Japanese Cooking A Simple Art
When it was first published, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art changed the way the culinary world viewed Japanese cooking, moving it from obscure ethnic food to haute cuisine.
Twenty-five years later, much has changed. Japanese food is a favorite of diners around the world. Not only is sushi as much a part of the Western culinary scene as burgers, bagels, and burritos, but some Japanese chefs have become household names. Japanese flavors, ingredients, and textures have been fused into dishes from a wide variety of other cuisines. What hasn’t changed over the years, however, are the foundations of Japanese cooking. When he originally wrote Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, Shizuo Tsuji, a scholar who trained under famous European chefs, was so careful and precise in his descriptions of the cuisine and its vital philosophies, and so thoughtful in his choice of dishes and recipes, that his words–and the dishes they help produce–are as fresh today as when they were first written.
The 25th Anniversary edition celebrates Tsuji’s classic work. Building on M.F.K.Fisher’s eloquent introduction, the volume now includes a thought-provoking new Foreword by Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl and a new preface by the author’s son and Tsuji Culinary Institute Director Yoshiki Tsuji. Beautifully illustrated with eight pages of new color photos and over 500 drawings, and containing 230 traditional recipes as well as detailed explanations of ingredients, kitchen utensils, techniques and cultural aspects of Japanese cuisine, this edition continues the Tsuji legacy of bringing the Japanese kitchen within the reach of Western cooks.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars You’ll Never Achieve The Simple Art of Japanese Cooking
This book is part of cooking history. The Introduction alone, by M.F.K. Fisher, is worth the purchase price. She lays the background for how this book came to be published: Tsuji, a Japanese chef, was interested in food beyond Japan’s borders, and he thought that Japanese cooking could add value to cooking in the West. Although are not written for quick and easy preparation, Tsuji’s goal was to interpret the history and traditions of Japan’s isolated cultural heritage to chefs and cooks in America, France, and other parts of the world with little exposure to a philosophy of food that took single ingredients as the focus. Fresh vegetables, a small amount of just-caught fish, or carefully rationed meat could serve as the center of a meal with many intricately simple accompaniments, all prepared with an eye for balance and beauty. In this way, Tsuji gives the west an entirely new way to cook food. “You eat with your eyes first” has since become popular in recipe books and on pedagogic cooking shows, and we can see its origins in the delicate preparations valued by Japanese Cooking.
5 Stars The definitive book on traditional Japanese cooking
Like Tanizaki’s “In Praise of Shadows” this book can easily be renamed “In Praise of Traditional Japanese Cooking.” As the author points out, the best traditions and customs are still not lost, but they have been preserved and practiced by a few exclusive restaurants, which the ordinary Japanese (or tourist) is unlikely to be able to visit.
Besides the nostalgic (and sophisticated) overtone, the book is actually practical if you manage to find the ingredients. After couple of months of exploring different stores, I was able to find almost everything I needed from katsuo-bushi, mirin and mochi to agar-agar used in Japanese sweets. For example, if you manage to find azuki beans and mochi, you will be able to make most of the desserts described in the book. I have already tried several recipes (miso soup, steamed salmon among others) and they all turned out to be fantastic. The meals are very light, always cooked with minimum treatment of the ingredients so the nutrients are preserved. If you try to eat Japanese at least once a week, then konbu, wakame and nori are supposedly good sources of B12 otherwise available mainly in meat.
One thing that I found particularly valuable about this cookbook is that it provides detailed instructions on how to cook the meal based on what ingredients you find. Say you find dried shiitake instead of fresh ones and cannot read the label (in Japanese) about how to prepare the dried mushrooms. Well, the book has it all. The same goes for dashi,and many other major ingredients. Tsuji is very clear on what you are likely to find on the (US) market, and what not, and if the ingredient is difficult to find, in most cases he suggests a substitute for it (although reluctantly). I hope you will enjoy this meticulous cookbook, it is indeed special.
3 Stars too traditional, too discouraging for a casual chef with a day job
If you ever wondered about the flavorings and cooking methods underlying authentic Japanese cooking, this book tells all, how the broth and soup were created, what the ingredients probably were, etc. That is all good to know, and heightens appreciation when I go to a restaurant.
However, this book is not for home cooking, especially if you are someone with a day job with limited time to cook. The recipes are discouraging in that they take way too much time and steps to prepare. For most of these recipes, I would have to make the fish or sea kelp based stock ahead of time, but the author also cautions that the stock would not taste good if made too many days in advance.
There are no shortcuts offered. The author’s message is, to taste good, it’s all meticulous craftspersonship and the freshest ingredients. That may be true.
I personally need a cookbook that allows for an occasional bouillon cube to be used, allows for frozen ingredients, allows for some reality of daily life.
Again, it *is* a good reference book for how it should be.
5 Stars THE Japanese cookbook for westerners
This is the best reference I know of for westerners on Japanese cooking. I appreciated the book’s very readable tone, its thoroughness, the depth of its discussion. But what I loved even more was the book’s respect for Japanese food. And in turn its respect for us readers.
I notice that some have criticized this book for choosing authenticity above ease or convenience. While those criticisms are valid in that they are honest, informative to potential buyers, and well-meant, I have to take issue – I believe that this book’s unwillingness to substitute ease for authenticity is really one of its greatest strengths. Not because authenticity is something one should strive for all the time – it’s not. But because it keeps the book from becoming dated. Good cooks will always be able to make their own substitutions in technique and ingredients based on what is most available to them. This book would have been horribly dated and even tacky if it offered suggestions and recipes to make Japanese food based on what you could find in an American supermarket in 1980. Instead, by introducing the least compromised version of Japanese food to Western readers, building a real understanding of that food, and then trusting readers to apply their own judgment, this book has become the single best reference for Westerners looking to learn Japanese cooking and remained so for almost 30 years.
Which is another great reason to buy Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art – it will undoubtedly be just as useful in another 30 years as it is now.
5 Stars The Joy of Cooking, Japanese edition
People call this the Bible of Japanese cooking. They’re mostly not kidding. This is hands down the most comprehensive and detailed Japanese cookbook in English. It’s The Joy of Cooking Mark II, only for Japanese food.
If there’s anything you want to know how to cook and it’s not in here, you’re probably going to have to find a Japanese language cookbook that contains it. You might be able to find your missing recipe on a web page in fascinatingly worded English painstakingly put together by a native Japanese speaker, but otherwise, this is the book to look in for the broadest range and the greatest depth. It’s a gourmet’s cookbook. Some of the recipes are intimidatingly complex. But a large percentage of them aren’t intimidating at all. It’s a fabulous book. Ask for it for a birthday present or something. I sat down and read it end to end like a novel, and never got bored.
(Full disclosure: I’ve semiprofessionally taught Japanese cooking classes.)
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