14 best japanese cookbooks

Name: Japanese Cookbook for Beginners: Classic and Modern Recipes Made Easy
Brand: Rockridge Press
Price: 92 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.6 (250 reviews)

Japanese cookbooks are an essential part of the culinary world, offering a rich exploration of Japan's diverse and delicious cuisine. These cookbooks cover a wide range of topics, from traditional recipes and cooking techniques to modern and fusion dishes. They often provide insights into the cultural and historical context of Japanese food, making them not just practical guides but also valuable resources for understanding Japan's culinary traditions.

Here are some key aspects of Japanese cookbooks:

Traditional Japanese Cuisine: Many Japanese cookbooks focus on traditional dishes like sushi, sashimi, tempura, ramen, and various types of rice dishes. These books often emphasize the importance of fresh ingredients and precise preparation methods.
Regional Specialties: Japan's cuisine is incredibly diverse, with each region offering its unique dishes and flavors. Some cookbooks specialize in regional cuisine, such as Kansai (Osaka and Kyoto) cuisine or Kyushu (southern Japan) dishes, allowing readers to explore the distinctive flavors of different parts of Japan.
Sushi and Sashimi: Sushi and sashimi are globally renowned Japanese dishes.Cookbooks dedicated to these delicacies often provide detailed instructions on how to prepare and present various types of sushi rolls, nigiri, and raw fish dishes.
Japanese Home Cooking: Some Japanese cookbooks are designed for everyday home cooking, featuring simple and accessible recipes that people can make in their own kitchens. These often include recipes for staples like miso soup, teriyaki, and donburi (rice bowl dishes).
Japanese Ingredients: Japanese cuisine relies on unique ingredients like dashi (stock made from seaweed and fish), miso paste, mirin (sweet rice wine), and soy sauce. Cookbooks often introduce readers to these ingredients, explaining their uses and substitutions.
Cultural Context: Many Japanese cookbooks delve into the cultural and historical aspects of Japanese cuisine. They might discuss the significance of seasonal ingredients, the art of presentation (known as "kaiseki"), or the role of food in Japanese traditions and festivals.
Japanese Desserts and Sweets: Japanese sweets, or "wagashi," have a distinctive style and flavor. Cookbooks dedicated to Japanese desserts provide recipes for treats like mochi, dorayaki (red bean pancakes), and matcha-flavored confections.
Fusion and Modern Japanese Cuisine: In addition to traditional recipes, some cookbooks explore modern and fusion Japanese cuisine, which incorporates international influences and contemporary cooking techniques.
Cooking Techniques: Japanese cuisine places a strong emphasis on precise techniques, such as knife skills and sushi rolling. Cookbooks often provide step-by-step instructions and illustrations to help readers master these techniques.
Beverages: Japanese cookbooks may also include sections on traditional Japanese beverages like green tea, sake, and shochu, along with cocktail recipes and pairing suggestions.

Japanese cookbooks are valuable resources for both beginners and experienced cooks who want to explore the rich and diverse world of Japanese cuisine. Whether you're interested in recreating classic dishes or experimenting with modern interpretations, there's likely a Japanese cookbook to suit your tastes and preferences.

Below you can find our editor's choice of the best japanese cookbooks on the market

Japanese Cookbook for Beginners: Classic and Modern Recipes Made Easy

Rockridge Press

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Product features

One of many flavorful recipes: Ginger Pork with Green Cabbage and Rice

You’ll be surprised at how quick and tasty this dish is. The ginger tenderizes the meat, making it melt in your mouth, but be careful not to let it sit for long—the meat will start to break down. I like to eat this with a heaping mound of sliced cabbage. The richness of the pork pairs nicely with the crunchy, fresh cabbage.

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the grated ginger, soy sauce, and mirin. Add the pork and let it marinate for 5 minutes.

2. Heat the avocado oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the pork with the marinade and cook until the pork is no longer pink and the sauce has reduced, 5 to 8 minutes.

3. Serve with the cabbage on the side and a bowl of the rice.

Variation Tip: Although pork is traditional, you can also use beef or boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors

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Sonoko Sakai Is Your Teacher

Like an orchestra, Japanese cooking is a melding of components. Ingredients in a dish build flavors, and flavors within a dish build on one another. Same thing in a meal—all the dishes build on one another for a resulting symphony of tastes and sensations. The dashi that you will learn to make will show up as a base or seasoning in many other recipes.

Discover Japanese Flavors

In the first section, we will consider the “instruments” of our orchestra and begin to build Japanese flavors. The instruments are our ingredients, some of which will be very familiar to you (eggs, flour, rice) and others perhaps less familiar (bonito flakes, seaweeds). By the end, you will have a fully stocked Japanese kitchen—from grocery store shelves to the garden, and from the stovetop to the refrigerator—and an understanding of how to use and cook the ingredients in that kitchen.

Cooking with a Reverence for Craft

Although I have now lived in California for more than forty years, Japan will always be my home away from home, and it will always be my culinary home. This book gives the sense of craft and reverence of three generations of women in my family: the wisdom, elegance, and independent spirit my grandmother shared with me; my mother’s passion for life and people; and my own culinary discoveries.

Learn to Make Noodles

It has been almost ten years since I began making noodles by hand. My initial motivation was based on a persistent, chronic kind of hunger. I couldn’t find any good noodles in the United States, and I would have to wait until I returned to Japan to get my “good noodle” fix. But I wanted to eat better noodles at home in Los Angeles, so I began studying noodle making whenever I was back in Japan. I am still on this pursuit, and I will teach you what I know.

Use the Five Basic Seasonings

Much of the flavor of Japanese cuisine comes from its distinctive fermented seasonings, which can be daunting to new cooks. But don’t be afraid! Japanese cuisine has five basic seasonings: salt, sugar, soy sauce, miso, and vinegar, and I will teach you the order and ways to use them. I also show how to prepare curry bricks from scratch, using fresh spices and seeds—my students are always amazed at how delicious the curry turns out.

Create and Enjoy Everyday Recipes

You will find recipes for the simple okazu (dishes) that I like to cook and eat, such as Nishime (dashi infused root vegetables), Grilled Eggplant with Herbs Gyoza (fried dumplings), and Koji (marinated salmon). Other classic dishes include Chawanmushi (a savory, soupy warm custard) with Manila Clams and Shiitake Mushrooms and Takikomi-Gohan (vegetables and chicken rice).

Go Beyond the Building Blocks

Once you learn the pantry recipes, you'll be ready for the full expression of Japanese home cooking. My emphasis is on adapting traditional recipes so that they work with a wide range of ingredients. The result is a collection of recipes that make Japanese cooking more accessible to the Western cook.

Build Confidence for Inventive Dishes

Recipes in part two include Ojiya (porridge with Kabocha Squash and Ginger, Kenchin-jiru (hearty vegetable Soup with Sobagaki), Chimaki (wrapped steamed rice dumplings), Oden (Vegetable, Seafood, and meat hot pot), Wakame Soup with Manila Clams, and Goya Champuru (bitter melon, pork, and tofu Scramble.

See Food Purveyors in Action

Featuring stunning photographs by Rick Poon, the book also includes stories of food purveyors in California and Japan, including Niki Nakayama and Carole Nakayama Iida of n/naka, Robin Koda of Koda Farms, and farmers Alex Weiser, Jon Hammond, Sherry Mandell of the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project.