Product Description
Easy and Healthy Japanese Food for the American Kitchen combines easy-to-use cooking techniques with traditional Japanese cuisine.Author Keiko Aoki balances the delicate Japanese flavor and difficulty with ingredients and equipment found in the average American kitchen. A sure to please cookbook for all enthusiasts of Japanese food, as well as those looking to prepare healthier meals for their families.

These quick-to-prepare recipes are designed to accommodate the hectic and busy lifestyles most Americans endure.

* Entree recipes featuring beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables, tofu, sushi, and dessert selections
* Each recipe is accompanied with a four-color photograph
* Resources include shopping lists, substitutable ingredi ents, cooking tips, product websites, and index

"Three-quarters of Japanese cooking in New York now is where French cooking was in the mid-1970s: on the verge of a major breakthrough in quality and authenticity. Japanese is the new French."
--New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nothing particularly healthy or authentic
I received this book as a gift, and I was quite excited to open it since I love Japanese food. However it was very disappointing. There is nothing particularly healthy about it. Many recipes unnecessarily use ingredients like mayonnaise, butter, and the like. And I don't find it that authentic either. There are other Japanese cookbooks and sites out there with much more authentic recipes that are just as easy to make. I get the feeling the author got the book deal just because she is married to the Benihana founder. (And really, how authentically Japanese is Benihana anyway? Not very.)

An enthusiastically recommended and elegant addition
Time-constrained gourmets who appreciate Japanese cuisine while having to eat as healthy as they can will appreciate "Easy & Healthy Japanese Food For The American Kitchen" by Japanese-American Keiko Aoki for the its savory recipes which are as easy to prepare as they are delicious to consume. From Keilo's Miso Soup; to Keiko's Easy Sushi Rolls; to Keiko's Everyday Miso Cod; to Keiko's Original Oven-Baked Chicken Yakitori; to Keiko's Original Healthy Lean Tofu Hamburger, each recipe is nicely organized and presented -- complete with a mouth-watering, full-page, color photograph of the finished dish. Thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly', "Easy & Healthy Japanese Food For The American Kitchen" is an enthusiastically recommended and elegant addition to any personal or community library cookbook collection! ... Read more

Product Description
The first and only guide of its kind offering practical tips on what to order and how to enjoy it. Alongside extensive sample menus, this handy volume also explores the history of Japanese restaurant etiquette, the emphasis on visual presentation, and regional variations.Amazon.com Review
Okay, you can walk into your favorite sushi bar and order thetuna roll in Japanese; that's a good start. But there's more to lifethan teriyaki, tempura, and sushi. Withdescriptions of grilled chicken skewers (yakitori), heartyplates of pork cutlets (tonkatsu), barbecue(robatayaki), and steaming rice bowls topped with grilled eel(unagi donburi), Robb Satterwhite lets you in on a world ofJapanese cuisine that's little known east of Tokyo, but well worthlearning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

perfect travel book
This is the book to give to someone who is going to visit Japan for the first time.

Mediocre "intro" to Japanese cuisine
This book seemed like an excellent book when I read it before going to Japan. However, once I was there, all of the food sections were pretty much useless. None of the listings were detailed enough and almost all of the restaurants had menus completely unique and different from the one's listed in the book.

However, the book's main redeeming value is page 32/33 and 42/43 that gives very useful phrases to use in restaurants. Otherwise you can pretty much do without the book. If you don't read kanji, you're pretty much on your own and will probably end up pointing to pictures and saying "I want that." If you read kanji, you'll be able to guess over 50% of what's on the menu.

Downsized?
I found the content of this book very interesting. It's a complete guide to the different restaurants and other eating spots you might find in Japan. The familiar sushi, tempura and teppanyaki are just a few of them. Also there is information on the big regional differences and on ethnic cuisine (Korean minority).
But, unlike Japanese dishes, the visual aspect of this book is poor. Either out of cost effectiveness orto scale it down to pocket size. Type is small and any Japanese character with more than 5 strokes is absolutely illegable.
The different kinds of counting are not explained, but phrases as 'please, turn up/down the flame' and 'please turn off the burner' are translated at the end of almost every chapter.
Worst of all, the text refers often to a chart of the Japanese syllables inside front and back cover. But it simply is not there!
It looks like a inexpencive reprint, that makes me wanting the original version. Less content and bigger type would work wonders for this unique book.

For the adventurous
This book is more suited to those on a culinary tour of Japan, or those looking to taste the entire culture.I went on a short business trip, and ordinary guidebooks seemed to have enough information for survivial (for me at least).

If you're the sort of person who likes to try everything, this book may be for you.For a one week trip, I did not have time to take advantage of all of the information.

As indispensable as any map or guide book
If you are going on a trip to Japan, take "What's What in Japanese Restaurants" with you. It is a handy, pocket-sized reference book that will save you many a stomach-ache and hopefully let you discover many a good taste.Not all strange Japanese food is to be feared!

The guide outlines many of the main Japanese foods, a few ways to eat them and some simple restaurant etiquette.The food are named in both English and Japanese, with the Japanese written in Katakana and Hiragana.This is important, as most Japanese menus will not contain an English translation.

The books small size is most convenient, as luggage space can be at a premium.In the end, you will be glad you brought this book along. ... Read more

Product Description
In her groundbreaking book, Kimiko Barber presents 100 essential ingredients, from the more familiar, such as soba (noodles) and nori (seaweed), to the more unusual umeboshi (pickled plums) and fu (pretty, colored gluten sponge cakes). Through informative prose, beautiful food photography and images of real people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, The Japanese Kitchen tells the full story behind Japanese cuisine and makes it both inviting and accessible to all. ... Read more

Product Description
This book offers an elegant way to enjoy delicious, healthy food on the run.Includes more than 40 main dish recipes and step-by-step illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

Outdated
I guess a few years ago there was a bit of a bento craze on the internet which sent people flocking to their kitchens to create apple pigs and space-themed omelet cutouts.Since then, the word "bento" to western culture has come to mean artfully crafted edible playthings squeezed together in a neat little box.This book will definitely give you a nice introduction to Japanese bento foods, and the recipes do work (I got a really nice orange and cabbage salad from this book.)But it predates the trend for style, and cutesy bento enthusiasts would probably a bit disappointed by the straightforwardness of the recipes and presentation.

