About Kotowari Cooking

Kotowari (理) means the underlying logic of things. Kotowari Cooking takes techniques from Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, Italian and other kitchens, compares how each one handles the same problem, and pulls out the principle — written as temperatures, times and ratios rather than "to taste". Comparing cuisines shows what is physically necessary, and what is only custom and can be changed.

Who writes it

Masato Egami. I have cooked for myself since I was a student, worked in restaurant kitchens, and now work as a software engineer.

The site started in Malaysia, where I sold Japanese prepared food. The meat was butchered differently, the seasonings were different, and so were the temperature and humidity — Japanese recipes simply did not reproduce. Following steps stopped working the moment the ingredients or the environment changed, so I rebuilt my cooking from "what is this step actually for?". This site is that rebuild.

Besides checking the literature, I run side-by-side tests together with a student studying food science abroad, who also reviews the articles.

About the English edition

The English articles are translations of the Japanese originals. The numbers are kept identical to the originals, and when a number changes in Japanese, the English article is updated with it.

Publisher

Kotowari Cooking is published by Actual Value Inc.