Cookaholics Bulletin Board

So, some Japanese cookbooks:

First of all, I decided not to buy A Cook's Journey to Japan; once I went to try and prepare recipes from it, I realized that the selection of the recipes in the book is fairly eclectic, and doesn't include many of the "mainstream" Japanese dishes I want to make on the few evenings when I cook Japanese. For example, no recipe for any kind of ramen. Shame, I really liked the style and approachability.

Essentially Japanese does contain all of those recipes, or most of them, anyway. Interestingly, like A Cook's Journey, the selection of fish recipes is rather sparse; strange because the Japanese eat a lot of fish, a lot more than they eat, for example, beef. However, the ramen recipe from here was excellent and it has a lot of all-around useful Japanese food with reasonable instructions. A bit weak on substitutions, though. Recommended as a general-purpose Japanese cookbook.

Izakaya is not at all an accessible cookbook; it's a confusing guide, organized around various specific Izakaya (Japanese bar & grills). The index is purely in romanized Japanese, and there are no substitutions suggested anywhere. On the other hand, it's a dense book chock-full of Japansese small-plate food you won't find elsewhere. As befits pub grub, the recipes are generally farily simple and fast-cooking, and almost every recipe has a color photo -- very helpful with strange food. Recommended for the serious Japanese food enthusiast who already has other Japanese cookbooks.

I love Japanese food. On my annual trip to Honolulu, I pretty much eat Japanese 3 times day. I've never really tried to make much of it, but have finally obtained the bits required for Dashi and will be trying a few 'fusion' dishes, probably start with stuff out of Momofoku.

What would be your suggestion as to the 'best' first Japanese cookbook that also accounts for ingredient availability (for example, one that offers fish species substitution). Fish would be a high priority.

Paul,

I haven't found that book yet. Of the ones I reviewed (and the others I've owned), Essentially Japanese is probably the best, but even that book has shortcomings.

Update: Have prepared a number of recipes from the book. Prime Rib, Loin Roast, Chicken Thighs, Roasted Chicken, root vegetables. I have to tell you that this is a keeper. I plan on doing the Lamb this weekend (it is studded with rosemary, garlic, and anchovies). Awesome book!!

Re: All About Roasting. I've tried the steakhouse steaks on page 105. Very similar in technique from what I had already been doing, except she has you salt this one at the last minute (I usually salt in advance; lately I've been loving Penzeys Chicaco Steak seasoning), the oven is more moderate after the initial sear in a hot cast iron pan (I had been using 400 on a convection setting; she recommended 375, or 350 if using convection), and she has you put butter over the top.

It was very good, but I have to admit that I'm not 100% convinced that the butter added much. I guess the way to tell would be to try it without, and taste it side by side, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to guinea pig a couple of AAA strip steaks for the sake of a tbsp of butter. I found the times pretty much bang-on, and the steaks were beautifully rare/medium rare in the times as written.

I'm looking forward to trying some of the larger roasts too.

Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes (the North American version of 30 minute meals): I'll confess, I have not tended to make the full menus as instructed. My one small peeve is that there's not really any timing suggestions because he assumes you will do each step in sequence (and would theoretically get the timing right from that I guess). Not a big deal if you're a reasonably experienced cook, but i did have to guess how long broccolini and baby bok choy would take to steam. I like that the menus are ethnically inspired, reasonably healthy, and everything I've made has been fresh, tasty, and quick enough for a weeknight.

So far, the Cypriot chicken turned out great. It was very moist especially since its all done on the top of the stove despite being stuffed. The stuffing technique is clever too, and I will definitely be using it again (you fold back the tender, and cut the pocket facing away from the tender so it all reassembles with the tender closing up the cut). I cheated and served with a Greek salad instead of the recommended sides. Very tasty though, and still moist and good reheated for lunch the next day.

The ribeye stirfry was also really good despite my not having any Sichuan peppercorns (I'll pick some up this weekend). I was also inspired to try the broccolini (it was in Costco, and I remembered this recipe) and baby Bok Choy in black bean sauce as the suggested side. Also quick and tasty. We skipped the noodles and it was still a good meal.

So far I'm liking it quite a bit for weeknight cooking. DH has been saying that he's been impressed.

I've caught a few episodes of the tv show and the food looks good. I looked at the book though and was a bit put off by how the recipes are whole meals so you have to cut and paste a bit to make a recipe out of it. The food porn value of the show is off the charts though.

Mary

Yeah, he specifically says that he doesn't want you picking and choosing recipes; he wants you to do the complete menus. I think he's trying to make sure that people eat all of the veggie sides, and not just make the mains with a side of frozen fries. It's the amount of fruit and veggies in the menus that appealed to me, with quite moderate portions of meat and treats. For me, I would do the whole menu, but I have to limit carbs, so I just drop the rice/potato/pasta sides and the desserts from the menus I do. It just messes up the timing, and then you do have to jump around in the instructions a bit. Since I tend to cook from a photocopy (I'm just too messy to be trusted not to splash my book with something), I just highlight the sections I need.

And I just have messy cookbooks, gives them that lived in look.

You sure it's the food porn which is off the charts?