We rejoice the world’s finest consolation meals by asking cooks and meals writers from various backgrounds to speak concerning the dishes they love.
Born in Germany and now co-owner of The Black Bull in Cumbria, Nina shares a recipe impressed by her Japanese household.
See Nina’s oyakodon recipe right here, plus extra Japanese recipes.
Nina Matsunaga’s Favorite Dish
Nina Matsunaga laughs as she recollects, “I advised my dad and mom I needed to turn out to be a zookeeper or a chef. They weren’t glad about both – concerning the prospect of me not having a level, or shovelling poop all day.”
A culinary arts administration diploma placated mum and pa, and, since then, 33-year-old Nina has emerged as certainly one of Britain’s most enjoyable cooks. Co-owner of Cumbria’s Black Bull lodge and restaurant, Nina grew up in Düsseldorf in a Japanese household, however lower her enamel in Manchester’s street-food scene. Her cooking displays that distinctive set of influences. On the Bull, Nina makes use of native rare-breed meats and seasonal, foraged produce. Alongside rural northern staples, equivalent to her beef and ale pie, the menus may embrace a crispy brief rib in barbecue sauce, or pork stomach served with potatoes, yuzu and kimchi.
“I put a whole lot of soy and do-it-yourself miso in issues; including umami is pure,” says Nina. “There must be that mixture of candy, salty and bitter for me, too. And, our preserving has a Japanese ring.
“Dad labored at a Japanese electronics firm in Düsseldorf. There was a Japanese district the place you may store and socialise with out ever talking German, however mum – a florist who taught and revealed books about Japanese flower arranging – realized German and tried to slot in. She shopped at markets on our doorstep and, sometimes, made sausage and potato casserole.
“My dad would generally choose up bao buns or hen toes as late-night snacks for us – I’m nonetheless a fan of a hen foot – however we hardly ever ate out. As a substitute, at residence, we had correct Japanese meals, with a wide selection of dishes. Mum was a strong prepare dinner, and pa would obsessively make pickles and kimchi – we even had to purchase him a separate fridge.
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“Consuming was fairly conventional. We ate at a tatami mat ground desk for the primary 10 years, and our dad and mom had bigger bowls, dad’s being the largest. However, there wasn’t actually an consuming hierarchy. It was a combat for meals as a result of in any other case dad would eat all the things! We’d have miso soup, pickled cucumber, daikon, turnip tops or umeboshi plums, and facet dishes like cabbage salad, steamed spinach or stir-fried greens, with a little bit of fish or meat. And rice, in fact.
“We at all times had an excellent rice cooker. In Japan, there’s a saying which you could’t be a housewife till you understand how to prepare dinner rice in a pan, however no person does. A rice cooker cooks it evenly, retains it heat, and the standard is totally completely different. You’d have this large, clunky cooker by the desk, and assist your self to 2 or three bowls. Japanese persons are by no means stingy with rice.
“It’s fairly a factor in Japan to have a tempura fryer or teppanyaki grill on the desk to prepare dinner your meals. My dad and mom additionally had an enormous 30kg steak-maker, like a panini grill. Making okonomiyaki or tempura as a household was leisure that introduced us collectively. I used to be at all times food-obsessed. In summer time, chilly, cooked sōmales noodles – stored in iced water and dipped in dashi and soy sauce with cucumber, lettuce and tomato – was a refreshing spotlight, with chilly, fried karaage hen on the facet. Tempura or katsu and different breaded issues are sometimes cooked forward in Japan. It’s a Western factor that fried meals needs to be scorching.
“I additionally beloved the Japanese model of mapo tofu, which makes use of extra tofu than pork in a less-spicy sauce, and curry night time, once we’d make up large bowls of curry from packets of S&B sauces – ready-made roux blocks with meat, potatoes and greens. Oyakodon actually means ‘household donburi [rice bowl]’ or ‘adult-and-kids donburi’, as a result of each hen and egg are used within the dish. It’s a fast and hearty meal that we’d have collectively at residence on unhealthy climate days. For me, it at all times felt like an important day.”
