The Japanese Table
Japanese Cuisine and Related Kitchen Utensils
by Masatomo YamaguchiThe differences between Japanese and Western cuisine are reflected not only in their ingredients and recipes, but in the very tools that are used in their preparation. Japanese kitchen utensils reveal the sensibilities that define this very distinct cuisine.
Essentially, the cooking style of a particular culture reflects its fundamental eating habits and traditions—customs formed by a specific environment.
Compared with Europe, where diverse climate zones have shaped the development of distinct food cultures, most of the Japanese archipelago lies in a more temperate zone. Its four gentle seasons have influenced Japanese culture in general and its food culture in particular, as the main ingredients of Japanese cuisine revolve around the harvest cycle. Traditional Japanese cooking welcomes fresh ingredients in season, glories in them while in abundance, and makes sparing use of what is left after a season has passed.
Japan abounds in a variety of foods: those that grow wild in mountains and countryside; those cultivated in fields and gardens; those harvested from both freshwater sources and the sea. Along with these seasonal tastes, diners appreciate the serving ware that complements the food, as well as the atmosphere in which it is served.
The sensibilities shaped by this unique food environment are distinctive to Japanese cuisine, and are thus reflected in those implements that are involved in its preparation.
Cutting Aspects
Foremost among traditional kitchen tools are knives (hocho) and cutting boards (manaita). To the professional, knives are an extension of the body—the heart and soul of the Japanese chef. Japanese chefs sharpen their own knives because they regard them as part of their own body and spirit. So personally attached are they to their own knives that chefs come to think that, if used by others, they will be ruined; thus chefs never borrow or loan knives.
An important characteristic of Japanese cooking is the highlighting of natural flavor and form of ingredients without adding much seasoning. To accomplish this, specific knives are used for specific tasks. The single-edged sashimi knife, for example, is in a class of its own. When this knife is used to slice raw fish for sashimi, it slices so finely and smoothly that hardly a cell of the flesh is damaged, assuring enjoyment of the subtlest natural flavors of the fish.
There are many other types of knives. The most commonly used are a kind of cleaver called a deba-bocho, used mainly for filleting fish, and a thin-bladed knife (nakiri-bocho or usuba-bocho) for chopping, slicing and peeling vegetables. There are other very specialized knives, such as one that looks like a large cleaver for cutting soba buckwheat noodles.
Because Japanese food is eaten with chopsticks and knives are not used at the table, dishes are prepared with ingredients pre-cut into bite-sized pieces. This preparation of appropriately sized, attractive pieces gives the cutting board special significance: as the working surface where ingredients are cleaned and prepared before being placed in serving dishes, the cutting board is considered central to the kitchen, thus the selection of a good cutting board is an important concern for the Japanese chef.
There are various options as to type of wood in terms of surface and color. Cedar (hinoki) looks fine and has a nice fragrance, but the feel when the knife strikes the wood is not ideal. Magnolia wood (hou) provides a resilient chopping surface, but the color of the wood is dark and unappealing. Willow (yanagi) is the best on all counts, but is prohibitively expensive. The alternative, and the standard wood used for cutting boards today, is that of the gingko tree. It is relatively inexpensive, provides a good chopping surface, has a natural disinfectant quality and contains a natural oil that effectively repels moisture.
Utensils Reflect Ingredients
Ingredients are generally purchased in their original form and preparation is done from scratch. This means that processing of ingredients is carried out in the kitchen, and a certain amount of equipment for that purpose must be on hand: a large wooden kneading bowl (konebachi) for crushing and mashing foods; a mortar (suribachi) and pestle (surikogi) for grinding and blending; and an oroshigane grater for fine grating, among other tools. The cook well knows that the success or failure of a dish depends on having the right utensils and knowing how to use them.
Dishes that call for a suribachi include string beans or spinach with sesame or tofu dressing (goma-ae or shiro-ae, respectively). Freshly roasted sesame seed or drained tofu is ground in the suribachi, and soy sauce, sugar and other seasonings are added to make the dressing. Fish may also be ground in a suribachi to make fish paste, which is then formed into balls called tsumire used in soups or hotpot (nabemono).
Tools like the oroshi-ki are used to finely grate Japanese daikon as a condiment to accompany grilled fish or other dishes. Other fine graters include those made of sharkskin, used to grate wasabi root into an extremely fine paste, the classic complement to sashimi and sushi.
Japanese ingredients are so distinctive, and their preparation so specialized, that the simple utensils such as those mentioned above have taken on their own distinctive character within the realm of Japanese cuisine. Japanese rely on these tools to such an extent that, over the centuries, they have become a vital and fundamental extension of the cuisine itself: the ultimate complement to a Japanese meal.
