Japanese cuisine: how washoku is taking over Britain Washoku, or Japanese cooking, has been honoured by Unesco and is all the rage with British chefs, who are sourcing authentic ingredients and adopting complex techniques Few words trip so pleasingly off the tongue as washoku. It translates as Japanese cuisine, and has recently been included on Unescos Intangible Cultural Heritage list – a privilege formerly reserved for French cuisine. This should radically open up Japanese cooking and ingredients to food lovers and chefs around the world. Were still on the first rung of the ladder to understanding it, says Heston Blumenthal, who regularly visits Japan for culinary meetings where the worlds top chefs exchange ideas. Unescos listing of washoku will increase the pace of our knowledge. Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains was one of the first British chefs to introduce washoku ideas into the tasting menus at his eponymous restaurant in Nottingham. He was invited to Kyoto in 2008 to learn about kaiseki ryori (Japanese haute cuisine, where food is served in tiny courses). Kaiseki meals are perfectly balanced, intensely flavoured and very seasonal, he says. He has cut back on salt, fat and heavy protein, instead using dashi (stock made with dried kelp and bonito flakes) and seaweed for depth. Imagine sweet, salt-baked root vegetables, served in a delicate dashi broth with a béarnaise-influenced reduction of tarragon, shallot and white wine vinegar. Jozef Youssef runs pop up restaurant Kitchen Theory and has just launched a series of experimental kaiseki dinners in London. He spent a month learning about the cuisine while working in Tokyo in 2012. It was amazing to see Japanese techniques first-hand. They have a completely different approach to food, he says. They are taught to bring out the essence of an ingredient. It seems very simple, but some of the methods are quite complicated. They use colour, texture, scent and presentation to enhance the diners sense of seasonality and transience. Chef and food writer Valentine Warner is another fan: Everything they do with food is sincere and considered, he says I think its going to replace Scandinavian cooking as the next in food. It often takes years for a Japanese cook to perfect one particular skill, whether it is making the perfect noodle broth or cutting sashimi that melts in the mouth. There is a measured ritual in every movement, and perfection is demanded from ingredients, which means that the quality of produce in the UK has often been a problem. Yoshinori Ishii, executive chef at Michelin-starred Umu in London, explains: When I first arrived here, the fresh fish tasted pungent to me, and even the vegetables varied enormously in quality. The answer, for him, lay in treating Britain like a nascent Japan – he transformed his supply chain. He taught Cornish fishermen to catch fish the Japanese way, ikejime – spiking the fish in the brain for instant death and to prevent the release of certain chemicals (this gives the fish a sweeter taste). He found Exmoor caviar and sourced Japanese vegetables grown in Lewes by NamaYasai, which supplies everything from daikon to edamame. Robin Williams, NamaYasais organic farmer, has seen his business grow steadily since he and his Japanese wife began in 2005. Youd be surprised how many top chefs, such as Brett Graham at The Ledbury, use Japanese ingredients, he says. And rightly so: Japanese aubergines have a delicate skin; kabocha pumpkins are exquisite roasted; and kabu, little white turnips, are so sweet you can eat them raw. Another chef Williams supplies, Marc Bolger from Circa Events in Brighton, explains: NamaYasai follow the Japanese practice of picking things the same day youre going to eat them. It makes them taste amazing. Once you look, you find the influence of washoku in the most unexpected places. Take the very British-sounding William Curley, a chocolatier. Bite into one of his chocolates and you might find a Japanese black vinegar or cherry blossom ganache. Weve found that the subtlety of Japanese flavourings really enhances the taste of chocolate, says Suzue Curley, his fellow patissier and Japanese partner. They are planning to offer yuzu gateau, kinako shortbread and matcha Mont Blanc later this year, with sake pairings. The drinking of sake is as integral a part of washoku as wine is to French cuisine, and Satomi Dosseur, sake sommelier at Zuma, believes that its reputation in Britain is changing. Many of our customers used to think sake was something strong that you drank hot in a small cup, but now many love it even more than wine, especially chilled or at body heat, she says. And as our awareness of this wonderful cuisine grows, so do the opportunities to learn. The recent launch of Sozai, Britains first Japanese cooking school, and an upcoming series of sake seminars in London and Paris are just the start of what Keiichi Hayashi, the Japanese ambassador to Britain, has declared the year of washoku. Time, then, to brush up on your skills. If you are a keen cook, the first step is to buy Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji – it is on every washuko-loving chefs shelf. Japanese food and drink Chefs Restaurants Food & drink Japan Sybil Kapoor theguardian © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 13:14:03 +0000
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