Japanese food cultivates the taste of simplicity, taking a Zen approach to cooking. Japanese cuisine brings out the best flavors of basic foods such as rice instead of relying on spices for multiply tastes. In order to optimize essential tastes, Japanese chefs prepare foods as part of an overall aesthetic experience including all the senses. Each course is served in a specific order, organized by an exact sequence of cooking methods, to make each ingredient in every dish contribute to the desired overall effect. There are fascinating principles underlying Japanese culinary theory; they find expression in Japanese cooking methods and ingredients.

Japanese Culinary Theory

In keeping with the Buddhist emphasis on simplicity, Japanese culinary theory emphasizes honing a few basic foods to perfection such as rice, noodles, and fish. Where other cultures add spices to accentuate flavors, Japanese cooking focuses on bringing out the pure flavors of its basic ingredients.

Japanese Homestyle Cooking

Japanese gastronomy also emphasizes the organic unity of the parts of a whole experience. Taste is approached as part of the total that includes all the senses and the mind. As essential as taste is the artistic presentation of the food: its layout, garnishes, and the selection of the plate or dish. The ideal Japanese meal presentation seeks to balance five symbolic colors: green, yellow, red, white, and “black,” which in this context refers to the dark purple of an eggplant or cabbage. The meal simultaneously includes six fundamental tastes: bitter, sour, sweet, hot, salty, and mild.

Ordering is also part of the total Japanese eating experience;  foods are served in a particular sequence to accomplish this. The most basic traditional meal sequence is a clear soup followed by three main dishes, in this order:

1. Fresh, uncooked fish
2. A grilled dish
3. A simmered dish

This is followed by rice, pickles, tea, and often fruit.

In an ideal Japanese meal, a steamed dish comes between the grilled and simmered dish, the simmered dish is followed by fried foods, and miso soup may come between pickles and tea.

Japanese Cooking Methods

Because of this emphasis on proper sequence, Japanese cookbooks tend to be organized by cooking methods rather than ingredients. There are five main traditional Japanese cooking methods:

• Serving raw (sashimi, considered a “cooking” method because of the preparation involved)
• Grilling (yakimono)
• Boiling or simmering (nimono)
• Steaming (mushimono)
• Deep-frying using tempura and other ingredients (agemono)

An true Japanese experience includes at least one dish prepared in each manner.

All traditional Japanese cooking methods are done on a stove top. An oven is never used.

Japanese Cooking Ingredients

Cooking Japanese dishes revolves around bringing out the taste of a number of basic ingredients by using supporting ingredients. Some of the most important Japanese ingredients are:

• Rice, so important as a staple food that the word for “cooked rice” is synonymous with “meal.” Other Japanese foods typically serve to bring out the taste of rice. Major types of rice consumed in Japan include polished white rice (uruchi mai), unpolished brown rice (genmai), and glutinous rice (mochi).
• Noodles, often substituting for rice in the staple role. Traditional Japanese noodles include soba, udon, and somen. Ramen noodles have become increasingly popular since being introduced from China.
• Bread, increasingly popular since its introduction to Japan in the 19th century.
• Soups to accompany rice. Popular Japanese soups include miso, tonjiru, and dangojiru.
• Side dishes to accompany rice, called okazu. These are usually made from fish, meat, vegetable, or tofu.
• Flavorings to bring out the taste of other foods. These include a soup and cooking stock called dashi, a seasoning called miso, and soy sauce.
• Pickles and pickled or salted foods (tsukemono), such as salt cured and pickled soy sauce salmon caviar.
• Tea, especially green tea (ryokucha).
• Sweets, such as wagashi, a kind of confectionery served with tea.

 

Who knew that something as simple as making rice taste good could be so complicated? But that is the secret to the Japanese art of cultivating culinary simplicity.

Japanese Food Resources

Japanese Food Ingredients
Tradition of Japanese Cuisine
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture

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