In fact, there is little to no text besides the recipes.There's no explanation of what bento is, how it has evolved, or any of the usual literature that generally comes at the beginning of a novelty cookbook.The book is organized in a dreadfully popular quick-n-easy style and the recipes begin immediately from the first page.There are a lot of recipes, but they seem to be organized by the box, meaning there is no "mains" section and "sides" section, and so forth.

What kept me from liking this book the most, though, was that I didn't find anything really inspiring or challenging in the recipes.I am well versed in Japanese ingredients and cooking so nothing in here was very foreign to me, and I was personally hoping, for such a seminal book on the subject, to find some surprises or challenges and there really weren't any.Many of the recipes were oversimplified and some seem like they were thrown in there to fill the book.And even with that, it's still a pretty thin book.The photography is also not so fresh looking, and there is little food styling advice.I think this book is exhaustive of the basics of Japanese lunch food but these days it comes up short as a one-stop bento book.

Excellent recipes, except for
I purchased two Bento Boxes for my husband and I to use for lunch.This book had excellent reviews, and the recipes are simple, easy and the pictures gorgeous.

However, most recipes utilize shellfish (which I'm allergic too) and I was really hoping there would be a good focus on vegetarian or other alternate bento recipes.So, if you have no allergies - awesome book.If you have shellfish allergies, about 1/3 of the recipes are good.

yummy bento!
I love this book.That said, I only actually bought it because I knew there were a few good asian market groceries in my city, so I was confident that I could find things that I needed.It's a surprisingly thin book, but packed with huge color photos and visual instructions so I find it a lot more useful than some of my text-book-size cook books.And the one last annoying thing, that I've discovered in this book (and several other "bento" cookbooks") is that the recipes make single servings.I double or triple most recipes just because I cook for more than one person, and even if I'm the only one eating it, i'd like to at least have left-overs so I don't have to cook again for every single meal.

Impossible to find ingredients
I have yet to make a single recipe from this book.I live in a small town in the Southeastern United States, and these ingredients are simply not to be found.What a shame!

Very Japanese
I bought this to go along with the Mr. Bento lunch jar I bought.I was a little disappointed the recipes were not using common ingredients you would find in a normal grocery store.Some of the recipes looked good, and some were simple enough, but honestly dont think I will try any of them.I was looking for new luch ideas to take to work, and this wasnt what I wanted. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An updated version of a classic
Muriel Miura began her career as a home economist with Hawaii's Gas Co.She's hosted her own cooking shows.One of them called Cook Japanese which was aired on Hawaii Public Television in the early '70s.

She's also an author of numerous cookbooks.In 1974, as a way to help pay for her daughter's private school tuition, she wrote Cook Japanese: Hawaiian Style which she self-published.This cookbook has become a classic and is now out of print.Thanks to her daughter's encouragement to revise and reprint this cookbook for her children, Muriel Miura's classic is once again available for a whole new generation to enjoy.

The cookbook is sectioned into three parts:

Part One: Things Japanese
. . . How to Use Chopsticks
. . . Japanese Table Setting
. . . Decorative Ways of Cutting and Slicing
. . . Japanese Cooking Utensils

Part Two:Recipes
. . . Appetizers (Zenzai)
. . . Soup Stocks & Soups (Dashi and Owanrui)
. . . Rice Dishes (Gohanmono)
. . . Noodles (Menrui)
. . . Mixed Foods Vinegared Salads, and Pickled Vegetables
(Aemono,Sunomono, & Tsukemono)
. . . Raw Fish (Sashimi)
. . . Foods Cooked in Seasoned Liquids (Niimono)
. . . Steamed Foods (Mushimono)
. . . Fried Foods (Agemono)
. . . One Pot Cooking (Nabemono)
. . . Broiled Foods (Yakimono)
. . . Tofu Dishes (Tofu Ryori)
. . . Desserts (Dezaato)

Part Three: Appendices

This book has many colored pictures of the prepared dishes.Many of the ingredients used can be found in the asian food aisle of most well stocked supermarkets these days. Ingredients which may be harder to obtain can more than likely be found through the internet.

One of the better gifts from my mother
My mother gave me this book a year ago when I wanted to make some Japanese food for my girlfriend (non-Asian).I liked it because the recipes were easy to follow, worked well, and had Japanese flavor and Hawaii flavor.I also like it as a Japanese-American cookbook, and being Japanese American, I don't see them too often.While it might not be the most "authentic" Japanese food (it's close), it is authentic Japanese Hawaii food and well worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description
Dinner parties will never be the same again! Kentaro Kobayashi's fifth volume of Easy Japanese Cooking invites everyone to taste the lighter side of dinner, appetizers!

