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South China Morning Post
14-07-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
What is tsukudani? Popular Japanese preserved dish with more than 200 years of tradition
Their morning starts at 5am. The father and son do not speak to each other. They do not need to. They barely look at each other as they go briskly, almost mechanically, from task to task. Beads of sweat glisten on their foreheads. It is the same work they have been doing at their shop for years: cooking in big metal pots the ancient Japanese food tsukudani. Tsukudani is preserved food invented long before the advent of modern refrigeration, dating back to the samurai Edo era more than 200 years ago. Pieces of tuna, tiny shrimp, seaweed and other ingredients are simmered in a sweet syrup of soy sauce, sake and sugar. Tsukudani is made with seafood that is simmered in a sweet and savoury sauce. Photo: Shutterstock The air in the shop is damp, pungent and sweet. Today, it is clam tsukudani: two pots from 6am to 7am, and two more from 7am to 8am. They will cook other items in the afternoon, depending on the orders that come in from restaurants and stores.
CTV News
09-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Tsukudani and hot rice: Still a go-to meal in Japan centuries after its creation
TOKYO — Their morning starts at 5 a.m. The father and son don't speak to each other. They don't need to. They barely look at each other as they go briskly, almost mechanically, from task to task. Beads of sweat glisten on their foreheads. It's the same work they've been doing at their shop for years: Cooking in big metal pots the ancient Japanese food tsukudani. It's preserved food invented long before the advent of modern refrigeration, dating back to the samurai Edo Era more than 200 years ago. Pieces of tuna, tiny shrimp, seaweed and other ingredients get simmered in a sweet syrup of soy sauce, sake and sugar. The air in the shop becomes damp, pungent, sweet. Today, it's clam tsukudani: Two pots from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., and two more from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. They'll cook other items in the afternoon, depending on the orders that come in from restaurants and stores. They can't stir what's cooking much. The tiny pieces are fragile and will break. 'My father is very old school,' Yoshihiro Kobayashi says with a mix of exasperation and resignation in his voice. Somewhere hidden behind his matter-of-fact tone is his deep love and respect for what he has inherited. Working first at a fashion brand, then a department store, the younger Kobayashi initially had no plans to take up his father's work. But he later made up his mind to return. He says his father is strict and opinionated, yet today Nobuo Kobayashi leaves all the talking to his son, laughing when this reporter aims the camera, 'Don't take me. Your camera might break.' Where it's from and how it's made Tsukushin, the Kobayashis' factory-turned-shop, is tucked away in a corner of a quaint humble Tsukuda neighborhood by the Sumida River in downtown Tokyo. It's where tsukudani was born — the dish's name fittingly translates to 'cooked in Tsukuda.' 'The original,' 'founding,' 'first and foremost' read big wooden signs hanging by the roofs of the rickety tsukudani stores. These days, tsukudani is standard Japanese fare, often mass-produced at modern factories far away from the dish's birthplace. At Kobayashi's shop, tsukudani gets cooked in vats over earthen vessels called 'kamados' that were fired up with wood and charcoal in the olden days, but these days use gas. It's then placed in a large, wooden 'handai' serving plate — just the way the ancestors did it. It's a painstaking procedure requiring about an hour of steady simmering, and the amount that can be produced at one time is limited. Yoshihiro Kobayashi says the closest equivalent in the West is jam. To be eaten the right way Tsukudani is a prime example of how Japan, despite its high-tech modernity and an economy driven by global corporates like Toyota and Sony, maintains traditions passed down over generations, much of them through small businesses. Although the basic way to eat tsukudani is with a bowl of hot rice, often served with miso or soy-bean paste soup, it also makes a good snack with sake. Tsukudani can also be used as filling for rice balls or as an easy side dish for 'bento,' or packed lunch, and it makes for a good topping on 'chazuke,' which is rice with hot green tea poured over it. Overall, rice is tudkudani's best pairing. Tsukudani ice cream or tsukudani potato chip isn't the direction to go, Kobayashi said. If it's not eaten the right way, it won't taste good. The novelty comes with communicating that basic message to people — foreigners and younger Japanese alike — who might not even know what tsukudani is. Noriko Kobayashi, who is not related to the tsukudani makers, runs a tiny store in Tokyo that sells artwork, wooden figures, patterned clothing and other knickknacks from Africa, Scandinavia and other faraway places. She said she likes to eat seaweed tsukudani with cheese, while sipping on sake, usually for dinner. 'It's nothing special,' she said, noting she's been eating it since childhood. Now that she's older, she appreciates the way it aids one's intestines. 'It's a kind of health food,' she said. ___ Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press
The Independent
09-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
Tsukudani and hot rice: Still a go-to meal in Japan centuries after its creation
