Maybe you’re in a hurry. Maybe you don’t have five whole minutes to cook up your sake-accompanying snack. In that case, it doesn’t get any simpler than this recipe: just sprinkle katsuobushi (bonito flakes) on top of cream cheese, add a little soy sauce, and that’s it. The smoky bonito and thick cream cheese are supposed to make that sake taste amazing!

First of all, if you’re not a fan of wasabi, we don’t blame you. The taste can be quite intense, especially if you’re not prepared, potentially wrecking a meal rather than enhancing it. But pickled wasabi is generally weaker than regular wasabi, making it far less likely that your face and sinuses will burn away when you eat it.

If you’ve already tried the salted squid entrails and you’re ready to expand your horizons even more, Japan has exactly what you’re looking for. Why not sample some delicious fish entrails with your next sake? It might not sound great at first, but fish entrails got their Japanese name, shuto (meaning “stolen sake“), because when people ate it with sake, the two went together so well people couldn’t stop and “the sake would disappear as quickly as if it’d been stolen.”

If fish guts aren’t your thing, then maybe some fried chicken skin would be a better complement for your sake instead. You can order this at most Japanese restaurants, but making your own at home is easy too. Just fry the skins, add a little yuzu kosho (paste made from yuzu and chili peppers) with a dash of lemon, and you’re good to go.

Can’t decide what you want to eat with your sake? Well, then have it all at once! Get yourself a little wheel of Camembert cheese, slice it, then add ume (sour plum), bonito flakes and onions on top. It’s kind of like a tiny pizza, and, when combined with some sake, it’s the perfect way to get all the flavors of Japan to slam against your taste buds at once.

Whatever dish you choose, remember to kanpai (say cheers) and shout itadakimasu before your meal!

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