Recipes Include:

1 Dish Appetizers: Pickles/ Salsa/ Nachos/ Salmon Dip/ Avacado Dip/ Bruschetta/ Spicy Cucumbers/ Turnips/ Octopus Marinade/ Squid Kimchi

Crispy: Fried Cheeze/ Cheesy Rice Crackers/ Deep Fried Mochi/ Bacon/ Deep Fried Noodles/ Potato Skins

Meat: Wasabi-Flavored Steak Slices/ Scallions on Karubi Steak/ Garlic and Diced Meat/ Salted Cow Tongue/ Chives and Meat Stir Fry/ Meat Strips with Egg Yolk/ Salted Fried Chicken/ Stew with Balls of Chicken/ Roast Pork/ Sesame, Onion, and Pork
Stir Fry/ Fried Pork with Salty Sauce

Toss It, Put It On: Sunny Lettuce Sesame Salad/ Shrimp and Avacado Mayo Salad/ Dried Fruits and Cream Cheese/ Parmesan Broccoli Salad/ White Radish Salad-3Ways/ Fried Tofu and Miso/ Cod Roe and Potato Kimchi/ Cod Roe and Potato Butter

Standard Appetizers: Fried Chicken/ Tomato Salad/ German Potatos/ Pork Kimchi/ Boiled and Salty Beans/ Grilled Mushrooms/ Deep-Fried Eggplant/ Grilled Rice Balls

Just Cabbage: Corned BeefCabbage/ Salted Cabbage/ Clam and Cabbage Garlic Stir Fry/ Chinese-style Pickled Cabbage/ Butter Cabbage/ Grilled Cabbage

Tofu: Tofu Steak/ Lightly-Pickled Tofu/ Tofu and Pepper/ Chinese-style Tofu/ Tofu Stir Fry/ Okra and Tofu/ Hot and Spicy Tofu/ Tofu Kimchi Soup

Spicy: Chicken Wings/ Garlic Potato Salad/ Chili Beef Bites/ Bean and Bacon Salad/ Hot and Spicy Shrimp/ Chicken and Onion Curry Marinade/ Sweet Potato Honey Mustard/ Chili-flavored Sausage/ Spicy Potatos

Fry Pan: Mini Shrimp and Vegetables Deep-Fried/ Clams with Oyster Sauce/ Potato and Bacon in Cheesy Cream Sauce/ Devil's Tongue and Soy Sauce. Fried Garlic/ Fish Paste and Peanuts Saute/ Garlic Grass Stir Fry/ Sea Urchin and Potato Saute/ Mushroom and Garlic Stir Fry/Napa Cabbage and Miso/ Mushroom and Egg

Rice: Flavored Rice/ Garlic Rice/ Fish Rice Porridge/ Grilled Rice/ Chicken and Rice Soup ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I thought the book would have more in appetizer menus but...
It doesn't, it should have more extensive research before you buy this book. Go to Barnes and noble make sure this isn't the only book they give out because directions are simplified and ingredients are hard to come by where I live and technically it was mother's day gift for my mom yet she not at all interested in making the meals. All the purchasing was for nothing again.

Wholeheartedly recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections
Drawing upon culinary traditions of Japanese cuisine which have been adapted for American kitchens, "Easy Japanese Cooking: Appetizer Rex" is the fifth title in an impressive series of cookbooks specifically designed with the novice family cook in mind. Focused specifically on appetizers that would embellish any and all dining occasions from elegant dining occasions of celebration to simple family meals, this handy 96-page paperback compendium showcases beautifully illustrated and presented recipes ranging from Cube Steak with Garlic; Fried Tofu with Miso; and Chicken Wings with Freshly Ground Pepper; to Fried Cheese Sticks; Wasabi Butter Beef; and Potato Skins. "Easy Japanese Cooking: Appetizer Rex" is wholeheartedly recommended for personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The first Japanese cookbook I ever bought, and still one of my favorites.
This is the first Japanese cookbook I ever bought, and still one of my favorites. (Full disclosure: I've semiprofessionally taught Japanese cooking classes.) Shizuo Tsuji's book is the ultimate English-language Japanese cookbook of gourmet and traditional foods; this one is about what people actually eat in their homes.

The one problem recipe I've encountered in this book is the sekihan recipe - I use Tsuji's steaming method instead of this one's rice cooker method, because when you cook glutinous rice in a rice cooker it turns out a sticky greasy mess, much like his description. His process is more intensive but in that case it's worth it. The rest of the recipes in this book have been just fine for me, though. I'm impressed by both the simplicity of the directions and the breadth of coverage in less than 100 pages.

Great design...great price
This is a great volume of *home cooking* recipes.It has great pictures to help guide you a bit and information on uncommon (in this country) ingredients.I have tried several recipes and while I don't consider them *fast cooking*...what i mean is I wouldnt necessarily start cooking them after a long days work...I don't see them as long or overly invovled.

Once you stock up on the traditional ingredients, flavorings, spices cooking this way is much easier. And much less time consuming...There are a good number of recipes that, once the intitial ingredients are purchased, are very economical (featuring eggs, rice, chicken thighs)

The feel of the book is very good.The pages are smooth and easy to wipe up if you have to, the spine is sturdy (an issue i have with non-spiral cook books) and hasnt broken on me even after two or so years of reading and using.A big plus for a cook book.Excellent quality pictures

Personally, I like more recipes for cook books...i find this book a bit thin.Even so, I think its a great addition to a collection and probably a great first japanese cook book.

Japanese Mom's Home Cooking!
My Japanese mother is now elderly and no longer able to cook my favorite dishes, so I needed a Japanese cookbook if I ever wanted to eat homestyle cooking again.This book is wonderful!This is your basic everyday cooking, not fancy restaurant foods (even though they are delicious enough for a restaurant).Recipes are very easy to follow (in addition to helpful hints in preparing them) and there are beautiful color photographs of what the final dish is to look like.I started off with the basics - two different recipes of Japanese pickles - my mother loved them!What better compliment could you ask for!

What I've been looking for!
I've lived in Japan for several years and have been looking for a cookery book that could show me how to make simple everyday dishes I've enjoyed so often in Japanese homes.From Niku-jaga (a meat and potato dish) to tempura (vegetables or fish deep-fried in batter) to zoni (soup with rice cakes), not to mention sushi, all the home basics are included here.There are lots of photos showing you both the final product and key steps in preparation.The introductory section also has photos of commonly used basic ingredients such as fresh ginger and wasabi (Japanese horseradish) with tips and explanations on how to prepare and use them in dishes. A practical, well-thought out book.

