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Washoku, or Japanese cuisine, is drawing renewed attention since being recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It may be everyday to Japanese people, but there is much that even we don’t know about it.
Cooks of Washoku blend sentiments, empathy and various other messages into each individual dish.
If you learn how to read these messages, you will enjoy the food that much more.
In this article, food researcher Kubo Kanako-san teaches us how to enjoy the deep world of Washoku.
Are the two ways of writing “kaiseki” in Japanese the same thing? Or are they different?
“I had ‘kaiseki cuisine’ at the wedding reception.”
“The ‘kaiseki cuisine’ at the ryotei (high-class Japanese restaurant) was delicious.”
It might feel like a test of your knowledge of Japanese characters right out of the gate, but which are the correct characters to write the word “kaiseki” in each sentence above: 会席 (“meet seat”) or 懐石 (“breast stone”)? In fact, the former is correct in both instances.
So what is the difference between these two words pronounced “kaiseki?”
“Both terms are pronounced the same, which can make it confusing, but in fact, they are entirely different things. 会席 (“meet seat”) kaiseki cuisine is eaten at banquets and is intended to enhance the flavor of sake (rice wine). 懐石 (“breast stone”) kaiseki cuisine, on the other hand, is intended to enhance the flavor of green tea. To avoid confusion, this is also called cha-kaiseki (tea kaiseki),” says Kubo Kanako-san. You sometimes see the 懐石 (“breast stone”) variation at ryotei restaurants and such, and some will use this variation in their name, but they do this to give the aura of tea ceremony kaiseki. The style of food they serve, apparently, is still 会席 (“meet seat”) kaiseki cuisine.
Basic kaiseki cuisine: Soup & three dishes
The formula for (“meet seat”) kaiseki cuisine is “five flavors, five colors, five methods.” “Five flavors” refers to the five seasonings sweet, spicy, salty, bitter and sour. The “five colors” are red, blue/green, yellow, white and black. Great care is taken when combining these colors to make the meal a feast for the eyes and evoke the season. Finally, the “five methods” are the five cooking methods grilling, simmering, steaming, deep-frying and bringing out the flavor of raw ingredients. The food is prepared and plated by combining the above.
The kaiseki cuisine menu generally consists of appetizers, soup and sashimi, around the basic ideal of 一汁三菜 (ichiju sansai) (one soup, three dishes).
“Ichiju sansai refers to miso soup (ichiju), and sashimi, a simmered dish and a grilled dish (together, the sansai). These days we also see extravagant menus like one soup, five dishes and two soups, seven dishes,” says Kubo-san. Regardless, the number of dishes will always be an odd number, apparently, whether three, five or seven.
“In some cases, each dish is brought out one by one, with the next dish sometimes brought before the one before is finished. When that happens, you might feel rushed, but there is no need to wolf your food down or have a dish taken away if you’re no finished eating it. The main thing, though, is to eat the hot dishes while they’re hot, and cold dishes while they’re cold. This is the most important rule of etiquette. More than anything, the cook wants you to enjoy the food at its best. So take care not to get so involved in a conversation that you forget the food,” advises Kubo-san.
Enjoy the seasons with Washoku
According to Kubo-san, among the characteristics of Washoku, the most defining is its expression of the seasons.
“The custom of eating seasonal ingredients is present in various countries, but no other cuisine showcases the changing seasons to the extent that Washoku does. Apart the obligatory use of seasonal ingredients, the seasons are expressed through the staging of the bowls and dishes, chopstick rests, hanging scrolls in the room where the food is eaten, everything right down to the flower arrangements.”
Some chopstick rests and dishes are decorated with obvious seasonal motifs such as cherry blossoms or hydrangeas, but others are less obvious, such as the biwa (Japanese lute), which is a musical instrument that evokes springtime.
“When eating, I urge people to also take in these details and enjoy their beauty, too.”
