Food Culture in Japan of Recent Article

 

What is TSUKEMONO

 

The term 漬物[tsukemono] embraces a wide variety of pickles.

The fermented foods which, when preserved, offer distinctive flavors and qualities that are the direct result of the fermentation process.

TSUKEMONO are enjoyed as a traditional side-dish that can be found on the Japanese table throughout the year.

These include cucumbers, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, eggplant, Japanese radish, turnips and other vegetables in season.

All are pickled in various mixtures, including salt, rice bran (糠:[nuka]), miso(味噌:[miso]), soy sauce(醤油:[shouyu]), malt (米麹:[kome-koji]), sake lees (酒粕:[sake-kasu]) and other ingredients.

Each photograph expands by the click.	rice bran (糠:[nuka])	miso(味噌:[miso])
soy sauce(醤油:[shouyu])	malt (米麹:[kome-koji])	sake lees (酒粕:[sake-kasu])

 

 

TSUKEMONO is indispensable food for the table of Japan.

As the side dish of meal that can easily take the nutrient of the vegetable, TSUKEMONO is indispensable food for the table of Japan.

Most vegetables except the potatoes can become pickles.

The vegetable has a harsh taste and bitter taste.
But, they disappear by being fermented as TSUKEMONO, and the vegetable is changed into a very delicious taste.
Moreover, we can eat even the skin and calyx of the vegetable since the vegetable ferments.

TSUKEMONO of Chinese cabbage

TSUKEMNO of turnip and seaweed

TSUKEMONO of eggplant and Zingiber mioga

Because a lot of nutrients are contained in the skin and calyx of the vegetable, the change as TSUKEMONO of the vegetable is very effective in health aspects.

Therefore, I think it's safe to say that TSUKEMONO is the highest processed food including the nutrient more than the raw vegetable.

By the way, one of TSUKEMONO that I have introduced to you before on this website is TAKUAN.

 

Origin of TSUKEMONO

The age when pickles came to be made in Japan is called Jomon Period.

TSUKEMONO with various materials appeared in the Kamakura age and the Muromachi age though TSUKEMONO that salted the eggplant and the melon was a main current until the Nara era.
Because TSUKEMONO was very fragrant, it was used also for the tea ceremony in Japan.

Afterwards, new TSUKEMONO such as ぬか漬け[nuka-duke] appeared when the age changed into EDO, and the Japanese has been calling it お新香[oshinko].

TSUKEMONO has been told for a long time as indispensable food for the table of Japan.

 

How to make easy TSUKEMONO

I teach you how to make easy TSUKEMONO.

Because TSUKEMNO is a food made without heating it without using oil, it is very low calorie.
Moreover, because you can eat a large amount of vegetable at a time, TSUKEMONO is very healthy food.

But, if you use a lot of salts for TSUKEMONO, it becomes the excess ingestion of salinity. Please note it.

TSUKEMONO that I teach you is called 浅漬け[asa-zuke], and is TSUKEMONO that the cooking time is very short.

<Ingredient >:

• Vegetable that you want to eat. (The potatoes are not suitable for TSUKEMONO).
• Salt: 2-3 percent of weight of vegetable.
• Bag such as polyethylene.

<Process>:

1. Cut each vegetable small.
2. Put the vegetable that you cut and the salt in the bag.
3. Rub the bag about 15 seconds lightly.
4. Put the bag in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
5. When about 30 minutes pass, TSUKEMONO will be flooded.
6. Throw away the water that came out from the vegetable, squeeze the vegetable lightly, and eat.

Cut each vegetable small.	Rub the bag about 15 seconds lightly.	Squeeze the vegetable lightly, and eat.

<Note>:

• The salinity of TSUKEMONO made from the salt of 2-3 percent of the weight of the vegetable is low, so avoid the preservation of a long term, please.
  (It is because the fermentation element is used for TSUKEMONO that the preservation of a long term is possible.)
• The period when ASAZUKE can be preserved is 2-3days.
• The TSUKEMONO had rotted if you feel the high acidity in the ASAZUKE.
  (Rot and fermentation are different completely state of oxidations.)

TSUKEMONO of cucumber, turnip, and carrot that has fermented with rice bran.

TSUKEMONO of radish from which miso is used.

Umeboshi : TSUKEMONO to which the truth of plum tree is salted

Beni-shouga : Ginger in Japan that was salted, and dyed to red. This is eaten with TAKOYAKI and YAKISOBA and GYUUDON etc.

