Learning the Art & Pleasure of Japanese Cooking with Hiroko Shimbo
2019 THANKS
Japanese Cooking Classes and Courses at International Culinary Center, 2019
Thank you to those who attended the 5-day Essentials of Japanese Cuisine, one-day Ramen Class and one-day Sushi 101 at International Culinary Center in New York City.
I loved meeting you all, sharing the expertise, cooking together and savoring the results with you!
2020 PLANS & SCHEDULES
Making 2020 the Year for Cooking at Home
We talk about caring for family, friends and the earth all the time. But often we are actually only talking about our own wellness in contrast to that of family, friends and the earth. Cooking at Home can help to some degree to adjust this attitude and bring ourselves to real wellness and harmony with the world around us. When we cook at home, it can begin with personally doing some shopping in our neighborhood community. This gives us awareness of all the involved beings in this universe – the people who sell, produce and transport the food we buy and consume. I know these days many busy people have little time for shopping, but we should make some effort, even a little, to do this. Personally obtaining the food we eat and recognizing those responsible can provide more than a faceless and impersonal online order.
Buying seasonal ingredients locally at farmers markets or at local stores not only support the local economy, but also remind us to offer appreciation towards everyone that helped to bring such ingredients to our shopping bags; nature, farmers, truck drivers, store staff,….. When we shop locally for ingredients by ourselves, we can also decide to use fewer or no unnecessary plastic bags or containers. Every time when we shop in this way our awareness of our environment becomes stronger and stronger.
Cooking is truly labor; cooking is time consuming; cooking involves processes without short-cuts. And cooking is not a competition. Who wants to consume a meal that has been prepared by someone who dislikes or doesn’t care much about cooking and shopping and rushed to prepare the food through as many short-cut processes as possible with artificial ingredients to speed and simplify the process? Well, such meal won’t nourish us literally or spiritually.
So, please join me in 2020 to discover the labor and joy of cooking at home. They are inseparable. That adds beauty to our lives.
Love,
Hiroko
Japanese Cooking Classes and Courses at International Culinary Center, 2020
Below is my teaching schedule at the International Culinary Center in New York City for 2020. Please do not fail to join me for these most enjoyable and educational classes. Let’s cook together for our enjoyment and well-being. Register the for the Course and Classes before they are sold out!
The Essentials of Japanese Cuisine: 4/13/2020 – 4/17/2020
This yearly 5-day course is chock-full of essential information and provides the experience of hands-on preparation. Through this course you will acquire knowledge and mastery of the preparation techniques of Japanese cuisine.
- Philosophy and history of Japanese cooking
- Basic Japanese ingredients – kombu, katsuobushi, shoyu (soy sauce), mirin, miso, komezu (rice vinegar), sake, sea salt, rice
- Japanese noodle dish – udon made from scratch
- Home meals and formal meals
- Grilling techniques using special bincho-tan charcoal
- Simmered dishes – fish, vegetables and chicken
- Rice preparation and dishes – everyday rice table rice, takikomi gohan (rice cooked with seasonal vegetables and/or protein), mixed rice (rice mixed with flavoring ingredients)
- Sushi 101 – the basics of sushi preparation
- Advanced sushi – filleting a whole fish, sashimi, making nigirizushi (the familiar block of rice topped with an ingredient)
RAMEN 1/30/2020 & 9/17/2020
This one-day Ramen class provides the information and hands-on experience for making delicious ramen and gyoza dumplings. After taking this class you will acquire knowledge and master the techniques of the world of ramen;
- History of ramen
- All about ramen
- Preparation of basic broth
- Ramen noodles from scratch
- Chashu pork
- Miso-tare and shoyu-tare (two ramen stock flavoring sauces)
- Assembling a ramen dish
- Ramen accompaniment: Traditional pork and cabbage gyoza dumplings
SUSHI 101 6/25/2020
This one-day Sushi 101 class provides the information and hands-on experience for making delicious sushi rolls, including both traditional and modern inside-out rolls. After taking this class you will acquire knowledge and master the techniques of basic sushi-making:
- History of sushi
- How to perfect the making of sushi rice
- Sweet simmered shiitake mushrooms
- Sweet pickled ginger
- Making Japanese rolled omelet (tamago)
- Making thin rolls
- Making inside-out rolls