Washoku: the 19th Impact “à la carte”

Washoku, a Japanese culinary tradition, has been inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. It appeals to gourmets all over the world, thanks to its flavors, healthy and balanced qualities, and diversity. If sushi, curry, râmen, and so on keep on being great successes, their enthusiasts are ever curiouser and readier to find out about new recipes, like the festival attendees!

To honor this aspect of Japanese culture, the Washoku area was created two years ago, adding to the various types of Japanese food proposed by the attending restaurants. The Washoku area invites professionals of Japanese cuisine to present their products, at their booth or cooking demonstrations on the Washoku stage.

Gourmets, foodies, and apprentice chefs didn’t miss the date! Like the festival itself, the Washoku stage and area feature diversity, presenting the most elaborate recipes besides the easiest ones to cook. Family cooking is represented, alongside the guests’ favorite recipes. The group LUV K RAFT, who was part of the J-music Springboards, and the singer Emi ARISAKA, JAPAN EXPO ROCKs 2018 winner, shared their favorite food with you and taught you how to prepare it. Chefs also share their recipes and techniques with all those among the attendees who wish to learn Japanese cuisine or simply admire their art.

The Washoku corner also welcomes presentation about the necessary items in Japanese cuisine. The city of Susaki introduced the knifes from Tosa, with a famous local cutler. Knives, an essential item, and not only for sushi, unveiled all their secrets. As for Uchu Mame, she introduced her atypical miniature world: she creates tiny objects representing food and can make a few centimeter-large gyôza or bentô (not edible though), which she demonstrated.

Sponsor of the Washoku corner, Ozeki Saké invited grownups to discover its range of sake at the brand’s booth and at the Washoku stage where Sylvie CASANOVAS presented “sakelogy” initiations. 

Respectively chef and sous-chef in Japanese gourmet restaurants in Paris, Seiichi ITO and Kazuma CHIKUDA showed that popular food can also be worthy of the greatest places if you master them perfectly.

As can be guessed from the name of his restaurant, chef Seiichi ITO from Kushikatsu Bon has made kushikatsu into a star dish. Kushikatsu are a type of brochette, fried in breadcrumbs. Kushi means skewer and katsu, pork. Yet, like chef Seiichi ITO, many other ingredients can be used, any type of meat or vegetables. His cooking demonstration unveiled a very easy recipe for you to make kushikatsu at home whenever you like.

The enigmatic name of chicken oyster fricassee with mushroom confit and grilled leeks revealed the recipe of yakitori – the famous Japanese grilled brochettes – reinvented by chef Eiji DOIHARA in his restaurant Le Sot l’Y Laisse. His sous-chef, Kazuma CHIKUDA, came to present and demonstrate the recipe. Mixing French and Japanese cuisine, this dish shows that yakitori can become a gourmet course. 

The highlights were on sushi with no less than 4 dedicated demonstrations. Not only may you have found out about new types of sushi but you also learnt how to prepare them.

Tanoshi, sponsor of the Washoku corner and specialist of sushi ingredients, invited you to meet their sushi master. He told you how to make nigiri sushi, maki, or california rolls with Tanoshi products. Fish cutting technique, seasoning, serving: if you followed the demonstration, no doubt you’re a sushi expert now!

Beautiful, tasty, and organic, the temari sushi prepared by the blogger Emi from Cuisine BIO-Japonaise were also featured. On her blog, Emi proposes Japanese recipes that are both easy to make daily and varied. She presented temari sushi, sushi in the shape of balls, at the Washoku stage. If you want to make them at home, here comes the recipe. 

• For the seasoning
  • 4 tbs of rice vinegar
  • 2 tbs of sugar
  • 1/2 tsp of salt

• For the egg pancakes
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp of water
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of vegetable oil

Preparation

• Wash the rice and drain it for 2 minutes.
• Put the rice in a saucepan and lay the kombu on top. Cover with water and let it soak for half an hour.
• Boil the water. As soon as it boils, lower the heat and cover the saucepan. Cook for 15 minutes over a slow heat.
• Remove the saucepan from the stove and leave to rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Put the rice in a big bowl.
• Prepare the seasoning: blend the rice vinegar, the rice, and the salt. Pour the result on the rice and blend carefully with a spatula. Cover with a dish towel and leave it to cool.
• Whisk the eggs with the tablespoon of water the pinch of salt. Heat the oil in a pan. Cook the blend in the pan like thin pancakes. Leave them to cool and cut thin slices.
• Grill the peppers and mushrooms. Peal the peppers and cut them into 2cm dices.
• Slice the beetroot and cut shapes with pastry cutters.
• Wipe the vegetables with kitchen paper.
• Put clingfilm on a table and lay a slice of vegetable. Add a portion of rice. Wrap it with the clingfilm and squeeze it to make a ball. Remove the clingfilm: you’ve made your first temari sushi!
  Now do the same thing with the other garnish and enjoy your temari sushi. 

Biomomo Hashimoto, a couple of Japanese pastry cooks living in the South of France and specialized in organic food, shared two recipes with you, explaining how to choose the right organic ingredients to make them. You attended their demonstrations, tasted the products they propose in their shop, and discovered how to make soba and a praline and raspberry buckwheat slice, using the same dough for both, making it even easier to impress your guests! If ever you have forgotten the details, here are the two recipes. 

For the seasoning and garnish

• Olive oil
• Soy sauce
• Tomato
• Chive
• Red shiso (Japanese basil)
• Caramelized ginger in tamari soy sauce

Preparation

• Blend all the ingredients and stretch the dough 3mm-thick.
• Cut the noodles and cook them in boiling water with a pinch of salt for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Rinse in cold water and season the soba with olive oil, soy sauce, the tomato, chive, red shiso and the caramelized ginger in tamari soy sauce. And now enjoy!

The recipe of praline and raspberry buckwheat slice

Ingredients

• 150g of buckwheat flour
• 50g of wheat flour
• 5cl of water
• 1 egg
• A few buckwheat seeds
• Matcha almond praline
• Fresh raspberries

Preparation

• Prepare the dough the same way as for noodles by blending all the ingredients and stretch it 1mm-thick.
• Cut rectangles in the dough and spread them with buckwheat seeds.
• Cook the rectangles at 180°C for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Take one rectangle, spread praline and raspberries and put another rectangle in as many layers as you like. Enjoy!

Biomomo Hashimoto has been listed as Japanese Food Supporter by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization).

Thank you to the Washoku corner sponsors!

• Ozeki Saké: www.ozekisake.com; www.ozeki.co.jp
• Tanoshi: www.tanoshi.fr; fr-fr.facebook.com/Cuisine.Japonaise.Tanoshi; www.instagram.com/tanoshi_japon