Читать книгу A Dictionary of Japanese Food - Richard Hosking - Страница 9
ОглавлениеJapanese–English
Notes: Boldface indicates the heading of an entry and acts as a cross-reference to another entry in the Japanese-English section. Italics is used for foreign words, chiefly Latin names, Japanese words that are not main entries, and for second mention of main-entry terms. In the few cases where a Japanese name follows a Latin one, the Japanese name appears in roman, e.g., Conger myriaster (ma-anago) in the anago entry.
—A—
abekawamochi あべかわもち 安倍川餅 grilled cut mochi topped either with sugar and kinako mixed, or with syrup and then kinako.
abura-age あぶらあげ 油揚げ thin deep-fried sliced tofu. An essential ingredient of inarizushi.
aburana あぶらな 油菜 rape Brassica campestris var. nippooleifera. Most important for the oil obtained from its seeds (natane) but the leaves are also used as a green vegetable.
aemono あえもの 和え物 a cooked salad, one of the basic categories of Japanese cuisine. Cooked vegetables such as spinach are dressed with a thick dressing such as sesame paste gently flavored with soy sauce and sugar (goma ae). Hōrensō no goma ae (spinach dressed with sesame), although simple, is one of the outstanding dishes of Japan. Tofu and miso are also used for dressings.
agari あがり 上がり freshly drawn tea, short for agaribana 上がり花. Above all, a sushi-shop term.
agedashi あげだし 揚げ出し deep-fried food such as tofu, nasu, and whitefish eaten with soy sauce seasoned with grated ginger and grated daikon.
agedashidōfu あげだしどうふ 揚げ出し豆腐 tofu from which much of the moisture has been pressed is coated with katakuriko or wheat flour, deep-fried, sprinkled with katsuobushi shavings, and served with grated ginger and daikon in a soy-based sauce such as warishita.
agedōfu あげどうふ 揚げ豆腐 thick deep-fried sliced tofu used in soups, nimono, and many other ways.
agekamaboko あげかまばこ 揚げ蒲鉾 a special kind of kamaboko that is deep-fried. It is called satsuma-age in the Tokyo region.
agemono あげもの 揚げ物 deep-fried food, the best known of which are tempura, kara-age, and furai.
ainame あいなめ 鮎魚女、 鮎並 fat greenling Hexagrammos otakii. A fish found in rocky-shore areas. When very fresh, this soft-fleshed fish can be served as sashimi. Otherwise, it is prepared as teriyaki, nitsuke, or chirinabe.
aji あじ 鰺 jack, horse mackerel Trachurus japonicus. A true jack, this delicious and very popular fish attains a length of up to 30 cm and is available all year but is at its best from spring to autumn. It is served as sashimi, shioyaki, sunomono, and nitsuke.
ajinomoto あじのもと 味の素 brand name for the chemical seasoning monosodium glutamate as marketed by the Ajinomoto company. See also Appendix 14 for monosodium glutamate.
ajishio あじしお 味塩 salt mixed with a chemical seasoning, usually monosodium glutamate. See also ajinomoto.
ajitsuke あじつけ 味付け seasoning, flavor added in some way.
ajitsuke nori あじつけのり 味付け海苔 seasoned laver. See also nori.
akachōchin あかちょうちん 赤堤灯 unpretentious drinking shop displaying a large red paper lantern outside as a kind of pub sign.
akadashi あかだし 赤出し miso shiru made with akamiso, in particular hatchō miso and other all-soybean misos.
akagai あかがい 赤貝 cockle, ark shell, blood clam Anadara broughtonii. This clam can reach a diameter of 12 cm and is at its best in spring. The freshest ones are eaten raw with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and wasabi, or sanbaizu. They are also served on sushi, put into soups, prepared as namasu, nitsuke, and yakimono, and can be baked in the shell.
akajiso あかじそ 赤紫蘇 red perilla. See also shiso.
akamiso あかみそ 赤味噌 See Appendix 6.
akebi あけび 木通、 通草 akebi Akebia quinata. An autumn fruit, fairly insipid though it can be sweet. The outer shell is purple and the shape of a huge pea pod. Rarely seen in shops.
amadai あまだい 甘鯛 tilefish (a kind of sea bream) Branchiostegus japonicus. The flesh of this food fish of western Japan is somewhat watery.
amaebi あまえび 甘海老 pink shrimp, northern shrimp Pandalus borealis. See also ebi.
amaguri あまぐり 甘栗 See kuri.
amai あまい 甘い sweet.
amami あまみ 甘味 sweetness. As one of the five basic tastes, the word is usually pronounced kanmi. See also kanmi.
amanatsu あまなつ 甘夏 common name for the orange-type citrus fruit kawano natsu daidai かわのなつだいだい 川野 夏情 Citrus natsudaidai. It is a variety of natsumikan that ripens earlier (in February and March) and is less sour than other varieties.
amazake あまざけ 甘酒、 醴 a hot drink made by mixing cooked rice with water and rice kōji and holding at from 50 to 60°C for between twelve and twenty-four hours. It is sweetened and often flavored with ginger, and is particularly drunk for colds and sore throats and on New Year visits to shrines and temples. A quicker but inferior version is made from sakekasu.
ame あめ 飴 candy, toffee, a kind of higashi. See also mizuame.
ami あみ 醤蝦、 海糠魚 opossum shrimp, mysis Neomysis spp. An extremely small shrimp, not longer than 2 cm at the most. It is usually made into shiokara, but is also dried and prepared as tsukudani.
amiyaki あみやき 網焼き grilling done on a griddle (yakiami). See also yakimono.
an あん 餡 paste made from starchy pulses and sugar and mostly used as a filling for wagashi. The commonest type is red and made from azuki and can be either sieved as koshian, or unsieved as tsubuan. Shiroan, which is off-white, is made from white kidney beans. It can also be made from potatoes, sweet potatoes, chestnuts, and lily roots.
anago あなご 穴子 conger eel Anago anago (goten-anago) and Conger myriaster (ma-anago). This sea eel can reach up to 90 cm in length, but is usually taken at 30 to 40 cm. At its best in July and August, it makes wonderful nigirizushi and is also prepared as kabayaki, tempura, nabemono, sunomono, chawan mushi, and mirinboshi.
ankake あんかけ 餡掛け sauce made by mixing kuzu flour or katakuriko with water or vegetable stock and heating till it thickens.
ankō あんこう 鮟鱇 angler fish 1. Lophiomus setigerus 2. Lophius litulon. A fearsomely ugly but excellent tasting fish that grows from 1 to 1.5 m and is at its best in winter. A favorite way of eating it is simmered in warishita as ankōnabe. It is also made into a soup with red miso. The liver is served in vinegar.
anmitsu あんみつ 餡蜜 mitsumame with an. A sweet dish popular at kanmidokoro.
anzu あんず 杏子、 杏 apricot Prunus armeniaca (rather than Armeniaca vulgaris “ansu”). Excellent apricots are grown in the Japan Alps, but they are not readily available, especially in the warmer parts of Japan, and most of the crop is made into apricot jam. For the Japanese apricot, see also ume.
aojiso あおじそ 青紫蘇 green perilla. See also shiso.
aonori あおのり 青海苔 green laver Enteromorpha. See also nori.
aoyagi あおやぎ 青柳 See bakagai.
aradaki あらだき 粗炊き a simmering of large fish, usually such fish as tai or buri that is not fresh enough to be eaten as sashimi or grilled. The head and the body still with its bones are simmered in stock flavored with soy sauce, saké, sugar, and mirin. Vegetables such as gobō are sometimes added.
arai あらい 洗い a style of sashimi in which slices of fish are washed in cool water, then plunged into iced water for a minute, and drained. It is a particularly useful treatment for fish such as koi that might have a muddy taste.
