How to Shop at a Japanese Supermarket, with Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen

The chef breaks down his favorite Japanese pantry staples—and how to use them at home—on a tour of the massive Mitsuwa Marketplace in New Jersey.

Erin Mosbaugh

All photos by Liz Barclay (@liz_barclay)

Even if you’re a seasoned eater of sushi and ramen, walking into a Japanese grocery store can be intimidating. Beyond the staples that find their way into regular supermarkets—soy sauce, miso soup—you’re likely to encounter aisle upon aisle of unfamiliar foods with unreadable packaging. You know these things probably taste awesome—the only problem is, you have no idea how to use them.

To brush up on our knowledge of Japanese ingredients, we enlisted chef Ivan Orkin of the newly opened Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop in Gotham Market West. For 10 years, Orkin and his wife, Mari, lived in Tokyo, where he opened two restaurants that made him an unlikely ramen celebrity (his new book details how a Jewish kid from Long Island rose to noodle supremacy).

Orkin and his wife (a Japanese food expert herself) recently led us on a guided tour of Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ—the largest Japanese supermarket in the U.S.—and gave us the rundown on their pantry essentials. In the guide that follows, Ivan and Mari decode everything from katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) to Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise, and offer up easy-to-execute ideas on how to use each ingredient. Think of this as your gateway to making simple but delicious homestyle Japanese food in your own kitchen.

Orkin’s shopping companions for the day—wife Mari and business partner David Poran

Click through the gallery for a guide to Japanese pantry essentials, courtesy of chef Ivan Orkin.

And don’t miss this video below, in which Orkin demonstrates the proper way to slurp noodles when eating a bowl of ramen. If you’re like us, it’s likely that you’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.

Rice cooker

If you really want to get serious about cooking Japanese food at home, you need a good rice cooker. So before we get into the ingredients, here's a quick overview on shopping for the right machine. Orkin's rice-cooker pro tips: "In my house, we make fresh rice every morning and then we eat it throughout the day. This Zojirushi rice cooker has what they call the 'fuzzy logic.' It estimates how much liquid is in the cooker, so if you put a little too much water in, it'll produce more steam to cook it away—so it'll cook the rice perfectly every time. "Once you really start using these, you’ll never want to go back to any other way of preparing rice. It's great. The cheaper rice tastes better—that's really the truth. It cooks it perfectly. It has to be Japanese short grain, but sometimes we use the Kokuho Yellow Rose rice, which is eight bucks a pound. "Zojirushi is the most famous brand of rice cooker, but Tiger is also pretty big. It's an investment of two to three hundred dollars, and if you only make rice once a week, I'm not sure if it's worth getting one. But if you really like rice, it’s worth it. It also makes brown rice pretty well, and porridge."
Natto

What is it? "Natto—fermented soy beans—is a staple in my house. Okame Natto [pictured] is the one we usually use when in Tokyo. It's very popular in Tokyo and in Kanto, but it's not so popular in Osaka and Kyoto. My kids love it. It's gooey, stinky, and nasty, but once you learn to like it, you can't stop." How should you use it? "My wife says you have to whip this, like, 400 times before it's just right. But I would say you want to whip it with a fork at least fifty times, until it starts to foam and froth a bit. It's really good mixed with a raw egg. And you have to buy the eggs that are especially fresh and good to eat raw—they have them here at the market. It's also good to mix in with shiso leaves, little Japanese pickles, and raw squid."
Nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam)

What is it? "This vegetable has a great, crunchy texture. It's also really refreshing. Nagai means long and imo means potato. So it's like a long potato—it's a root vegetable. It's super gooey and slimy, and makes your fingers itchy if you hold it for too long. It's another thing that you just fall in love with. I love it. It's the best." How should you use it? "You peel the vegetable, then you cut it into batons. A typical preparation is dressing the nagaimo with soy sauce and vinegar. Another really nice thing to do with nagaimo is to make soba with sauce (we'll show you the sauce to get), then grate this on top of the soba. It turns into this gooey paste. I think it’s awesome."
Umeboshi

What is it? "This is pickled ume plum. There are many different kinds of umeboshi. They're very salty and tart, but some of them are sweet. This one [pictured] is hachimitsu umeboshi. It has a little honey injected into it, so the salty and sour flavors are balanced with the sweet. It's just the most delicious thing ever." How should you use it? "You can mix it into a salad dressing, or you can eat it just with some rice and sheets of seaweed. At Slurp Shop, I season my pork and rice dish with wasabi and umeboshi."
Tofu

What is it? "Johnny Tofu [pictured] is our favorite brand of tofu. We were surprised to see they were selling it here because we eat it in Tokyo a lot, but rarely see it in New York. It's really nice, soft tofu. It's really fresh and yummy." How should you use it? "You can scoop this up, pour some soy sauce over it, and put some katsuobushi [dried bonito flakes] on top, and that's it. That's all it needs."
Miso

What is it? "We have the two styles of miso: red and white. Generally speaking, the red is saltier and the white is sweeter. The red is probably the more standard one that people use. If you know you love miso soup and you eat it a lot at home, buy miso paste that lists 'bonito extract' as an ingredient. This has dashi already mixed in, so you can make instant miso soup with it." How should you use it? "Heat some water, take a scoop of the miso that has dashi in it, stir it up with a whisk, and you have miso soup—now just add some tofu, and maybe some wakame (seaweed), and you're done."
Katsuobushi

What is it? "This is dried bonito flakes. Generally speaking, the less bloodline that's in the katsuobushi, the more expensive it gets.

