Japanese mayonnaise (マヨネーズ) is different from Western-style Mayonnaise like Miracle Whip, Best Foods or Hellmann’s. It is generally sweeter, richer and has a thicker custardy consistency. Japanese mayonnaise uses solely egg yolks with a blend of vinegar like rice vinegar, grain vinegar and/or apple cider vinegar while American mayonnaise uses whole eggs with distilled white…

Mirin, みりん, is a unique ingredient that is mainly used within Japanese cooking that you would seldom use in any other Asian cuisines. Yet, I would say it is one of the three most important ingredients (after soy sauce and cooking rice wine) in Japanese cooking! It is made with rice malt and glutinous rice…

Cooking Rice Wine, 料理酒 (りょうりしゅ), is another main ingredient that is crucial to Japanese cooking! It is made with fermented rice and is often used for tenderizing and taking away the odor in meat and fish. Ryorishu (料理酒) is what is usually sold in Japanese supermarkets for cooking. These types cooking rice wine is added…

Soy Sauce, 醤油 (しょうゆ), is one of the key ingredients in Japanese cooking that you must need! It is made from fermented soybeans and grains. There are many different types of soy sauces in Japan. To explain a few: Koikuchi shouyu (濃口醤油) is the most commonly used type of soy sauce in Japan (about 80%)…

Japanese Tsuyu つゆ is a sauce which is mostly used as a soup base in noodles dishes such as soba, somen, and udon. It is usually made with dashi (made with dried bonito flakes, konbu seaweed, or mushrooms) and soy sauce. It is also referred to as “Men-Tsuyu” 麺つゆ (noodle tsuyu) since majority of its…

Japanese vinegar, 酢 (す), is commonly used in all sorts of cooking, including sushi, salad dressing, Japanese pickled dishes (i.e.sunomono, tsukemono), etc. To name a few that are most common: Kome-zu 米酢 (Rice Vinegar): Made from rice. It is sweeter, very mild and mellow compared to white vinegar and even Chinese rice vinegar. Kokumotsu-su 穀物酢…

Dashi 出汁(だし) is a soup stock that is commonly used in Japanese cooking to enhance and add depth to the flavor of food. It is almost the equivalent to chicken broth and bouillon in Chinese cuisine and beef broth in Western dishes! Traditionally, Japanese families make their own blend of dashi from scratch. Nowadays, dashi…

Japanese Miso, 味噌 (みそ), is probably the most iconic ingredient in Japanese cooking.! It is made from fermented soybeans, salt, koji (a kind of fungus) and sometimes grains (like rice or barley) and other ingredients. There is a wide range of miso in Japan. The difference of miso depends on the length of the fermentation…