arame あらめ 荒布 arame Eisenia bicyclis. A non-cultivated seaweed that is dried in the wind. It must be harvested young and is tasty when fried or cooked with rice or with other foods.
arani あらに 粗煮 See aradaki.
arare あられ 霰 little rice crackers resembling hailstones. They are eaten with drinks as tsumamimono.
asakusanori あさくさのり 浅草海苔 purple laver Porphyra tenera. See also nori.
asanomi あさのみ 麻の実 Indian-hemp seeds Cannabis sativa. These sterilized seeds of marijuana, all imported, are not at all narcotic. They do not taste of much either, but are traditional in the seven-spice mixture shichimi tōgarashi, for which they are parched and added whole to the mix.
asari あさり 浅蜊、 蛤仔 short-necked clam Tapes philippinarum. These clams are eaten from winter to early spring but should never be eaten in late spring or summer. Nor should they be eaten raw. They are served in the shell in miso shiru, and the flesh is served as tsukudani, sunomono, kakiage, and in zōsui.
asatsuki あさつき 浅葱 asatsuki chive Allium ledebourianum. Very similar to nira and wakegi, it is shallow-fried as a vegetable, used in nabemono, and as an herb flavoring with sashimi of fugu (fugusashi).
atsuage あつあげ 厚揚げ thick sliced tofu fried briefly in very hot oil so that the inside remains unchanged. With abura-age the slices are thinner and fried right through. Atsuage can be eaten on its own with soy sauce flavored with ginger, and is also served as nimono, itamemono, aemono, and o-den. It is also called nama-age.
awa あわ 粟 foxtail millet Setaria italica. Along with hie, foxtail millet used to be eaten by poorer Japanese as a cheap substitute for rice. It is grown in Kyushu and Shikoku and may be cooked on its own or mixed with rice. It must be eaten hot, since it goes hard when cold. It is made into millet cakes (awa-mochi), millet balls (awadango), and millet candy (awa-ame).
awabi あわび 鮑 abalone Nordotis spp. A favorite but expensive shellfish. Live, it is eaten raw as sashimi, its crisp chewiness being highly appreciated. It is also steamed, boiled, and cooked as ishiyaki. At its best in May and June.
awasemiso あわせみそ 合わせ味噌 a mixture of different kinds of miso. It is considered to make the most delicious miso soup.
ayu あゆ 鮎 sweetfish Plecoglossus altivelis. A river fish growing up to 30 cm in length but usually 12 to 15 cm on the market. It is caught between June and August, traditionally with trained cormorants and flares at night. Drinking parties are held on board the fishing boats, with the ayu out of the cormorants’ throats straight into the eaters’ mouths via the grill. Today it is mainly caught by rod and line or trapped. Ayu has a particularly good flavor and is usually grilled as shioyaki and served with tade su as a dip. The late-season fish, ochiayu, heavy with roe, is considered the tastiest.
azuki あずき 小豆 azuki (adzuki, aduki) bean (pronounced a zoo key) Vigna angularis. A little red bean of which the Japanese are especially fond. It is an ingredient of sekihan and from the earliest times has been cooked with rice. An, the sweet paste used as a filling for many Japanese cakes and confections, is mostly made from azuki and sugar, which are also ingredients for shiruko.
—B—
bai ばい 蛽、 海蠃 a species of whelk Babylonia japonica Family Buccinidae. This kind of whelk, also called baigai, is from 7 to 10 cm in length, in girth about 7 cm. The flesh is removed from the shell, boiled, and made into sunomono, aemono, and tsukudani.
baikingu ryōri バイキングりょうり バイキング料理 buffet. In 1958 the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo opened a smorgasbord restaurant. This buffet style of food service has come to be known as baikingu, the Japanese pronunciation of viking, through association with the Swedish smorgasbord. Very popular for receptions at hotels, which often also serve breakfast in this way.
bai niku ばいにく 梅肉 sieved flesh of umeboshi. Used as a topping and a dip, it has sharp, salty flavor that offsets bland foods such as tofu. It is sold in bottles.
bakagai ばかがい 馬鹿貝 hen clam, surf clam, round clam Mactra chinensis. Similar in shape and size (4 cm wide, 6.5 cm thick, and 8.5 cm long) to the hamaguri clam, this shellfish is widely distributed throughout Japan. It is eaten as sashimi, sunomono, and kakiage. The red peduncle is also eaten as sashimi and sunomono. Baka means fool, and since many object to the use of such a term, bakagai is sometimes called aoyagi 青柳, after a village in Chiba Prefecture where it is taken in abundance.
bancha ばんちゃ 番茶 common green tea. See also Appendix 12.
barazushi ばらずし ばら鮨、 ばら寿司 See Appendix 11.
bareisho ばれいしょ 馬鈴薯 See jagaimo.
ba sashi ばさし 馬刺 horse-meat sashimi Equus caballus. A specialty of Kumamoto and Nagano prefectures, horse meat is sliced thinly and served raw with garlic and ginger-flavored soy sauce.
bateira ばていら 馬蹄螺 turban shell Omphalius pfeifferi. A conical-shaped shellfish about 5 cm tall and 5.5 cm round. It is tasty when boiled and served as sunomono, aemono, or nimono.
battera バッテラ from Portuguese bateira, meaning boat-shaped. A specialty of Osaka, this sushi is made in a special wooden box in which sushi rice is pressed with vinegared mackerel topped with a transparently thin slice of konbu. See also saba-zushi.
benishōga べにしょうが 紅生姜 See shōga.
benitade べにたで 紅蓼 water pepper Polygonum hydropiper forma purpurascens. Also called murasakitade, the extensively cultivated little purple leaves have a peppery flavor. They are often placed next to the wasabi for mixing with soy sauce as a dip for sashimi. Parched tade is used as a garnish for soups.
benizake べにざけ 紅鮭 sockeye salmon, red salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. A northern Pacific fish of 50 to 60 cm in length, it mostly comes to Japan frozen. The bulk is salted and sold for grilling. It is also used in Western-style cooking.
bentō べんとう 弁当 boxed meal consisting of rice, pickles, and any number of accompanying foodstuffs. Most bentō are prepared at home to be taken to school or the workplace for lunch. There is also a large industry preparing and selling bentō at all times of day or night, often with the rice put in hot at the time of sale. There are also restaurants, especially in Kyoto, that specialize in bentō, which may extend beyond the box and not actually be portable. Perhaps the best-known kind of bentō is the ekiben えきべん 駅弁, sold at all major railway stations throughout Japan, usually with some distinct local touch. Makunouchi bentō まくのうちべんとう 幕の内弁当 is a good standard bentō, while shōkadō bentō しょうかどうべんとう 松花堂弁当 is high class and elegant.
bera ベら 倍良、 遍羅 Family Labridae includes a large number of very colorful fish, especially sasanohabera (Pseudolabrus japonicus), and several kinds of wrasse called kyūsen. As well as being the basic ingredient of kamaboko, it is prepared as nitsuke, kara-age, and nanbanzuke. Also called gizami.
bettarazuke ベったらづけ ベったら漬け daikon pickled in kōji. It has a sweet flavor and alcoholic aroma. Highly recommended.
biifun ビーフン 米粉 Chinese rice noodles. Popular in Japan, but not strictly part of Japanese cuisine.
biwa びわ 枇杷 loquat, Japanese medlar Eriobotrya japonica. A very bland, early-summer fruit, eaten fresh. It may also be canned, and used in jams, jellies, and liqueurs.
bōfū ぼうふう 防風 1. common abbreviation of hama bōfū. 2. root of Ledebouriella seseloides, one of the ingredients of toso.
