In the Kitchen with Hiroko Shimbo (3/4)

Chopsticks: Japanese cooking chopsticks (14 inches long) are one of the most frequently used implements. You can do nearly everything with the cooking chopsticks – beating, picking up, stirring, turning, cutting, and more. Japanese Knives: Additional equipment used always is the Japanese knife. Japanese knife blades (most of them) are made carbon steel and soft iron, which produces blades that cut very sharp and clean. Japanese blades (most of them) are ground only on one side. This also helps clean, sharp cut of all ingredients from vegetables to raw fish. Kitchen Grill and Steamer: Additional equipment used frequently in the Japanese kitchen is the grill on which we cook fish and other proteins. When we cook fish on the grill, it is always cooked with its own skin (if the fish is small it is cooked whole with bone and skin). Grilling produces smokiness and cooks the fish with moisture trapped in. Most of the grills today have electric or gas heat source, but restaurants which uses Bincho charcoal (special kinds of charcoal which produces very high heat – 1000 C degree) as a heat source for the grill. Then, the steamer is another frequently used piece of equipment. Q: How does consulting for corporations differ from consulting for restaurants? When consulting for a large organization, you are part of a team, and generally do not make decisions, but offer data and advice that allow them to make the decisions. This is true of recipe development, menu design, staff training and the physical layout of the dining room and kitchen. Consulting for individual restaurants requires a much more hands-on approach, and close and constant attention. You get the results – bad or good – every day when you do restaurant consultation. Your level of responsibility and accountability for success and failure is much higher. I enjoy working with both types of clients – large organizations and small restaurants. Q: Can you comment on the rising popularity of Japanese cuisine in America? Why is it happening at this particular moment? Do you think the Iron Chefs television series has served to heighten the popularity of Japanese cuisine, or has it hindered true understanding of it? Japanese foods such as sushi, sukiyaki, tempura, teriyaki have been on the American restaurant scene to some extent since the 1960s but have never become popular until now. I think that Japanese chefs in the US, unlike Chinese chefs who court the local tastes and market wherever they go, always stayed on the safe side, confining their audience to local Japanese and Japanese-Americans, and did not try to introduce these new food items to American diners of non-Japanese origin. But now a huge change has occurred. Why? These are several reasons. First there is great interest in all things Japanese from fashion to Play Stations to Toyotas to The Last Samurai and Lost in Translation. Next is the recognition that Japanese food is healthful, very attractive, very delicious and not at all threatening to American sensibilities. The sushi boom in the US and around the world is proof of this. Another important factor is the heightened popularity of Japanese cuisine among non-Japanese chefs and restaurateurs. Yes, Iron Chefs made Japanese cooking more entertaining and friendly, but it certainly has not taught any of the viewers how to prepare Japanese food. I don’t dislike the show, although I rarely see it. Perhaps it has introduced people to foods that they did not know and has encouraged them to be more adventurous in restaurants and in the kitchen. Maybe some viewers have been inspired to buy my book! Q: Your book, The Japanese Kitchen, is said to be the masterpiece for introducing Japanese cuisine. You take pains to place each recipe carefully within its context, explaining the history and character of each dish. How is your next book The Sushi Experience different from other cookbooks already available?