Their morning starts at 5 a.m. The father and son don't speak to each other. They don't need to. They barely look at each other as they go briskly, almost mechanically, from task to task. Beads of sweat glisten on their foreheads. It's the same work they've been doing at their shop for years: Cooking in big metal pots the ancient Japanese food tsukudani. It's preserved food invented long before the advent of modern refrigeration, dating back to the samurai Edo Era more than 200 years ago. Pieces of tuna, tiny shrimp, seaweed and other ingredients get simmered in a sweet syrup of soy sauce, sake and sugar. The air in the shop becomes damp, pungent, sweet. Today, it's clam tsukudani: Two pots from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., and two more from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. They'll cook other items in the afternoon, depending on the orders that come in from restaurants and stores. They can't stir what's cooking much. The tiny pieces are fragile and will break. 'My father is very old school,' Yoshihiro Kobayashi says with a mix of exasperation and resignation in his voice. Somewhere hidden behind his matter-of-fact tone is his deep love and respect for what he has inherited. Working first at a fashion brand, then a department store, the younger Kobayashi initially had no plans to take up his father's work. But he later made up his mind to return. He says his father is strict and opinionated, yet today Nobuo Kobayashi leaves all the talking to his son, laughing when this reporter aims the camera, 'Don't take me. Your camera might break.' Where it's from and how it's made Tsukushin, the Kobayashis' factory-turned-shop, is tucked away in a corner of a quaint humble Tsukuda neighborhood by the Sumida River in downtown Tokyo. It's where tsukudani was born — the dish's name fittingly translates to 'cooked in Tsukuda.' 'The original,' 'founding,' 'first and foremost' read big wooden signs hanging by the roofs of the rickety tsukudani stores. These days, tsukudani is standard Japanese fare, often mass-produced at modern factories far away from the dish's birthplace. At Kobayashi's shop, tsukudani gets cooked in vats over earthen vessels called 'kamados' that were fired up with wood and charcoal in the olden days, but these days use gas. It's then placed in a large, wooden 'handai' serving plate — just the way the ancestors did it. It's a painstaking procedure requiring about an hour of steady simmering, and the amount that can be produced at one time is limited. Yoshihiro Kobayashi says the closest equivalent in the West is jam. To be eaten the right way Tsukudani is a prime example of how Japan, despite its high-tech modernity and an economy driven by global corporates like Toyota and Sony, maintains traditions passed down over generations, much of them through small businesses. Although the basic way to eat tsukudani is with a bowl of hot rice, often served with miso or soy-bean paste soup, it also makes a good snack with sake. Tsukudani can also be used as filling for rice balls or as an easy side dish for 'bento,' or packed lunch, and it makes for a good topping on 'chazuke,' which is rice with hot green tea poured over it. Overall, rice is tudkudani's best pairing. Tsukudani ice cream or tsukudani potato chip isn't the direction to go, Kobayashi said. If it's not eaten the right way, it won't taste good. The novelty comes with communicating that basic message to people — foreigners and younger Japanese alike — who might not even know what tsukudani is. Noriko Kobayashi, who is not related to the tsukudani makers, runs a tiny store in Tokyo that sells artwork, wooden figures, patterned clothing and other knickknacks from Africa, Scandinavia and other faraway places. She said she likes to eat seaweed tsukudani with cheese, while sipping on sake, usually for dinner. 'It's nothing special,' she said, noting she's been eating it since childhood. Now that she's older, she appreciates the way it aids one's intestines. 'It's a kind of health food,' she said. ___
Associated Press
09-07-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Tsukudani and hot rice: Still a go-to meal in Japan centuries after its creation
TOKYO (AP) — Their morning starts at 5 a.m. The father and son don't speak to each other. They don't need to. They barely look at each other as they go briskly, almost mechanically, from task to task. Beads of sweat glisten on their foreheads. It's the same work they've been doing at their shop for years: Cooking in big metal pots the ancient Japanese food tsukudani. It's preserved food invented long before the advent of modern refrigeration, dating back to the samurai Edo Era more than 200 years ago. Pieces of tuna, tiny shrimp, seaweed and other ingredients get simmered in a sweet syrup of soy sauce, sake and sugar. The air in the shop becomes damp, pungent, sweet. Today, it's clam tsukudani: Two pots from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., and two more from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. They'll cook other items in the afternoon, depending on the orders that come in from restaurants and stores. They can't stir what's cooking much. The tiny pieces are fragile and will break. 'My father is very old school,' Yoshihiro Kobayashi says with a mix of exasperation and resignation in his voice. Somewhere hidden behind his matter-of-fact tone is his deep love and respect for what he has inherited. Working first at a fashion brand, then a department store, the younger Kobayashi initially had no plans to take up his father's work. But he later made up his mind to return. He says his father is strict and opinionated, yet today Nobuo Kobayashi leaves all the talking to his son, laughing when this reporter aims the camera, 'Don't take me. Your camera might break.' Where it's from and how it's made Tsukushin, the Kobayashis' factory-turned-shop, is tucked away in a corner of a quaint humble Tsukuda neighborhood by the Sumida River in downtown Tokyo. It's where tsukudani was born — the dish's name fittingly translates to 'cooked in Tsukuda.' 