One of the "foreign origins" in Japanese cuisine is Chinese cuisine and the other is Western cuisine. The "mixed race" of Western cuisine and Japanese cuisine is foreign food.
There are dishes such as curry rice, cheese grilled vegetables, and cola cakes that have been improved after they were introduced to Japan, as well as dishes such as Napoli pasta, omelette rice, and tonkatsu, which have developed in Japan. Today, I will share with my friends the three classic "foreign foods" of curry rice, cola cake and tonkatsu.
Cocote for prawns and cheese
Japanese curry rice
Curry rice was introduced by the British in the Meiji era, and it is said that a British food company brought curry powder to Japan, and the Japanese began to explore curry rice.
The Japanese curry rice we eat today has classic elements of carrots, potatoes and beef, but in the early days, curry rice was actually based on coastal seafood as the main ingredient. In the 1872 Edition of the Guide to Western Cuisine, there is a record of early curry rice: "Chop the green onion, ginger, and garlic, sauté it in butter, add water, add chicken, shrimp or crab, etc., add curry powder and cook for another hour, season with salt, and finally add water-soluble wheat flour." "The rich spice flavor of the curry overshadows the taste of the meat itself, which is why the Japanese at that time were more receptive to curry. Coupled with the fact that Japanese food culture is centered on rice, curry rice has naturally become a popular dish.
In 1963, the House Food Company developed the famous "Baimengduo Curry", this block curry is not only easy to eat, but also adjusted to the taste of the Japanese people, reducing a lot of spicy ingredients, adding apple juice and honey to make the taste more sweet and soft. This product made curry more popular in Japan and established curry rice as a "national delicacy". Today, Japanese curry has gained popularity around the world and has become a curry type that competes with Thai curry and Indian curry.
Croquettes
Cola cakes came from France and were introduced to Japan during the Meiji period. It is called a croquette only because the Japanese pronunciation is similar to cola, but has nothing to do with cola itself, and its prototype is croquetteo.
Its earliest practice was to add a variety of minced meat and vegetables to a sauce mixed with cream and flour, then kneaded into a cylindrical shape, smeared with wheat flour, egg mixture and breadcrumbs, and fried in a frying pan. After it was introduced to Japan, the Japanese changed the main ingredient to mashed potatoes according to their own taste, and then fried with onions and minced meat.
Nowadays, cola cakes have developed a variety of flavor combinations, such as beef cola cakes, vegetable cola cakes, crab meat cola cakes, etc., and even sandwiched into the bread as a sandwich.
Tonkatsu
Tonkatsu is said to have been born in a restaurant called "Rikwating", which first attempted to make tonkatsu in 1895. Before that, there were only fried pork chops made in Western restaurants using Western methods.
The restaurant uses the tempura method of deep-fried pork chops, which are very popular with the public, and the thick pork chops are wrapped in salt, black pepper, flour, egg liquid, breadcrumbs, fried in a pan, and drizzled with a special Japanese sauce, making it very satisfying to eat.
In addition, the Japanese pronunciation of tonkatsu "とんかつ" has added a lot of popularity to it. Because tonkatsu was invented after being inspired by Western-style fried pork chops, it is also classified as a foreign food. When eating tonkatsu, it is usually served with rice, shredded cabbage, and a bowl of miso soup, which is a very classic Japanese delicacy.
In just over 100 years, the Japanese diet has changed dramatically. Of course, it is not only foreign cuisine that has changed traditional Japanese cuisine, traditional cuisine is still well inherited in Japan, coexisting harmoniously with new cuisine, making Japan present a different dimension in cuisine. I have to say that the ability of the Japanese people to absorb integration is indeed worth learning.