Authentic Recipies translated into english
This cookbook was NOT written for the US market, it is a Japanese cookbook written by the Japanese version of home and garden translated. None of the tastes are modified to the US palet. If you want REAL Japanese food, this is the book for you. ... Read more

Product Description
With exotic flavors and lovely presentations, Japanese cuisine intrigues and tempts many home cooks and challenges most. Emi Kazuko, author and expert on Japanese food, reveals the essence of this cuisine in MasterClass in Japanese Cooking. Each chapter covers basics on the cuisine as well as the ingredients and presentation styles. Recipes such as Thick Egg Soup, Agedashi-dofu and Swordfish Rice Bowl with Honey Shoyu Sauce, all with step-by-step "MasterClass" guides presented by renowned Japanese chefs, make a beginner seem like an expert. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Recipes, but NOT a master class lesson in sight.
This book does not qualify as a `Master Class' in Japanese Cooking, because it has none of the hallmarks of a true master class. Two `master class' books by teachers would be Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and Marcella Hazan's `Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking'. Two modern `master class' books by great American chefs would be Thomas Keller's very new `Bouchon' and Paul Bertolli's `Cooking By Hand'. I point out two kinds of authors for `master class books because Ms. Kazuko's book is neither.

Ms. Kazuko is not a chef. She is a Japanese journalist transplanted to the United Kingdom, where this book was written and printed. Although I am sure she is well trained in Japanese cookery, I sense she does not have the depth of knowledge as Ms. Child and Ms. Hazan. Her role in this book is that of editor or anthologist. All the true culinary writing is done by twenty (20) chefs, twelve (2) based in Japan, two (2) based in the United Kingdom, one (1) from Germany, three (3) from the United States, one (1) from Australia, and one (1) from Hong Kong. Each of these chefs has contributed one or more classic Japanese recipes in eleven different chapters. Ms. Kazuko has contributed the introduction, and chapters on the tea ceremony, the culinary regions of Japan, and `the Japanese store cupboard'. These contributions are brief and serve no better purpose than to familiarize a non-Japanese reader with some of the highlights of Japanese culinary landscape. This is a sure giveaway that the book is far more a survey for foreigners than it is a monograph on advanced techniques. But, even as an introductory text these chapters fall short in that there are virtually no pictures of a very visual tea ceremony, no helpful map for people to whom the geography of Japan is an almost complete mystery, and no pictures accompanying almost all of the descriptions of Japanese staple foods and condiments.

Most of the individual recipes appear to be in a classic Japanese style, although some have been metamorphosed by a transplantation to Hawaii or other distant lands still under the sway of Japanese culture. There are few French or Italian methods, although some classic French ingredients such as Foie gras do make an appearance. Most recipes fill a page with four sections. A brief paragraph by the editor introduces the `master chef'. A second headnote paragraph by the chef discusses some of the finer points they feel you should know about the recipe. The list of ingredients is neatly divided into sections when the recipe has separate preparations such as sauce and main preparation. Most ingredient measurements are given in both metric and English units. When only one unit is present, it is the English unit. Most unit conversions are very good, although some may be off by as much as 20%, which is no major crime, as I have seen Patricia Wells be off by that much on occasion. A few ingredient descriptions may be a bit vague, as in the specification for `1 salad lettuce'. This may be perfectly clear to a reader in London, but I think a Yank may be scratching their head trying to decide between iceberg, leaf lettuce, Romaine, of Boston lettuce. The irony is that the editor's headnote says the chef believes there are too many ambiguous words in classic Japanese recipes.

If this were a true `master class' book for non-Japanese, I would expect it to be divided more by technique such as knife skills, sushi, tempura, broths, and hibachi than by the traditional western chapters with tofu replacing polenta and nori and raman replacing semolina pasta. There is no discussion whatsoever about the style of knife unique to Japanese cuisine. This is odd, because whether or not they use the French or the Japanese styles of knife can generally define all the world's cuisines. This is especially odd since so much is made in western presentations of Japanese culinary practice about the great knife skills of the sushi chef.

The individual recipes, I believe, are generally quite good, even though the arrangement of recipes really runs counter to a book on classic techniques. The very first recipe in the first chapter on appetizers is a sashimi recipe requiring fairly advanced knife skills about which the book says nothing. The recipe refers to the katsura-muki technique for creating thinly shaved sheets of daikon and refers to another page which provides nothing so much as a picture of what these thinly shaved sheets will look like. There is nothing on how to properly hold knife or hand or vegetable, or what knife is best to use for this technique. The chapter on stocks and soups contains not a single recipe on stocks. A book on French cuisine with such a chapter would begin with no fewer than three and as many as eight different stock recipes. It is obvious from this book that the Japanese are much closer to Italian thinking about stock than to French. Just as Italian cuisine is based on a simple brodo, Japanese cooking seems to be based almost entirely on a fish stock (dashi). Rather than giving us one recipe and using it in all soup dishes, each author gives his own dashi recipe. When Jeremiah Tower did an omnibus book cooking with many major American chefs, he provided pantry recipes for all his colleagues. But then, Jeremiah Tower is a major culinary talent.

This is not a bad book but it suffers by the less than proficient writing style of editor Kazuko and her publisher's copy editing resources were a little thin in putting together this book.

If you want a true class on Japanese cooking, try `Japanese Cooking A Simple Art' by Shizuo Tsuji. I have not read the book yet, but a quick skim tells me it has everything I find missing in Ms. Kazuko's compilation.
... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Japan's rich history of spirits is experiencing a renaissance as people the world over become increasingly infatuated with beverages made from sak , shochu, and Japanese whisky. In Japanese Cocktails, cocktail expert Yuri Kato collects more than 60 recipes for cocktail classics (such as the Hinomaru, the Yuzu Bath, and the Echo Julep) as well as original creations that infuse such non-Japanese spirits as vodka, rum, and tequila. Including the history of Japan's distinctive spirits, tips on finding key ingredients, and sidebars that cover topics ranging from cherry blossom season to Tokyo's fashion district, this handy guide offers readers a unique glimpse into contemporary Japanese culture, perfect for perusing while enjoying a delicious drink! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Sophisticated Cocktail Trip Through Japan
Well, I just received Japanese Cocktails, by Yuri Kato and it is a great addition to my cocktail book library.There are authentic Japanese cocktail recipes, with some originals mixed in.What I didn' expect was to learn about the history of Japanese cocktails and get a feel for various regions of Japan.