bora ぼら 鯔、 鰡 striped mullet, (British) grey mullet Mugil cephalus cephalus. Growing up to 80 cm in length, this fish is suitable for sashimi only when extremely fresh, since it feeds on mud and green algae and deteriorates very quickly. It is best eaten as gyoden ぎょでん 魚田 (fish dengaku), teriyaki, or misozuke. The female roe of bora is made into karasumi. See also chinmi.
botan ebi ぼたんえび 牡丹海老 botan shrimp Pandalus nipponensis. See also ebi.
botan nabe ぼたんなベ 牡丹鍋 nabemono with wild boar (inoshishi) as the main ingredient. Botan is Japanese for peony.
budō ぶどう 葡萄 grape Vitis spp. Eaten fresh in late summer and autumn, the best grapes are a considerable luxury. There is a vigorous wine industry in Japan, and though the number of discriminating consumers is increasing, they tend to prefer imported wines.
buntan ぶんたん 文旦 pomelo, shaddock Citrus grandis. The largest of the citrus fruits, it is grown in Kyushu and Shikoku. It is eaten raw and is similar to the grapefruit, though not as juicy. The candied peel is a popular delicacy. Buntan is also called zabon.
buri ぶり 鰤 yellowtail, Japanese amberjack Seriola quinqueradiata. A large fish about 1.3 m in length and weighing about 15 kg, it is highly regarded and is particularly good as sashimi and also very good grilled and as teriyaki. It is at its best in autumn and winter and is extensively cultivated artificially, as is its younger form (hamachi). In western Japan, buri is the favored fish at New Year. It is first eaten as sashimi, then in zōni, later grilled, especially as teriyaki, and finally fixed as aradaki.
buta niku ぶたにく 豚肉 pork Sus scrofa var. domesticus. Pork is principally eaten as tonkatsu, but also appears in yakiniku and nimono.
butsugiri ぶつぎり ぶつ切り roughly chopped fish or meat on the bone, though fish may be filleted. It is mostly used in soups and nabemono.
—C—
cha ちゃ 茶 tea Camellia sinensis (otherwise Thea sinensis). Introduced from China at the end of the sixth century, Japanese tea is green tea, ryokucha りょくちゃ 緑茶, a term that indicates the leaves are dried without fermentation. This is achieved by sterilizing the leaves with steam before they are dried. They may be powdered for making matcha for the tea ceremony, or infused with hot (rather than boiling) water, in one of several grades. The best is gyokuro, next is sencha, and the ordinary tea for daily use is bancha, which, when freshly toasted, becomes hōjicha. See also appendices 12 and 13.
chabudai ちゃぶだい 卓揪台 low table used without chairs for serving food and drinks in a Japanese-style room. Such tables have been used only since the beginning of the Meiji era (1868) and at first were often round. The legs are often collapsible for convenience of storage. The word chabudai is rather old-fashioned, being largely replaced by zataku.
chāhan チャーハン 炒飯 Chinese-style name for yakimeshi.
cha kaiseki ちゃかいせき 茶懐石 the highly refined style of food associated with the tea ceremony. Since it is not desirable to drink strong matcha on an empty stomach, the practice arose of serving a meal beforehand. The menu should emphasize the season, and is based on rice with ichijū sansai. The meal starts with a tray of rice, soup, and mukōzuke, followed by wanmori (the cha kaiseki term for nimono) and yakimono. Hashiarai (a clear suimono soup to “wash the chopsticks”) is then served with hassun, usually two chinmi, one from the mountains (e.g., iwatake) and one from the sea (e.g., karasumi). Finally, kō no mono is served with yutō (hot washings of the rice pot served in a yutō, a lacquerware container shaped like a teapot without a handle).
chankonabe ちゃんこなべ ちゃんこ鍋 nabemono that is supposed to fatten up sumo wrestlers. Basically a kind of mizutaki, it consists of soup made with roughly chopped chicken on the bone, in which seasonal vegetables, chicken, fish, and tofu are cooked and then dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar flavored with finely sliced negi. Traditionally the flesh of quadrupeds was not used, since being down on all fours means defeat in sumo. However, in recent years this custom has not been strictly observed.
chanpon チャンポン 1. a famous local dish of Nagasaki. A selection of pork, squid, prawns, oysters, and fish is fried in ample lard along with thinly sliced onion, carrot, cabbage, and other vegetables, and is then served in a large bowl containing lightly cooked Chinese noodles and soup made from roughly chopped pork and chicken on the bone. 2. the practice of mixing Japanese and Western drinks during the same drinking session.
chasen ちゃせん 茶筅、 茶筌 delicate bamboo whisk used for making matcha. These whisks are a special product of the town of Takayama in Nara Prefecture. There are also electric ones for people with weak wrists.
chāshū チャーシュー 叉焼 sliced roast pork served with rāmen.
chawan ちゃわん 茶碗 bowl, usually made of china or pottery for serving food, especially rice, and matcha.
chawan mushi ちゃわんむし 茶碗蒸し steamed savory custard made of egg and dashi. It usually contains chicken, prawns, ginkgo nuts, kamaboko, yurine, and mitsuba, and is steamed in special china cups with lids. Well-liked by all.
chikuwa ちくわ 竹輪 paste of fish (surimi), starch, and egg white, with salt, sugar, and other seasonings, formed into sausage shapes on skewers, and steamed or grilled. Among many uses, it makes an agreeable tsumamimono.
chimaki ちまき 粽 mochi made of glutinous or non-glutinous rice or rice flour wrapped in bamboo leaf and steamed or boiled. It is particularly eaten on Boys’ Day, May 5, because of its phallic symbolism. May 5 is now usually called Children’s Day.
chingensai チンゲンサイ 青梗菜 pak choy rape, bok choy Brassica campestris var. chinensis. Useful all-purpose green vegetable of Chinese origin, it is boiled or sautéed.
chinmi ちんみ 珍味 rare and unusual food, or food regarded as a great delicacy or luxury, such as uni, konowata, and karasumi, the “three great chinmi” (tenka no sandai chinmi 天下の三大珍味) of the Edo period (1603–1868).
chinpi ちんぴ 陳皮 dried peel of citrus fruit such as mikan, daidai, or yuzu. It is an ingredient of shichimi tōgarashi.
chinu ちぬ 茅渟 black bream Acanthopagrus schlegeli. See also kurodai.
chirashizushi ちらしずし 散らし鮨、 散らし寿司 See Appendix 11.
chirimenjako ちりめんじゃこ 縮緬雑魚 small young sardines and especially anchovies, less than 3 cm long, called shirasu in eastern Japan. After they are boiled and then dried, they are called chirimen in western Japan and shirasuboshi in eastern Japan. They can be made into aemono with grated daikon, and provide a good dietary source of calcium.
chirinabe ちりなベ ちり鍋 nabemono in which fish, tofu, and vegetables are simmered in water and then eaten after being dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. A popular winter dish.
chirirenge ちりれんげ 散り蓮華 china spoon. See also renge.
chisha ちしゃ 萵苣 lettuce Lactuca sativa. Refers mainly to a small, flat-leaved, non-heading lettuce. Otherwise, the word retasu レタス is used.
choko ちょこ small pottery vessel for drinking saké. Choko is a variant of choku 猪口, meaning wild boar’s mouth, which a choko is said to resemble when viewed from the side.
chōmiryō ちょうみりょう 調味料 condiment, seasoning. The main ones are salt, pepper, mustard, wasabi, sugar, vinegar, stock, chemical seasoning (i.e., monosodium glutamate), soy sauce, miso, and Worcester sauce.
chōrishi ちょうりし 調理師 licensed chef.
chōshoku ちょうしょく 朝食 breakfast. A traditional Japanese breakfast consists of rice, miso shiru, and tsukemono, with toasted nori, egg (usually raw, to be broken onto the rice or into the soup), fish, and tsukudani.
chūkasoba ちゅうかそば 中華蕎麦 another name for rāmen, it also refers specifically to Chinese noodles.
chūshoku ちゅうしょく 昼食 midday meal, lunch. Less formal words for lunch are hiru gohan and hiru meshi, hiru meaning midday.
chūtoro ちゅうとろ 中とろ See toro.
