Preparing the pictures for my next post, I cooked Harako-Meshi (Rice with salmon and salmon caviar) and integrated it into last night’s dinner. I know I still owe you an article on Washoku (Japan’s traditional food culture), what it is and how to put it into practice. Take this article as a first glimpse. Cooking according to Washoku guidelines means preparing ‘go shiki, go mi, go ho‘ – meals. Which describes meals that contain five colors, five flavors and have used five ways of preparation.
Coming back to our dinner last night. Here is what you see on the picture and how this complies to the Washoku guidelines:
The Dishes (starting from the lower left)
- Harako-Meshi (knowing that it is actually a fall dish)
- Pickles
- Tskudani with enoki mushrooms (soy glazed kombu and mushrooms)
- sweet and sour pink pickled myoga
- nuke zuké (cucumbers pickled in rice bran)
- Chawan Mushi with green asparagus and enoki mushrooms (egg custard)
- Togarashi (chilli) infused quick pickles with su miso (vinegar-miso-sauce)
- Miso soup with snow peas, enoki mushrooms, bright colored yakifu (baked wheat gluten) and slices of fried tofu
- Thin, grilled slices of pork with fresh herbs (shiso, myoga, spring onions, young ginger), drizzled with a wasabi infused soy sauce
Five Colors:
- yellow: Chawan Mushi, su miso
- red: pink pickled myoga, fresh myoga, salmon and salmon caviar
- green: fresh herbs, cucumbers, aspargus, quick pickles, wasabi, snow peas
- white: enoki mushrooms, daikon (Japanese Radish) in the quick pickles
- black: Tskudani
Five Flavors:
- sweet: miso, pink pickled myoga
- salty: all dishes
- sour: nuka zuké, pink pickled myoga, su miso
- bitter: fresh herbs
- spicy: wasabi infused soy sauce, quick pickles with togarashi
Five Methods of Preparation:
- steamed: Chawan Mushi, rice
- simmered: miso soup, Tskudani, salmon
- seared: pork
- fried: fried tofu
- raw: quick pickles, nuke zuké, salmon caviar