It is a beautiful book that will look great by your bar or coffee table.Vibrant pictures acompany each recipe.You are also given tips on where to find the traditional ingredients.

I can't wait to start making some of these...
Cheers!! ... Read more

Product Description
A full-color cookbook that introduces American palates to authentic Japanese-style grilling, with 95 recipes that skillfully blend traditional ingredients, modern twists, and the sizzle of a hot fire to create remarkable meals.

Grilling has a long history in Japan, and for good reason: the cuisine’s salty-sweet flavors take well to hints of smoke. In The Japanese Grill, Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat reveal the diversity of Japanese-style grilling. They share their secrets for classics such as Chicken Yakitori and Miso-Cured Mackerel, create new comfort foods like London Broil with Garlic-Soy Marinade and Turkey Burgers with Miso Barbecue Sauce, and serve up innovations like Green Tea–Smoked Duck Breasts and Salmon with Shiso Pesto. A selection of side dishes and salads round out grilled meals. In this handsome volume, Ono and Salat bring Japanese grilling culture to Western tables—with delicious results that are at once familiar and new.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Japanese Home Cookin!
My mother is Japanese and reading this book was like having my mom back again. These recipes and the background about the various foods filled in so much of the information my mom never explained to me. If you grew up eating Japanese or just want to start to learn about the foods please get this book!

A great resource
I found this in the bargain bin at a book store and was so pleased with it that I bought another one off of Amazon (the book store didn't have any more) for my sister-in-law. I use this cookbook more than all of my other Japanese cookbooks put together.

This book is a bit Martha Stewart-y in that things are presented more elegantly than they're usually made in Japanese homes. And many things are made from scratch (like tsuyu--mixing shoyu, mirin, dashi, and water, instead of from a bottle--or homemade udon). But that was perfect for me when I bought this, since I couldn't get my hands on certain pre-made Japanese ingredients. Even if that's not a problem for you, it's still nice to know how it's done in case you run out of something and can't run to the store for it. My SIL likes this book because of the pages that talk about the history of Japanese food and explain what all the ingredients are (she didn't grow up in Japan like my brother and I did).

As for the authenticity of the dishes, I assure you these are real Japanese dishes. They're not Americanized "Japanese" dishes. The meals tend to be quite traditional and very elegant in presentation (the photography is beautiful), but are the kinds of foods that are served in ordinary Japanese homes (versus the impractical food served in five star restaurants that resemble the Asian version of French cooking). I've lived in Japan for about 20 years and am quite familiar with their food, so I feel I can attest to this confidently.

The translation is pretty good. Occasionally you'll run across a sentence that sounds a little awkward, but it's easy to figure out what the recipe author meant. I also really appreciate that they have both the Japanese name of the dish and the English name of the dish listed, both with the recipe and in the index. Makes it much easier to find something both for me (who knows the Japanese names) and my SIL (who knows what the dish is but not what it's called).

This half-cookbook/half-resource book would make a great addition to any kitchen that frequently sees traditional and/or common Japanese meals.

A Truly Lovely & Useful Volume On Japanese Cuisine
While I collect cookbooks & have a large number covering different Asian cuisines, this is by far my favorite Japanese volume. About half the book is an in-depth pictorial discussion of authentic Japanese ingredients & how to prep them; second half is a collection of lovely authentic recipes - recipes that are explained well & in detail, & are relatively simple to prepare. This is a large hardcover book with photography that makes it worthy of gracing a coffee table when not in use in the kitchen.
... Read more

Product Description
288 pages of authentic Japanese recipes written in both English and Japanese with photographs of each step. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The English is just stupid
The content of the book is fine. It has a motley collection of basic recipes, nothing fancy, but good basics; the stuff kids learn in Home Ec. As a Japanese cookbook I'm sure it would be just fine. The problem is the translation. The English is clumsy at best, vague, confusing, or silly at worst. Example sentence from the introduction of winter cuisine: "It may be no exaggeration to say snowy views that cover everything with white are representative for a splendor of winter." These "literary" sections are painful to read, but they're not really essential to the book. It's much worse when the actual recipes are unclear. For example: "Strain the potato while hot." (What they meant: "Mash the sweet potatoes through a strainer so as to remove all the stringy pieces.") Or "Peel the carrot and cut into 1.2in bar rectangles." (What is a "bar rectangle?" What they meant: "cut into thin rectangular strips 3cm long.")They obviously never asked someone to try to cook with the English half of the book. The measurements are clumsily translated as well. The authors directly converted everything into inches and US cups which means they end up with some indecipherable figures. Can you eye two-fifths of a cup? And what does it mean to cut something "into thin pieces of about one-twelfth inch thickness." (Oh. You meant 2mm.)

The "index" is unhelpful: recipes are indexed only by the first letter of their name. If you are looking for a dish that uses "giant white radish" (I think most people just say "daikon," but I could be wrong) the only thing the index gives you is "Giant White Radish and Abura-Age" when there are actually at ten dishes with daikon in them. Plus, parts of the book other than the recipes are not indexes at all. I remembered that the flavor of daikon changes as you go from top to bottom, but, because the helpful little side-columns are not indexed, I had to look through the whole book to find "Tips for Cooking Giant White Radish." (The tip was helpful, though.)

Finally, there is very little by way of explanation. You often don't know why certain steps are necessary and what they add to a dish. You feel like you are doing them just because the book says to do them, and with a book that often sounds silly it's hard to trust the author's judgement.