 

Advantage of Japanese pickles

• Vegetable's harsh taste and bitter taste, they disappear by being fermented as TSUKEMONO, and the vegetable is changed into a very delicious taste.
• Because TSUKEMNO is a food made without heating it without using oil, it is very low calorie.
• Because you can eat a large amount of vegetable at a time, TSUKEMONO is very healthy food.
• Even if the drain action by the osmotic pressure of the salt is done, the water-soluble vitamin and the mineral in the cell of the vegetable are never almost lost.
  You will be able to take abundant vitamins and minerals by a small amount of TSUKEMONO.
• In a lot of meals of sugar and the lipid, that are, TSUKEMONO that the blood sugar level is suppressed to more effective is effective.
• Abundant dietary fibers

  The moisture of the vegetable decreases by the drain action with the salt and the volume becomes small.
  The maximum material that remains there is a dietary fiber.
  The amount of the dietary fiber included in it doesn't change even if the volume becomes small.
  The dietary fiber is a very effective material for obesity and people who have the lifestyle of lack of physical activity.
  The dietary fiber included in TSUKEMONO activates working of small intestines, and exhausts the sugar of the body.

 

Finally, it is necessary to note it for the intake of salinity too much though TSUKEMONO is useful for the prevention of the lifestyle disease.

 

By Hararie

 

 

What is GYUUDON?

牛丼(Gyuudon), often literally translated into English as beef bowl, is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with dashi (fish and seaweed stock), soy sauce and mirin (sweet rice wine).

It also often includes shirataki noodles, and is sometimes topped with a raw egg. A very popular food in Japan, it is commonly served with beni shōga (pickled ginger), shichimi (ground chili pepper), and a side dish of miso soup. Gyū means "cow" or "beef", and don is short for donburi, the Japanese word for "bowl".

Wikipedia : Gyūdon

 

Why does the Japanese love GYUUDON?

Almost all Japanese eat the GYUUDON in the beef bowl specialty store.

The three reasons exist.

• It is low price.
• It is quickly served.
• It is delicious.

The economy of Japan is a great depression now.
Japaneses businessman's allowance has been decreasing.
So, they should cut down the lunch fee and the drink money.
They are looking for the lunch with a low price always desperately.

In such a meaning, the beef bowl specialty store is very convenient for Japaneses businessman.
The time of the businessman in Japan of lunchtime is about one hour.

"It is low price, quickly, and delicious."
-GYUUDON of the GYUUDON shop in Japan is a convenient lunch for them.

And, Japanese school students also often eat GYUUDON.

Japan's university students have small money. Japan's university students can use hardly money for their lunch.

Moreover, in the past, almost all of the customer in the GYUUDON store was a man.

But the woman customer has been increasing recently.

By the way, the Japanese hardly makes GYUUDON in their home.
It is because it is difficult for them to make "Taste of the GYUUDON shop" at their home.

The soup is a very thick taste because it cooks a large amount of beef in the beef bowl shop.
It is very difficult to make that taste at home.

So, most Japanese eat GYUUDON in the GYUUDON shop.

 

GYUUDON multiple store in Japan.

 

There are 2 big GYUUDON multiple stores in Japan.

1. SUKIYA (ZENSHO Co., Ltd.)
2. YOSHINOYA (YOSHINOYA Co., Ltd.)

ゼンショー(Zensho) that developed GYUUDON chain "すき家(SUKIYA)" announced that it cut the price of the price of GYUUDON constantly for 50 yen at 9:00AM, December 7th, 2009, and sell it for 280 yen.
This GYUUDON price is equal to 2001 in which the deflation deteriorated in Japan before.

This price is an all-time low in the major beef bowl chain.

 

The GYUUDON multiple shop where the scale is the biggest in Japan is "SUKIYA."

The price cut that the SUKIYA did will intensify the GYUUDON shop deflation war of Japan.

吉野家(YOSHONOYA) will be driven in to the predicament more and more by the strategy of SUKIYA.

 

Price of GYUUDON of main GYUUDON shop in Japan.

In the past, YOSHONOYA had the most a lot of shops in Japan.
But, YOSHINOYA was outstripped to SUKIYA in September, 2008 and YOSHONOYA fell to 2nd status.

When you see price of GYUUDON closely, you will understand the reason.

SUKIYA	Mini size	230 yen [2.6 dollars]
	Regular size	280 yen [3.2 dollars]
	Meat is 1.5 times size	380yen [4.3 dollars]
	Big size	380yen [4.3 dollars]
	Maximum size	480yen [5.5 dollars]
	Mega-size	610yen [6.9 dollars]

( It calculates in parentheses for 1 dollar with 88 yen.)

 

YOSHINOYA	Regular size	380 yen [4.3 dollars]
	Big size	480yen [5.5 dollars]
	Maximum size	630yen [7.2 dollars]
	--------------------	--------------------
	--------------------	--------------------
	The kind of the price of the GYUUDON of Yoshinoya is a few.

( It calculates in parentheses for 1 dollar with 88 yen.)

YOSHONOYA should do the effort and the research more more.
The bankruptcy of the enterprise where the effort and the research are insufficient happens in recent Japan often.

 

GYUUDON topping.

Most Japanese people put 紅生姜:BENI-SHOUGA(pickled ginger dyed red) on GYUUDON.

Benishouga is usually put on the table of the beef bowl specialty shop.

The person who likes benishouga very much puts a large amount of benishouga on GYUUDON.

