"HELP! I ate three bites of raw chicken, am I going to get sick?!" "I had chicken for dinner but it was pink. I ate it, but I am worried now. What should I do?" "Warning: FDA strongly advises chicken to be cooked completely before...
When I crave comfort food, this is my go-to dish. It's quick, easy and cheap. The key to a successful miso-eggplant dish is fresh eggplants. The vibrant purple...
Matsutake are to Japan as truffles are to France. They are hard-to-find, fragrant, expensive and coveted. "Matsu" means pine and "take" means mushroom. Matsutake are harvested in the fall, the earliest occurring in September from pine forests in diverse locations around the world...
You've smelled them in or around your neighborhood. They turn bright yellow in November and December and are usually clustered in groups along streets or in parks. They are ginkgo trees. Ginkgo trees put on quite a show, but they can...
One thing California and Japan have in common is the abundance of bright orange Fuyu persimmons when November hits. Persimmon or kaki, in Japanese, are...
Hi everyone, Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko's column today. Yoko has set the bar quite high for tips, techniques and recipes on Japanese cooking, so I really thought hard about what I would be writing about. I browsed through all my Japanese cookbooks and...
Ankimo, or monkfish liver, when steamed, is considered a delicacy in Japan. The creamy texture is not unlike a fine pate. Ankimo is to be eaten in tiny bites and is an excellent accompaniment to sake or shochu. The first time I...
By Yoko Kumano Originally posted on September 9, 2010 My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting...
My in-laws visited from Tokyo last week. I think my mother-in-law thinks that there are no Japanese products available in the states and brought us half a suitcase-full of food. Poor, unfortunate Americans. Turns out that half of the stuff she brought...
Cutting a block of raw fish was intimidating for the longest time for me. I know for a fact that I am still not doing it like the pros because 1) I don't cut with a sashimi knife and...
My mom used to pack rice balls for me as an elementary school kid for lunch way before the sushi craze swept the nation and way before there were sightings of Alice Waters toting around onigiri. Having these balls of...
A step-by-step guide and video to how to wash rice properly in the Japanese style.
Learn the difference between Japanese seaweed – nori, iwanori, wakame, and kombu.
When the heat rolls in, laziness comes in the form of "I don't want to cook." Maybe it's also an instinctual thing where I am unconsciously preparing for a fire or earthquake which is more likely to happen in the hot summer months...
Quite possibly the only herb in the mint family that the Japanese will not associate with toothpaste is shiso. Shiso, or sometimes referred to as perilla, Japanese basil or beefsteak plant is often found as a garnish in Japanese cuisine....
This monochromatic sunomono salad may look humble, but it packs a sweet and sour punch. It tastes somewhat reminiscent to the cucumber salad that comes with Thai satay skewers. Although sunomono is eaten more like...
A budget-friendly recipe to make tsuyu, Japanese soba dipping sauce, from scratch. It's easy and uses only three ingredients!
Nothing compares to short grain rice in Japan. Find out more about Haku-mai, Gen-mai, and Haiga-mai including taste, use, and nutritional value.
The idea of a salad at many Japanese restaurants in America is some iceberg lettuce, julliened carrots and a cherry tomato (if your lucky) - topped with a creamy, sesame dressing. I can say that I am sometimes a fan...
Last month, I took a relaxing trip to Pt. Reyes with one of the best books I have read this year, the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (The Girl with...