—D—
daidai だいだい 橙、 回青橙、 臭橙 bitter orange, Seville orange Citrus aurantium. An important part of the New Year decoration. The juice of this orange is mixed with soy sauce to make the superior dip ponzu for nabemono.
daidokoro だいどころ 台所 kitchen. See also Appendix 3.
daikon だいこん 大根 giant white radish Raphanus sativus. Usually about 35 cm long, it is an important item in the Japanese diet, and is prepared in many ways. Thick slices are served boiled in stock with other vegetables as nimono. Dried in long thin strips, it is called kiriboshi daikon and, when reconstituted, has many uses, such as in fukujinzuke. Grated, it can be eaten with a flavoring of soy sauce and is added to the dip for tempura because it helps the digestion, especially of oily foods. It can be quite pungent and also unpleasantly smelly if left around after preparation. An old name for daikon as one of the haru no nanakusa (seven herbs of spring) is suzushiro.
daizu だいず 大豆 soybean Glycine max. Extensively used in Japanese food, it is highly nutritious, being a very good source of protein. Soybeans are eaten straight from the boiled pods (edamame) as tsumamimono, and removed from the pods are added to many dishes and soups. They are also used in the manufacture of tofu, miso, and soy sauce, and the parched beans are used to make kinako flour, a very tasty topping for mochi. Good-quality cooking oil is also extracted from soybeans.
dango だんご 団子 ball (of food). The flours of rice, wheat, buckwheat, and millet are all used to make balls that are steamed or boiled and then served with some topping or dipped in soy sauce and grilled. Pork, beef, chicken, and fish (especially sardine) balls may be deep-fried instead of steamed or boiled and are often an ingredient of o-den.
dashi だし 出し、 出汁 stock. The best Japanese stock is made with freshly shaved katsuobushi and konbu. The first brew (ichiban dashi) is used for suimono, then the same ingredients can be reused to make “second-run” stock (niban dashi), which is perfectly satisfactory for miso soup, noodle broth, and many other uses. The little dried anchovies called niboshi are also used for making stock, but first their heads should be removed and discarded.
dashijiru 出し汁 See dashi.
datemaki だてまき 伊達巻き rolled omelet. Eggs, shredded whitefish, dashi, mirin, and sugar are used to make an omelet, which is rolled by means of the special bamboo mat called a makisu and then cut into thick slices. It is especially used at New Year as part of o-sechi ryōri.
datsu だつ 駄津 needlefish Strongylura anastomella. Similar in appearance to sayori, this sea fish reaches 1 m in length and is mostly used for making kamaboko.
demae でまえ 出前 home delivery of food ordered by telephone. A popular practice in Japan.
denbu でんぶ 田麩 flesh of whitefish and shrimp that has been boiled, shredded, parched, seasoned, and colored red. It is used as an ingredient of norimaki and as a topping for chirashizushi. It is also called oboro.
dengaku でんがく 田楽 preparation in which food such as eggplant, taro, konnyaku, and tofu are dressed with a sweetened miso topping and grilled on skewers. Fish dengaku is called gyoden.
denpun でんぷん 澱粉 starch (C6H10O5). It is used in the making of kamaboko and in some preparations of mizuame, nori, and saké.
dobin どびん 土瓶 teapot. Made of pottery or china, it has a semicircular bamboo handle over the top.
dobinmushi どびんむし 土瓶蒸し delicate clear soup made in an individual miniature dobin. It is a famous autumn speciality of Kyoto and usually contains matsutake, chicken, mitsuba, and ginnan. The juice of sudachi is squeezed into the dashi, which is drunk from little cups. The other ingredients are fished out with chopsticks and eaten. One of the great delicacies of Japan.
doburoku どぶろく 濁醪、 濁酒 See Appendix 7.
dojō どじょう 泥鰌 loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus. A freshwater fish that used to proliferate in rice paddies before the extensive use of agricultural chemicals. Since the whole fish is eaten, it is a good source of calcium. It is usually eaten as an accompaniment to shōchū or saké. Not highly rated.
donabe どなべ 土鍋 earthenware pot, shaped like a large bowl, much used for nabemono. Usually its lid has a hole in it and it is glazed inside but not out. For cooking, it is placed directly on top of a konro or shichirin.
donburi どんぶり 丼 1. pottery or china bowl, two or three times the size of a rice bowl, often with a lid. 2. the food served in such a bowl, consisting of rice with various ingredients placed on top. Among the favorites are oyako donburi, in which chicken and egg are used, tendon with tempura, gyūdon with beef, katsudon with tonkatsu, and unadon with eel. These dishes provide a simple, popular meal in a bowl.
dotenabe どてなべ 土手鍋 nabemono in which the stock is richly flavored with miso. The usual ingredients are oysters and yakidōfu, with shirataki and a variety of fresh vegetables.
—E—
ebi えび 海老、 蝦 prawn, shrimp Penaeidae spp. The word ebi covers a wide range, including crawfish (ise ebi), but unqualified, it usually refers to prawns or shrimps, of which there are many varieties. The amaebi is a sweet-tasting prawn about 12 cm in length particularly used for sushi. The kuruma ebi is larger, at up to 20 cm, and is used for sushi even more than amaebi. It is also used for sashimi and agemono, the best example of which, deservedly very popular, is ebi furai, in which these succulent large prawns are coated with egg and bread crumbs and deep-fried. For tempura, the popular prawn is saimaki ebi, about 7 to 10 cm long, but also the larger shiba ebi, 10 to 15 cm, is extensively used. Shiba ebi is particularly tasty and is also used in sushi, sunomono, and kakiage. The botan ebi grows to 14 cm and is in season from October to May. It can be eaten raw and is also prepared as tempura and furai. The hokkai ebi, about 13 cm long, is prolific off the northern shores of Hokkaido. It can be prepared as tsukudani, though much of the catch is peeled and canned. The giant among the prawns is the taishō ebi, 27 cm long. A kind of kuruma ebi, its true name is kōrai (Korean) ebi. It is used for tempura and furai and is good sautéed with vegetables. At the other end of the scale, the sakura ebi is a pretty little shrimp of 5 cm, a light red color and highly luminescent. It can be eaten as is, but is usually dried, either in the sun or with applied heat. It is used to provide a colorful touch.
edamame えだまめ 枝豆 pod soybean Glycine max. In summer, pods of young soybeans (daizu) on the stalk are boiled and the beans eaten as a side dish with beer. Also called sayamame.
edomaezushi えどまえずし 江戸前鮨 See Appendix 11.
egoma えごま 荏胡麻 perilla Perilla frutescens var. frutescens. The leaves are used in the same ways as those of shiso, and the seeds, when parched, smell just like goma. An edible oil (eno-abura) is also made from the seeds.
ei えい 鱝、 鱏 skate, ray Order Rajiformes. The wings of these large fish, up to 2 m in length, must be eaten very fresh. Skate is cooked as nimono, especially misoni (nimono with miso flavoring) and ei no nikogori 鱝の煮凝り, in which the simmered skate is cooled and jellied. It is also made into amazuankake, a kind of ankake with sweetened vinegar.
ekiben えきべん 駅弁 boxed lunch sold at a railway station. All the major railway stations (eki) throughout Japan have for sale their own special boxed lunch. See also bentō.
endō えんどう 豌豆 peas Pisum sativum. Green peas, although they have been grown in Japan for a long time, are not greatly used in traditional Japanese cooking. A favorite use is to mix them with mashed potato as a salad.
enokitake えのきたけ 榎茸 winter mushroom Flammulina velutipes. The heads of these tiny white mushrooms on long, thin stalks, growing in clumps, would average about 1 cm. They are very versatile in use, but are mostly eaten in nabemono.
