List of Japanese cooking utensils facts for kids

Japanese cooking is super fun, and to make all those yummy dishes, people in Japan use some special tools! These tools help them prepare everything from delicious sushi to warm bowls of ramen. Let Let's explore some of the cool gadgets and utensils you might find in a Japanese kitchen.

Sharp Knives for Every Job

Japanese chefs use many different kinds of knives. Each knife is designed for a specific task, making cooking easier and more precise.

Knives for Meat and Fish

• Deba bōchō: This is a strong, thick knife used for cutting and filleting fish, and sometimes for meat. It's great for chopping through bones.
• Fugu hiki, Tako hiki, and yanagi ba: These are very long, thin knives. Chefs use them to slice raw fish into perfect pieces for sashimi (thinly sliced raw fish).
• Oroshi hocho and hancho hocho: Imagine a knife as long as you are tall! These super long knives are used to cut up giant tuna fish.

Knives for Vegetables and Noodles

• Nakiri bōchō and usuba bōchō: These knives are shaped like a cleaver but are thinner. They are perfect for chopping and slicing all kinds of vegetables.
• Santoku: This is a popular all-purpose knife. It's good for cutting meat, fish, and vegetables, making it a great choice for everyday cooking.
• Udon kiri and soba kiri: These special knives are used to cut fresh udon and soba noodles into long, even strands.
• Unagisaki hōchō: This unique knife is specifically designed for preparing eels.

Pots, Pans, and Bowls for Cooking

Just like knives, Japanese kitchens have a variety of pots, pans, and bowls, each with a special purpose.

• Abura kiri: This is a tray with a wire rack. It's used to drain excess oil from fried foods, making them less greasy.
• Agemono nabe: This is a deep pot, perfect for deep-frying crispy foods like tempura.
• Donabe: This is a traditional ceramic pot. You can use it directly over an open flame to cook stews, soups, or even rice.
• Hangiri: This is a wooden barrel used to cool and mix rice for sushi. It helps the rice get the perfect texture.
• Makiyakinabe: This is a rectangular frying pan. It's used to make tamagoyaki, a delicious rolled omelet.
• Mushiki and seiro: These are different types of steamers. They cook food using hot steam, which keeps it moist and healthy.
• Otoshi buta: This is a special "drop lid" that sits directly on top of food inside a pot. It helps food cook evenly and keeps it from breaking apart.
• Suihanki/rice cooker: This is an electric appliance that cooks rice perfectly every time. It's a must-have in most Japanese homes!
• suribachi and surikogi: This is a grinding mortar and pestle. The suribachi is a bowl with ridges, and the surikogi is a wooden pestle used to grind ingredients like sesame seeds.
• Takoyaki pan: This is a special frying pan with many round molds. It's used to make takoyaki, which are delicious ball-shaped snacks filled with octopus.
• Tetsubin: This is a traditional cast iron kettle. It's used to boil water, often for tea.
• Tetsunabe: This is a cast iron pot, commonly used for cooking sukiyaki, a popular hot pot dish.
• Usu and kine: This is a very large mortar and pestle. It's used for pounding cooked rice to make mochi, a chewy rice cake.

Other Handy Kitchen Tools

Beyond knives and pots, there are many other clever tools that help with Japanese cooking.

A katsuobushi kezuriki used for shaving dried bonito.

Two urokotori (fish scalers) of different sizes.

• Ami jakushi: This is a scoop with a net-like bottom. It's great for skimming foam from soups or scooping out fried foods.
• Iki jime: This is a sharp tool, like an awl or spike. It's used to quickly and humanely prepare fish by targeting its brain.
• Katsuobushi kezuriki: This tool looks a bit like a mandoline or a small wooden box with a blade. It's traditionally used to shave thin flakes of katsuobushi (dried bonito fish), which adds amazing flavor to many dishes.
• Kushi: These are skewers, often made of bamboo or metal. They are used to hold food together, especially for grilling.
• Makisu: This is a flexible bamboo mat. It's essential for rolling sushi into neat, tight rolls.
• Oroshigane: These are graters, used for grating ingredients like ginger, daikon radish, or wasabi.
• Oshizushihako: These are special wooden boxes used to make oshizushi, which is a type of pressed sushi.
• Saibashi: These are long Japanese kitchen chopsticks. They are perfect for mixing, stirring, and handling hot food while cooking.
• Shamoji: This is a flat rice paddle. It's used to scoop and serve cooked rice without squishing the grains.
• Tsukemonoki and tsukemonoishi: These are tools for making Japanese-style pickles. The tsukemonoki is a container, and the tsukemonoishi is a heavy stone or weight used to press down on vegetables.
• Urokotori: This is a tool used to remove scales from fish quickly and easily.
• Zaru: This is a traditional bamboo draining basket. It's used for washing vegetables or draining noodles.

Serving Tools for Presentation

Japanese cuisine is also about how food looks. These tools help present dishes beautifully.

• Jūbako: These are beautiful tiered boxes. They are often used to hold and serve special foods, especially during holidays.
• Shokado bento: This is a type of bento box. It has compartments to hold different small dishes, making a meal look like a work of art.

See also

• List of Japanese ingredients
• List of Japanese dishes
• List of Japanese condiments
• List of food preparation utensils