Food News – Japanese Food Culture
As Sydneysiders get more familiar with Japanese ways of eating, with izakayas springing up all over town, it’s natural we’d want to start cooking these simpler Japanese drinking snacks at home.
Enter Hideo Dekura, all-round expert in Japanese food. He’s put together a collection of Japanese recipes called Izakaya [RRP $29.99] designed to get you making your own ponzu and teriyaki sauces; pickling your own daikon; and even using the plums from your Choya ume shu. Expect to find many fast Japanese snacks, from yaki miso (wooden rice spoons of cross-hatched grilled miso) to deep-fried mochi cubes.
This book is going to make shopping in Tokyo Mart so much easier! The book has an afterword by sake master Andre Bishop who got me drinking the amazing Dassai 23 junmai daiginjo sake at the inaugural Washoku Lovers Kitchen. This event featured a cooking demonstration and lesson by noted Japanese chef, Raita Noda. Washoku Lovers (which is free to join) is the brainchild of Yuri Tazunoki who tells me she was “shocked and disappointed to see so many “fake” Japanese restaurants here in Sydney” when she moved to Australia. To counter this trend, she has hand “selected authentic Japanese restaurants” and will be running more events to teach about authentic Japanese food culture (washoku); and hopefully cook it at home “more regularly using authentic ingredients such as Osawa Wagyu and Kikkoman soy sauce.” Think of Yuri as your Japanese friend, and use her website for personally curated Japanese restaurant recommendations…
Check out a video of Washoku Lovers Kitchen HERE.
www.newhollandpublishers.com
www.washokulovers.com
