Japanese Food and Cooking: A Timeless Cuisine: The Traditions, Techniques, Ingredients and Recipes

Rating:
Summary: Japanese primer
Review: Absolutely a fabulous book for those who are just starting in Japanese cooking or for those who just love gorgeous pictures. The first section of the book is comprised of a short cultural history to help you get the feel of why Japanese food is how it is-this includes a little section on regional foods and their differences-and goes from there to a short menu ideas section that divides the menus into the four seasons. After that, there is page after page of color photos and descriptive text that introduces you to not only foreign foods, but equipment, utensils, crockery and cutlery, drinking vessels, and much more. The next section is comprised of the popular ingredients used in Japanese cooking-rice/rice products, sauces, pickles, tea, tofu, mushrooms, seaweeds, herbs/spices...this section in it of itself is worth the price of the book. For those of us who cannot read Japanese, the pictures are detailed and beautiful-a boon in the Asian grocery. Lastly, the recipes are well written and tasty covering everything from sushi to soups and noodles to desserts and cakes. Inluded at the end there's also a shopping index for Japanese resources. This book is well rounded and a definate jewel to add to your collection. My only complaint would be that the recipes themselves use the Japanese names for the ingredients without a corresponding English name in parentheses. Although there is a glossary included, it's kind of a pain to keep flipping back and forth. All in all, that's such a minor part of a fab book.

Rating:
Summary: Japanese primer
Review: Absolutely a fabulous book for those who are just starting in Japanese cooking or for those who just love gorgeous pictures. The first section of the book is comprised of a short cultural history to help you get the feel of why Japanese food is how it is-this includes a little section on regional foods and their differences-and goes from there to a short menu ideas section that divides the menus into the four seasons. After that, there is page after page of color photos and descriptive text that introduces you to not only foreign foods, but equipment, utensils, crockery and cutlery, drinking vessels, and much more. The next section is comprised of the popular ingredients used in Japanese cooking-rice/rice products, sauces, pickles, tea, tofu, mushrooms, seaweeds, herbs/spices...this section in it of itself is worth the price of the book. For those of us who cannot read Japanese, the pictures are detailed and beautiful-a boon in the Asian grocery. Lastly, the recipes are well written and tasty covering everything from sushi to soups and noodles to desserts and cakes. Inluded at the end there's also a shopping index for Japanese resources. This book is well rounded and a definate jewel to add to your collection. My only complaint would be that the recipes themselves use the Japanese names for the ingredients without a corresponding English name in parentheses. Although there is a glossary included, it's kind of a pain to keep flipping back and forth. All in all, that's such a minor part of a fab book.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! What popped out at me immediately was the cover, mine is actually different from this one, and has a closeup on a line of nori and some rolls, because I bought it at [another store], and the beautiful, crisp, color pictures. I have not yet cooked anything from this book, but I can tell that I'm really going to enjoy working with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! What popped out at me immediately was the cover, mine is actually different from this one, and has a closeup on a line of nori and some rolls, because I bought it at [another store], and the beautiful, crisp, color pictures. I have not yet cooked anything from this book, but I can tell that I'm really going to enjoy working with this book.

Rating:
Summary: To many explanations, not enough recipes.
Review: Half of this book contains explanations about Japanese food ingredients, food history, and tools. The other half of the book is recipes.
The recipes are good but I wish the book contained more recipes instead of Japanese food explanations. However, one advantage of it is that it explains the food names in Japanese so that you can find what you are looking for in a Japanese market.

Rating:
Summary: To many explanations, not enough recipes.
Review: Half of this book contains explanations about Japanese food ingredients, food history, and tools. The other half of the book is recipes.
The recipes are good but I wish the book contained more recipes instead of Japanese food explanations. However, one advantage of it is that it explains the food names in Japanese so that you can find what you are looking for in a Japanese market.

Rating:
Summary: Excelent book! Beautiful pictures, recipes, and explanations
Review: I am an American with no prior experience cooking Japanese food but with this book I can now walk into an Asian super market where no one speaks English, and nothing is written in English and still be able to buy everything I need to make these great recipes! Why? Because much to my delight (and the other reviewers dismay) the first half of this book shows and explains tons of typical ingredients. EVERY ingredient has a beautiful picture so I can stroll through an asian supermakret isle and find katsuo-bushi without reading a single label. How many average Americans can do that? If you are familiar with Japanese ingredients then the first half of this book might be useless to you. If you want to learn how to cook Japanese recipes but feel intimidated because you have no idea what some ingredients are then this book is PERFECT for you!
PS katsuo-bushi is dried shaved samon flakes. :)

Rating:
Summary: Great Efforts!
Review: I really like this book a lot. It introduces me to the Japanese traditions and wonderful cooking recipes. Anyone interested in Japanese cooking should find this book a must read. Very deliciously edited!

Rating:
Summary: Love Sushi!
Review: I'll be breef. Excellent book with large picture to the point reciepts and durable cover. I love it!!!