Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking

I have a Japanese mother... she is a really bad cook. In fact, I thought I hated fish because the fish my Mom made was soooo gross growing up. What Japanese lady does NOT know how to cook fish??? My Mom, that is who! Anyway, I love the authentic Japanese food my Mom's friends would cook and the stuff you can get at authentic Japanese restaurants, and realized that my Japanese Mom, who could not even cook fish, probably was not the one to learn Japanese cooking from, so I learned from watching her friends and from the internet. This book refines, simplifies, and explains so much more thoroughly what so many native Japanese cooks probably take for granted as a way to do things. A simple example is just rice washing. My Mom just threw the rice in the pot and swished it around a few times to get some of the talc off, did not measure the water, just cooked it. Dry rice, wet rice, sometimes still crunchy rice... not so good rice. The book describes cleaning rice - a staple in Japanese cooking - as a job that Mr. Morimoto did for years before becoming the cook that he is. Starting from basics, such as washing the rice until the water runs clear, and measuring the water, which may not seem like a big deal, but more than likely makes a big difference in the end product. All the little tips that a Japanese cook may do but not feel it is necessary to tell you and things that the internet teachers may not pass on because either they don't know or don't do it that way, etc. All these things are explained in the book. Lots of good basic recipes and not a whole lot of weird things that have hard-to-obtain ingredients.

Oh, I adore this book. There are fantastic colorful photos throughout of not only the finished product, but tons of process photos. His instructions are crystal clear. The recipes are easy. Many require you to make your own stock, but it’s Dashi, and that only adds about 15 minutes to a recipe. There are little blurb boxes peppered throughout, called Japanese Grandmother Wisdom that are informative and charming.He has an ingredient glossary at the back, but no photos of ingredients. That’s the only bummer. If there are ingredients in a recipe that you’re unfamiliar with, it might be helpful to Google it before running to the store so that you know what you’re looking for.Pictured below:1) Ingredients for California Temaki2) California Temaki. It’s hand rolled sushi. I’ve made sushi before, but not Temaki, its much easier, casual, rustic cousin. Delicious and so visually interesting and beautiful. Easy peasy. He mentions that you could put out the ingredients and let people pull together their own Temaki at a party. I could see that.3) Gyoza (Pork and Cabbage Dumplings – Potstickers!!!) and Yasai Itame (Stir-Fried Vegetables). Amazing! These were the best potstickers we'd ever had!4) Yasai Tempura (Vegetable Tempura), and Shrimp Tempura. Wonderful! Mess warning! ;)5) Supagetti No Teriyaki (Chicken Teriyaki Spaghetti). Fantastic! You'll never buy teriyaki sauce again! If you put the water on to boil for the pasta, then get the chicken going, then get the teriyaki going, you'll be eating in 30 minutes. Great for a schedule pressed night.Some other things I have flagged to try are Spicy Tuna Temaki, Suteki Don (Steak Rice Bowls with Spicy Teriyaki Sauce), Tamago Supu (Japanese Egg Drop Soup), Dango Jiru (Japanese-Style Chicken and Dumpling Soup), Tsukune No Teriyaki (Chicken Meatballs with Teriyaki Sauce), Nasu No Misoyaki (Eggplant with Chicken and Miso Sauce), Tori No Teriyaki (Chicken Teriyaki), and Shumai (Japanese-Style Shrimp Dumplings).

He gives clear instructions with illustrations. He tells you what really matters, and helps with substitutions if you don't have access to an Asian market.The theme is this: incredible food that takes very little time and very little money that you can tweak to your liking. I cannot over-recommend this book.

What is to like and/or dislike about Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking book. Lets us start with the dislike's of it. There is actually not much here to be addressed as disliking. There are some instruction at the beginning that are somewhat confusion or hard to understand. However, as you move forward it start to come together and it goes on in this fashion for several recipes until you hit a lump or bump. It gets resolved as you read along. My am I not being specific and point it out? Not all of us read or understand the same way. What may be confusing to me, it is a clear as water or glass. And the reverse is equal when it comes to you vs. me.My real love for the book is the realization that the technics and methods of cooking are a tradition well established through centuries of cooking and mastering the technic to repeat each time to arrive to the same flavorful meal as it was the first time and continues to be. It is a revelation to find out the technics used are to save time and space, a commodity Japanese today and years past do not have much of it. And the limited amount of food resource is another teacher showing them, and now us, on how to extent and make a nutritional meal with not much to spear.You might first feel it was a bad investment as it will show you the "secret" way to achieve in a few minutes what it takes years to learn. You have seen Marimoto create a fabulous meal in just few minutes or less than an hour. The three, four or five course meal he prepares and teaches in his book are the same technics he uses in his trade. The great difference, we do not have his experience, but we can develop our own flavors and stay true to the tradition in the Art of Japanese Home Cooking.The "inside secret," is to stay true to the original course in cooking and not to exchange technics and ingredients, unless suggested by the Master. I, myself, know I have not develop the taste to exchange one ingredient for an unknown one (it might change the flavor or worse), or skip a step and then the dish is not the same. And blame Marimoto for it and not own it.I am still learning from the read and trials/errors to where a have gone in the book. There is still a lot to read to learn and understand. Enriching my knowledge of the Art of Japanese Home Cooking will be my trophy to keep.I will not go hungry by learning,El Gourmet de México

Morimoto has succeeded in making japanese cooking approachable and easy. everything I've tried from this book has been tasty and easy to execute.

Oferece uma grande lista de pratos que podem ser elaborados em casa, com facilidade.

Great book

Endlich ein Buch, das nicht nur leckere Rezepte liefert, sonden einen Blick hinter die japanische Familienküche erlaubt. Die Tipps sind so wertvoll, wie die Gerichte. Zum Beispiel erklärt Morimoto, dass zwar zu einem japanischen Abendessen vier Gerichte gehören, aber nur eins davon wird frisch zubereitet (und der Reis, natürlich), die anderen Teile der Mahlzeit finden sich im Kühlschrank! Das nimmt Druck!! Solche Tipps sind unbezahlbar, japanisch Kochen wird im ganzen Buch als machbar und oft überraschend einfach vorgestellt. Von der ersten Seite an ist Morimotos Offenheit beeindruckend, sowohl was seine Lebensgeschichte betrifft, als auch seinen Einblick, den er in die traditionelle Alltagsküche Japans ermöglicht. Das Buch ist lehrreich, es macht Lust, die Rezepte zu kochen und es macht großen Appetit. Ich kenne mehrere japanische Kochbücher, aber nichts vergleichbar informierendes und inspirierendes.

Muy buen libro, enseña lo básico en la cocina japonesa, muy fácil de aprenderBuen material a mi juicio a muy buen precio