For nearly thirty years, Katsuyo Kobayashi has been showing people how to make good food with a minimum of fuss. She's Japan's most trusted and popular television cooking personality, and the best-selling author of 140 books. In The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook, she presents foolproof recipes that anyone can make. All the ingredients are readily available outside Japan, and the cooking methods are kept simple and straightforward. A large full-color photograph of each completed dish is shown opposite the recipe, for easy reference. Small photos of the cooking process, also in color, are in the right-hand margin, with notes from Kobayashi about points to remember or substitutions that can be made for ingredients that may be less familiar. Calories and preparation time are noted for each dish. This is real Japanese family-style food-the kind that you won't find in restaurants but that people are really eating every day, at home. Japanese cooking today is made rich in variety by Asian and European influences, and this book reflects that diversity. Many of the great traditional recipes of Japan are here, such as Japanese Pan-Fried Chicken and Tofu with Sweet Miso Sauce, but so are recipes that came to Japan from China and were adapted to Japanese tastes, like Gyoza Pot Stickers, Steamed Shumai Dumplings, and Banbanji Chilled Sesame Chicken. There's Japanese-style curry, and the popular "Omrice"--delicious flavored rice wrapped inside a thin omelette. There are even Japanese-style hamburgers, flavored with soy sauce and sake. Now, you can enjoy Japanese home cooking without ever leaving home.
I bought this book because I am an Iron Chef fan and enjoyed watching the battle with Katsuyo Kobayashi so much. Don't laugh, it turned out to be an excellent cookbook. The recipes are fresh, delicious, and easy to follow. My 5 year old that hates nearly any food he sees has yet to turn down a meal cooked from this book. I have several good Japanese cookbooks but this one just may turn out to be the one I use the most often.
A staple Japanese cookbook
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
Being cable deprived, I've seen the Iron Chef only once. Each episode's backbitingly brutal commentary on the competing chefs' techniques, choice of ingredients and finished product positively enthralls! Naturally, I was enticed by the caption of the author's photograph. It says, "Katsuyo Kobayashi can make anybody into an IRON CHEF." Well, I doubt that, since she'd have to give me culinary creativity and an ironclad ego, while teaching me to prepare her Iron Chef-winning Japanese delicacies. The book, however, had enough simple, creative recipes, beautiful full-color glossy photographs and some of the best food preparation advice I've experienced. Simply arranged into ingredient-themed sections, the book also has a section on the basic techniques of Japanese cooking (rice and stock making) and a glossary that you will want to take to the Asian market. Many of the ingredients will only be found there, but Kobayashi does give some Western equivalents, as well as the calories per serving. Time to prepare and cook helps, too, since most people have the impression that Asian cuisine is time intensive with all that chopping and dicing. Now I'm ready to tackle Clams steamed in sake, assorted tempura and steamed shumai dumplings with the best of them.
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