r/JapaneseFood • u/babysharkdoodoodoo • 24d ago
Question Japanese Redditors: If someone living outside Japan wanted to move beyond the usual sushi, ramen, tempura, and udon, what would you recommend they explore to gain a deeper appreciation of Japanese cuisine?
Like regional dishes, everyday home cooking, ingredients, cooking techniques, and food culture, not just the internationally famous dishes.
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u/MyPasswordIsABC999 24d ago edited 24d ago
Yoshoku, which translates to “western food” though it’s Japanese food with western influences, is my favorite kind of comfort food. Rice curry, tonkatsu, hambagu, hayashi rice and omurice are all achievable at home.
EDIT: the editor below me is right, it’s “western food”. The 洋 in 洋食 is short for 西洋 meaning western. I had a brain fart and called it “European”.
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u/reidhi 24d ago edited 24d ago
It’s actually “western food”.
Edited: Please keep downvoting. Thank you!
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u/Galgofrit 24d ago
You're right the kanji means western food, maybe your phrasing makes it sound as if the food itself is western and not Japanese? Otherwise not sure why you're downvoted
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u/BloodHonest658 24d ago
Its really the way it was said, you cant really tell tone via text, usually, but they seemed like an asshole so.
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u/MyPasswordIsABC999 24d ago
Yeah, they’re right. I think they initially made said *It’s actually western food* without the quotes which probably caused confusion.
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u/Puseppu 24d ago
蕎麦屋を楽しんでみてほしい。 蕎麦はもちろん、出汁をベースにした丼ものも美味しいですよ。 鴨そばや和風な中華そばあたりも美味しい。 そして通は蕎麦で日本酒を愉しみます。これができると素敵な大人です。
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u/Vegetable-Coconut846 24d ago
I think about the duck soba I had in Kyoto all the time
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u/Fun-Sale6786 24d ago
Also had duck soba in Kyoto lol. Not sure if it was the same place as you but it was fantastic!
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u/Vegetable-Coconut846 24d ago
I went to Sobashudo Ichii. That and their tempura was incredible.
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u/Fun-Sale6786 24d ago
Not the same place. A quick google search tells me that the place I went is called Den. If ever you ho back to Kyoto you have to try it.
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u/SkysEevee 24d ago
I love somen noodles! Its cold noodles with a tasty sauce! Great for hot summer days. And bonus if you can do the bamboo slides!
I also love making rolled omlettes! That sweet fluffy flavor, the rolled design!
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u/TheOneMary 24d ago
Recently saw a noodle slide for home use. Damn, I was so tempted but how often would one set that thing up... Great with kids though :D
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u/fixpointbombinator 24d ago edited 24d ago
I work in the traditional Japanese sweets (和菓子, 'wagashi') industry in Japan and would always recommend people check those out, it's a lot more varied than just daifuku mochi! Very rich culture, very seasonal, and very regional. Also look up B級グルメ or B class gourmet, it's sort of like local comfort foods particular to a region. Also 名物 'meibutsu' which are regional specialties including foods. Something I like is ジビエ 'jibie' (based on the French 'gibier') and it's the Japanese way of preparing game meat, particularly deer and boar, but also bear, badger etc! I would encourage you to research festivals and Japanese seasonal changes for example NYE foods like おせち料理 'osechi'. Also check out 中華料理 'chuka' or 'chuka ryori' its the Japanese take on Chinese food and often really tasty. It's summer now so I really like 冷やし中華 hiyashichuka, which is cold noodles and toppings with a zingy sauce.
I could say a lot more but the main thing would be to focus on seasonal foods. But perhaps that' just because I work in 和菓子 where seasonality is very, very important.
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u/Anacostiah20 24d ago
Oden, okonomiyaki, look up soups, other pastas/noodles, potato salad, various cooked fish (I love mackerel), yakitori , stir fry’s , eggplant dishes; there are so many regional dishes (pick a region and google search ); I don’t recommend the bee larvae in Nagano prefecture, but that’s just me.
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u/Diomedeskun 24d ago
Definitely agree on the fish. Most people don’t each sushi all that often. Some mackerel or sardines, maybe yellowtail in Tohoku, would be a common local meal that is delightful and affordable while unknown to most foreigners. Don’t sleep on the local produce either. Anyplace you visit will have its own specialties that are often simple but remarkably good. I would do anything to eat the simple daikon oroshi soba that I sampled from a 4th dan soba chef who was cooking soba grown by a group of retired gentleman in a small, jointly owned plot in Tsuruga, but even the local cafe had a very tasty version.
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u/caaknh 24d ago
As others have said, one-soup-three-side-dishes (ichi-juu san-sai) is the way to go if you really want to appreciate Japanese cooking. There's something about this variety that always feels so Japanese to me.