—F—
fu ふ 麩 wheat gluten. This ancient product for which Kyoto is renowned comes in two forms. One is raw gluten (nama fu). A dough is made from strong flour (high-gluten flour) and water, and the starch is washed away by kneading under water. The resulting sticky substance is almost completely protein. Usually glutinous rice flour or some other flour is incorporated and coloring as desired. It is then steamed. Nama fu is made into all sorts of decorative shapes and has an important place in shōjin ryōri, being used in clear soups and nimono. The other fu is yaki fu, for which nama fu is grilled or dried in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. It is used in soups, nimono, and sunomono.
fucha ryōri ふちゃりょうり 普茶料理 vegetarian cuisine of Chinese-style Zen Buddhism. In Japan it is practiced by the Obaku sect of Zen, centered at Manpuku-ji, the great temple at Obaku, near Uji. This vegetarian cuisine is also served at smaller temples and convents in Kyoto and other places. See also Appendix 15.
fugu ふぐ 河豚 puffer, blowfish Family Tetraodontidae. The various kinds of fugu are best known for their poison, and perhaps the main reason for dining at a fugu restaurant is the uncertainty and excitement that this knowledge arouses in anticipation. Certainly the taste of the fish itself is not sufficiently enticing to make one want to take the risk. Tora fugu is considered the best, and can weigh up to 2.5 kg. The restaurant preparation of fugu is very strictly controlled, but domestic preparation, whether of fugu caught on a fishing expedition or bought in a fish market, leads to deaths from time to time. Many, including myself, have survived eating the liver, which is the tastiest and also the most poisonous part, though it has been illegal to serve the liver since 1984. Fugu is served as sashimi and chirinabe, and the fins are toasted and hot saké poured over them. This saké is usually drunk as an aperitif.
fuka ふか 鱶 another word for shark, especially the larger species. The shark’s fin of Chinese cooking is fukanohire ふかの ひれ 鱶の鰭. Most species of shark are called same in Japanese.
fuki ふき 蕗 Japanese butterbur, sweet coltsfoot Petasites japonicus. Looking like giant rhubarb, the 1.2-m-long stems of this vegetable have a slight flavor of celery. They are blanched and peeled before being fried or made into various pickles. Fuki is also candied. There is a giant variety with 180-cm-tall stalks.
fukinotō ふきのとう 蕗の薹 unopened bud of Japanese butterbur. Available only in early spring, the buds are blanched to remove some of the bitterness and are used in miso shiru, tempura, tsukudani, and nabemono.
fukujinzuke ふくじんづけ 福神漬け one of the most popular pickles and an invariable accompaniment of Japanese-style curry and rice. A mixture of seven vegetables thinly sliced is salted and then pickled in soy sauce and mirin. The seven vegetables are chosen from among white radish, eggplant, lotus root, ginger, shiso buds, turnip, shiitake, udo, sword beans, shirouri, and others.
funa ふな 鮒 wild goldfish Carassius auratus. A freshwater fish mainly found in lakes such as Lake Biwa near Kyoto, famous for its funa called nigoro buna (C. auratus grandoculis), which is made into funazushi, an ancient form of sushi. Funa lives for ten to fifteen years, reaches a length of 40cm, and is at its best in winter. It is used for narezushi, sashimi, sunomono, tsukudani, and in soups. See also narezushi.
furai フライ a very popular method of cooking in which prawns, fillets of fish, or slices of meat are dipped in egg, coated with panko, and deep-fried. Ebi (prawn) furai is a particularly successful dish.
furikake ふりかけ 振り掛け topping sprinkled on hot rice. Usually it contains toasted seaweed and sesame seeds as well as ground dried fish and salt.
furofuki ふろふき 風呂吹き winter dish in which well-boiled white radish or turnip is served with a topping of miso flavored with yuzu or sesame. The classic dish is made with daikon.
—G—
ganmodoki がんもどき 雁擬き tofu product. Tofu is mixed with crushed yamanoimo and chopped vegetables such as carrot, shiitake, and burdock, as well as sesame seeds, ginkgo nuts, and kelp. This mixture is formed into balls, the size and shape largely depending on local custom, and deep-fried. The balls are used in o-den and nimono.
gari がり thinly sliced ginger macerated in sweetened vinegar. Gari is served as a condiment in sushi shops, and the word is special sushi-shop vocabulary.
gazami がざみ 蝤蛑 blue crab Neptunus trituberculatus. See also watarigani.
genmai げんまい 玄米 brown rice Oryza sativa. Few Japanese eat brown (i.e., unpolished) rice, with the result that it is not easy to get hold of. Best cooked in a pressure cooker, even though the latest rice cookers claim to do the job.
genmai su げんまいす 玄米酢 brown-rice vinegar. An excellent, high-class vinegar, often made by the traditional methods. Best of all is glutinous brown-rice vinegar (genmai mochigome su). Not readily available, it has such an elegant sweetness and smoothness that it can be drunk neat.
geso げそ 下足 squid tentacle, cuttlefish tentacle. Often sold from stalls at festivals as teriyaki, these tentacles are also dried for use as tsumamimono. Geso, a shortened form of gesoku げそく 下足, which means footwear, was originally a sushi-shop word that has spread into common parlance.
gindara ぎんだら 銀鱈 sablefish Anoplopoma fimbria. A kind of cod that grows to almost 1 m in length, this fish comes frozen to Japan from the Bering Sea. It is delicious and can be cooked in numerous ways but spoils quickly and should be cooked and eaten as soon as thawed.
ginnan ぎんなん 銀杏 ginkgo nut Ginkgo biloba. The fruit of this lovely and very primitive tree (ichō in Japanese), though not strictly nuts, do have a shell that must be cracked to get at the kernel. Gathered in September and October, they are yellowish green and about 1.5 cm long out of the shell. Perhaps at their best when skewered and grilled, they are also a regular and welcome ingredient of chawan mushi.
gizami ぎざみ See bera.
gobō ごぼう 牛蒡 great burdock, edible burdock Arctium lappa. It is only in Japan that burdock root is eaten as a vegetable, usually about 1 m long and 3 cm thick. In China it is used as a medicine. The root is a very good source of dietary fiber and nutrients and should be scrubbed rather than peeled, since much of the flavor is close to the skin. For use, it is shaved (like a pencil is sharpened, sasagaki in Japanese) and dipped in cold water with a little vinegar to remove its considerable bitterness, because of which it is unsuitable for nabemono. Burdock is combined with carrot to make kinpira gobō and is used in kakiage and numerous other dishes.
gogyō ごぎょう 御形 cudweed Gnaphalium affine. Better known as hahakogusa ははこぐさ 母子草. See also nanakusagayu.
gohan ごはん 御飯 cooked rice. As with the informal word meshi, it can also refer to a meal.
goma ごま 胡麻 sesame Sesamum indicum. A nutty-flavored, oil-rich little seed of which three forms are marketed: black, white, and golden. Golden sesame has the best aroma but is not so readily available. Sesame is always parched before being used in such things as in furikake, aemono, and goma dōfu. Sesame oil is used in cooking, particularly for its flavor, and is important in the oil mixture for tempura.
