The most representative foods are sashimi, sushi, rice balls, tempura, hot pot, stone roast, roasted birds and so on.
Sashimi, or sashimi, is the best raw food for Japanese people. Japan has the habit of eating raw food since ancient times. Before the edo period, sashimi was mainly made of snapper, flounder and perch. These fish are all white. After Meiji, tuna and bonito with red meat became the first-class materials for sashimi. Now, the Japanese slice shellfish and lobsters, which is also called "sashimi". The puffer fish without tetrodotoxin slices is the best in sashimi. Chefs who make puffer fish sashimi must obtain professional qualifications. This kind of sashimi is fresh and delicious, but it is expensive. Eat sashimi with green mustard and soy sauce. This mustard is called "ゎさび" in Japanese. It is a very clean plant "wasabi", which grows under waterfalls or mountain springs and will wither when it is polluted. Like radish, wasabi has black skin and green flesh. It is ground, kneaded into a ball and used to dip in soy sauce to eat sashimi. It has a special pungent taste, killing bacteria and appetizing. Japanese sashimi is unusually fresh, uniform in thickness and consistent in length. Sashimi dishes are dotted with shredded white radish, seaweed and perilla flowers, which embodies the Japanese pro-natural food culture.
"Sushi", also known as Sixi Rice, is the representative of Japanese rice. To make sushi, you should add vinegar, sugar, salt, cooking wine and other seasonings to rice, as well as seaweed and horseradish, and make a small rice ball with all kinds of sashimi, fish fry, fresh shrimp and shellfish on it. This is called "holding sushi". Spread rice on sushi, then add sashimi, laver, etc. , rolled into a cylinder to form "rolled sushi". Sushi is delicious and refreshing, and the price is popular, which is very popular among Japanese. In Tokyo, guests can enjoy the chef's cooking while eating.
Rice balls, made of cooked rice with both hands, are of moderate size and filled with dried salted plums or salted salmon. When holding it, dip your hands in water and salt to make the rice ball slightly salty, wrap it in seaweed and dip it in pickles. When traveling or having an outing, it is a traditional Japanese habit to wrap rice balls in bamboo bags and take them to have a picnic.
Tempura is a fried food in harmonious food. It is made of flour, eggs, water and pulp. Fish, shrimp and vegetables are wrapped in starch and fried in oil pan until golden brown. Dip in soy sauce and radish sauce when eating. Fresh and delicious, fragrant but not greasy.
"Xi Shou Shao Hotpot", also known as Japanese Hotpot, became popular in the second half of the 9th century. It is made by slicing beef and cooking it with seafood and vegetables. Eat with seasonings made of raw egg juice, soy sauce and sugar. In ancient Japan, there was this habit of eating. Farmers put fish and vegetables in pots on the pit and everyone cooked them.
"Stone burning" means boiling the cow on a hot stone and dipping it in fresh soy sauce. There is a kind of cow in Japan, whose meat is soft enough to be peeled off with chopsticks, and it melts in the mouth, making it very tender. This kind of Kobe cattle and Matsuzaka cattle enjoy a high reputation in the world, but they are expensive.
"Roasted bird", sliced chicken, strung on a thin bamboo stick, dipped in soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, etc. So as to obtain a flavor juice and bake it on fire. Chicken or pig viscera is also a useful raw material, but it is traditionally called roast bird, which is cheap and many people like it as an appetizer. You can see the "bird burning house" all over Japan. At present, Japanese cuisine is mainly composed of fish, meat and vegetables. In ancient Japan, meat was once one of the staple foods. However, in 675 AD, influenced by Buddhism, Emperor Wu of Heaven issued a ban on eating cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys and chickens. Japanese people seldom eat meat for more than 1000 years. Until the edo period, Japan still did not slaughter poultry and livestock, but the game cooked in hunting grounds was still edible. After the Meiji Restoration, the habit of eating meat was introduced from Europe and America and soon spread all over the country.
