(Part 2) Best japanese cooking, food & wine books according to redditors
We found 98 Reddit comments discussing the best japanese cooking, food & wine books. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
How authentic do you want to go?
In terms of truly authentic Japanese cuisine, the absolute best book is "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art" by Shizuo Tsuji. It teaches the aesthetics behind Japanese food as well as all the requisite techniques, but it can be a bit too hardcore for the home cook.
Next I would recommend something by Yoko Arimoto, such as "Simply Japanese: Modern Cooking for the Healthy Home". Highly respected in Japan as a cookbook author; she's very flexible with her ingredients, which make it easier to adapt in an non-Japanese environment.
Elizabeth Andoh is very good too; hits all the right notes.
Harumi Kurihara, is popular but in a Martha Stewart sort of way. She'll give you basic recipes, then she'll give you something that is really "out there". Her recipes tend to be...well, handy. Kind of like what Giada is to Italian cooking.
"Harumi's Japanese Cooking" is authentic and it's in English. Harumi Kurihara is on NHK cooking programmes a lot.
I recently received Everyday Harumi as a gift and it is delicious. The recipes, not the book.
She starts by listing all of the basic ingredients that are central to almost every Japanese meal: rice, soy sauce, mirin, sake, katsuoboshi, etc. She also covers how to make some basic sauces and soup stocks that are commonly shared among dishes.
There's also cookingwithdog, which is available for free on YouTube :)
I agree with the crock pot idea, but Asian foods (such as fried rice and ramen) are very easy and quick to assemble; they just require some prep. I just bought "The Wagamama Cookbook" and it explains how you can make different portions of the meals up to 1 week ahead such as the stock, pastes and the sauces. That way when you get home, you take out all the pre-made stuff, cook the meat, heat up the stock and assemble. Very easy, at least in theory. Just bought it today and am going to try a chili beef ramen later this week. hope this helps and here is the book on amazon.
I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:
Pan-Asian
Burmese
Cambodian
Chinese
Indian
Indonesia
Japanese
Korean
Malaysian
Middle Eastern
Philippine
Russian
Sri Lankan
Taiwanese
Thailand
Turkish
Vietnamese
(edit: screwed up a couple links)
I've got everyday Harumi and it's great.
Someone recommended this cookbook on the facebook page, and I wound up purchasing it because if nothing else it has vocabulary for ingredients. I love to cook, so I'm looking forward to shopping in Japanese grocery stores and learning new recipes.
My technique is not as posh as proper Japanese ramen, but it may give you a start. I tend to use something like Nongshim Shin in a flavour I like. First, I soft boil 2 eggs. Then I prepare veg like Pak Choi, spring onions, peas, asparagus, baby corn, and perhaps some sauteed mushrooms or cabbage, and maybe some water chestnuts for texture. I then boil water and add noodles and spice packets followed by my veg (excluding water chestnuts and things that needn't be cooked). I rinse and drain and peel my eggs. I pour my cooked ramen and veg into a big bowl and then top with the split boiled eggs, sauteed mushrooms and cabbage, spring onions and something like Shichimi Togarashi.You can also add grilled or stirfried meat to your taste. I'm allergic to meat, so I tend to keep it simple. You can use different kinds of seaweed, too. I like to soak arame in cold water while my eggs boil and then sprinkle this on top with my other toppings. The only limit to what you can do with your ramen is your imagination. The Wagamama noodle cookbook is quite awesome and you should be able to get it in America, too. It'll give you some starting points. Good luck and enjoy!
My favorite cookbook is Japanese Homestyle Cooking by Tokiko Suzuki. Lots of step by step photos and easy to follow directions. I made the nikujaga recipe from this book for new years dinner and everyone raved about it.
For Japanese food videos, I second the recommendation by /u/lovelyliltinglilacs to watch Cooking with Dog on Youtube.