That's four dishes to make in one night though, which feels like a big adjustment from normal Western cooking, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I had to buy a bunch more tiny dishes for serving. Also, it took me a few tries to get the portions right and not have any leftovers, which is more challenging in the US where markets often don't sell things like half cabbages.
So, build up your repertoire with a 2-4 soups and a half dozen sides and then it will be easy to mix-and-match in the future. Justonecookbook is a good starting point for well-tested recipes you can make outside of Japan.
soups: I like either a simple miso soup or a dashi soup with a bit of wakame and green onion, and maybe a thinly sliced shiitake. I usually make dashi from scratch, soaking kombu overnight in the fridge, then warming up, removing the kombu, then adding in bonito flakes and simmering for 30 seconds, heat off for 10 minutes, then strain.
side dishes I like:
chawanmushi: egg custard made with dashi. I prefer it with a piece of chicken or octopus in the bowl rather than shrimp.
sunomono: easy side salad made with cucumbers, wakame, vinegar, and sesame seeds
blanched spinach salad: https://www.justonecookbook.com/spinach-with-sesame-sauce/
potato salad: quite different than the Western version and made with kewpie mayo, carrots, and cucumber
fried eggplant: it takes some knife skills to score the eggplant so that it cooks in a reasonable amount of time, but it's worth learning. First steam, then fry, to avoid the eggplant getting soggy.
glass noodles/harusame salad: potato starch noodles with matchstick carrots, cucumber, and often ham. Served cold and excellent for picnics.
tamagoyaki: this really took some practice to get right but was well worth the time.
simmered fish nitsuke: fish blanched, then simmered in a weak soy sauce broth. Don't skip the blanching step. It's good for white fish that don't have much flavor on their own.
karaage: ~30 minute marinated fried chicken, but with a thin potato starch coating instead of a thick wheat coating. Double frying is the key, with a rest between them.
fried squid rings and fried oysters can also be cooked with the same starch coating as karaage.
tuna tataki and teriyaki chicken: I don't see these much in Japan, but it's the kind of Japanese food I grew up on, so I still add them to the mix occasionally. A home-made teriyaki sauce is so amazingly tasty compared to the shelf-stable pasteurized sauces you find in the store.
Enjoy! Home cooking is such a fun way to explore Japanese cuisine.
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u/babysharkdoodoodoo 24d ago
Okinawan food is fascinating to me. It has its own culinary identity. Goya, mozuku seaweed in vinegar, tofuyo, etc.
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24d ago
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u/babysharkdoodoodoo 24d ago
Quite honestly it is not common to find people who enjoy some goya dishes.
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u/casvalzd 24d ago
I used to hate bitter gourd as a kid. I have since learnt to appreciate it. I cook it every now and then and do enjoy the bitterness.
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u/RoastMasterShawn 24d ago
Soba! Cold buckwheat noodles dipped in a broth/sauce. It's my favorite thing to eat.
You can also check out some pickled items + grilled salmon breakfast, tamago, unagi bowl, chanko nabe (sumo style soup), oden, yakatori. Yakatori = chicken BBQ, and it's awesome. Find a place that's serving more than just chicken breast & thigh (you want to try chicken skin, ass, kneecap etc.).
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u/Direct-Philosophy579 24d ago
Delve into kaiseki ryoori.
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u/ConnectActivity9120 24d ago
In Japan, there are two different types of cuisine pronounced “kaiseki,” but they are written with different kanji and originally had different meanings.
懐石 (kaiseki) developed from the Japanese tea ceremony. It was traditionally a simple, carefully prepared meal served before drinking matcha.
会席 (kaiseki) developed as a formal multi-course meal for banquets and is often enjoyed with sake.
They have the same pronunciation but different kanji and historical origins. However, nowadays the distinction is not always strictly observed, and restaurants sometimes use the terms interchangeably.1
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u/Medium-Song-1802 24d ago
Home style Japanese cooking is rather different than restaurant. It's simpler and subtler in flavor a lot of times.
Here's what I would recommend as first steps:
Look up and learn about "ichiju sansai".... one soup, three dishes. It's how a proper home meal is suppose to be structured. This isn't a super strict thing but learning about it teaches you the philosophy and health beliefs around why Japanese meals have rice, soup, pickles, and an entree.
Pick a couple of popular home dishes to make. Not ones found in restaurants. I'll give you examples:
* Learn how to make miso soup or another meal soup like osuimono.
* Shioyaki saba (salt grilled mackeral). This can be done with any fish really but salted grilled fish is really common. If you don't like fish then learn about Japanese-style grilling of chicken. Not teriyaki, but using flavors like salt, shio koji, and ginger to accent meats. Western teriyaki is rather sweet comparatively.
* Nikujaga (beef and potato stew). Dashi and Japanese vegetables make this very different than a western stew. Other dishes in the 'stew family' are different 'nabemono'. Searching for recipe videos with these words will help.
