(Part 2) Top products from r/JapaneseFood

I have both Wagamama cookbooks and use them all the time. Also, if you scroll down the page to the list of books others bought, there are quite a few good, basic japanese cookbooks for the beginner. Also have a google. This is a pretty handy site for beginners. Good luck and enjoy. (It also helps to find a local asian food shop for things like panko breadcrumbs, miso, wasabe, pickled ginger, and shoyu.)

It's rare that I get to a page on my frontpage that threads like yours appear. I guess it's your lucky day!

Last year I bought a ramen cookbook after reviewing what was available here in Germany. In the end I chose "Ramen: Japanese noodles and small dishes" by Tove Nilsson. What I liked most about it was that most of the book focused on actual Ramen you would find in Japan. You might think: what else should a ramen cookbook contain? From my observation: a lot of weird stuff that you'll never try that will be completely useless for you. Tove Nilsson covers the basics, the traditional dishes, some new and funky ones and shows a bunch of different ways on how to do certain recipes (what kinda broths you can use, three or four different ways to make chashu and so on)

Last December I finally made my first ramen from the book! And it was delicious. Classic Shoyu Ramen with a chicken-pork broth, homemade chashu. I still have to post the pics on /r/ramen ...

Bonus points for a bunch of Japanese side dishes like Gyoza, a lot of topping recipes and so on.

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 :)

Japanese Farm Food ... awesome recipes and a very helpful perspective. Award-winning

Donabe: Japanese Clay Pot Cooking ... requires a donabe

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art ... a famous comprehensive bible of Japanese cooking

Im also on justonecookbook.com all the time.. and if they would ever print an actual cookbook I would buy it.

Washoku is an absolutely stunning cookbook and everything I have made from it is wonderful. It also has a whole chapter on what a Japanese kitchen would have for ingredients and tools as well as some philosophy of Japanese cooking.

I like:

-The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo as an all-around thorough book with recipes that don't necessarily take too much time to prepare. A thorough description of ingredients, how to find the best ingredients, and what to do with them very helpful (Its my current favorite).

-This book is good for beginners but sticks to mostly traditional/homestyle fare (my 2nd fave).

-And this for the super hardcore but with less pictures and more time consuming recipes.

-This book for its individual, everyday/practical recipes.

I've made multiple recipes from all of them.

A couple of my favourites, not exactly the type of food you'd make every day but both very beautiful and well-curated:

Kaiseki: Zen Tastes in Japanese Cooking

Good Food from a Japanese Temple

Someone's probably already mentioned it but if you want vegan Japanese food you should look into Shojin cuisine. I bought this cookbook off of Amazon which has lots of good recipes, most of which are vegan (I only saw a couple of desserts which used yogurt but other than that it all seemed vegan).

I've got everyday Harumi and it's great.

It's all about the broth, which means it's all about simmering a bunch of stuff in a giant pot for a very long time. Momofuku's ramen is not my favorite but the recipe in the Momofuku cookbook is very detailed. Good place to start.

for onigiri fillings, try pickles or marinated artichoke hearts(with the leaves cut off). Also, do you have a mold, or are you hand-shaping them? they're easier to fill with a mold

also for ramen recipes, try this book (I own and love it):
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Ramen-Lowcost-Gourmet-Instant/dp/1883385148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300931173&sr=8-1

obviously, unless EVERYONE wants to chip in, you're gonna want to but that used

If you want to continue it past 30 days, I highly recommend this book!

The crispy waffle cannot be replicated... I have no idea how they are able to make it crispy while its touching the ice cream and also sit in a freezer. It's only found in Japanese seven eleven, family mart or other convenient stores. If you want to make the green tea ice cream, you can find sweetened matcha green tea powders via Amazon. Maeda-En - Sweet Green Tea Powder 4.23 Oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006G86CM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_F47EwbDWDV097

There are also crazy flavors like this https://instagram.com/p/-Sq0u5nXChXa7bKYK_-BOcLjQZczIcxjTT2yo0/

And

https://instagram.com/p/8QRT-UnXM7/

I like to keep some of the instant packages of ochazuke in my pantry:
https://www.amazon.com/Nagatanien-Nori-Chazuke-seaweed-seasoning/dp/B0006B4IIS

I've had good luck with Let's Cook Japanese Food, by Amy Kaneko. If I remember correctly, Ms. Kaneko married into a Japanese family and had to learn how to cook this stuff. Fore warning, some of the recipes can be a bit hard, but most are reasonable

Japanese Soul Cooking: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607743523?pc_redir=1414099212&robot_redir=1

I found it on amazon japan

"Harumi's Japanese Cooking" is authentic and it's in English. Harumi Kurihara is on NHK cooking programmes a lot.