WHEN I VISITED Japan for the first time a few years ago, it was mid-December. I saw ads all over Tokyo showing smiling faces gathered around a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, with the slogan “Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakki” (“If It’s Christmas, It Must Be Kentucky”). “Is this a thing?” I asked a Japanese friend. She explained that on Christmas, people in Japan do indeed feast on fried chicken, along with Champagne and Christmas cake—usually a strawberry shortcake. “Then your boyfriend takes you to a love hotel,” she said. “It’s like Valentine’s Day in America, a couples holiday.”
It struck me as an ideal festive meal: fried finger food, bubbly and a cake so fluffy and inviting you want to plant your face in it. Ever since, I’ve looked for an excuse to recreate it. I don’t celebrate Christmas, but this, my first New Year’s Eve as a newlywed, seemed the right time to adopt this hedonistic menu.
Christmas rituals in Japan have gone through various permutations over the years—none of which have much to do with religion, as less than 1% of the country is Christian. Japan began to open up to the West in the late 19th century, and by the start of the 20th century, Christmas took hold as a holiday for children. Following World War II, it evolved into a celebration for adults, complete with wine and cake. (Love hotels came later.)
Then came Kentakki. Japan’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in 1970. “We held our first Christmas campaign in 1974, selling the combination of our KFC Original Recipe chicken and a bottle of wine,” said Yuko Nakajima, chief marketing officer for KFC Japan. This marketing push helped make fried chicken an integral part of the Japanese Christmas tradition.
I asked chef Sawako Okochi, co-owner of the Brooklyn restaurant Shalom Japan, if she had a fried chicken recipe she could share. She grew up in Hiroshima, believing in Santa and eating fried chicken and strawberry shortcake for Christmas. “My mom always made fried chicken from scratch,” said Ms. Okochi. “She thinks fast food is unhealthy.” Her recipe for karaage, Japanese-style fried chicken, is a typical one: thigh meat marinated in ginger, soy sauce, garlic and sake, then fried.
A dredging in flour mixed with katakuriko, chestnut starch, makes for an extra-crisp crust. Since it’s hard to find chestnut starch in the U.S., Ms. Okochi uses cornstarch instead. Unlike the bone-in pieces favored for American-style fried chicken, karaage comes in boneless nuggets that can be polished off in two or three bites. If you can’t find packaged skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, ask a butcher to bone the thighs for you. The recipe is mercifully uncomplicated. My husband and I tag-teamed: I dredged, he fried and salted.
Unlike its biscuit-based American cousin, Japanese strawberry shortcake is a buoyant sponge layered with berries and whipped cream—a natural for a holiday menu, decked out in Japan’s celebratory colors, red and white. According to Tokyo-based pastry chef and consultant Ayako Watanabe, the cake’s airy texture even has a name, “fwa fwa,” a delightful onomatopoeia that means fluffy. Ms. Watanabe combines cake flour and cornstarch, an approximation of the “soft” flour she uses in Japan, and incorporates as much air into the batter as possible. When I first made the cake, its light sponge and lofty whipped cream were ethereal as promised.
My husband and I are still debating whether this New Year’s Eve will be a night in for just us two or we’ll be celebrating with friends. But the menu is a sure thing.
Japanese Strawberry Shortcake
ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (includes chilling time) SERVES: 12
For the cake:
1 cup cake flour, plus more for dusting
6 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup cornstarch
5 tablespoons butter, melted and very warm, plus more for greasing pan
For the syrup:
1 cup water
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons kirsch, Grand Marnier or other liqueur
For assembly:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 (16-ounce) container strawberries, hulled and halved
1. Prepare the cake: Preheat oven to 335 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper. Alternatively, butter pan and lightly dust with flour, tapping out excess.
2. Use an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment to beat eggs and sugar at high speed until pale and foamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and whisk 3 minutes more, then reduce speed to low and whisk until batter leaves a ribbon-like trail when whisk is lifted, about 1 minute more.
3. Sift cake flour and cornstarch into a medium bowl, then sift a second time. Sift mixture once more, directly into batter, and use a large rubber spatula to fold in by hand until just combined.
4. Add about ½ cup batter to very warm melted butter, and stir to combine. Add butter-batter mixture to remaining batter, folding gently until just combined.
5. Pour enough batter into prepared cake pan to fill two-thirds of the way up the sides. (You may have leftover batter.) Gently rap pan on countertop to knock out air bubbles. Transfer to oven and bake until cake is golden and tester inserted in center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven, rap pan on countertop once more, then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely in pan.
6. Prepare the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar over medium and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Remove from heat and stir in liqueur. Let cool.
7. Unmold cooled cake, remove parchment and flip cake right-side up. Use a serrated knife to split cake horizontally into two equal layers.
8. To assemble: Use an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment to whip cream and sugar over low speed about 3 minutes. When cream begins to thicken, increase speed to medium and whip until stiff, about 30 seconds more.
9. Place bottom layer of cake on a serving plate. Use a pastry brush or a spoon to generously moisten first layer with syrup. Spread a quarter of the whipped cream in an even layer over surface of cake. Cover evenly with strawberry halves, cut-side up, leaving no gaps. Spread a quarter of remaining cream on top in an even layer. Cover with second layer of sponge, and moisten generously with remaining syrup. Spread top and sides of cake with remaining whipped cream. Decorate with remaining strawberries. Chill at least 2 hours or up to overnight before serving.
—Adapted from Ayako Watanabe, Tokyo, Japan
Karaage (Fried Chicken)
ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (includes marinating) SERVES: 6
2½ pounds boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cut into quarters
1 (3-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
¼ cup sake
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 large egg
Vegetable oil, for frying
½ cup cornstarch
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1. Place chicken in a large bowl or resealable bag. Make marinade: In a medium bowl, mix ginger, garlic, salt, sake, soy sauce and egg until well combined. Pour marinade over chicken, turning to coat. Cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
2. Remove chicken from refrigerator. Line a baking sheet with two layers of paper towels. At
tach a thermometer to a Dutch oven or other large heavy pot and set over medium-high heat. Pour in at least two inches of oil and heat to 350 degrees. (Alternatively, use a deep fryer.)
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Drain marinade from chicken. In a shallow bowl, whisk together cornstarch and flour. Working in batches of 4-5 pieces at a time, dredge chicken in flour, turning to coat. Shake to remove any excess. Use dry, heat-proof tongs or wooden chopsticks to transfer dredged chicken pieces to hot oil, taking care not to splash and making sure pot is not overcrowded. Fry chicken, turning halfway through, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and season with salt. Keep warm in oven while frying remaining chicken. Serve with lemon wedges.
—Adapted from Sawako Okochi of Shalom Japan, Brooklyn
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