The rice produced in Japan is rich in nutrition and of high quality. The cooked rice looks like pearls and smells good. When eating rice, it is often accompanied by non-staple foods such as vegetables, fish and meat, and pickled pickles such as seasoning soup and yellow sauce. In terms of non-staple food, many people now use western-style or Chinese food to match. Japanese noodles, cheap and good, especially buckwheat noodles, are very popular foods.
Japanese people have the concept of simplicity and frugality since ancient times. In addition, in order to prevent the poor harvest, preserved foods include pickles, pickled fish meat, air-dried food and so on.
Wooden chopsticks are usually used when eating. Japanese chopsticks are shorter than those in China, 22 cm for men and 2 1cm for women.
The pace of Japanese society is very fast. Japanese breakfast is simple, lunch is casual, and dinner is the most abundant.
Japanese people often eat red bean rice and snapper with the head and tail on every happy occasion. Add red beans to glutinous rice and steam together to make red bean rice. The color of red beans will turn glutinous rice red. Red symbolizes the color of fire and the sun, and has been regarded as an auspicious color since ancient times. The body of snapper is bright red, so it becomes a symbol of good luck.
Among alcohol, Japanese wine (alcohol concentration 15% ~ 16%) is used in a considerable amount. 1994, the consumption of alcohol in Japan was about1100,000 kiloliters, and the output was 9.34 million kiloliters, of which beer accounted for 76%, Japanese wine accounted for 1 1%, and spirits accounted for 7%. Japanese often drink with customers, colleagues or bosses after work to improve interpersonal relationships.
The most popular drink in Japan is green tea. Coffee is also deeply loved by modern Japanese, and black tea and oolong tea are also quite popular.
You can taste all kinds of world famous dishes in Japan, but in order to suit the Japanese taste, most of them are a little Japanese. Tokyo is a showcase for international cooking. The most common foreign food in Japan is Chinese food, and there are many restaurants opened by China people. In addition, Korean, French, Italian and Indian cuisines are also very popular.
Nowadays, the Japanese diet is gradually diversified, and American fast food, hamburgers and spaghetti have partially replaced rice balls. Compared with 1960, the consumption of chicken increased by 10 times, while the sales of rice decreased by 1/3 more than 20 years ago, and it is still declining. Quick-frozen food is favored by housewives, and Chinese dishes such as jiaozi, fried dumpling, steamed stuffed bun and noodles are also very popular in Japan.
Four major cuisines: 1. Shi Huai Cai is a meal before frying tea. In order not to affect the fun of tea tasting, the taste and materials of the cuisine are very particular. The teahouse owner carefully selects fresh seafood and vegetables according to the season and cooks them carefully. Shi Huai cuisine pays attention to quiet environment and simple and elegant dishes.
Zhuofu cooks Chinese food, which is characterized by guests sitting around a table with a backrest, and all meals are put on one table. This dish originated from the ancient Buddhist vegetarianism in China, and developed into a "general tea dish" (that is, a dish with tea instead of wine) by Zen master Yuan Yin. Because it is very popular in Nagasaki, it is also called "Nagasaki cuisine". Chefs used local aquatic meat in Buddhist vegetarian dishes and created Zhuofu cuisine. Zhuofu cuisine mainly includes shark fin clear soup, tea, large plate, medium plate, side dishes, stews, rice cake bean soup and fruits. Small dishes are divided into five dishes, seven dishes and nine dishes, with seven dishes being the majority. From the beginning, put all the side dishes on the table, while eating, put shark's fin clear soup and other dishes on the table.
3. The tea ceremony prevailed in the Muramachi era (14th century), so the tea banquet "Tea Party Cuisine" appeared. At the beginning, tea party cooking was just an ornament of tea ceremony, which was very simple. By the end of Muromachi, it became very luxurious. Later, Morino, the founder of the tea ceremony, also restored the original light and simple appearance of tea party cooking.
