culinary school

Boost your health with 14 days of Okinawa miso soup – Super food!

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Okinawa Miso Soup - Super Food
Spring is here and just in a little while summer is waiting around the corner.

Like most others, I need to boost my health with sun light and healthy food.
It looks like spring is here to stay with days filled with blue cloudless sky with warm rays of the sun.

Like my home, it’s time for a spring clean.
After a long winter, my body gets an extra boost of nourishing and healthy vitamins. There I always turn to Japanese cuisine.

Basically, Japanese cuisine is composed in a way that either detoxifies or nourishes the body. Japanese cuisine is divided in such a way that some restaurants make dishes that are adapted to a busy everyday life, while other restaurants offer dinners that can be enjoyed over several hours on the weekend.

Especially on busy weekdays, the body may need an extra loving boost.
That is why I have made a 14-day course where you can give the body renewed energy with quite a few raw materials.
It is a course that you will receive by email and download to your computer.

Read more about 14 day Okinawa miso soup – Super food

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

What kind of stock is used for noodle soups in Japan?

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Sushi chef & sake sommerlier Zoë Escher
In Japan, many different kinds of stock are used for noodle soups.
The most popular are fish, pork and chicken. In Tokyo, restaurants and dinning places often make stock from scratch. Some stock takes many hours to make as Japanese ingredients are added at different stages in the preparation of the stock. The Japanese ingredients add to the stock gives the unique taste and aromas that characterize Japanese soups in Japan.

They are a little different what the Japanese families do.
Not all families have time for a busy day to make a stock. In Tokyo, supermarkets sell different types of stock. Some funds need to be dissolved in boiling water, while others are available by the glass.

Just like in Denmark, stocks can be bought in powder form or, as ready-made in a supermarket, but it can never replace a stock that is made from scratch. A stock made from scratch has a completely different taste and aromas that are not available in the powder version.

In the Noodle Soup course for beginners, you will learn how to make classic Japanese dashi stock, which forms the entire stock of Japanese cuisine a stock that is made in the same way as in the restaurants in Tokyo.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

Do Japanese sushi restaurants use topping on the food?

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Sushi chef & sake sommelier Zoë Escher
In Denmark, most sushi restaurants use topping on the food. It is typically sushi rolls such as insite-out which are topped with various ingredients such as roe, seaweed salad, chili mayonnaise, pickled onions and crushed wasabi peas. Sushi rolls are often topped in many different ways.

In Japan, topping is not used in the same way as in Denmark.
The Japanese are very fond of fish of very high quality. They eat as much fish as we eat meat.
So that’s why Japanese customers and Japanese sushi chefs have a slightly different approach to sushi. The sushi pieces should preferably be as simple as possible, ie. with rice and fish are in the center so they are allowed to shine.

Sushi topping is used in Japan. It can be lemon, an herb or a specific type of salt, which is used to highlight fish unique flavors and aromas.

At the Sushi course for beginners, you will learn how to make tasty sushi like Japanese sushi chefs in Tokyo.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

That’s why Shiitake is the favorite mushroom in Japanese cuisine!

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Shiitake mushrooms are quite unique, as it is a mushroom that has several aromas and depth in the taste.

Shiitake is a mushroom that is very intense in taste. Shiitake mushrooms have a hard stem. It is a strain that is often removed in the preparation of a dish, as it can be hard to chew on.
Exactly the stem should always be kept. The stem of Shiitake mushrooms has a very concentrated and aromatic taste, which gives the dish depth.

In Japan, Shiitake mushroom is used in many different ways. It ranges from fried noodles to stews that simmer for several hours. The possibilities are endless.

Shiitake is now available year-round in many supermarkets. However, there may be periods when it can be difficult to get hold of the fungus.

Read more about Traditional Japanese food course for beginners

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

What kind of sushi is the healthiest?

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Futomaki
It depends a bit on how you view sushi. I will talk about sushi which is prepared in Denmark.

If you disregard different kinds of topping and chili mayonnaise, then sushi rolls are the healthiest. Just by eating one sushi roll, the body is boosted with vitamins and minerals. There are several reasons for this.

Sushi is the vegetable in the world that contains the most vitamins and minerals.
Most sushi rolls are composed of a minimum of 2 kinds of vegetables, if not more and a little fish.

In Japan, nigiri and sushi rolls are equally healthy.
Japan topping is not used in the same way as in Denmark and some countries in Europe.
In Japan, nigiri is healthy, less rice is used and more fish is used. The Japanese get to eat large amounts of fish in a single meal.