The end result is a cookbook with a number of good tipsthings that you wouldn't know if you didn't grow up in Japanbut one that leaves you feeling slightly dumber for having used it.

Great book for the foundations of Japanese cooking
I just wanted to add my little bit about this book.A lot of Japanese cookbooks get a lot of publicity.It's too bad this one doesn't because this is a great book to learn the foundations of Japanese cooking.The foreward covers the seasons which is important since traditional Japanese cooking is based on using fresh ingrediants each season.It's also a reflection of what foods are good at what times, like hot pot in the winter to help warm one up.A short section covers the basics of preparing rice, stock and miso soup.

The majority of the book is filled with recipes that cover a gamit of staple Japanese dishes.The nice thing is they do go step by step with a few photographs to illustrate.And if you are trying to learn Japanese language, each page is in English and Japanese.

The back of the book has more informative guides such as Japanese table manners, seasonings, cutting techniques and cooking utensils.

All I can say is I am so glad I found this book.It has been so useful.I found it at a local Japanese book store in California, so it is available out there.I recommend this to anyone who wants to become versed in how to cook Japanese food or is a lover of eating it.I learned a lot from it.

Hard to find, but worth it!
If your interest in learning Japanese cooking is of a practical nature--to make some meals for yourself--it will be hard to find a better book that this one.

This book does not go into great detail about recipes, but focuses on how they are prepared, and use of the basic flavors themselves. You've got certain ingredients at the ready, and only certain things you can easily get on short notice, or in your budget. Ten different traditional soup recipes won't help nearly as much as a few extra pictures of common added ingredients and how they are cut up for it.

As someone who's just been learning some Japanese cooking for a couple months, I can not recommend this book highly enough.

Best Cookbook for non Japanese
I have bought many copies of this book in Japan and always bring them back as gifts to my American friends.,Most people are amazed at how easy it is to cook japanese food and that ingredients are readily available in most supermarkets. I hope it is available soon from Amazon because aI don't know when I will go overseas again., ... Read more

Product Description
Surveys the various styles of Japanese tableware and describes the Japanese methods of arranging and serving food. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An art and ceramics book that includes food service
Wonderful book. As a potter and a cook, I find so much to look at and think about.Some color, a number of b & W pics of great Japanese pottery and food service items. Thoughtful ideas about how to present food in an artful way considering season, beauty. Great if you can find it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Japanese Cooking
A nice sized book on Japanese cooking with great information on the how to, on what to buy and what to look for at the market. Hayter gives easy recipes, simple directions and the sushi section and its simple break down on preparation is worth the purchase. There are meat dishes, tofu dishes (soups and salads) and several seafood selections. I have yet to try any of the recipes but the recipes in here look (a picture comes with ever recipe)great. Enjoy.

easy and delicious Japanese
I have the highest praise for this simple cookbook.I've had it for a decade, and it's probably my most used cookbook over the years.Why?The recipes are easy, and delicious time and again.Especially notable are -

- steak with garlic and soy sauce, with extreme flavor drawn forth by sake and butter
- stir-fried pork in ginger and onion, with a carmelized flavor again enriched by sake
- pork meatballs in sweet soy sauce, which is always received with delight by a crowd of hungry gatherers
- chicken livers with peppers in a sweet soy sauce, a quirky but delicious departure from standard American livery fare
- deep-fried chicken nuggets, with little more than cornstarch, ginger and lemon
- broiled salted trout, essentially naked except for salt and soy sauce
- many quick and easy vegetable recipes

All-in-all, I think you'll find great enjoyment in this book if you like delicious, easy Japanese food.

How to Save $100 a Week!
If you love Japanese food, including sushi, you know how expensive it can be to go out to the restaurant all the time.

I guarantee that if you buy this book, you will save $100 a week, by being able to make your own Japanese food.

The recipes are easy to follow, the pictures are in vivid color, and best of all, the food tastes great!

This was the very first Japanese cookbook I found, and have been using ever since - over 5 years of use, and lots of soy sauce coloring the pages. :) ... Read more

Product Description
For nearly thirty years, Katsuyo Kobayashi has been showing people how to make good food with a minimum of fuss. She's Japan's most trusted and popular television cooking personality, and the best-selling author of 140 books.

In The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook, she presents foolproof recipes that anyone can make. All the ingredients are readily available outside Japan, and the cooking methods are kept simple and straightforward.

A large full-color photograph of each completed dish is shown opposite the recipe, for easy reference. Small photos of the cooking process, also in color, are in the right-hand margin, with notes from Kobayashi about points to remember or substitutions that can be made for ingredients that may be less familiar. Calories and preparation time are noted for each dish.

This is real Japanese family-style food--the kind that you won't find in restaurants but that people are really eating every day, at home. Japanese cooking today is made rich in variety by Asian and European influences, and this book reflects that diversity. Many of the great traditional recipes of Japan are here, such as Japanese Pan-Fried Chicken and Tofu with Sweet Miso Sauce, but so are recipes that came to Japan from China and were adapted to Japanese tastes, like Gyoza Pot Stickers, Steamed Shumai Dumplings, and Banbanji Chilled Sesame Chicken. There's Japanese-style curry, and the popular "Omrice"--delicious flavored rice wrapped inside a thin omelette. There are even Japanese-style hamburgers, flavored with soy sauce and sake.

Now, you can enjoy Japanese home cooking without ever leaving home. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Easy fresh food.
I bought this book because I am an Iron Chef fan and enjoyed watching the battle with Katsuyo Kobayashi so much.Don't laugh, it turned out to be an excellent cookbook.The recipes are fresh, delicious, and easy to follow. My 5 year old that hates nearly any food he sees has yet to turn down a meal cooked from this book.I have several good Japanese cookbooks but this one just may turn out to be the one I use the most often.