Tea party cooking should try to save space and labor, and only three kinds of utensils are used for staple food-rice bowls, soup bowls and small plates. Sometimes there will be soup, dried plums, fruit, sometimes two or three kinds of delicacies, and finally tea.
This kind of food is the ritual food for weddings and funerals. Generally, there are three dishes and one soup, five dishes and two soups, and seven dishes and three soups. Pay attention to the harmony of color, fragrance and taste when cooking. It will also be made into certain patterns to show good luck. Pay attention to the rules when eating, such as holding the bowl on the left with your left hand and putting the lid on the left with your right hand. Instead, lift the lid with your right hand. First of all, put your rice bowl in your hands, put down your right hand and hold chopsticks in your right hand. Every time you eat two mouthfuls of rice, you should put down the bowl, then hold the soup bowl in your hands and drink two mouthfuls before putting down the bowl. After that, in the same way, eat two mouthfuls of rice and another dish.
Of the 95 sushi restaurants in Japan, only two use "sushi" as the font size, and most of them use the word "Yi". It took many years to add rice. Moreover, rice is added to keep fresh, because rice can promote fermentation and improve anti-corrosion ability. In other words, sushi is not a "side dish rice" food, but a way to preserve fish, and rice is a "medium" added for this purpose. This kind of fish whose main purpose is preservation is called "taming sushi", which is different from "holding sushi".
(technical term) "SHARI": refers to rice used for sushi. "silverware": the highest and most delicious rice.
"Shang (Hua) Agari (Bana)": freshly brewed tea.
"がり(GARI)": ginger slices. Describe the sound made when eating ginger slices.
"Stone Pagoda": Axe Foot of Shellfish.
"Gunkan -MAKI": Rice balls are wrapped in seaweed and topped with Chinese gallnut sauce or salmon roe. Viewed from the side, it looks like a warship.
(unreasonable rules)
Sushi Tong said: The tastes of fried egg sushi and cave fish sushi can best represent the level of sushi restaurants. Because sushi restaurants rarely use this heated material to make sushi, it can reflect the master's craftsmanship. But the quality of sushi restaurants still depends on the freshness of the materials.
Sushi Tong said: Eat red meat fish first, then white meat fish, and finally treat fried egg sushi as a snack, in the right order. But in fact, you don't have to be bound by that. Eat whatever you want!
Characteristics of Japanese food
Japanese cuisine has been called "five flavors, five colors and five methods and one dish" since ancient times.
"Five flavors" are sweet, sour, spicy, bitter and salty;
"Five colors" refers to white, yellow, red, cyan and black;
"Five methods" refers to the cooking methods of raw, boiled, roasted, fried and steamed.
The formation of the unique flavor of Japanese cuisine is closely related to its unique geographical environment and traditional oriental culture. Its basic characteristics are: strong seasonality; It tastes delicious, keeps the original flavor light and not greasy, and many dishes are eaten raw; Seafood and vegetables are the main ingredients; Fine processing and bright colors.
The primary feature of Japanese cuisine is its strong seasonality, with different dishes in different seasons. It can be said that the four seasons, such as longitude, and festivals, such as latitude, are intertwined, forming dishes of various periods and seasons.
Raw materials: the raw materials of vegetables should be kept fresh, and there should be vegetables and fish in any season. Among them, taro, eggplant, radish and beans are the main vegetables. Fish is also very seasonal. People can eat different kinds of fresh fish in different seasons, such as snapper in spring, pine fish in early summer, eel in midsummer, mackerel in early autumn, swordfish in autumn, salmon in late autumn and shad and dolphins in winter. Mainly beef, followed by chicken and pork, pork is used less. In addition, there are many kinds of mushrooms.
