Korin Chef

In yakitori, the Japanese art of grilling chicken, process is as important as ingredients. Like with sushi, the art of cutting is the foundation of flavor—how you portion a chicken determines its taste and texture. “It all starts with detailed and specific knife work,” says yakitori expert Chef Atsushi Kono.... Read More

We invited Chef Shuichi Kotani, the respected soba authority and president of Worldwide-Soba Inc., to the Korin kitchen to talk about Japan’s celebrated buckwheat noodles. Delicate, nuanced buckwheat noodles—soba—have been an iconic dish in Japan for at least four hundred years. Watching Chef Kotani conjure these fresh noodles from just... Read More

Tempura. No other style of deep frying can produce such a light, lacy, crunchy crust that accentuates the natural flavors of ingredients and, yet, doesn’t taste greasy. Ingredients, typically vegetables and seafood, are dipped into a batter of flour, egg and water, and deep fried. That’s it. But of course,... Read More

Tea is a world as complex and deep as wine. With its celebrated and hallowed tea culture, Japan holds a singular place in this sphere. To understand more about how to choose and brew Japanese tea, we caught up with Zach Mangan, the founder of Kettl Tea, a company that... Read More

We caught up with Chef Louis Bayla of Little Park in Manhattan, to talk about his favorite blade in his knife bag: A special-order 9.2 inch Nenox kiritisuke.   The kiritsuke is the closest a typically specialized Japanese chef knife comes to its Swiss Army cousin:  Its unique shape—sword-like and single-edged—makes... Read More

In our series on soba, you may have noticed Chef Shuichi Kotani working with a particular ladle when preparing the broth and flavoring base, as well as when assembling the finished dish. This ladle is called an otama—an indispensable tool found in every Japanese kitchen. Compared to a typical metal... Read More