goma dōfu ごまどうふ 胡麻豆腐 sesame tofu. Rather like a firm, baked, savory custard only gray, this resembles tofu only in texture and presentation. White sesame, usually parched, is pulverized with water, and the liquid is strained. This liquid is thickened with kuzu and set in a square shape. Served with wasabi, it can be highly recommended. Sesame tofu has an important place in all schools of Buddhist vegetarianism, such as shōjin ryōri and fucha ryōri.
goma shio ごましお 胡麻塩 sesame salt. Sesame and salt are slightly or well ground and combined into a condiment for use at table. Any kind of parched sesame may be used. It has a particularly important place in macrobiotics, no doubt because brown rice is scarcely edible without some salt at least.
gomoku meshi ごもくめし 五目飯 rice dish in which small pieces of chicken, tofu, and various vegetables in season are flavored with soy sauce and cooked with the rice. Shiitake, carrot, burdock, konnyaku, and abura-age are often used.
gomokuzushi ごもくずし 五目鮨、 五目寿司 See Appendix 11.
gyokairui ぎょかいるい 魚介類 seafood; fish and shellfish.
gyokuro ぎょくろ 玉露 highest-quality green tea. See also Appendix 12.
gyoshō ぎょしよう 魚醤 See uoshōyu.
gyōza ギョーザ 餃子 a kind of Chinese dumpling (dim sum). A filling, usually of pork, cabbage, and nira minced to a fine paste, is used to fill circles of thin flour pastry shells with a scalloped join at the top. They are steam-fried or deep-fried or may be boiled in soup or nabemono. They are extremely popular and are often served at home as part of a regular Japanese meal.
gyūdon ぎゅうどん 牛丼 donburi dish featuring slices of beef.
gyū niku ぎゅうにく 牛肉 beef Bos taurus. After a long period in which the eating of beef was unthinkable, Emperor Meiji did his best to get the Japanese to eat beef, issuing a statement of approval in 1873. Gyūnabe, now called sukiyaki, had already appeared in the 1850s. Shabu shabu has also become a popular way of eating beef, as has yakiniku. Most of the Western ways of eating beef are also popular.
—H—
hachimitsu はちみつ 蜂蜜 honey. It is sometimes used to sweeten such things as umeshu but has little place in Japanese cuisine.
hadakamugi はだかむぎ 裸麦 naked barley, a variety of Hordeum vulgare. A species of barley particularly grown in western Japan. The grains closely resemble those of wheat.
hage はげ See kawahagi.
hajikami はじかみ 薑、 椒 See shōga.
hakkō はっこう 発酵、 醗酵 fermentation. The making of such products as saké, shiokara, and nattō involves a process of fermentation.
hakobe, hakobera はこべ、 はこべら 繁縷 chickweed Stellaria media. See also nanakusagayu.
hakumai はくまい 白米 white (polished, or rather, milled) rice Oryza sativa. The short-grained subspecies japonica is the staple food of the Japanese. Milling reduces the grain to 90 to 92% of its unmilled size. The rice polishings (nuka) are used as a pickling base for a type of pickle called nukazuke. The normal cooking method is to steam-boil the rice in a tightly closed pot containing just the amount of water that will be absorbed by the time the rice is cooked. Automatic rice cookers remove all doubts and guesswork, the latest models being programmed with “neuro” and “fuzzy” chips, but they do not produce the crisp outer crust (o-koge 御焦げ), which is a great treat.
hakusai はくさい 白菜 Chinese cabbage Brassica campestris var. amplexicaulis. From autumn to spring, this large cabbage is used in all kinds of dishes, but especially in nabemono and tsukemono.
hama bōfu はまぼうふう 浜防風 Glehnia littoralis. A plant of the same family as seri, with a similar appearance except that it has red stems, it grows in the sands by the seashore. In spring the young shoots are eaten raw with sashimi and as a garnish for sunomono of fish. For summer use in aemono it is blanched both to remove the bitterness and to cook it.
hamachi はまち See inada.
hamaguri はまぐり 蛤、 文蛤、 蚌 Venus clam, hard clam Meretrix lusoria. These clams, about 8.5 cm long, 4 cm wide, and 6.5 cm high, gathered from the foreshores throughout Japan, are at their best from winter to spring. In the shell, they are served in suimono, barbecued, or steamed with saké. The flesh is used for sushi and clam rice and can be grilled on skewers.
hamo はも 鱧 pike conger Muraenesox cinereus. This sharp-toothed, 2-m-long eel comes mostly from the warm waters off central and western Japan, especially the Inland Sea. Its small bones are so prolific that a special knife (hamokiri bōchō) is used to bone it. At its best in summer, it is served as kabayaki, teriyaki, tempura, the special kind of pressed sushi called oshizushi, and sunomono.
hanami はなみ 花見 cherry-blossom viewing. Since ancient times the Japanese have taken great delight in the fleeting blossoms of the cherry tree. On Japan’s four main islands, the trees bloom first in Kyushu, from the middle of March, and the blossoming follows the progress of spring, finally reaching the northernmost parts of the country in May. Parties are held day and night under the flowering trees, picnic foods are eaten, a lot of saké, beer, and other alcohol is drunk, and there is much singing, revelry, and enjoyment.
hanasakigani はなさきがに 花咲蟹 hanasaki crab, blue king crab Paralithodes brevipes. Similar to but smaller than the tara-bagani, this delicious crab is prolific in the waters off the Nemuro Peninsula of northeastern Hokkaido. See also kani.
hangō はんごう 飯盒 outdoor rice cooker. A container, usually made of aluminum, in which sufficient rice for one or two people can be carried with the water necessary for cooking it. The rice and water are combined and the hangō is set over a fire until all the water is absorbed and the rice is ready.
hanpen はんぺん 半片 fish-paste cake. Whitefish such as shark is made into a paste with yamanoimo, spread into molds, and boiled till set. It can be eaten as it is with ginger-flavored soy sauce, but is most commonly served in o-den.
harusame はるさめ 春雨 “spring rain” noodles. The best quality, from China, are made from mung-bean starch. The Japanese ones are made from potato starch or sweet-potato starch. They are transparent, less than 1 mm thick, and from 20 to 30 cm long. As well as being used in nabemono and sunomono, they can be deep-fried, puffing up and becoming white.
hashi はし 箸 chopsticks. See also Appendix 1.
hassaku はっさく 八朔 hassaku orange Citrus hassaku. A very firm-fleshed, non-juicy, orange-type citrus fruit mostly grown in Wakayama, Ehime, and Hiroshima prefectures, where it originated. In season from December to April.
hasu はす 蓮、 藕 lotus. See also renkon.
hasunomi はすのみ 蓮の実 lotus seed. In autumn these seeds can be eaten raw, having a mild sweetness, but usually they are preserved by boiling and drying. A paste made from lotus seeds is used as a filling for wagashi.
hata はた 羽太 grouper Epinephelus septemfasciatus (ma-hata). Reaching up to 90 cm in length, ma-hata is eaten from midsummer to early autumn as sashimi, shioyaki, and nitsuke. The much smaller kijihata, at around 40 cm, is particularly tasty.
hatahata はたはた 鰰、 燭魚 sandfish Arctoscopus japonicus. A northern sea fish of about 15 to 25 cm in length, it is especially plentiful around Akita and Yamagata prefectures. It is a fairly fatty, white-fleshed fish and is eaten as tempura, sushi, shioyaki, and nitsuke. It is also dried, preserved as shiokara, and used as the basis for Akita’s well-known shottsuru.
hatchō miso はっちょうみそ 八丁味噌 100% soybean miso. See also Appendix 6.
hatomugi はとむぎ 鳩麦 adlay Coix lachryma-jobi var. mayuen. A variety of Job’s-tears, consumed for its nutritional qualities rather than its flavor, which is disappointing. Its flour can be mixed with wheat flour for whatever use, and the grains are parched, decocted, and made into a drink with boiling water.
