HOW TO SEASON YOUR FOOD LIKE JAPANESE 〜MY SEASONING METRICS〜(EP201)

Today I want to share with you, How to season your food in the Japanese way.

When it comes to cooking, there are rules and golden ratio to achieve deliciousness. 

If you are a beginner of Japanese cooking, this might be very helpful.

Even for the experienced home cook, it’s better to keep in mind if you want your food tasty every time you cook Japanese food.

How much salt do we need?

First, let’s talk about salt. 

As a recipe developer of food-industry, I always calculate the percentage of the salt content, precisely.

But for the home cooking, it doesn’t have to be like that.

But, keep in mind that the ratio that we feel it’s delicious! is about 1%.

Isn’t it easy to remember?

1% of the salt for the ingredients is for main course, and you want to minus 0.2% of salt, it makes the ratio for soup.

And, the other side of the picture, add 0.2 % of salt makes sauce. Sometimes you will need more salt, but for now, let me put it in this way to remember easily.

But the ratio is totally up to your taste. As I said, the ratio is based on the body fluid.

It’s about our body Fluid

Our body fluid is consists of 0.9% of salt, 0.8% is close to that ratio, so that we feel comfortable with it’s salt content.

I am living in Japan, where the summer is hot and humid. We sweat a lot more than the moderate weather.

That means we need more salt.

When you lose body fluid as sweat, or as urine, you are losing salt as well.

We are losing body fluid 2.5 liters a day, and that calculates we are losing 23g of salt at most. But, it doesn’t mean you can take 23 g of salt, of course. 

It depends on each person.

Older people are not so active, so they need less salt.

Young people who is doing sport, like my son, maybe needs more.

Well, how we decide the salt intake?

I am not a doctor, am just a mom, but let me take it in this way.

I think if you are in good health, our body can tell how much we need. When we take the salt and food as much as we need, we stop eating?

It sounds like Zen dialogue, but it’s true.

I hope this makes sense to you. 

Now let’s take a look at how we calculate the seasonings.

Season with salt

It’s easy to calculate salt because you can just add 1 %, but what about soy sauce and miso?

Season with Soy Sauce

Soy sauce contains about 18 % of salt content, so you should multiply by 5.

Season with Miso

Miso contains about 12 % of salt, so we need to multiply by 8. 

Professional chefs are making complicated recipe by mix and match these seasonings. But the salt content is come between those numbers.

Now we know the salt content, but how we make our daily dishes like Jaanese?

Golden Ratio

I will introduce you 5 basic ratios is widely applicable for any ingredients, and you can make delicious dish in a minute.

You can apply to the amount of the ingredients you are using.

I have introduced you a lot of recipe, almost all of those are based on the golden ratio that I learn from the tradition.

Seasoning Metrics Chart

I would like you to print it out and put it on your fridge door!