No real sites that offer great food. You can google some names of dishes, but you won't find the real chunks of knowledge you need to really make great Japanese food. Here are my best book recommendations:
Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes
Nobu: The Cookbook
Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook
Buy yourself a nice Japanese knife with that first book, then move on to Nobu, then the Izakaya book. They are awesome resources.
Good selection at Cookpad.
Some recipes here too, good selection and even found ninjin shiri shiri here.
Here's a book on Amazon that seems to have received some good reviews.
Many Asian cuisines rely heavily on garlic or onion – many Indian and Chinese recipes use both; Vietnamese and Thai are pretty garlic-heavy.
Japanese recipes will probably be your best bet – they use scallions a lot, but not much garlic, onion, or shallots. Some important components of Japanese food are ginger, soy sauce, mirin, sake, miso, and sesame – there are many, many delicious dishes that you could make by having those on-hand.
A good, basic Japanese cookbook is Everyday Harumi. There should be plenty of stuff in there that you can make with no alliums.
If you are not too lazy to grab a cookbook and are game to try some easy Japanese cooking, I highly recommend Harumi Kumihara. Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking and Harumi's Japanese Cooking have both been translated into English. Her recipes are simple and easy to follow and you can get most of the basic seasonings (soy sauce, mirin, sake, etc) in one trip to an asian grocery. A lot of the recipes use similar seasonings in various combinations and just a few simple, fresh ingredients. We cook from it all the time and have yet to be disappointed.
EDIT: Also, if you have a blender, I use this recipe for hummus all the time. It's super easy, just dump in all the ingredients and blend, then eat with some store-bought pita.
You would be better served with cooking.nytimes.com than this book. It is quite thick and heavy, and most of this book's recipes amount to "Cook a fish with a lemon". For Japanese food, starting with Itoh or a more general cookbook might be better, but personally, if you can read Japanese at all, I would recommend purchasing a Japanese-language cookbook at BookOff for 100円.
I'm a fan of Sushi Slim:
http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Slim-One-Japanese-Meal-Day-Cookbook/dp/1581572468/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XXH2B9CD21YJG70F29B
Food of Japan by Shirley Booth is pretty good. It has many common recipes with basic techniques and whatnot. It's my favorite that I've found so far.
> Suggestions/tips to combat temple fatigue? I'm thinking of purchasing a goshuin to collect my memories better...
I bought a goshuin at Sensoji on my first day and brought it along during my 21 day trip. While I did not go out of my way persay to find shuins, I did end up collecting about 24 of them (enough for one full half) just by traveling around. It is definitely an amazing souvenir if you appreciate calligraphy and visiting various temples.
> Do you know where I might be able to research ekiben? Or see what stores are in which stations and what they sell?
You'll be able to find ekiben at almost every large train station. There are usually vendor(s) selling them in the shopping areas before/after ticketing, and often on the train platform themselves. I ended up getting 2-3 out of convenience, but they are moderately pricy for the quality (900-1100 yen).
> Where I might be able to find a comprehensive list of regional food specialties? Foods that would definitely not be available in the States. For example, kushikatsu or akashiyaki.
I ended up buying a book before my Japan trip to bring with me and to brush up on the culinary aspects of Japan. I can highly recommend this one combined with some Googling.
> Candy/snack recommendations! I have a massive sweet/salty tooth and I can't wait to bring back snacks and candy to the states. Tell me your favorite Japanese snacks and candy and where to buy them.
I'm not especially into sweets but for me, freshly made senbei were mindblowingly delicious. Some places that make them on the spot will have packaged ones as well.
Yeah! It's called Tokyo Local: Cult Recipes From the Street that Make the City https://www.amazon.com/dp/1925418642/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_v-LkDbKRAAH5A
Probably The Book of Soba. It's literally just "how to make soba noodles and serve them traditionally".
I'd recommend Sepia by Martin Benn. Best fine dining restaurant Australia's ever had. I bet you my left testicle it'll be in the world's top 50 this year.