It's quick and easy, but lack of important steps!!
My husband bought this book for himself to make Japanese meals for me (I am a Japanese and he is not). The auther is famous in Japan and the selection of dishes is okay. The book contains some dishese that I like and the procedures are very simple and easy, BUT she skipped some very important procedures and ingredients to make the recipes more simple and easy!! (One of the examples is that a fish dish recipe skips an important step to get rid of fishy smell.) I am sure that your dishes would not be tasty if you just follow the recipes.

quick and easy but not so tasty
After having lived in Japan for 3 years I was very interested in preparing home-cooked Japanese meals and received this book as a gift. The recipes are easy to measure out and prepare, but I have not been satisfied with the outcome of any of the dishes. They do not taste the way I have had the pleasure of eating them at homes or restaurants in Japan. If you would like to prepare authentic Japanese meals I would not recommend this book.

needs updating
I was excited to buy this book after seeing the author beat an Iron Chef on FoodTV.I love to cook Japanese dishes, and her recipes cut my prep time in half, and they still taste as good as the fancier version.However, I wish the book offered more recipes, and more variety.I feel it barely scratched the surface of Japanese cuisine.Still, the recipes offered here are delicious.It's just a matter of whether you feel it is worth spending the money on so few recipes.

A staple Japanese cookbook
Being cable deprived, I've seen the Iron Chef only once. Each episode's backbitingly brutal commentary on the competing chefs' techniques, choice of ingredients and finished product positively enthralls! Naturally, I was enticed by the caption of the author's photograph. It says, "Katsuyo Kobayashi can make anybody into an IRON CHEF." Well, I doubt that, since she'd have to give me culinary creativity and an ironclad ego, while teaching me to prepare her Iron Chef-winning Japanese delicacies. The book, however, had enough simple, creative recipes, beautiful full-color glossy photographs and some of the best food preparation advice I've experienced.

Simply arranged into ingredient-themed sections, the book also has a section on the basic techniques of Japanese cooking (rice and stock making) and a glossary that you will want to take to the Asian market. Many of the ingredients will only be found there, but Kobayashi does give some Western equivalents, as well as the calories per serving. Time to prepare and cook helps, too, since most people have the impression that Asian cuisine is time intensive with all that chopping and dicing. Now I'm ready to tackle Clams steamed in sake, assorted tempura and steamed shumai dumplings with the best of them. ... Read more

Product Description
A bento box meal (single portions of different foods packed in one reusable container) is a Japanese tradition that lends itself well to today's busy lifestyle. Although bento boxes are available to take out from restaurants and food stands, they are most frequently prepared at home, very often by parents wishing to provide their children with delicious, healthy, fun--and environmentally responsible--lunch and snack-time alternatives.

Kawaii Bento Boxes offers dozens of recipes and menus. For each box, the authors include detailed instructions for cooking, seasoning, decorating and assembling the components as well as an icon indicating how long it will take to prepare. The meals are not just easy to make, they are tasty, nutritious and economical, with each portion carefully calculated so that there are no leftovers. There are also suggestions for the right container for each meal. Most of the ingredients used are familiar and available to American cooks. Here are whimsical creations like soccer balls and animal faces made from shaped rice, tulips cut from dyed hardboiled eggs, hearts and stars carved out of vegetables, and much more. Perfect for parents looking to liven up their children's school lunches or park snacks, or for busy people who want to fix a quick and cheerful meal to take to work, Kawaii Bento Boxes highlights the Japanese passion for making food a treat for the eyes as well as for the mouth.

CONTENTS:

ONIGIRI BENTO
(16 variations including faces, soccer ball, animals, triangles, spheres)

RICE BENTO
(11 variations including bear, rabbit, ship, seasoned rice, teriyaki chicken over rice, etc.)

SUSHI BENTO
(12 variations)

BREAD BENTO
(12 variations including mini-sandwiches, rolls, etc.)

NOODLE BENTO
(9 variations including spaghetti, yakisoba noodles, udon)

SUMMER AND WINTER BENTO
(12 variations including summer dishes that wont spoil in the heat and winter dishes that are better when eaten warm)

TRADITIONAL/POPULAR/FAVORITE BENTO
(11 variations including favorite dishes like hamburgers, fried shrimp, fried chicken)

TIPS ON HOW TO STUFF THE BENTO BOX
WHAT TO STUFF IN THE BENTO BOX (including calories, carbohydrates, protein, etc.)
CUTTING AND DECORATING
MENUS BASED ON COLOR
EASY DESSERT RECIPES
... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Kawaii & Unhealthy (beware of bad carbs and fried stuff)
I received this book a few days ago. I have yet to try any of the recipes. Frankly, they might look good, but they don't sound very tasty to me.

I'll start with the bright side, so we can get it over with.

**** PRO'S ****
- Bento Basics: There is a nice introduction at the beginning if you don't really know what Bento-boxing is, the most important being how to balance a bento's nutritious value. You'll also get a list of basic ingredients and tools and how to use them properly.

- Playing with your food: this book delivers what it promises: how to make food look cute. It's just technique, after technique, after technique, with pictures and images to help with the execution.

- Bento fillers: At the end of the book, you get a list of bento fillers, arranged by colors and prepared in small portions... Being the only Bento-fan in my family, this is a plus for me. Besides, the recipes don't look that bad... I will definitely try those ^_^

... That's pretty much all the good stuff from this book.

**** CON'S ****

- Fried...
Lot's and lots of fried foods: fried chicken, fried pork, fried sausages, fried potatoes, fried seafood.

- Processed foods to the rescue!
Yup, why prepare food or use quality products when you can buy a pre-made version or a cheap substitute at the supermarket? Processed cheese, processed ham, Spam (canned ham), sweets, potato chips, sausages (too many wieners in this book), chicken nuggets and so on...

- Unhealthy recipes
...And, I mean it: it's BAD! Trust me: you want to keep your children AWAY from some (many) of the recipes in this book. Better to stay with the ham&cheese sandwiches and carrot sticks. Spam and potato chips should never be in the same container... And, if you ask me, Spam should stay where it belongs: hidden away in your nuclear shelter, to be eaten only when every else has turned into radioactive poison!... Bacon-wrapped asparagus? Couldn't they at least wrap it in ham or turkey or even prosciutto? Why bacon? Why?

