Japan sensation, everything you need to know about Japanese cuisine

It’s been a few years since the sushi it changed our lives. Now we eat raw fish without shame, we do them without forks and we have even developed a certain dislike for dishes with ornate lines and taste. Nevertheless, handle yourself with ease in an authentic Japanese evening it may still be a challenge.

En Summum We made a style manual for eating Japan. Since the dishes e ingredients more traditional until tendencies liveliest of the moment.

The fifth flavor

Is pronounced “Amamí”, means something like “delicious” and is the fifth flavor. The umami It was discovered in 1906 by the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered in the kombu seaweed an important source of monosodium glutamate, responsible for a taste sensation neither sweet, nor sour, nor salty, nor bitter.

The existence of umami as a fifth flavor was questioned for more or less a century, until in 2001 a study of the University of California revealed to the world the presence in humans of a specific receptor for monosodium glutamate. A Miso soup it is umami, but so are some meats, fish, cheeses and, among vegetables, tomatoes. Without the umami, Japanese cuisine could not be understood.

This is how sushi is eaten (in the best sushi restaurant)

The perfect piece of sushi mide unos 6 cm. It is the ideal size, the one that makes it possible to eat it in one bite without having to split it in two. The correct way to position both fingers and chopsticks is parallel to the plate. Do not take it in the center, as it can break or crumble, or worse still turn it over. Under no circumstances should the fish be separated from the rice. Sushi is a stable world.

Soy sauce subject: no soaking the rice in the bowl. If we cannot avoid doing without this ritual, we must take a piece of shoga (ginger), imbue it in the soy sauce and pass it over the piece of raw fish as if it were a brush.

Lastly, the golden rule: don’t linger too long. Sushi is, in its way, a fast food. The journey from the chef’s hands to the diner’s mouth should take as little time as possible. They are some of the commandments of Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten, the restaurant run by the legendary Jiro Ono, 91 years old and 3 Michelin stars. An establishment that is reputed to be the best sushi restaurant in the world, which seats only ten people and where menus are exclusively served by just over 200 euros per person. A global sushi mecca which has an unusual location, as it is located in the metro station of Ginza in Tokyo.

Techniques, colors and flavors at Kappo

The word omakase refers to a sequence of dishes over which the chef has complete control. In other words, it is an invitation to the diner to let yourself be carried away by the best flavors of the season. This is what Mario Payán does in Kappo, brilliant Japanese bar a few steps from Madrid’s Paseo de la Castellana. Just sit back and see how from the hands of this chef from the school of Kabuki some of the best nigiris in the country come out.

El size is perfect, the very fresh fish and the grains of rice, which until a moment ago were held together as if by magic, explode in the mouth. The menu, of which the starters, hot dishes and sweet dishes that come out of the kitchen are also part, is made based on seven techniques, five colors and five flavors. An opportunity to taste the cuisine Kaiseki, to the refined traditional culinary art of Japan.

Ramen, the trendiest Japan

El The frame It is one of the gastronomic trends of the moment. Dish of Chinese origin, but nationalized and popularized by Japan, Ramen is a durum wheat flour noodle soup. The noodles can have different thicknesses and the broth can be made with chicken, pork or fish, as well as soy sauce or miso.

The list of must-have toppings can include anything from boiled or semi-cooked egg, roast pork strips, bamboo, corn, wakame seaweed, butter and Narutomaki, cooked and pressed fish slices.

In Madrid, this specialty can be tasted at Chuka Ramen Bar and in Lamian by Soy Kitchen, the most informal and street bet of chef Julio Zhang.

The plate of dishes: Miso Soup

La Miso soup o Shiro-miso has a central importance in Japanese gastronomy. So much so that no meal of the day, including breakfast, is considered complete without it.

It is elaborated diluting the Miso, fermented soybean paste of which there are several types, in the Dashi, a basic broth whose recipe includes kombu seaweed and Katsuobushi shavings (dried bonito). Both the seaweed and the shavings are removed from this delicate and flavorful broth before serving. It is considered one of the perfect examples of umami flavor.

Sweet japan

47 Ronin is one of “Japanese sensations” of this year. Behind this Japanese restaurant is the chef Borja Grace, which we also find in front of Hattori hanzo, an izakaya (tavern) in the middle of Madrid’s Gran Vía, and Panda Pastry, the first Japanese pastry shop in the capital. In this sweet space, which occupies a part of the restaurant in the afternoons, we can savor a few Japanese specialties with a very spring air.

El Hanami dango, raw almond ice cream from a benchmark such as Obrador Grate, green tea, cherry and flowers; the Dorayaki Sakura (cherry blossom) with strawberry, white chocolate, cherry blossom and litchi and a drink, the Sakura Frappé, with cherry blossoms, white chocolate, roses, vanilla cream and fresh strawberries.

In Marbella, a cocktail inspired by Japan

Yuzu (a Japanese citrus, slightly bitter in taste), lemon y whisky Hibiki Japanese Harmony de Suntory (yes, the same Japanese whiskey that the unforgettable Bill Murray advertised in the movie Lost in Translation). These are the ingredients of Whisky Sour de Yuzu, the version of a cocktail classic like Old Fashioned made by Dani García in BiBo, in Marbella. Japan in liquid form.

Cook with tea

Few know how to master the art of tea like the Japanese. In the restaurant Sazenka, the japanese chef Tomoya Kawada organizes its gastronomic proposal – which looks, yes, at Chinese cuisine – around the world of tea.

At this Tokyo establishment, the Spring roll of crab is drunk with a glass of champagne tea (tea infused for 48 hours to which gas is added) and an appetizer of white mushrooms and jellyfish with a cup of white tea of Yunnan infused with truffle. With the help of a tea siphon, a kind of coffee pot, Kawada he even creates his own blend to pair with roast pigeon meat. It has black tea, roses, lemongrass, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and Taiwan pepper. The tea raised to another level.

Everything there is to know about Wasabi

Account Harold McGee en Cooking and Food that the root of WasabiWhen grated, it releases up to twenty volatile substances, including spicy, green, onion-flavored and even sweet.

Spicy and deep green wasabi paste or powder is probably the Japanese condiment that arouses the most passions. It is obtained from the stem of a plant distantly related to cabbage, the WasabiaJapanese, originally from Japan and specifically from the island of Sakhalin. Because of its taste, it should come as no surprise to learn that it grows on the shores of cool mountain waters.

The roots can be kept for several weeks in the fridge and, when the time comes, grated to finish the dish. It is the ideal way to enjoy this true jewel of nature.

High Japanese cuisine at home

Experiencia Kirei It is a novel format of Japanese haute cuisine at home. The project was born in 2016 from the collaboration between the Grupo Kabuki, to which several Michelin-starred Japanese cuisine restaurants belong, and Pescanova.

The order, which is delivered to any city and town in Spain except the Balearic and Canary Islands, must be made 24 hours in advance (12 hours in Madrid). The reason for this small inconvenience? The fact that all dishes and seasonings are fresh and they are exclusively prepared for and to the taste of the client.

There is a menu, where we find sushi, sashimi, various starters and hot dishes and drinks, and several menu options (prices vary from 82 euros for two people to 250 for eight). The lucky diner will be the one who will have to plate the dishes following his own instinct or the suggestions of Ricardo Sanz, chef and patron of the Kabuki style, through the YouTube channel of Experiencia Kirei.