<The image expands by the click. >

Next, I tell you "how to eat GYUUDON which almost all Japanese people like."

1. They order the clerk the raw egg with GYUUDON shop.
2. And, they break the raw egg and mix it.
3. Next, They pour it on GYUUDON.
   
4. And, they pitch into GYUUDON in their mouths.

 

 

GYUUDON term.

I tell you the most famous GYUUDON term in Japan.

It is word "つゆだく[TSUYU-DAKU]."

"つゆ(TSUYU)" is "Soup of GYUUDON. "
In word "だく(DAKU)", "汗だく(ASE-DAKU):[Dripping with sweat]" is an etymology.

"TSUYUDAKU" is coinage of Japan that shows "A large amount of GYUUDON soup."

There are quite a lot of Japanese people that likes this TSUYUDAKU-GYUUDON.
( But, I don't like it.)

 

 

How to cook GYUUDON.

You can make the GYUUDON in your home though it is difficult to make the taste like the GYUUDON specialty shop.

I teach you how to make the GYUUDON.

First of all, ご飯/ごはん(GOHAN[the boiled rice]) is necessary to make the GYUUDON.
The machine of boiling rice is usually used to cook boiled rice in Japan.
But, even if you are not a machine of cooking rice, you can boil rice.
(Look at the last page: How to cook gohan, please.) .

 

GYUUDON's ingredients

Soy sauce	Mirin	Sake

There are "the soy sauce", "the MIRIN", "SAKE", and "the DASHI(soup stock)".

みりん(Mirin) is a sweetened sort of rice brewage.
You may be able to find it in any asian foods store.
(If you cannot buy the mirin, you need not use the mirin.)

You can also get 料理酒(Ryouri-shu)[Cooking Sake] at most stores.
(It is a very luxurious seasoning though sake for the drinking may be used to cook.)

	だし(Dashi) is Soup of fish that made in Japan. TheDashi is a powder that you put into water to make a fish-flavored soup stock. You can make this dish without it, but it is better with it. The below image is dashi powder. It is a little troublesome to make original dashi. The dashi soup of such a powder is frequently used in recent Japan.

 

And, the last ingredient is the sugar.
As for sugar, it is enough by the sugar sold in your country.

<GYUUDON's ingredients.>

• 4 cups cooked plain Japanese rice.
• 1 pound thinly sliced beef.
• A small amount: shredded ginger.
• 1 1/3 cup dashi soup.
• 5 tbsps soysauce
• 3 tbsps mirin.
• 2 tbsps sugar.
• 1 tsp sake.

<Seasoning : A>

• 1 tbsps sake.
• 1 tbsps soysauce.

 

Then, let's cook GYUUDON!

	1. Preparation of ingredients. Cut beef into bite-sized pieces. Season the slices of beef with seasoning of A (before cooking them). Rub in the seasoning in beef. Slice onion thinly.
	2. Make the boiling soup of the GYUUDON. Put ginger, dashi, soysauce, sugar, mirin, and sake in a pan. And, boil it.
	3. Put beef into the boiling soup. Add beef in the pan and simmer for a five minutes. (Throw away lye.)
	4. Add the onion at the end. Add the onion In addition, please boil by the low flame for eight minutes.
Advice of how to cook GYUUDON : The onion might melt when beef and the onion are put at the same time and boiled. Therefore, please put the onion at the end.

I quoted this recipe from this web page.

 

5. Dishing up.

Put boiled rice in the dish, and put the beef of GYUUDON that you made.
OK, GYUUDON is done!

That is very Japan's GYUUDON !

 

 

 

 

By Hararie

 

 

I initiate you into "How to make an easy rice."

 

Refer to this page when the boiled rice is necessary if you are interested in the food of Japan.

 

 

How to wash rice.

To make the rice, you should wash rice first.
Wash rice like this.

1	First, wash your rice Find a nice large bowl, put in as much rice as you need, and rinse it in water.
2	Mix the rice up, throw away water in the bowl. [If you have the colander, it is easier.]
3	Pour out the water.
4	Continue until the water looks pretty clear when you pour it out - generally this takes about three rinses.
5	And, soak it in water for about 30 minutes.

 

Note: Measure rice in the cup.

 

 

<How to wash rice>

soak it in water for about 30 minutes.

 

 

How to boil rice.

Almost all homes in Japan have the rice cooker because it boils rice every day.

But, even if you don't have the rice cooker, you can easily boil rice.

The tool that you use to cook is a casserole.
(The rice cannot be boiled without the lid.)

Casseroles like these might be a fit tool.

 

Recall the number of cups about the amount of the rice that you washed.
The amount of water to washed rice 1 cup is 200cc.

	Put "Rice that you washed" in the pan. Next, pour water in it.
	Put the lid on the casserole.
	Put the casserole on a strong fire.
	Boil for five minutes by a low fire when water in the casserole boils. And leave it without taking the cap for five minutes.

 

Now when you open the lid, you will be able to see savory boiled rice there.

 

By Hararie