About Mama Bill's Kitchen
I am a long-term U.S. expat living in Japan. While I love most Japanese food, I also like
food from my native New England.
Making some of these recipes can be a challenge. First you have to find the right ingredients
at a reasonable price. Some things are easy to find. Others are right in front of your nose once
you decypher the Japanese labels and local naming. And some things are just imposible to find so you
need to identify a substitute.
A second challenge is Japanese kitchens. Space is at a premium in Japan, especially in the city, so
most homes including ours don't have four-burner stove or an oven that can cook two 24-pound
turkeys at once.
Although I have some experience in the restaurant business and almost went into that field,
I ended up on a totally different career path. However, I've been collecting, modifying, and perfecting
these recipes for a long time. My daughter asked me not too long ago "Dad, when you die
can I have your recipe book?". The question was depressing because I don't anticipate dying
immediately, but I decided to type up my recipes in the form of this web site so she can
have them while I'm still kicking.
Some things I want you to notice about the recipes:
- Units are given in both metric and imperial. Use whichever is easiest for you and makes sense
for the ingredient. Measuring 1/4 teaspoon of salt in grams is ridiculous, so use your
measuring spoons. On the other hand, measuring sugar, flour, and baking powder for a cake is faster
if you measure by weight, and you also don't need to get out every measuring cup and spoon in the house.
-
Dealing with temperatures requires a small amount of black (hopefully not burnt) magic.
Oven temperature settings are not very accurate, and usually you cannot set the
temperature exactly as per the recipe. For example, 350°F = 176.667°C, but
my oven works in 10°C increments.
You just have to adjust your times slightly and be careful. You must also check if your
oven is convection—only like our gas oven. In that case you need
to reduce your cooking times by 25%. I wish I had known that much sooner!
- All recipes here are scalable, so you can easily make a half-batch or a double-batch without
having to do weird calculations with grams or fractions of teaspoons.
- The recipes are precise. Always follow the recipe. You are welcome to modify any of my
recipes to suit your own tastes, but write down your modifications. Then when someone
claims that "This wasn't as good as last time" you can shoot back "Wrong! This is
exactly the same as last time!".
- Get some decent pans and other cooking tools. I still have some pans that I bought
in college, and they are not too bad. However, we have some other heavy, expensive
pans that work much better. I have never burned my chili or custard in those nice
pans. You also need a mixer, measuring spoons, and cups. I have some nice stainless
steel bowls that are great for mixing things, and lots of small cheap plastic bowls
that are great for storing different ingredients like spacies, egg yolks,
and egg whites before you incorporate them into the recipe. A digital scale is very
handy, especially when you're challenged to divide your cake batter into two equal parts
or your dough into eight equal parts.
- Be a good shopper. There are plenty of fancy foods you can buy, but there are also
plenty of delicious, economical dishes you can make if you know your ingredients, take enough time
to prepare, and if you have about a half-dozen Herbs and Spices.
My favorites are Salt, Black Pepper, Basil, Thyme, Oregano, and Fennel. You can add a few
more if you want to make things like "Herb Roasted Potatoes".
- Some of my recipes are ugly, especially my cakes. But where my brain is lacking in the
artistic department, I make up for in taste.
Enjoy.
"Mama" Bill