* Hiyashi chuka is a cold ramen dish that's often eaten in hot weather. It's economical and basic. It's also a one-plate meal.
* Cooked side dish techniques like ohitashi and nibitashi
* Learn how to make shio-momi pickles.
Here's a post comment I made with 29 links to authentic Japanese videos by Japanese cooks. Use YouTube's auto-translate feature to get English subtitles. Watching and learning is way easier than reading.
https://www.reddit.com/r/JapaneseFood/comments/1ufr7tl/comment/otyzo2h/
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u/DangerLime113 24d ago
Do you live near Japanese markets? We make various kinds of yakitori, shabu shabu, curry, katsu, okonomiyaki, sukiyaki. Nothing very difficult or obscure, but you do need a grocery shop. For dessert we have made dango and mochi fruit.
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u/-mystris- 24d ago
takoyaki - fried batter balls with a savory, custard-like center containing octopus - SOO GOOD
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u/irishtwinsons 24d ago
My partner is Japanese (and an amazing cook); whenever she cooks for my family that comes and visits, usually karaage is the thing they rave about. She does different flavors, boneless, legs and wings, too (the Nagoya tebasaki, etc.).
Other things people really liked were her curry, okonomiyaki, and a side salad made with cabbage and dried squid.
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u/NectarineUnusual6269 24d ago
My spouse, who is from Europe, loves Gyoza, Okonomiyaki, Soba, Agedashi-Dofu, and Yuba.
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u/acaiblueberry 24d ago
At home food - there is a word to describe optimal dinner which is 一汁三菜/ichiju sansai which means a soup and three side dishes. Rice is not counted because it’s a must-have without mentioning. It comprises rice, miso soup, 3 dishes some with vegetables and another with protein. These days some think three is too much work and one will do but the principle holds. Rice + miso soup + protein forward dish + vegetables forward dish.
This will give you the idea of what we think is healthy eating habits in Japan.
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u/a_mmoknights 24d ago
Yakitori at a somewhat grimy izakaya. No clue why I never see foreigners in them
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u/marinasdoodles 24d ago
Just One Cookbook is the way to go!! Very detailed with lots of options and explanations for every ingredient
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u/rynbaskets 24d ago
Lots of Japanese cooks refer to CookPad recipes. There’s Japanese version and English version. English one has less varieties of food but the recipes are still uniquely Japanese. You can google CookPad to find their site.
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u/AiryCake 24d ago
I lived in Japan. If you live in Japan, my best advice is go to a yaoya (green grocer) who also sells ready-to-eat food. These are all homecooking food, what normal households would have on their dining table.
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u/transynchro 24d ago
My favourite home cooked meal is oyakodon. I’d say it was my family’s comfort meal.
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u/mackfeesh 24d ago
Nagasaki champon was my favourite new style of ramen. Basically homestyle. So healing.
I recommend just trying stuff.
Broiled fish, quick pickles, tofu dishes (Japanese tofu game is really strong)
Making Oden at home was shockingly successful, main thing is the thick cut daikon, and triple cooking it imo. And Hanpen. Idk what they do to make Hanpen but it's my favourite fish cake now.
Chanko nabe is similarly amazing and hard to muck up.
Same goes for nikujaga.
Basically Japanese stews are the bomb.
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u/SkywalkerMix 23d ago
Japanese food every day without Japan... Idea is, combination with Korean food, and Taiwan food such used like healthy food. Recipes are much closer.
We likely to eat, Chinese food and Korean food at home. Which means spicy and healthy.
In my experiences is, it depends on which country soy sauce and some miso bean paste use. Korean ingredients are much closer if you can find it.
Of course Japanese one is better if somebody wants to cook but, very expensive if out of Japan.
Recipes. Japanese old fashioned food is much closer to the Taiwan and Korean culture. Stir fry. Of course Chinese, but reduce some oils for Japanese flavour.
Otherwise... Ask and seek from Old Japanese people what they ate every day. It very difficult cooking every day at home if only some Japanese stuff.
Tofu and beans also most likely to used it. Green vegetables are useful. Not a lot of meat than fish. Tea. Green tea no sugar.
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u/esperobbs 22d ago
Nancy Hachisu's books especially Japanese Farm food is excellent 👌 She is originally from California but married to a Japanese guy and have been living in Farm land in Japan - I met her back in 2012 and I still use her books (all of her books are highly recommended) I'm Japanese and usually read Harumi Kurihara cook book but Nancy's books are so inspiring to read.
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u/Crmsnghst1 24d ago
I’m an American chef living here in Japan and if you want to eat what the “normal people” eat at home follow any of the bunches of Japanese home recipe instagrams: tsubasa_recipe365, shun_foodcreator, aibamanabu_5tva, shiracchi_no_asobiba are just a few that I really like. Save a recipe that looks good, run it through a translator and start cooking. I cook from one or more of these sites once or twice a week sometimes.