CoolCat
Veteran
I have the following cookbooks in my Japanese arsenal:
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji
This is a basic primer on Japanese food, including long explanations on technique, ingredients, and history. You can think of it as the Japanese equivalent of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It's split into two halves. The first half explains each cooking technique with one or two example recipes for each, and the second half is all recipes that incorporate the techniques explained in the first half. It's got a lot of information crammed in, but it's great because you always know why a certain step is important and it gives a lot of substitutions if you can find particular vegetables or ingredients.
The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go by Makiko Itoh
This contains recipes for bento, which are Japanese packed lunches. There is a focus on food safety (they are primarily foods that are higher in salt, sugar, or acid so can be left at room temperature until lunch time), preparing in advance (taking advantage of the freezer or last night's dinner leftovers), quick morning preparation, balanced meals, and bright visual appeal. Bento boxes have been very popular in the last decade, and this is a great resource for someone just starting out. If you are interested and want to try her recipes before buying the book, you can check out her websites here:
www.justbento.com
www.justhungry.com
What cookbooks or other resources do you use for Japanese cooking, and what do you like about them?
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji
This is a basic primer on Japanese food, including long explanations on technique, ingredients, and history. You can think of it as the Japanese equivalent of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It's split into two halves. The first half explains each cooking technique with one or two example recipes for each, and the second half is all recipes that incorporate the techniques explained in the first half. It's got a lot of information crammed in, but it's great because you always know why a certain step is important and it gives a lot of substitutions if you can find particular vegetables or ingredients.
The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go by Makiko Itoh
This contains recipes for bento, which are Japanese packed lunches. There is a focus on food safety (they are primarily foods that are higher in salt, sugar, or acid so can be left at room temperature until lunch time), preparing in advance (taking advantage of the freezer or last night's dinner leftovers), quick morning preparation, balanced meals, and bright visual appeal. Bento boxes have been very popular in the last decade, and this is a great resource for someone just starting out. If you are interested and want to try her recipes before buying the book, you can check out her websites here:
www.justbento.com
www.justhungry.com
What cookbooks or other resources do you use for Japanese cooking, and what do you like about them?