    Alas, I only know how to do nori rolls.
  • Cinflo58
    Cinflo58 Posts: 326 Member
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    I did but there were so many books that I didn't know which one to get. I also googled natto and found an article in the journal of nutrition that said it was shown to prevent osteoporosis in Japanese woman and a Japanese woman at my job told me her people swear it is a great anticancer food. If I knew that I would have forced myself to at least try it. I read that it tastes better than it smells Guess I'll have to actually go to Barnes and noble :(
  • CharityGC
    CharityGC Posts: 499 Member
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    I lived in Japan for awhile and miss the food! Good luck finding a good cookbook!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
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    I did but there were so many books that I didn't know which one to get. I also googled natto and found an article in the journal of nutrition that said it was shown to prevent osteoporosis in Japanese woman and a Japanese woman at my job told me her people swear it is a great anticancer food. If I knew that I would have forced myself to at least try it. I read that it tastes better than it smells Guess I'll have to actually go to Barnes and noble :(

    I do not care if this was proven to prevent cancer. Natto is BY FAR the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.

    For good japanese cooking instructional vids look up "cooking with dog" on youtube. They are great :smile:
  • k8eekins
    k8eekins Posts: 2,264 Member
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    Does anyone know about Japanese cooking? I love sushi, ramen (sorry low carb folks) and all things japanese except fermented soybeans. Can anyone give me any tips or recommend a good Japanese cook book. I live near a HUGE Japanese market and don't know what to buy. The market is Mitsuku in Edgewater New Jersey. Thanks!

    Love Japanese cuisine! Recommend Master Chef Murata's "Japanese Home Cooking" and Kurihara's "Everyday Harumi."
  • jerryatrics
    jerryatrics Posts: 7 Member
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    I did but there were so many books that I didn't know which one to get. I also googled natto and found an article in the journal of nutrition that said it was shown to prevent osteoporosis in Japanese woman and a Japanese woman at my job told me her people swear it is a great anticancer food. If I knew that I would have forced myself to at least try it. I read that it tastes better than it smells Guess I'll have to actually go to Barnes and noble :(

    I do not care if this was proven to prevent cancer. Natto is BY FAR the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.

    For good japanese cooking instructional vids look up "cooking with dog" on youtube. They are great :smile:

    I love that channel! (just realized saying "I love cooking with dog" may sound strange to those unfamiliar with the youtube channel :P)
  • ecogranny
    ecogranny Posts: 24
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    There is a big Japanese chain in uk called Wagamamas and they are expanding in USA. On the website www.abebooks.com you will find THE WAGAMAMA COOKBOOK by Arnold Hughes. You should I hope get some excellent ideas from there. We are keen on Indian and Thai food which we cook from scratch. Having lived in Hongkong my husband worked for a spell each year Nepal and our taste for Indian started then Great to make on a wet, cold Saturday for serving up on Sunday complete with Indian or even easier, Lebanese bread.
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    *bump* :heart: :heart: :heart:
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    OH YUM!!!! LOVE!! LOVE LOVE!!!!!!
  • Hezzietiger1
    Hezzietiger1 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    yumm yumm
  • petithamu
    petithamu Posts: 582 Member
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    Hey,

    My family owns a Japanese restaurant so I'm used to do a lot of Japanese cooking. Cooking with Dog is great. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and you can easily replicate her recipes. Books with Harumi Kurihara is also easy to follow.

    Here are some key ingredients you should always have at home if you want to do Japanese cooking on a regular basis:

    Mirin - get a big bottle. Most dishes has mirin in it.

    Hon Dashi - saves you the chores of making fish stock

    Miso paste - white or red, doesn't matter. Don't get the pouch one, get the fresh one in a container. It'll hold for a long time. It's not just for soup, you can use it for marinade as well! Heard of Miso Black Cod? Yes, cost you an arm and a leg at Nobu when you can make it at home for quarter of the price.

