Tenshin was originally a snack designed to satisfy the hunger pangs of meditating Zen priests. Such snacks might have been dumplings, rice-cakes, and udon or soba noodles which were eaten before the taking of tea. Nowadays, tenshin, similar to chakaiseki, is a light meal served at a chaji, or tea-gathering. Unlike kaiseki, however, a tenshin meal consists of fewer dishes which are served all at once on one tray. At an informal occasion, items are placed in Bento containers and served with Sake (Japanese Rice wine).
A teppan is an iron hotplate and the term refers to the food cooked on it. It is normally cooked in front of the diner and consists of slices of meat and vegetables.
Teriyaki-style cooking is one of Japan's best known - and certainly one of its most delicious - exports. Around the world, the term, "teriyaki," is used to refer to meat or fish that has been grilled on skewers or on a grill plate, flavoured either by marinating or basting with teriyaki sauce, a rich, tasty blend of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. In Japanese, teri means "gloss," "lustre" or "glaze" - an apt description of the mouth-watering sheen created by the basting sauce. Yaki means simply "grilled" or "broiled." Cooking foods over charcoal is the classic Japanese method of preparing teriyaki. In Japanese cooking, teriyaki is prepared by brushing on the sweet soy-sauce-based glaze in the last stages of grilling fish, chicken, beef, pork or vegetables, usually over an open fire. The final basting stages not only make the food glisten but also add flavour. Teriyaki-style cooking has long been a popular way to prepare large fish with a relatively high fat content, such as yellowtail and salmon, or more delicate fish and shellfish. The teriyaki method is also used to create yakitori, bite-size pieces of chicken on a skewer.
False morel mushrooms. They are deadly poisonous if not cooked, closely resembling real morel mushrooms, being wrinkled and brown in the same way. However, morel mushrooms are symmetrical while false morels are irregular in shape and look like a brown brain, while true morels are more like a sponge. True morels have hollow stems while those of false morels are solid. Be careful to check each of these features before attempting to eat one. They have a fine flavour and are generally parboiled. They are popular in Nordic countries and in Finland especially.