'The original,' 'founding,' 'first and foremost' read big wooden signs hanging by the roofs of the rickety tsukudani stores. These days, tsukudani is standard Japanese fare, often mass-produced at modern factories far away from the dish's birthplace. At Kobayashi's shop, tsukudani gets cooked in vats over earthen vessels called 'kamados' that were fired up with wood and charcoal in the olden days, but these days use gas. It's then placed in a large, wooden 'handai' serving plate — just the way the ancestors did it. It's a painstaking procedure requiring about an hour of steady simmering, and the amount that can be produced at one time is limited. Yoshihiro Kobayashi says the closest equivalent in the West is jam. To be eaten the right way Tsukudani is a prime example of how Japan, despite its high-tech modernity and an economy driven by global corporates like Toyota and Sony, maintains traditions passed down over generations, much of them through small businesses. Although the basic way to eat tsukudani is with a bowl of hot rice, often served with miso or soy-bean paste soup, it also makes a good snack with sake. Tsukudani can also be used as filling for rice balls or as an easy side dish for 'bento,' or packed lunch, and it makes for a good topping on 'chazuke,' which is rice with hot green tea poured over it. Overall, rice is tudkudani's best pairing. Tsukudani ice cream or tsukudani potato chip isn't the direction to go, Kobayashi said. If it's not eaten the right way, it won't taste good. The novelty comes with communicating that basic message to people — foreigners and younger Japanese alike — who might not even know what tsukudani is. Noriko Kobayashi, who is not related to the tsukudani makers, runs a tiny store in Tokyo that sells artwork, wooden figures, patterned clothing and other knickknacks from Africa, Scandinavia and other faraway places. She said she likes to eat seaweed tsukudani with cheese, while sipping on sake, usually for dinner. 'It's nothing special,' she said, noting she's been eating it since childhood. Now that she's older, she appreciates the way it aids one's intestines. 'It's a kind of health food,' she said. ___ Yuri Kageyama is on Threads:
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Pioneer Woman': Ree Drummond's Husband Ladd Reveals The Identity of His Other Lifelong Partner
'The Pioneer Woman': Ree Drummond's Husband Ladd Reveals The Identity of His Other Lifelong Partner originally appeared on Parade. ReeDrummond and her husband, Ladd, have been married for 28 years, building a successful personal and professional life filled with love and family. But there is someone else in Ladd's life with whom he shares a lifelong partnership. In a new video posted to the Drummond Ranch YouTube channel, Ladd opens up about just how important this bond is. The YouTube video is called "A Lifelong Partnership." In it, Ladd talks about his personal and professional relationship with his brother, Tim Drummond. The new family social media channel takes a deeper look at the cattle ranching operation that has sustained the Drummonds for over 100 years. Ladd and his brother Tim currently co-own the family company, founded by Ladd and Tim's great-great-grandfather, Fred Drummond. A caption for the video clip explains, "Ladd and Tim Drummond are brothers and partners, as well as separate business entities. This episode of Drummond Ranch gives you a peek inside their relationship as the two brothers reflect on the value of having a permanent collaborator and sounding board to wade through the ups and downs of markets, weather, and other factors in cattle ranching." Parade Daily🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 It continues, "Ladd and Tim lost their older brother when they were teenagers, which forged a deeper bond of cooperation, collaboration, and respect over the decades. However, despite their solid relationship, there is plenty of room for healthy ribbing; whether it's about showing up late, getting knocked over by steers, or (in Tim's case) ignoring a broken leg for two weeks. Meet Ladd and Tim Drummond, brothers and partners for life." In a 2009 blog post, Ree shared more about Ladd and Tim's lifelong bond, which was further cemented after the loss of their older brother Todd in a car accident while working at the ranch of a family friend in Texas. She wrote that the tragedy was "tragic, life-altering, terrible. Anyone who's lost a loved one to a car accident knows how much it rocks a family." In a separate post titled "Brothers," The Pioneer Woman star penned, "Through the years, they've grown closer and closer. Their bond has strengthened not just through their common experience of losing a brother, but through living on the land on which they grew up, through starting families, and through raising children in many of the same ways they were raised." Ree and Ladd have five children and one foster son: Alex, Paige, Bryce, Todd, and Jamar. Tim and Missy have two children, Caleb and Halle. The Pioneer Woman airs on the Food Network. 'The Pioneer Woman': Ree Drummond's Husband Ladd Reveals The Identity of His Other Lifelong Partner first appeared on Parade on Jul 7, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