hattai[ko] はったい[こ] 糗粉、 麨粉 See ōmugi.
haze はぜ 沙魚、 鯊 goby, gudgeon Acanthogobius flavimanus (ma-haze). The goby is widespread and exists in many species, but the well-known one of Tokyo Bay is the ma-haze, which grows to 20 cm or so. Its soft flesh is highly regarded and particularly good as tempura. For sashimi it is sliced into thin strips. It is also preserved as kanroni.
hechima へちま 糸瓜、 天糸瓜 sponge gourd, loofah, luffa Luffa cylindrica. This plant grows in the south or Kyushu, and the young gourds are eaten in many ways, such as sunomono and aemono. It can also be briefly blanched and served with sumiso.
hie ひえ 稗 Japanese barnyard millet Echinochloa utilis. Formerly a staple of the Japanese diet, it is little eaten today. However, it is sometimes mixed with white rice, and can be made into kayu and dango.
higashi ひがし 干菓子 dry confectionary. One category of wagashi, higashi is any kind of dry candy such as toffee, and also includes senbei. In any case, the water content must be less than 20%. Most commonly, however, the word refers specifically to the little dry confections used in the tea ceremony. They are made from rice flour and sugar, which is colored and pressed into small, decorative molds. The best confections are made with wasanbon. Kyoto is particularly famous for its higashi.
hijiki ひじき 鹿尾菜、 羊栖米 hijiki Hizikia fusiforme. A particularly nutritious seaweed that becomes a rich black when boiled before drying. Hijiki mame is an excellent and very popular dish, very rich in minerals and protein, in which soybeans and hijiki, both soaked, are sautéed in oil and seasoned with soy sauce and sugar.
hikiniku ひきにく 挽き肉 ground meat, minced meat, mince. Japanese butchers normally sell a variety of minced meats such as beef, pork, and chicken. Minced meat is used in tsukune, soboro, gyōza, and the cabbage rolls that are often found in o-den.
himono ひもの 干物 dried fish. Sun, wind, and dry night air are all used to dry a variety of lightly salted fish. Before drying they can be grilled or seasoned with mirin. The best way to eat them is hot from the grill.
hina matsuri ひなまつり 雛祭 festival for girls held on March 3. Also called the doll festival because of the display of dolls set up in houses where there is a girl. Traditional foods include diamond-shaped rice cakes called hishimochi colored white, pink, and green, as well as shirozake, a white-colored drink made from glutinous rice, rice mold, and mirin.
hirame ひらめ 平目、 鮃、 比目魚 bastard halibut, false halibut Paralichthys olivaceus. At its best from September to February, this is a highly regarded fish that can be prepared in every way. Since it sometimes harbors nematode parasites, it is safer cooked rather than eaten as sashimi or sushi.
hiratake ひらたけ 平茸 oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. This mushroom, gray-capped and white-fleshed, 5 to 15 cm across the cap, is delicious when gathered from the wild from spring till autumn. The less delicious cultivated version is usually marketed under the name of shimeji.
hiroshima na ひろしまな 広島菜 a variety of Brassica campestris var. chinensis. This green-leaved vegetable is cultivated almost exclusively for making Hiroshima’s famous salt pickle.
hishinomi ひしのみ 菱の実 water chestnut, water caltrop Trapa bispinosa var. iinumai. Young ones are eaten raw; harder, more mature ones are boiled, grilled, and then eaten. They are rather like chestnuts to eat but are not used in cooking.
hishio ひしお 醤 Historically hishio has a very important place in Japan’s food culture. There were originally three types: 草醤 kusa bishio, equivalent to today’s tsukemono; 肉醤 shishi bishio, equivalent to shiokara; and 榖醤 koku bishio, fermented grain products such as miso and soy sauce. It is from the latter that modern hishio, popular in western Japan, has developed. Vegetables such as eggplant, ginger, and shirouri, with hulled, split soybeans, are fermented in a kind of barley miso. It is a high-class product of limited availability. See also morokyū.
hiyamugi ひやむぎ 冷麦 dried noodle made of wheat, in thickness coming between sōmen and udon. After boiling, the noodles are chilled and served with a fairly chili-hot dipping broth. A summer dish.
hiyashi ひやし... 冷し... cold. Generally prefixed to the names of foods normally expected to be hot, e.g., hiyashi sōmen.
hiyayakko ひややっこ 冷奴 cold tofu. A simple dish in which a block of cold tofu is eaten with finely sliced welsh onion, grated ginger, kezuribushi, and soy sauce.
hōbō ほうぼう 魴鮄、 竹麦魚 bluefin gurnard, bluefin sea-robin Chelidonichthys spinosus. A highly regarded, white-fleshed fish about 40 cm long, at its best in winter. It is used in soups and nabemono and is also good as shioyaki and agemono.
hōchō ほうちょう 包丁 Japanese cook’s knife. Apart from the fact that they cut, these knives are in a different world from anything known in Western culture. Like swords, they are forged and are sharpened on one side of the blade only, allowing extremely clean, accurate slicing. They must be sharpened on several different whetstones, a knife steel being totally unsuitable. The three main types are sashimi bōchō; deba bōchō, for dealing with fish, apart from sashimi; and usuba bōchō, for fine work with vegetables. A good cutler might sell over fifty different kinds of knives made from traditionally forged steel.
hōjicha ほうじちゃ 培じ茶 parched bancha. See also cha and Appendix 12.
hojiso ほじそ 穂紫蘇 stem (spike) of young budding shiso. The little buds are scraped off to be used as a condiment. Pickled hojiso is served with shiruko.
hokkai ebi ほっかいえび 北海海老 Hokkai shrimp Pandalus kessleri. About 13 cm long, this shrimp is prolific off the northern shores of Hokkaido. It can be prepared as tsukudani, though much of the catch is peeled and canned.
hokke ほっけ Atka mackerel Pleurogrammus azonus. Caught in large quantity in the northern waters from the beginning of winter to the following spring, this fish is about 40 cm long. Very good when quite fresh, it does not keep well because of its high fat content. It is usually grilled or simmered as nimono.
hokki gai ほっきがい 北寄貝 surf clam, hen clam Spisula sachalinensis. This clam, which is also called ubagai, is about 9.5 cm long, 4.5 cm wide, and 7.5 cm high and is most prolific in the Sanriku and Hokkaido areas. The flesh has an off-white color but turns pink when boiled. At its best from spring to summer, it is served as sashimi, sushi, yakimono, sunomono, and in suimono.
hone nuki ほねぬき 骨抜き tweezers for removing fish bones.
honshimeji ほんしめじ 本湿地 honshimeji Lyophyllum shimeji. An autumn mushroom of excellent flavor, it is difficult to cultivate and what is widely sold as (cultivated) honshimeji is actually buna shimeji (Hypsizigus marmoreus). Shimeji is used in soups, tempura, and nitsuke. According to one saying, matsutake is for aroma, shimeji for flavor.
honzen ryōri ほんぜんりょうり 本膳料理 The zen of the name refers to the short-legged trays on which this formal style of food is served. It is one of the three basic styles of traditional cooking, the other two being kaiseki ryōri 1 and 2, both of which are at present more frequently served than honzen ryōri. The menu has a highly formalized structure based on ichijū sansai, which can be extended to two soups and five or seven side dishes, or three soups and eleven side dishes, which should emphasize variety of flavor. This formal style of cooking is for the most part found only at weddings and funerals.
