Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art - Hardcover

Shizuo Tsuji

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 4770030495 ISBN 13: 9784770030498

Publisher: Kodansha International, 2007

Synopsis

Since its release twenty-five years ago, Shizuo Tsuji's encyclopedic and authoritative work has been the acknowledged "bible" of Japanese cooking. Unrivalled in its comprehensive explanation of ingredients, tools and techniques, the book guides readers through recipes with clear prose, while technical points are made understandable with deftly executed line drawings. Much more than a collection of recipes, the cookbook is a masterful treatise on Japanese cuisine. In his preface, the author (who was truly a Renaissance man of Japanese and world gastronomy) discusses the essence of Japanese cooking, with its emphasis on simplicity, balance of textures, colours, and flavours, seasonal freshness, and artful presentation. M. F. K. Fisher's introduction to the 1980 edition is a not-to-be-missed work of food writing. A new foreword by Ruth Reichl and an additional preface by Tsuji Culinary Institute president Yoshiki Tsuji provide culinary and historical context for the 25th Anniversary Edition. Eight pages of vibrant new colour photographs illustrate over seventeen finished dishes. After introducing ingredients and utensils, the twenty chapters that make up Part One consist of lessons presenting all the basic Japanese cooking methods and principal types of prepared foods - making soup, slicing sashimi, grilling, simmering, steaming, noodles, sushi, pickles, and so on - with accompanying basic recipes. Part Two features 130 carefully selected recipes that range from everyday fare to intriguing challenges for the adventurous cook. Together with the recipes in Part One, these allow the cook to build a repertoire of dishes ranging from the basic "soup and three" formula to a gala banquet. Still the foremost source book of cooking concepts and recipes from Japan, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art invites a new generation of readers to take a journey to the heart of one of the world's great culinary traditions.

About this title

Review:

This is the classic work on Japanese cooking here presented in a 25th anniversary hardback edition. It is encyclopaedic in scope with comprehensive explanations of ingredients, equipment and techniques as well as recipes adding up to the acknowledged bible on the subject. The first half is structured as a series of lessons on the basic Japanese cooking methods and the principal types of prepared foods (stocks, sauces, sushi, rice and pickles) whereas the second half presents a collection of recipes from the simple everyday to the sophisticated. If you are serious about Japanese cooking then this is the essential text. --Yes Chef! Magazine

About the Author:

SHIZUO TSUJI (1933-1993) was born into a family that operated a
traditional confectionery and graduated from prestigious Waseda University
in Tokyo with a degree in French Literature. He worked first as a reporter
for the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and then in 1960 established the Tsuji
Culinary Institute in Osaka to train professional chefs (now the largest
such school in Japan). After extensive training in Japanese cooking, he
studied the cooking of the greatest chefs in France. The French government
named him Meilleur Ouvrier de France (M. O. F.) in recognition of his
study, mastery, and promotion of French cuisine. He published over thirty
books, including works on gastronomy, music, essays, and translation.
He followed Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art with Practical Japanese Cooking:
Easy and Elegant, a full-colour presentation of some of the most popular
Japanese dishes.

Few writers have written more eloquently about food than M. F. K. FISHER
(1908-1992). Her books include The Art of Eating and The Gastronomical Me,
and she also translated and annotated Brillat-Savarin's Physiology of
Taste.

YOSHIKI TSUJI was born in Osaka and moved to Edinburgh when he was twelve
years old. He continued his education in the United States, and in 1993
became president of the Tsuji Culinary Institute. Continuing his father
Shizuo Tsuji's work, he enthusiastically researches contemporary currents
in European and American culinary culture to educate professional chefs,
and is dedicated to promoting Japanese food culture overseas as the
vice-president of the Japanese Culinary Academy. He has authored two books;
The Theory of Evolution of Epicurism (Bishoku Shinkaron) and An
Introduction to the Food Industry (Ryori no Shigoto ga Shitai).

RUTH REICHL is the editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine and the author of
the bestsellers Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic

About this edition

• Publisher: Kodansha International
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 4770030495
• ISBN 13: 9784770030498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 508