Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art

By Shizuo Tsuji

Book Overview

Japanese food continues to grow in popularity in the United States. Yet enjoyment of Japanese cooking is still largely limited to an occasional night out at a Japanese restaurant, and for far too long it has been assumed that this food is difficult to make in one's own kitchen. Actually, Japanese cooking is surprisingly simple. Raw ingredients should be glistening fresh and of the best quality, and flavors, however elaborate, are built up from just two basic seasonings - dashi, an easily made, delicate stock, and shoyu, naturally brewed Japanese soy sauce.

This cookbook is much more than an accumulation of recipes. In his preface, the author (whom Craig Claiborne calls "a sort of Renaissance man of Japanese and world gastronomy") discusses the essence of Japanese cooking, with its emphasis on simplicity, a balance of textures, colors, and flavors, seasonal freshness, and beauty of presentation. The expertise of the staff of the professional cooking school headed by the author is evident throughout the book.

After introducing ingredients and utensils, the 20 chapters of Part One are made up of lessons presenting all the basic Japanese cooking methods and principal types of prepared foods-grilling, simmering, steaming, noodles, sushi, pickles, and so on-with accompanying basic model recipes. Part Two consists of 130 carefully selected recipes. These range from simple dishes for daily fare to well-chosen challenges for the adventurous cook. Together with the 90-odd recipes included in Part One, these enable the cook to build up a repertory, dish by dish, from the basic everyday "soup and three" formula to a gala banquet.

Whether preparing a snack for oneself or something special for friends, readers will find themselves reaching for this volume. Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art is a sourcebook of cooking concepts and recipes from one of the world's outstanding culinary traditions.

Over 220 recipes 510 sketches 16 color pages chart of North American and Japanese fish extensive list of shops in North America where ingredients can be purchased calorie and weight chart of typical Japanese foods metric conversion tables.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870113992
• ISBN13: 9780870113994
• Release Date: November 1980
• Publisher: Kodansha
• Length: 518 Pages
• Weight: 2.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 10.4" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

One of the best cookbooks I own.

A great cookbooks is not merely a set of recipes but a treatise on the art of cookery. A Simple Art is, quite simply, a great cookbook--equal to anything written by Julia Child, Paula Wolfert, Alice Waters, and so on. I consider it as indispensible as anything in my cookbook collection, even reference works by Harold McGee and the like. And I don't even cook Japanese food! The first half of the book is mainly partitioned into chapters by cooking technique: a chapter on steaming, on simmering, on grilling, and so forth. Each chapter begins with a very thorough essay on the equipment you need and the dos and don'ts of the technique. The quality of advice here is rarely equalled by any other cookbook. There's a spectacular chapter on scaling, gutting, and fileting fish, and dressing chicken. There are elaborate diagrams for four fileting techniques for both roundfish and flatfish. I have seen no other book on fish cookery (as comprehensive as Mark Bittman's and Alan Davidson's books are) that can compare to this book's thoroughness in fish prep. It's not just cutting, but there are dozens of techniques, from various methods of salting to blanching that I've seen nowhere else. Many ingredients in the book beyond fish are treated with similar thoroughness. The chapter on grilling has over a dozen techniques on how to skewer ingredients! One of the most impressive aspects of the book is it's obsession with presentation. This is the only book I own that elaborates a systematic approach to dressing the plate. Recipes are not just concluded with an afterthought of "this dish looks great garnished with X". Rather, the text addresses each ingredient and the cooking technique concerning the how's and why's of presentation. This is, perhaps, a peculiarly Japanese phenomenon: an obsession with presentation matched by an obsession with systemization and rule-following. But is a wisdom, and technique, that can be easily adapted to any cuisine. There are so many other wonderfully thorough discussions in the book. The author goes into some detail about the construction of meals--that is, of how one puts together a succession of courses to create a harmonious whole. This is a fascinating cookbook, a must have for the cookbook obsessed. It's a great reference work covering topics of cookery overlooked by many of the great cookbooks in English. Yes, this is a book about Japanese cuisine, but the knowledge here applies well beyond it.

At its worst, it is impressive

This is not just a great Japanese cookbook. It is a great cookbook in general. Not content to merely compile a series of recipes, Shizuo Tsuji adds descriptions of cooking techniques unique to Japanese food, insight into Japanese culture, and more importantly he imparts valuable knowledge on how to understand and appreciate Japanese cuisine.He divides the book into two parts. The first part begins with a discussion on how meals are prepared and composed. Then he explains ingredients, tools, and techniques that are frequently used in the book. He ends part one with recipes that are intended to be a basic introduction to various types of Japanese food (each "type" employs different methods of preparation and cooking, such as frying, steaming, etc.) The recipes are traditional Japanese meals that you would encounter if you went to Japan.Part two is all recipes, again divided into the same types that part one is divided into. However, these are slightly more complex and they build on the techniques learned in part one.This is a book that can be used by beginners or more advanced cooks. It is definitely a useful reference for all those who love Japanese food and would like to know how to make it and how to enjoy it authentically.

Real Japanese Food

We have used this book for years. Even in rural Oklahoma most of the recipies are possible with a little help from mail order and trips to Tulsa. Last year for the first time in many years I had two business trips to Japan. That was a real sanity check for this book - and yes it tells you how to do the real thing. At one lunch when we were eating cold udon noodles in a basket I looked at my Japanese hosts and said quite honestly - "you know I make this exact thing at home." They were amazed, but because of this book it is true. This should be everyone's first book on Japanese cooking.

Informative, entertaining, and a must-have

I have been searching a long time for a comprehensive book on Japanese cooking because I grew up with a mother who was a fantastic cook. Unfortunately, she never used recipes or measuring devices, so I have been struggling to duplicate the many delicious dishes of my childhood to no avail. This book is the answer to my quest. The recipes are very authentic, and the author talks about the history of the various recipes and cooking techniques. This enhances the enjoyment of the beautiful cuisine. I feel like I am back home in Mom's kitchen!

UNDERSTANDING Japanese food

While there are certainly recipes in this book, the author does not barrage you with hundreds of impossible to replicate dishes. Instead, this is the book to read if you wish to undersdand what Japanese food is and is not, and how to bring Japanese home cooking into your own home. This is a book to read, cover to cover, not one to pick up for the purpose of grabbing a couple of recipes. Of all the cookbooks I own, this is the first international cookbook that really gave me an understanding of WHAT it was that I was preparing. And that is more important than any recipe