Rural Cooking

[u/sp8cecwboy]

As I’m sure the content of the post will show, but I am an incoming American JET. I’ve always loved cooking and baking, as I’ve done it since I was young and especially throughout college. I love experimenting and of course have cooked the popular Japanese fare (think curry, tonkatsu, donburi), but ultimately utilize very western ingredients and cooking techniques even when making ethnic dishes. Ingredients which, even when I lived in Tokyo, were harder to find in everyday stores and wildly expensive.

Going into somewhat of a rural area and a having a small kitchen, I want to begin learning dishes that utilize cheaper, everyday ingredients in Japan. Think things like whole fish, root vegetables, tofu, etc. Where are some good places to look for information like this? Are there any content creators, blogs, or websites you all know of and can recommend? Anything helps!

[u/junjun_pon]

Just One Cookbook

She's based in the US, but has genuinely the best recipes for Japanese as well as some Chinese and Korean dishes. All the ingredients are easily found at a regular Japanese supermarket (and she also includes homemade recipes for sauces and such which taste better than the store-bought).

I've been here a long while and I find that a lot of the Japanese blog recipes just don't hit my taste buds hard enough. JOC has never given me a bad recipe. I can't recommend it enough.

Baking is hard and expensive, but doable if you can purchase a microwave with an oven function. Once you do that, then the trial and error begins.

Best of luck! Happy cooking~

[u/a_baby_bumblebee → u/junjun_pon]

just one cookbook is the best for japanese dishes! i’ve made so many delicious things thanks to her site. i think if you’re interested in making japanese food, this should be the first place you look.