Experience the four seasons through fragrant garnishes
“Of course you will be treated to vegetables, fish and other ingredients of the season, but if you notice the garnishes, it is that much more delightful. The suiguchi (fragrant garnishes for soup), tsuma (garnishes for sashimi) and the like may at first glance appear to be supporting actors, but changing minutely depending on the time of year, they are one of the ingredients that most readily evoke the seasons. For instance, take suiguchi. In spring, it might be the bud of a Japanese pepper tree, then in late spring, the pepper flower will appear. Then, when summer rolls around, it will be myōga (Japanese wild ginger). There are even garnishes, such as hanayuzu (Citrus hanayu), that are only seen for one week in early summer,” explains Kubo-san. How wonderful it would be to be able to look at a soup or sashimi garnish and think, “ah, spring is here.”
Summer suiguchi, myōga (left)
Yuzu (Citrus junos) changes seasonally, from hanayuzu in early summer, to aoyuzu (green yuzu) to kiyuzu (yellow yuzu). Kiyuzu is a winter suiguchi (right)
How to eat suimono and sashimi
Whether in Japanese or Western cuisine, dashi (stock) and soup are considered the greatest luxuries. The joy of suimono (clear broth soup) is in the harmony of the deeply scented dashi stock and perfume of the suiguchi seasonal garnish.
“When drinking the suimono, I recommend you take in the scent that rises when you lift the lid from the bowl. Then use your chopsticks to hold the suiguchi to the rim of the bowl and enjoy its fragrance and that of the dashi as you savor the soup. That way, you can enjoy the scent of the kinome, yuzu, or other suiguchi and dashi to the greatest extent possible,” says Kubo-san.
You might think that the soup’s suiguchi garnish is simply decoration, but if you actually savor it like this, the scent and flavor is completely different and it really brings out the deliciousness of the dashi.
If you can lift the bowl, take off the lid and place it on the table in a graceful manner, it is pleasing to your fellow diners and the restaurant’s staff. It’s something well worth learning.
Hold the suiguchi to the rim of the bowl to enjoy its fragrance while you take a sip of the soup
Bad example: When picking up the bowl, do not put your thumb on the rim.
Good example: Place the bowl in the palm of your hand so it is stable. Then gently lift off the lid.
Put the lid down with the inside facing up so as not to spill droplets on the table.
Essential to Washoku, sashimi is perhaps another dish that people are unaware of how to eat to bring out its full flavor. Kubo-san showed me how it’s done.
“In the case of a serving of sashimi for one person, it will generally be a combination of two or three kinds of white-fleshed fish, squid, red-fleshed fish or shellfish. Start with the light-colored white-fleshed fish or squid, then move on to the shellfish and red-fleshed fish. This way, you can enjoy the flavor of each in turn. Also, you can enjoy a richer flavor if you do not mix the wasabi into the soy sauce, but instead put it directly on top of the sashimi and dip that in the soy sauce.”
Tsuma garnishes for sashimi apparently serve to counteract any fishy smell and bring out the flavor of the sashimi.
“Eat the garnish with the sashimi, or on its own. For instance, you could either dip it lightly in the soy sauce, put it on a piece of sashimi and eat them together, or wrap it around the sashimi and then dip it in the soy sauce and eat it.
Murasaki “Also, it is said that the stem of the ikaribōfu (Glehnia littoralis) garnish is tasty. While it’s okay to just eat the stem and leave the leaves, some restaurants go to the trouble of parboiling the leaves. If so, do enjoy eating the whole thing, including the leaves, with the sashimi.
Sashimi garnishes (clockwise from top left): Cucumber shreds, ikaribōfu, radish shreds, purple shiso sprouts, shiso sprouts. The name ikaribōfu derives from the plant name (hamabōfu) and “anchor” (ikari) due to the shape of the stem, which is split and curled.
“There are no rules or etiquette around how to eat sashimi garnish. Depending on the season, chefs do a lot of work on the garnishes for delicious sashimi so enjoy every last bit of each them. If you don’t, you might send the message that you did not care for the garnish. You don’t need to push yourself, but please do enjoy the garnish with your sashimi.”
The world of Washoku is an expression of the flavors, scents and colors of each season. Receiving, feeling and enjoying the intentions and care blended into each dish, enables us to experience the profundity of Washoku.