At the Sushi course for beginners, you will learn how to make tasty rolls that are suitable for everyday life and parties.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

What are bonito flakes?

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More and more people have become aware of bonito flakes.

In 2004, I first encountered bonito flakes in Tokyo.
At that time, in Tokyo I was practising the martial art kendo. After evening training, I was invited to the home of my teacher and his family, where we ate dishes from the classic Japanese cuisine. There I noticed the thin flakes with a smoky fish flavor, which was used as a kind of topping on the dishes.

In 2006 when I was trained as a sushi chef abroad, I got to know bonito flakes very well. I found out that the fish Bonito is related to tuna. It is a fish that is filleted, smoked and dried for a long period of time. The dried bonito is than shaved into thin flakes.

Bonito flakes are a solid ingredient in Japanese cuisine, which is used in many different ways. The fish bonito together with other Japanese ingredients form the foundation of Japanese cuisine.

In the Noodle Soup course for beginners, you learn, among other things how bonito flakes are used in Japanese soups in Tokyo.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

The season for lumpfish roe is underway!

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The Danish delicacy lumpfish roe is now available in most fish shops.
It’s a good year for lumpfish roe, at the moment there are lots of purified lumpfish roe.

It is a wonderful Danish delicacy that can be enjoyed in several different ways.
One of the best ways to eat lumpfish roe is along with blinis, finely chopped red onion and sour cream.
If you cannot get hold of blinis, you can of course use toasted sandwich bread.

Lumpfish roe is the first sign of spring it often falls at the same time.

The season for lumpfish roe varies from year to year. It is not to say how long the little fine pink pearls can be obtained at the fishmongers. So far, it can be freshly cleaned at most fishmongers.

Read more about Sushi Chef & Sake Sommelier Zoë Escher

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

Can all types of mushrooms be used in Japanese cuisine?

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All types of mushrooms can be used in Japanese cuisine it depends a bit on the dish.

In Japan there are 7 different kinds of mushrooms; Shiitake, Maitake, Matsutake, Shimeji, King oyster, Nameko and Enoki mushrooms.

In Denmark, we can buy Shiitake, Shimeji, King oyster and Enoki mushrooms in specialty stores and supermarkets during the year.

Shiitake mushrooms are known for their unique aromas and intense flavors. It is a sponge used in all types of dishes in Japanese cuisine.

Shimeji and Enoki mushrooms can be used in several different ways. You will often find this type of mushroom in miso soups or in classic Japanese stews.

King oyster or oyster hats are a meaty mushroom which is well suited for e.g. yakitori spyd. It is also a mushroom that is suitable for other tasty dishes.

If you cannot get any of the above mushrooms do not despair. Try to use local tasty mushrooms.

Read more about Japanese noodle Soup course for beginners
Read more about Traditional Japanese food course for beginners

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

Which Japanese food styles are most popular in Japan?

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Noodle soup
In Japan, Japanese cuisine is very large.
There are as many different styles as the whole of European cuisine combined.

Most people will probably think that sushi is at least as popular in Japan as in Europe. That is not the case.
The Japanese love sushi, sushi makes up less than 15% of Japanese cuisine. Sushi is not a dish that the Japanese choose on a busy day after work.

On a busy weekday, the Japanese prefer ramen soup. The Japanese are the population in the world that eats the most noodles.

In Japan, there are a many different kinds of tasty noodle soups, they are found in all shades.
In Denmark and in the rest of the world, most people know ramen noodle soup.

Some noodle soups are as different as day and night. It’s just like the two noodle soups, you learn step by step on Noodle soup course for beginners. Ramen is, of course, one of them.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.

In Japan, do Japanese restaurants serve fried noodles?

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Sushi chef & sake sommelier Zoë Escher
Restaurants in Japan also serve fried noodles.
In Japan, noodles are not just noodles. There are 7 different types of noodles in the classic Japanese cuisine. The 7 different noodles contain either wheat, buckwheat or rice. Some noodles are eaten all year round and others at certain times such as in the summer.

The Japanese are the population that eats the most noodles. In Japan, Ramen noodles are the most in demand of them all.

In Denmark, ramen is also the most in-demand type of noodle, which is most often used in noodle soups.

In Japan, ramen noodles are used in many different types of Japanese dishes. It ranges from noodle soups to stews or fried noodles.

In the Traditional Japanese food course for beginners, you learn step by step how to make tasty fried seafood noodle dish.

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Zoë has lectured and held sushi courses for A. P. Moller – Maersk, Hugo Boss Nordic, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Velux, Gorrissen Federspiel, Beierholm revision, Elbek & Vejrup and many more.