Cooking: Japanese cuisine mainly maintains its freshness and taste in cooking, and many of them are mainly eaten raw. In practice, cooking, roasting and steaming are the main methods, and there are few dishes that use oil. In the method of flavor enhancement, sugar and wine are put first, and then soy sauce and salt are put, because sugar and wine not only play a role in regulating taste, but also maintain various nutrients in vegetarian dishes. Try to put as little msg as possible. Ingredients: Muyu flower soup is the main ingredient for cooking, and little water is used. Therefore, it is very important to make Japanese Muyu flower soup, just like chicken soup in Chinese food and beef soup in western food. Therefore, the top-grade dishes are mainly Muyu flower soup and sake, and the amount of sake is also very large. There are three kinds of soy sauce used in Japanese cuisine, namely light, thick and heavy. Light mouth means light color, thick mouth means general soy sauce, and heavy mouth means dark color and sweet taste. From the taste of dishes, small wine dishes are mainly sweet, salty and sour, soup dishes are mainly light, and dishes are small and refined. The decorations of side dishes change with the seasons, including pepper leaves, perilla leaves, bamboo leaves, persimmon leaves and chrysanthemum leaves. Japanese dishes are decorated with different flowers and leaves in four seasons, which can better reflect the connotation of Shi Huai cuisine. There are also various kinds of miso in Japanese cuisine. Generally, Xinzhou miso or white miso is used as miso soup for breakfast, and red miso is used as miso soup in the afternoon.
There are many seasonings and ingredients in Japanese cuisine, but in general, these are the main ones.
The main points of Japanese cooking:
Cooking essentials of vinegar-mixed dishes
In Japanese cuisine, the so-called vinegar-mixed cuisine is a dish made by mixing raw fish and shellfish or slightly hot vegetables with other mixed materials. Because vinegar dressing rarely needs other seasonings, fresh ingredients are mainly selected, followed by washing water and absorbing water. As for the vegetables that need to be slightly boiled, it should be noted that soy sauce should be sprinkled after the water is drained, so as not to soften the vegetables. The taste of vinegar mixed vegetables can change with the seasons and dishes. For example, with spring and summer dishes, slightly sour vinegar will be more pleasing; In autumn and winter, the acidity should be reduced. For example, with dining tables, it can be light and refreshing, and with rice, it should be slightly sweet. Finally, it is best to pour out the sauce of vinegar mixed vegetables before eating, so as not to make the color and taste of the vegetables worse due to long-term storage.
Cooking essentials of boiling brine
There are many things to pay attention to when cooking brine in Japan, such as the size of the pot, the order in which seasonings are put in the pot, and the material used for the lid, which will directly affect the delicacy of the food. First of all, the pot, it is best to choose the same size as the cooked weight, so that the materials can be arranged horizontally in the pot and the food can absorb the soup evenly.
Followed by the order of seasoning, first add slow-penetrating wine and sugar, then add wine, soy sauce and salt. Cook meat or vegetables, and add seasoning after the materials absorb most of the soup; If you cook fish and shellfish, you should first add seasoning and adjust the soup. When boiling brine, it is best to use a wooden cover, which can be soaked in clear water first to avoid being stained with fragrance or color. When cooking fish and shellfish, you can cover it with aluminum foil paper; Food that melts easily is wrapped in paper. In order to make the food taste even, when one third of the soup is left, tilt the pot and gently turn the materials until the soup is dry.
Cooking essentials of hot pot cooking
There are many ways to cook Japanese food, and each food has its own points of attention. Starting from this week, I will introduce you to the essentials of mastering all kinds of food. The first is very "festive" hot pot food.
Making Japanese-style hot pot is completely different from that of Hong Kong people, who are very particular about the skills and steps of making soup base. Wash, slice or cut the chafing dish ingredients first, and then arrange them neatly. The soup base will be cooked in an ordinary pot first, and then transferred to the sand nest for serving. There are several points that need special attention. First, the soup should keep the height of the submerged material, so add soup while cooking; Secondly, removing foam residue while cooking; Third, don't put too much material into the hot pot at once, but put as much as you can eat at one time; Fourth, because the soup will get thicker and thicker, it is best to cook it at a moderate temperature.