Japanese-style pizza or grilled Japanese omelet? No, 'okonomiyaki'

Darwin would have tried it.

They say that, on his journey aboard the 'Beagle', Charles Darwin threw every exotic animal he found into the pot.

Óscar López-Fonseca invites us to explore the kitchens of the world with culinary experiences that, surely, the father of the theory of evolution would have ventured to try on that trip.

***

In this habit of comparing everything, there are those who define a peculiar dish of Japanese cuisine called

okonomiyaki

as “a

Japanese-style

pizza . ”

Others, however, prefer to look for similarities with the Spanish omelette, although there is little (or none) of the egg and there is no trace of potato and onion.

And yet, it is neither one thing nor the other, nor is it cooked like them and it does not even resemble them, except for its rounded shape.

In reality,

okonomiyaki

is one more example of the culinary richness of a country where only

sushi

,

sashimi

and, in recent years,

ramen

seem to have crossed its borders for the general public (yes, what some already know). like to describe as “Japanese stew”).

In reality,

okonomiyaki

is one of the most popular dishes in Japan - there are more than 15,000 establishments specialized in its preparation - which has among its peculiarities that it is made on a hot griddle in full view of the diner.

The other is that the list of ingredients added is as long as the cook is inventive.

In fact,

okonomi

means “to taste” and

yaki

means “grilled or grilled.”

All mixed with a crepe

-like flour and water batter

, large amounts of cabbage, bean sprouts and, in some cases, noodles

.

In reality, you can take whatever you want (meat, seafood or whatever the chef has) and top it with Japanese mayonnaise, a special sauce - which may or may not be spicy -, with

aonori

(nori seaweed flakes) or with

katsuobushi

(dried bonito shavings).

In short: imagination to the palate.

More information

Make ramen like you're from Japan

Those who know about

okonomiyaki

say that in this apparent (only apparent) hodgepodge of ingredients there are two great culinary schools in Japan.

One, from the city of Osaka, in the Kansai prefecture, in which they mix all the ingredients and then pour them onto the griddle to cook them.

Its appearance in this case may slightly resemble that of a tortilla.

The second is that of the city of Hiroshima, in which the components of the recipe are added one after another on the griddle until forming a dish with different thick layers.

Furthermore, in this case a grilled egg is usually added as a differentiating element.

From there, the variations in one and the other are infinite.

The cook is placing the okonomiyaki ingredients in a restaurant in Hiroshima.Óscar López-Fonseca

The Okonomiyaki Academy, an association created in 2014 to promote this dish around the world and which is based precisely in Hiroshima, links the origin of this dish with a street snack called

issen yōshoku

, an omelet made with flour dough. and water that was covered with some vegetables or shavings of dried fish and that was a cheap meal (its name literally means “a piece at the price of an

issen

”, a fraction of a yen, the Japanese currency).

After the Second World War and, above all, the destruction of this city by the atomic bomb that literally devastated it, what was a simple

snack

became a main dish that could be cooked with the flour delivered as food aid from the United States. United et al.

In the city it was then called “soul food” due to the importance it had in the diet of the survivors.

The passage of time and, with it, the arrival of economic recovery meant that little by little the recipe evolved and other ingredients were added - although maintaining generous quantities of cabbage as a reminder of those years of hardship - until it became the

Current, hearty

okonomiyaki that serves as a main dish.

The director of the

okonomiyaki

academy , Shigeki Sasaki, stated in March of last year that “

okonomiyaki

has gone from being a survival food to a Hiroshima specialty.”

And he is right.

The cook arranges thin layers of meat during the okonomiyaki making process.Óscar López-Fonseca

Currently, there are about 1,600 restaurants specializing in this dish in the Hiroshima region, half of them in the city itself.

In fact, in the center, not far from the Peace Park where the ruins of the only building that survived the atomic bomb stand, there is a building that houses around thirty restaurants specialized in this dish, distributed among its different floors.

It is known as

okonomimura

, literally “the town of

okonomiyaki

.”

In reality, they are small establishments in which there is only one bar with a griddle (called

teppan

) in front of which customers sit on stools so that the cook can start preparing the dish and, with it, the show.

Although each one has a specialty - due to the ingredients used or the way of cooking it -, broadly speaking, the majority repeat a similar culinary ritual.

Take as an example the one with

niku

(meat),

tamago

(egg) and

soba

(thin noodles), considered one of the most typical in Hiroshima.

In it, the cook first pours a thin flour dough to create a small circle that will serve as the initial base for the dish.

On top of it he adds a handful of chopped cabbage, bean sprouts and thinly sliced ​​meat, followed by other ingredients so that they cook.

Meanwhile, he fries the noodles separately and, once ready, adds them to the small mountain, which he turns over to place it on another thin layer of dough in such a way that it is sandwiched between the first and this one.

Finally, he tops it off with a fried egg as well.

The grilled egg, typical of Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki.Óscar López-Fonseca

Only then will you place the

okonimiyaki

in front of the customer on the same floor so that they can add sauces and other ingredients to their liking, and you will give them a metal spatula to cut it into pieces and take the pieces to the plate to eat.

Chopsticks are optional.

It is clear that any resemblance to a pizza or an omelette, no matter how “Japanese” we want to call them, is purely coincidental.

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