Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai

 

I am very happy to be hosting the current selection for Cook the Books. Before I had even been asked I had been contemplating what books I might choose if I were asked, but it still wasn't an easy decision. I studied the list of books that had been previously selected, and was happy to narrow my choice down to something Japanese, but which one? There are plenty of foodie books to choose from. In the end, I chose The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai.

This is a reread for me, and it gave me such joy to revisit the characters and the restaurant where the book is set. And I mustn't forget Drowsy the cat!

I first read this book back in 2024 and I really enjoyed it then.  Since then we have visited Japan and so reading it again also bought back a lot of memories, especially of the tasty hot pot style meals we had which were served up in such gorgeous fashion, with all the little dishes coming together to form the whole meal like below

I am very, very tempted to reread the second and third books in the series before moving onto the fourth book in the series which was recently released. Here are my thoughts about all the books in the series, as well as a couple of other selections that are fun, foodie reads.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives 

Kamogawa Food Detectives 

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

The Menu of Happiness 

Other suggested reads

The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahasi

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida

Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama

When it came to deciding what to make, I turned to a cookbook I have had for a while called Around the Table by Julia Busuttil Nishimura. She is an Australian author who has Maltese heritage, has lived in Italy and is married to a Japanese man and her cookbooks reflect this. 

This book is all about how food memories can take us back to a place and time. I was inspired by the chapter called in the Kamogawa Food Detectives called Beef Stew and I also wanted to bring back the memories we had of all the hotpots we had in Japan, which all featured thinly sliced pieces of meat which are then cooked in the tasty broth for just a couple of minutes and then eaten.

We very much enjoyed this recipe, and I can see it becoming part of our mid-week meal schedule as it is quick, easy and tasty! We only had the pickled ginger which was a really tasty addition.

I did also attempt to make some Shokupan (Japanese Milk Bread) but the less said about that the better. It turns out the yeast we had in the cupboard was 7 years out of date, so I am blaming that for the fact that we didn't get soft and fluffy bread rolls. They did taste right though, so I might have another go at making these, now that I have gone and bought some fresh yeast!

Gyodun (Julia Busittil Nishimura)

3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sake
2 tsp brown sugar
1 large onion, halved and sliced
500 g piece of scotch fillet, very finely sliced

To serve

steamed Japanese short-grain rice (such as koshihikari)
beni shoga (pickled red ginger)
shichimi togarashi
finely sliced spring onion


Place the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and 185 ml (¾ cup) of water in a large frying pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the onion and cook for 4–5 minutes, until soft and becoming translucent.

Add the scotch fillet to the pan and stir so that it is mostly tucked into the liquid. Now allow the beef to gently braise in the liquid with the onions until it is just cooked through, but still tender. For a cut like scotch fillet, this will only take around 5 minutes.

Divide some steamed rice among bowls and top with the braised beef and onion. Serve topped with a some beni shoga, a sprinkle of shichimi togarashi and a generous amount of spring onion.

I am sharing this post with Cook the Books, Foodies Read and Books in Translation Challenge

Weekly meals

Saturday - Beef Stew
Sunday - Beef Stew (leftovers)
Monday - Chicken Parma, Chips, Coleslaw
Tuesday - Beef and Broccoli stir fry
Wednesday - Mexican chicken
Thursday - Sausages, mash, beans and gravy
Friday -  Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page