Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking

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The revered Iron Chef shows how to make flavorful, exciting traditional Japanese meals at home in this beautiful cookbook that is sure to become a classic, featuring a carefully curated selection of fantastic recipes and more than 150 color photos.

Japanese cuisine has an intimidating reputation that has convinced most home cooks that its beloved preparations are best left to the experts. But legendary chef Masaharu Morimoto, owner of the wildly popular Morimoto restaurants, is here to change that. In Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking, he introduces readers to the healthy, flavorful, surprisingly simple dishes favored by Japanese home cooks.

Chef Morimoto reveals the magic of authentic Japanese food—the way that building a pantry of half a dozen easily accessible ingredients allows home cooks access to hundreds of delicious recipes, empowering them to adapt and create their own inventions. From revelatory renditions of classics like miso soup, nabeyaki udon, and chicken teriyaki to little known but unbelievably delicious dishes like fish simmered with sake and soy sauce, Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking brings home cooks closer to the authentic experience of Japanese cuisine than ever before.

And, of course, the famously irreverent chef also offers playful riffs on classics, reimagining tuna-and-rice bowls in the style of Hawaiian poke, substituting dashi-marinated kale for spinach in oshitashi, and upgrading the classic rice seasoning furikake with toasted shrimp shells and potato chips. Whatever the recipe, Chef Morimoto reveals the little details—the right ratios of ingredients in sauces, the proper order for adding seasonings—that make all the difference in creating truly memorable meals that merge simplicity with exquisite flavor and visual impact.

Photography by Evan Sung

From the Publisher

Takikomi Gohan: Dashi-Simmered Rice With Vegetables

“This is one of the most elegant rice dishes I know: the flavors are mild but perfectly balanced, so nothing super sweet or salty or bold comes through, but the overall effect is incredibly rich and satisfying.”

Tekka Don No Poke: Hawaiian Poke-Style Tuna Rice Bowl

“The cubes of luscious crimson fish dressed with a little salt, sugar, and spice taste great over wonderfully plain white rice or less traditional but no less delicious sushi rice.”

Nabeyaki Udon: “Clay Pot” Udon Noodle Soup

“Traditionally served in an earthenware hot pot called a donabe that retains heat really well, the soup is the ultimate cold-weather comfort food.”

A Yakitori Party: Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Skewers

“These grilled skewers are a home cook’s dream—simple to make for weeknight dinner and easy to scale up for a party.”

Buta no Kakuni: Slow-Cooked Pork Belly with Beer-Teriyaki Glaze

“Few things on earth are as decadent as pork belly slowly simmered until you can cut it with chopsticks.”

Battera: Pressed Mackerel Sushi

“Even though battera’s popularity in Japan surpasses that of the spicy tuna roll, few Americans have ever heard of this tasty type of sushi…Once a specialty of Kansai, battera offers a window into a time long before tuna could travel from Tokyo to New York in a day.”

California Temaki

Makes 8 Hand Rolls

Remove the pit of the avocado, and peel off the skin as if you’re peeling an egg. Cut into long, approximately ¼-inch thick slices.

To make each hand roll, hold a piece of nori shiny side down in an open palm. Lightly moisten your other hand with water and grab about a ¼-cup clump of rice, compress it slightly to form a rough oval, and add it to one of the short sides of the nori, about 1 inch from the edge. Firmly press the rice with your pointer finger to make a lengthwise divot in the center.

To each, add a slice of avocado, a generous pinch of the cucumber, a pointer-finger-size piece of surimi or generous tablespoon of crab meat, and 1 generous teaspoon of tobiko.

Roll the nori around the filling to form a cone or cylinder. Eat right away.

Ingredients: ½ firm-ripe Hass avocado 4 nori seaweed sheets (about 8 ½ by 7 ½ inches), halved lengthwise About 2 cups cooked, vinegared short-grain white rice, at room temperature ¼ pound crunchy cucumber (Japanese, English, or Persian), peeled, seeded, & cut into thin sticks ¼ pound surimi (mock crab) or fresh lump crabmeat 2 ounces tobiko (flying-fish roe; optional)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Illustrated edition (November 8, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062344382
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062344380
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.59 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.95 x 10 inches