Om Nom Nom

I wanted to do more than just sight see, I wanted to actually experience some Japanese culture. So I signed up for a cooking class. The food wasn’t your stereotypical Sushi and Raymen, which I was okay with. I wanted to try something new and unique.

The class was in a house down a back alleyway north of Kyoto station by two stations. Walking in, it definitely reminded me of traditional Japanese with a hint of modern touch. As it turned out, it was only me and two Germans taking the class. The Japanese instructor spoke German as well, so I practiced as much Japanese as German that day.

The three hour course was pretty hands on, and we ended up cooking fried tofu, Dashi soup, fried vegetables and rice, and meat rolls.

One of the most interesting things for me was the seasoning we used, called Bonito, it is a fish that is smoked and dried out for a year. It is then shaved down and used in many dishes. For us, it was a seasoning in our Dashi soup. It really added a smokey flavour, and was very interesting too see used in a cooking enviroment. I almost didn’t believe the cook as the bonito felt looked and had the consistency of wood.

The meat rolls were incredibly tasty as well. There was a lot of salt, but the flavour was so savory that this is something that is going to be cooked back at chez-Rob’s very soon.

It was a lot of fun, a quick three hours and definitely a great way to spend a rainy day. My only critique of the course was they would mention that some of the ingredients were changed to be more appetizing to Europeans and Westerners, so as it turned out, it wasn’t as authentic was I was going for, but none the less, the changes did certainly make it tastier.

As with all of my posts, the rest of the pictures can be seen on my flickr here.