Overall, I find the recipes to be too high in calories, too sweet, too salty and too fat for me.

Some of it (which avoids all the bad stuff I just mentioned) looks relatively okay, I will probably try those, if only thanks to the small portions produced by each recipe.

But I became a Bento-fan for its nutritional value, so this book is very disappointing for me (especially since it got so many good reviews).

Cute
This is such a wonderful bento book. You can see how long a bento will take to make, and have tips on how to space your bento. It's recipes are great and design tips adorable.

Lots of cute stuffs to make
I really enjoy the color-coded section in the back because they're really quick and easy and offer you a chance to create your own bento box instead of the ones offered!

Use daily for my daughters' bento!
I live in Japan so I can get all the ingredients listed which makes this book extremely convenient for me.My daughter pretty much took onigiri (rice balls) or some form of rice for lunch her entire first year in youchien (preschool).Now she's asking me for stuff she sees her friends bringing to school so I wanted to get a bento cook book in English.I am so happy I got this one!First of all, my two daughters look at this book daily to point out things they want to try or to determine the following day's menu.They've even put tabs of paper in each page that has something they want to eat (which means there is a tab on nearly every page).Granted a lot of this is Japanese style food and may be way to out of the ordinary for the average American.My daughter is an extremely picky eater and has stepped out of her comfort zone and eaten things she wouldn't normally since using this cookbook.
A word of caution, each recipe lists how long it will take to make but I find them to be off.It doesn't include time it takes to cook rice and other important steps.Also, if you are a novice like me it takes a lot longer to make some of the details.Second, it uses ingredients that aren't exactly common in America.Quail eggs are at all the stores here, but I can't think of ever seeing them in America.
I have included pictures of 5 different bentos I made last week with notes on the pictures.This will give you an idea of some of the recipes in the book.Also, I mix and match recipes based on what I have fresh in the kitchen.If you are thinking about moving away from the standard American lunch then I would definitely look into Kawaii Bento Boxes, everyone in this house loves it!

THE cute bento cookbook
If you're looking for a bento cookcook to not only give you the traditional stuff most Japanese moms put in their kids' bento boxes for schoolbut also the cutest, this is it! It gives the cute stuff like the character onigiri and the apple rabbits and bunny quail eggs, octopus looking sausages and such but also the nice fillers, like the different veggie salads and side dishes that round out the meal. The recipes are mainly in the back and all the front photos make it easy to plot out your own bento box or Tupperware so your food doesn't get smashed or messed up. I love this book! ... Read more

Product Description
The beautiful land of Japan, with its four distinct seasons and its charming natural scenery, has given the Japanese people a unique personality that in turn has produced a distinct type of cooking and food. Its long history makes its foods and their preparation different from that of other nations. The discerning visitor will note that the food of the Japanese is influenced by their love of simplicity and delicate plainness.

The basic materials required in Japanese cooking are white rice, tender fish, beautiful vegetables of varied hues, miso-soup with its fragrance, and green tea. The real esthetic value of cooking in this country is to bring out the various special flavors of the above materials. For example, if you have some fresh fish, you may prepare it without changing its natural and peculiar flavor, as in suimono (clear soups), yakimono (broiled foods), nimono (boiled foods), mushimono (steamed foods), agemono (fried foods), as sashimi (sliced raw fish), or as namasu (raw fish mixed with vegetables and flavored with vinegar). Vegetables may be treated in the same fashion, as they are available all the year round, and they may be prepared as hitashimono (boiled greens), nimono (boiled foods), in miso-soup, tsukemono (pickles), and so on, in such a way as to preserve their original, special flavor. Sometimes they are used together with other foods for flavor or fragrance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Same EXACT book with 2 different names, prices!!!
This book by by B.E.Howard has the same cover (and content) as "JAPANESE COOKBOOK: 100 Favorite Japanese Recipes (Kindle Edition)" for $2.99 by JM Publishing. These books are EXACTLY the SAME book!!!One is $4.77 (by B.E.Howard) and one is $2.99 (by JM Publishing). I bought both books and so I am not too happy at having been mislead and basically tricked into buying the same book twice. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

What is and is not Japanese?
Japan has tried to define itself throughout its history, within its culture and within its country.Everything is given a tradition, a history, glued into the structure of society and rooted in the past.But in fact many things we think of as Japanese are from China or Europe or even America.And while many items, like rice and soy, has been linked to the very idea of Japanese food they have, in fact, only been available to most of the populace for a very short period in modern history.The book traces Japanese cuisine, exploring its roots, how it developed and changed and inserted itself into what we think of as Japan, and how it has returned to the rest of the world, delivered to us as special, as Japanese, and how we have embraced it.
Lots of information - knowing general Japanese history is a great help - but worth reading no matter what your interests.Good for lovers of Japan, Japanese food, or world cuisine.

A revealing look at Japanese cooking and culture
Katarzyna Cwiertka, lecturer in Japanese studies at Leiden University, presents in this book a history of the development of modern Japanese cuisine (i.e. from the Meiji revolution to the present day). She focuses on the social and political factors that affected the eating habits of the Japanese people, arguing that what is regarded as traditional Japanese cuisine is to a great extent a product of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century imperial policies. She also argues that a great deal of what is regarded as properly Japanese cuisine is in fact of Western (European and American), Chinese, and Korean origin. Of especial interest is her documentation of the extensive role that military catering played in the creation of a homogeneous national cuisine. A postscript looks at the developments Japanese cuisine has undergone outside Japan. The book is clearly written and accessible to non-academics, with a bibliography that provides English-language sources whenever possible. This is an excellent book that should be of interest to anyone interested in Japanese cooking or Japanese culture. ... Read more