A Dictionary of Japanese Food. Richard Hosking
from the Bering Sea. It is delicious and can be cooked in numerous ways but spoils quickly and should be cooked and eaten as soon as thawed.
ginnan ぎんなん 銀杏 ginkgo nut Ginkgo biloba. The fruit of this lovely and very primitive tree (ichō in Japanese), though not strictly nuts, do have a shell that must be cracked to get at the kernel. Gathered in September and October, they are yellowish green and about 1.5 cm long out of the shell. Perhaps at their best when skewered and grilled, they are also a regular and welcome ingredient of chawan mushi.
gizami ぎざみ See bera.
gobō ごぼう 牛蒡 great burdock, edible burdock Arctium lappa. It is only in Japan that burdock root is eaten as a vegetable, usually about 1 m long and 3 cm thick. In China it is used as a medicine. The root is a very good source of dietary fiber and nutrients and should be scrubbed rather than peeled, since much of the flavor is close to the skin. For use, it is shaved (like a pencil is sharpened, sasagaki in Japanese) and dipped in cold water with a little vinegar to remove its considerable bitterness, because of which it is unsuitable for nabemono. Burdock is combined with carrot to make kinpira gobō and is used in kakiage and numerous other dishes.
gogyō ごぎょう 御形 cudweed Gnaphalium affine. Better known as hahakogusa ははこぐさ 母子草. See also nanakusagayu.
gohan ごはん 御飯 cooked rice. As with the informal word meshi, it can also refer to a meal.
goma ごま 胡麻 sesame Sesamum indicum. A nutty-flavored, oil-rich little seed of which three forms are marketed: black, white, and golden. Golden sesame has the best aroma but is not so readily available. Sesame is always parched before being used in such things as in furikake, aemono, and goma dōfu. Sesame oil is used in cooking, particularly for its flavor, and is important in the oil mixture for tempura.
goma dōfu ごまどうふ 胡麻豆腐 sesame tofu. Rather like a firm, baked, savory custard only gray, this resembles tofu only in texture and presentation. White sesame, usually parched, is pulverized with water, and the liquid is strained. This liquid is thickened with kuzu and set in a square shape. Served with wasabi, it can be highly recommended. Sesame tofu has an important place in all schools of Buddhist vegetarianism, such as shōjin ryōri and fucha ryōri.
goma shio ごましお 胡麻塩 sesame salt. Sesame and salt are slightly or well ground and combined into a condiment for use at table. Any kind of parched sesame may be used. It has a particularly important place in macrobiotics, no doubt because brown rice is scarcely edible without some salt at least.
gomoku meshi ごもくめし 五目飯 rice dish in which small pieces of chicken, tofu, and various vegetables in season are flavored with soy sauce and cooked with the rice. Shiitake, carrot, burdock, konnyaku, and abura-age are often used.
gomokuzushi ごもくずし 五目鮨、 五目寿司 See Appendix 11.
gyokairui ぎょかいるい 魚介類 seafood; fish and shellfish.
gyokuro ぎょくろ 玉露 highest-quality green tea. See also Appendix 12.
gyoshō ぎょしよう 魚醤 See uoshōyu.
gyōza ギョーザ 餃子 a kind of Chinese dumpling (dim sum). A filling, usually of pork, cabbage, and nira minced to a fine paste, is used to fill circles of thin flour pastry shells with a scalloped join at the top. They are steam-fried or deep-fried or may be boiled in soup or nabemono. They are extremely popular and are often served at home as part of a regular Japanese meal.
gyūdon ぎゅうどん 牛丼 donburi dish featuring slices of beef.
gyū niku ぎゅうにく 牛肉 beef Bos taurus. After a long period in which the eating of beef was unthinkable, Emperor Meiji did his best to get the Japanese to eat beef, issuing a statement of approval in 1873. Gyūnabe, now called sukiyaki, had already appeared in the 1850s. Shabu shabu has also become a popular way of eating beef, as has yakiniku. Most of the Western ways of eating beef are also popular.
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hachimitsu はちみつ 蜂蜜 honey. It is sometimes used to sweeten such things as umeshu but has little place in Japanese cuisine.
hadakamugi はだかむぎ 裸麦 naked barley, a variety of Hordeum vulgare. A species of barley particularly grown in western Japan. The grains closely resemble those of wheat.
hage はげ See kawahagi.
hajikami はじかみ 薑、 椒 See shōga.
hakkō はっこう 発酵、 醗酵 fermentation. The making of such products as saké, shiokara, and nattō involves a process of fermentation.
hakobe, hakobera はこべ、 はこべら 繁縷 chickweed Stellaria media. See also nanakusagayu.
hakumai はくまい 白米 white (polished, or rather, milled) rice Oryza sativa. The short-grained subspecies japonica is the staple food of the Japanese. Milling reduces the grain to 90 to 92% of its unmilled size. The rice polishings (nuka) are used as a pickling base for a type of pickle called nukazuke. The normal cooking method is to steam-boil the rice in a tightly closed pot containing just the amount of water that will be absorbed by the time the rice is cooked. Automatic rice cookers remove all doubts and guesswork, the latest models being programmed with “neuro” and “fuzzy” chips, but they do not produce the crisp outer crust (o-koge 御焦げ), which is a great treat.
hakusai はくさい 白菜 Chinese cabbage Brassica campestris var. amplexicaulis. From autumn to spring, this large cabbage is used in all kinds of dishes, but especially in nabemono and tsukemono.
hama bōfu はまぼうふう 浜防風 Glehnia littoralis. A plant of the same family as seri, with a similar appearance except that it has red stems, it grows in the sands by the seashore. In spring the young shoots are eaten raw with sashimi and as a garnish for sunomono of fish. For summer use in aemono it is blanched both to remove the bitterness and to cook it.
hamachi はまち See inada.
hamaguri はまぐり 蛤、 文蛤、 蚌 Venus clam, hard clam Meretrix lusoria. These clams, about 8.5 cm long, 4 cm wide, and 6.5 cm high, gathered from the foreshores throughout Japan, are at their best from winter to spring. In the shell, they are served in suimono, barbecued, or steamed with saké. The flesh is used for sushi and clam rice and can be grilled on skewers.
hamo はも 鱧 pike conger Muraenesox cinereus. This sharp-toothed, 2-m-long eel comes mostly from the warm waters off central and western Japan, especially the Inland Sea. Its small bones are so prolific that a special knife (hamokiri bōchō) is used to bone it. At its best in summer, it is served as kabayaki, teriyaki, tempura, the special kind of pressed sushi called oshizushi, and sunomono.
hanami はなみ 花見 cherry-blossom viewing. Since ancient times the Japanese have taken great delight in the fleeting blossoms of the cherry tree. On Japan’s four main islands, the trees bloom first in Kyushu, from the middle of March, and the blossoming follows the progress of spring, finally reaching the northernmost parts of the country in May. Parties are held day and night under the flowering trees, picnic foods are eaten, a lot of saké, beer, and other alcohol is drunk, and there is much singing, revelry, and enjoyment.
hanasakigani はなさきがに 花咲蟹 hanasaki crab, blue king crab Paralithodes brevipes. Similar to but smaller than the tara-bagani, this delicious crab is prolific in the waters off the Nemuro Peninsula of northeastern Hokkaido. See also kani.
hangō はんごう 飯盒 outdoor rice cooker. A container, usually made of aluminum, in which sufficient rice for one or two people can be carried with