    Dry seaweed like wakame

    Sesame Oil

    Rice Vinegar

    Panko bread crumbs

    And soy sauce

    These should get you started with some ramen soup, some chicken katsu...etc

    Hope this helps!
  • Cinflo58
    Cinflo58 Posts: 326 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your replies! LOL about the natto - I didn't know what I was ordering and you're right I ended up ordering the most vile thing. It was tiny brown fermented soybeans with strings of what looked like mucous hanging off them. It smells like vomit. BUT, it is consisdered healthy

    i will check out cooking with dog youtube video's. My dog didn't like that idea. But I explained that it is not literally cooking with dog. Or is it? Like that twilight zone episode. TO SERVE MAN......IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!
  • DouMc
    DouMc Posts: 1,689 Member
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    yum! I love japanese food. Totally going to try out some of these ideas!
  • callmejessica
    callmejessica Posts: 1,868 Member
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    Yes, natto is pretty gross. That's my least favorite New Year's tradition. If you're looking for a good cookbook, The Wagamama Cookbook is awesome!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
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    natto tastes like something is actively decomposing in your mouth. Honestly, as I type this I can remember the taste of it, and that was eleven years ago.....*shudders*

    I have a bilingual book called 'stonesoup' It's sort of readers recipes, and not sure how good it would be ingredientswise, but it should give you a good grounding in everyday Japanese food.

    it doesn't have an okonomiyaki recipe in unfortunately. Osaka-style is best....just sayin'....
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
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    Heeeey! Stop Nattou bashing! It's my favourite food!

    If you get a tofu skin pocket thing, fill with Nattou and grill it, I find that a great snack, or mix with raw egg and eat on rice. Nattou sushi with shiso is also amazing.

    Personally, I find the grossest Japanese food to be 'uni' (sea urchin). I never want to taste that again!
  • LadyMustard
    LadyMustard Posts: 104 Member
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    When you gat the chance, try googling "Just Bento". The site has tons and tons of Japanese recipes tweaked to fit what is more widely available in America. I love making bentos for when my hubbie and I go out to conventions or on road trips, and the site has everything!! Try making Tomagoyaki, OMG ADDICTION... So good! There is also a recipe for Hokkaido style corn and miso soup that looks to die for. There's lots of pictures too, so you can't go wrong. (There's even a section on sushi for beginners, which I now make for lunches quite often)
  • JessHealthKick
    JessHealthKick Posts: 800 Member
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    I am the resident Japanese lover. Everything from the food, culture, language to even the men (yes bf is Japanese) and I live here too - stuff Western food, I'll have Japanese food every day thanks!

    I find the staples in Japanese cooking are soy sauce, mirin (kinda like cooking sake), vinegar, miso paste, dassi (fish broth), konnsome (vegetable stock), katsuoboshi (dried fish), shiokosyo (salt/pepper), sesame oil, sesame seeds. For fresh things, you often need garlic, ginger, negi (kind of like spring onion). These are just off the top of my head though of course!

    I would recommend to stay away from making sushi - really Japanese don't really eat sushi rolls that much but rather onigiri (gasp, Japanese don't live off sushi?!) And ramen requires a lot of skill in cooking the pork broth etc (which I have no patience for, plus you can get good ramen here for $6 so why bother?). Japanese have a lot of pretty raw foods - nabe hot pots, salads, tofu. Also they have amazing katsu (pan fried pork/chicken with bread crumbs) which is to DIE for with sauce.

    Yes, another note. Sauce. Get ready to fill your cupboard with like 15 different sauces. I wouldn't hesitate to bet that Japanese have the widest range of sauces, it's somewhat overwhelming!

    And yeah STOP NATTOU BASHING! I have it... my boyfriend has it with a raw egg on rice every morning! I prefer my egg a little poached and will pick at his nattou, and of course add in umeboshi (picked plum). Heaven is Japanese breakfast IMO.

    If you have any questions feel free to message me :)

    Hope this brain-vomit of a reply is helpful!
  • RM10003
    RM10003 Posts: 316 Member
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    For cookbooks, anything by Elizabeth Andoh. The Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu is quite nice, too.

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