horagai ほらがぃ 法螺貝、 吹螺、 梭尾螺 trumpet shell Charonia tritonis. The flesh from this large shell, up to 40 cm long and 19 cm in diameter, is eaten raw as sashimi, sunomono, and aemono. It is also baked in the shell as tsuboyaki.
hōrensō ほうれんそう 法蓮草、 菠薐草 spinach Spinacia oleracea. A favorite vegetable in Japan, it is a frequent ingredient of soups, but is at its best in the cooked salad hōrensō no goma ae. It also makes excellent o-hitashi.
hōroku ほうろく 焙烙 round earthenware platter. Used for parching seeds and grains as well as tea and salt, it usually has a domed lid so that it can be used for steam-baking (hōroku-yaki). In this style of cooking, the ingredients are usually set on a bed of pine needles and are cooked and served in the hōroku.
horumon ryōri ホルモンりょうり ホルモン料理 offal, variety meats. This kind of cooking originated among Korean residents of Japan. The name “hormone” derives from the fact that many of these organs are glands. Pork, beef, and chicken organs are used. They are either grilled as yakiniku or yakitori, or are used in the one-pot dish called motsunabe. As well as heart, liver, and gizzard, tripe is extensively used.
hotategai ほたてがい 帆立貝 scallop Patinopecten yessoensis. A large bivalve, up to 20 cm across, it is prolific in the waters of northern Honshu and Hokkaido and is extensively farmed. It is especially prized for its tender adductor muscle (kaibashira), which makes delicious sashimi. In cooking, the female (red) roe and male (cream) roe, and often the mantle, are usually left attached to the muscle. Scallops are served in soups, nimono, yakimono, and agemono.
hotokenoza ほとけのざ 仏の座 henbit Lamium amplexicaule. See also nanakusagayu.
hoya ほや 海鞘、 老海鼠 sea squirt Class Ascidiacea, especially doroboya (Corella japonica) and eboya (Styela clava). Somewhat limited in appeal, these creatures are present in all the waters surrounding Japan, but are particularly prolific in the coastal areas of Sanriku and north of Akita. Their best season is July and August. They are eaten raw after being skinned and their intestines are served in sunomono. Fermented sea-squirt intestines are a kind of shiokara similar to konowata.
—I—
ichigo いちご 苺 strawberry Fragaria x ananassa. A very popular fruit frequently served with condensed milk rather than cream at the end of a meal. Strawberry jam is also very popular. The winter availability of empty rice fields and the unsuitability of Japan’s humid rainy season and hot summer have led to the practice of growing strawberries in vinyl houses on the empty fields in winter and spring. Donner, harunoka, toyonoka, fukuba, nyohō, and hōkōwase are widely grown varieties.
ichijiku イチジク 無花果、 映日果 fig Ficus carica. Introduced into Japan in the early seventeenth century, the fig has a restricted place among the autumn dessert fruits.
ichijū sansai いちじゅうさんさい 一汁三菜 one soup, three vegetables. This combination is the basis on which Japanese menus are constructed. Apart from rice, there should be soup and at least three dishes containing vegetables, customarily from the categories of namasu, nimono, and yakimono.
ichimi tōgarashi いちみとうがらし 一味唐辛子 ground chili pepper. See also shichimi tōgarashi.
ichimonji いちもんじ 一文字 scraper-spatula. The handle of this utensil is vertical to the blade, which makes it particularly useful in cooking o-konomiyaki.
ichiyazuke いちやづけ 一夜漬け See tsukemono.
igai いがい 貽貝 mussel Mytilus coruscus. As often as not, mussels are called mūrugai ムール貝, from the French moule, meaning mussel. At their best when steam-baked as hōroku-yaki, they are also good boiled, baked, and as sunomono. Their season is from January to March. A similar but rather larger mussel is the karasugai, which, though edible, has a muddy smell. In some parts of Japan igai is called karasugai.
iidako いいだこ 飯蛸 See tako.
ika いか 烏賊 squid: various dibranchiate cephalopods. Squid are a popular everyday food throughout Japan. They can be anything from bite-size to 50 cm long and are a cheap source of good protein, very low in fat. Above all served as sushi and sashimi, squid is also served as tempura and grilled, especially as teriyaki. Dried squid (surume) is a favorite snack with drinks.
ikanago いかなご 玉筋魚 Pacific sandlance Ammodytes personatus. Best when it is five to six months old and about 10 cm long. It is boiled in salt water and cooled, then served in vinegar-flavored soy sauce or sumiso. It is also made into tempura, tsukudani, and dried.
ikanago shōyu いかなごしょうゆ 玉筋魚醤油 See uoshōyu.
ikizukuri いきづくり 生き作り、 活き造り See sashimi.
ikura イクラ salmon eggs. Though hardly to be compared with caviar, these shiny red eggs are considered a luxury and are very good as a topping for sushi. The word ikura is derived from the Russian word ikra, meaning fish eggs. For salmon roe in the piece, see also sujiko.
imo いも 芋、 藷、 薯 potato. Japan has a wide range of potatoes, including yams, sweet potato, and taro. See also jagaimo, yamanoimo, satsumaimo, and satoimo.
inada いなこ 鰍 yellowtail, Japanese amberjack Seriola quinqueradiata. Called hamachi in western Japan and increasingly so in other parts of the country, this is the young of buri, about 40 cm long. It is preferable to buri for sushi and sashimi and is very good grilled as shioyaki. Best in summer.
inarizushi いなりずし 稲荷鮨、 いなり寿司 See Appendix 11.
ingenmame いんげんまめ 隠元豆 kidney bean Phaseolus vulgaris. The mature beans are mostly dried and then prepared as nimono, an, or amanattō, a kind of wagashi. For the young bean, see also sayaingen.
inobuta いのぶた 猪豚 boar-pig cross. The flesh of this creature has the best of both worlds: the tenderness of pork and the lean gaminess of wild boar. It makes an excellent nabemono.
inoshishi いのしし 猪 wild boar Sus scrofa. Boars are still reasonably prevalent in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The best wild boar comes from the young animals in winter. Wild boar is also referred to as yama kujira (mountain whale) and botan (peony) and is not always wild. See also botan nabe.
ippin ryōri いっぴんりょうり 一品料理 a la carte. On a menu, this most frequently indicates dishes ordered separately to be eaten with drinks.
irigoma いりごま 煎り胡麻、 炒り胡麻 parched sesame. Sesame seeds are normally parched before use, a task that requires skill and attention to avoid overcooking.
iriko いりこ 煎り子、 炒り子 small dried fish used for making dashi.
irori いろり 囲炉裏、 炉 central hearth. The hearth was formerly a feature of Japanese houses in mountainous areas, and many still exist, especially in country restaurants, for nostalgic effect. Part of the dining-kitchen area of a house, the hearth was adjacent to the doma, the beaten-earth floor area for food preparation at the lower, ground level. Although some cooking was done at the irori, its main purposes were heating and drying. See also o-yaki, kiritanpo, and Appendix 3.
isaki いさき 伊佐木、 伊佐幾 grunt Parapristipoma trilineatum. Found in the warmer western waters, this fish grows up to 40 cm in length. Best in summer, it makes good sashimi when very fresh. Otherwise, it is cooked as shioyaki or furai.
ise ebi いせえび 伊勢海老 crawfish, Japanese spiny lobster Panulirus japonicus. This crustacean can reach 35 cm, though is usually smaller, not least because the Japanese waters are becoming seriously depleted. It makes excellent but rather expensive sashimi, and is very good split in half and grilled.
ishikarinabe いしかりなべ 石狩鍋 salmon hodgepodge. A famous nabemono of Hokkaido. Salmon, with both hard and soft roe, is cooked in a large pot of dashi with miso and various vegetables, tofu, and konnyaku. The diner adds a sprinkling of sanshō powder at the time of eating.
