Cooking from Morimoto's "Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking"

I spent two years in Fukuoka and Okinawa, and I cooked for myself a lot. But 19 yr old me could not handle much more than boxed curry and learning how to wash my rice. After refining my cooking skills over the pandemic, I plucked up my courage and picked up Morimoto's Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking. I hoped I could work through classic recipes I'd enjoyed and add meals to my growing repertoire.

This book caught my eye as it uses supplies that are mostly available at your local Asian grocery store or H-Mart, and I wouldn't need to translate units or recipes when my family helped me. The writing style is very conversational with plenty of advice and secrets for making a meal work at home. He's not shy about recommending exotic ingredients but always has a back-up for the less-adventurous or well-stocked. And he is incredibly practical when it comes to home staples. Instead of trying to recommend how to make your own Japanese Curry Roux, he sticks to the practical solution of the Golden Curry blocks available almost everywhere these days in the States. From dashi to rice, he covers the basics as well. With every new technique, he set me at ease and gave me the courage to explore.

Salt-crusted Salmon (塩鮭)

This is the stand-out recipe and technique from the book. I have always wanted to learn how to make Shiozake for an authentic breakfast. I didn't realize it would be so well-received by my family for dinner! I have been exploring fish recipes with For Cod and Country, but they always feel overproduced and underwhelming. Two things made this recipe shine:

• Sake-washing Fish: A quick rinse in sake dissolves some of the fishy smells that can turn off some family members. I do this for all broiled fish now.
• Leftovers: Any of these broiled fish can also be turned into nigiri after dinner. This saves you from re-heating or just having it go bad.

 

Gyoza (餃子)

 Much easier to pull off than I feared. Get the skins from your local Asian grocery store, make enough to fit in a pan, and make the rest to freeze while the first batch cooks. I preferred these over the steamed shumai that also appear in the book. Try ponzu instead of just soy sauce for a citrus kick.

Nigiri (にぎり)

Mentioned above for salmon leftovers, but you can turn canned fish and rice into nigiri for a snack or full meal. For portability, get nigiri wrappers that keep the rice and seaweed separated. The Korean ones work just fine. Add flavor with furikake to spice up plain rice as well.

I've made more recipes in the book to mixed reception (from family and me). They’re not all winners. The above really knocked it out of the park. I'll add more pictures as I repeat my favs.