Breakfast in Japan has been near the top of my to-do list for a long time. But I have to admit I procrastinated. I felt intimidated by Japan's simple and elegant cuisine. After tackling it, I'm happy to say that with the right ingredients it wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd imagined.
Hospitality in Japan is legendary, and when staying at a traditional Japanese Ryokan (Inn), breakfast makes up a large part of that hospitality. Breakfast is served to guests at a specific time (of the guests choosing) in their rooms and always includes a multitude of dishes served in elegant dishware. Unfortunately, Jon and I didn't stay at a Ryokan while we were in Japan, but that didn't stop us from trying to recreate this breakfast experience at home.
Traditional Japanese breakfast foods are a world away from my normal bowl of Cheerios and this week required a trip to our local Asian grocer, T & T Supermarket. Even though we lived and travelled through Asia and prepare quite a lot of Asian food at home, I'm always amazed and enthralled by a trip to T & T. Jon practically has to drag me out of the aisles while I examine such curiosities as Deep-Fried Gluten and Durian-flavoured candy...
This was the most complicated breakfast I've prepared for a long while and it really tested my culinary "make sure everything is ready and hot at the same time" skills. And even though it seemed like a lot, I'm pretty sure this was a simple version of what you might receive at a nice Ryokan.
Let's break it down:
Gohan: (Rice) Like most of Asia, Japanese enjoy a bowl of rice at every meal. So much so that the word for cooked rice, gohan, also doubles in meaning as the word for meal. Rice is not all the same however. At our meal we enjoyed some high quality "genmai" or Japanese brown rice (white is the norm) and it was extremely different from the rice we had with our Indian or Filipino breakfasts. The grains are shorter, fatter and the texture was quite sticky.
Miso Soup: Miso soup is ubiquitous at most Asian restaurants in Toronto and it turns out that it is just as common for Japanese breakfast. We all think we know Miso Soup, but do you know what's in that mysterious broth? A quick google search shows that Miso soup is usually made by dissolving some Miso paste (made with fermented rice, barley, soybeans, salt and fungus) into Dashi soup stock (made with dried baby sardines, dried kelp, and dried skipjack tuna). That's a lot of er, interesting ingredients. Miso soup also commonly features tofu cubes, scallions and seaweed pieces.
Nori: (Dried seaweed) This is used as an accompaniment to the rice, kind of a roll your own sushi deal. (used in conjunction with soy sauce of course)
Tamagoyaki: Tamagoyaki is a rolled sweet omelet that is sliced into pretty little bundles. It features mirin (sweet rice wine) and is commonly made in it's own pan. I made due with our ordinary fry pan and didn't find the delicate layering required to be difficult at all.
Shiozake: (Salted broiled salmon) Much to my normal "fish-hating" self's surprise, this was my favourite part of the breakfast. It was very simple to prepare, (just pop it in the oven with some olive oil) and was really, really good.
Umeboshi: (Pickled salty plums) Common wisdom in Japan is that it is very healthy to start off you day with a couple of Umeboshi. They are extremely high in salt and citric acid and help aid in digestion. I was hesitant to try one of these (having been burnt by salty, sour plum flavour in the past), and wow, did it live up to its reputation. It was so sour and salty and had a texture half-way between fresh or dried fruit. I don't think I'll be enjoying this for breakfast anytime soon. (which leaves 90% of my expensive umeboshi jar up for grabs. Anyone?)
Natto: (Fermented soybeans) Although very common for breakfast in Japan, I couldn't find any Natto in Toronto. I can't say I was that disappointed, this looks like a food you have to grow up with to love. Adjectives used to describe it: slippery, pungent, acquired, sticky, powerful.
The Verdict:
For Ease of Preparation:
For Degree of Separation:
For Guestability:
For Sustainability:
For Overall Appeal:
With such a multitude of textures and flavours, the Full Japanese breakfast rivals the Full English in terms of flavour balance, interest and variety. Although very foreign to my morning taste buds it was certainly an invigorating experience.
Nori: (Dried seaweed) This is used as an accompaniment to the rice, kind of a roll your own sushi deal. (used in conjunction with soy sauce of course)
Tamagoyaki: Tamagoyaki is a rolled sweet omelet that is sliced into pretty little bundles. It features mirin (sweet rice wine) and is commonly made in it's own pan. I made due with our ordinary fry pan and didn't find the delicate layering required to be difficult at all.
Shiozake: (Salted broiled salmon) Much to my normal "fish-hating" self's surprise, this was my favourite part of the breakfast. It was very simple to prepare, (just pop it in the oven with some olive oil) and was really, really good.
Umeboshi: (Pickled salty plums) Common wisdom in Japan is that it is very healthy to start off you day with a couple of Umeboshi. They are extremely high in salt and citric acid and help aid in digestion. I was hesitant to try one of these (having been burnt by salty, sour plum flavour in the past), and wow, did it live up to its reputation. It was so sour and salty and had a texture half-way between fresh or dried fruit. I don't think I'll be enjoying this for breakfast anytime soon. (which leaves 90% of my expensive umeboshi jar up for grabs. Anyone?)
Natto: (Fermented soybeans) Although very common for breakfast in Japan, I couldn't find any Natto in Toronto. I can't say I was that disappointed, this looks like a food you have to grow up with to love. Adjectives used to describe it: slippery, pungent, acquired, sticky, powerful.
The Verdict:
For Ease of Preparation:
For Degree of Separation:
For Guestability:
For Sustainability:
For Overall Appeal:
With such a multitude of textures and flavours, the Full Japanese breakfast rivals the Full English in terms of flavour balance, interest and variety. Although very foreign to my morning taste buds it was certainly an invigorating experience.
Next week we hunker down as the weather turns cold with some comforting Scottish Oatmeal.
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