‘Go out and chat by surrounding a pot’.
I know that may have sound almost inappropriate but allow me to defend my choice of this review’s title.
On the first Friday of February, we started a new section in this blog called Casa Ruffolo Cucina, which shares recipes of dishes and every other concoction we whip up in our kitchen influenced by Italian, Filipino, and Chinese cooking. Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking from authors Naoko Takei Moore and Kyle Connaughton came in the most appropriate time when we made the decision to document family heirloom recipes and those we’ve learned over the course of time and travels.
I learned how to cook by observing my parents working in the kitchen and by watching cooking shows. I started cooking when I was nine and made dishes out of ingredients I could find inside the fridge and our humbly pantry.
Over the years, I learned about the power of slow cooking and using clay pots in cooking to bring out the flavors in the ingredients use to in making even the simplest dish. Inun-unang isda (fish cooked in vinegar with garlic) is one of those dishs best cooked in a clay pot. Growing up in the same village as my grandparents in the Philippines, I remember a big clay jar in their kitchen used to store water. My grandfather said water tastes better inside the clay jar; it keeps the water cool too so there’s no need for a refrigerator or ice cubes.
These memories came back to me eight months after I moved to the US and while I was actively cooking more homemade dishes for my family. To be the Asian wife of an Italian American brings out the home-trained cook in me. But being a mother to three children below three years old meant careful planning and advance preparations for dishes – and to come up with nutritious, tasty, and convenient one-pot dishes.
Enter the slow cooker or the crock pot. I immediately ordered it online and it was delivered almost instantly. I’ve been cooking in this vessel for three weeks when I saw this book (Donabe) and thought: “Wow, this is the perfect time to know more about clay pot cooking the way the Japanese do it.”
This book is more than just a recipe book; this is a cultural journey, a manifestation of hospitality and communal sharing. When you have this book, you are introduced omotenashi, the Japanese way of hospitality in various occasions, and inadvertently, you find yourself practicing omotenashi too.
Cooking in a donabe means you’re out to share and be part of a community. The Japanese knows this and they are very good at this.
In this book, Takei Moore and Connaughton gave an overview on umami. The Asian in me knows this all too well. The word umami, which means pleasant savory taste (the taste that tells you when a food is yummy/delicious or not) has graced the English vocabulary because there is no exact English translation of the word. Donabe cooking, which is essentially slow cooking, brings out the umami taste of food because they’re not cooked prematurely or hurriedly. I cook a Filipino dish called humba and I always tell my husband that the secret is always in the method of cooking it and that is slow cooking.
The photography by Eric Wolfinger places this book in the line of the most delicious and culturally-enriching materpieces in the world of cookbooks.
This book features cooking in six styles of donabe pots: classic, rice cooker, soup and stew, steamer, tagine style, and smoker. Takei Moore imports donabe made by the Nagatani family of Iga, Japan. If you’re immersed in this book, you find yourself daydreaming about brunches and dinners with your donabe and inviting family members and friend over for a communal hotpot meal. You might even find yourself in Takei Moore’s online donabe shop, Toiro Kitchen, to check out the donabe.
I give this book 10 out of 10 stars. There is so much heart and passion in the creation of this book and it is evident in the final product. Donabe, this book in this regard, is a rich compilation of two authors’ experiences in the kitchen and the shared values they have imbibed over time.
So go out and chat by “surrounding a pot”.
Go out and eat nabe.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book from the Blogging for Books program for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write positive reviews. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”.