This brand [pictured on the left] is a nice brand for an inexpensive katsuo. It’s labeled 'katsuobushi packed soft,' which means it’s good for sprinkling over things. So this stuff isn't the highest quality, but it's a really nice thing to use."

How should you use it? "When you're serving cold tofu, you sprinkle the 'katsuobushi packed soft' on top. The other kind [pictured on the right] has bigger flakes and is better for making dashi."
Kewpie Mayo

What is it? "Kewpie mayonnaise. No home is complete without it." How should you use it? "You can use this on anything. It’s great on Japanese-style fried chicken, it's great squirted on top of broccoli—my kids adore it. This is another thing we don't live without in our house; we panic if we run out. I use it in my restaurant, too."
BullDog Tonkatsu Sauce

What is it? "This sauce is really, really good. It's the best brand of tonkatsu sauce and it's something you should have in your house." How should you use it? "Squirt this on anything you make that is fried."
Japanese Curry Roux

What is it? "Because we have children we use this brand, Vermont curry. It's consistent; it's mild; you mix it with water—it's essentially a roux." How should you use it? "The way I usually make it is: I'll take carrots, potatoes, and onions, and I sauté them up a little bit. Then I add meat, sweat that out, then I add water on top of that. Once everything comes to a simmer, you cook the meat and vegetables through, and you’re set. Curry is so popular in Japan."
Cook Do Products

What is it? "Anything Cook Do makes is really not so bad. You sauté up your meat and you squeeze this sauce on top. This is for when you really feel lazy and you don't feel like doing anything. I've been eating Cook Do when I feel really lazy for years and years. It's really reliable. It tastes like cheap Chinese food." How should you use it? "You have fourteen ounces of tofu and some ground meat, pork, or chicken, and you sauté it up, and you add the tofu and you squeeze the sauce over the top. Serve it with your new rice-cooker rice."
Soba

What is it? "Cold soba is really delicious. It's eaten in the summer time. Because the brand [we use in] Japan is not here, Hakubaku [pictured] is the brand of dried soba we recommend." How should you use it? "Boil the soba noodles, then chill them, then have them with the tsuyu as a dipping sauce. You can dip the soba or you can actually just put it in a bowl of the tsuyu and just eat it like that. You can grate the nagaimo long potato over that, and mix it up. Or, you can grate the potato into the tsuyu, and then you dip the soba into that mixture and pull it out and slurp it up. Throw a bit of chopped green onion on top."
Tsuyu (soba dipping sauce)

What is it? "This is what you want to serve with soba noodles. Many times it's a concentrate so it says right here, 'For Japanese cold noodle as a dipping sauce.' It is sort of a liquid soy sauce dashi flavor." How should you use it? "Add one cup of this soup base to three cups of water. And then you cook your cold soba noodles and dip them in. You can also use this to dip your tempura in—so if you made your own tempura, you would use this for your dipping sauce. You could add it to a soup, or add it to a poaching liquid when you poach vegetables. It's a really essential thing to keep around."
Furikake

What is it? "Furikake is what you use to season rice. We make our own version at Slurp Shop. We make it from dried seaweed, sesame seed, sugar, salt, garlic, and onion. You can get all different types of furikake. The nori goma and the nori tamago [pictured on the left] are your two standard furikakes. Then there’s otona-no furikake [pictured on the right]. Otona means 'grownup,' and so it's a little more elevated—this one has soy sauce and bonito in it." How should you use it? "Sprinkle this over plain white rice and it’s delicious. My kid takes a sheet of nori [seaweed], a little bit of rice, sprinkles this on, rolls it up, and eats it. For those of you who read this article and say, 'Fuck it, I'm going to go buy a rice cooker,' now you have a bunch of ways to make your rice taste good."
Karashi

What is it? "Japanese spicy mustard." How should you use it? "Anytime you make a pork tonkatsu [a pork cutlet], it's really great to serve it with karashi and a sweet sauce."
HonDashi

What is it? "This is your classic bonito soup stock, hondashi—you can really give yourself a really great dashi flavor just from this. It's a powder. It's the same idea as bullion cubes but it's even faster." How should you use it? "When you're making something that calls for dashi, use this."
Post-shopping snack: Marion Crepes

After shopping at Mitsuwa, head over to the food court, where you'll find ramen, tonkatsu, sushi, tempura, small cakes filled with red bean paste called obanyaki, and so much more. Orkin and his wife headed to the Marion Crepes stand for thin crepes rolled into cones and filled with everything from strawberries, to red bean, to green tea ice cream. There are also savory crepes filled with cream cheese and tuna.

How to Shop at a Japanese Supermarket, with Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen

Rice cooker

Natto

Nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam)

Umeboshi

Tofu

Miso

Katsuobushi

Kewpie Mayo

BullDog Tonkatsu Sauce

Japanese Curry Roux

Cook Do Products

Soba

Tsuyu (soba dipping sauce)

Furikake

Karashi

HonDashi

Post-shopping snack: Marion Crepes

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