Real Japanese Cooking: The Only Japanese Cookbook You Will Ever Need!

This excellent compendium from Itoh (The Just Bento Cookbook) offers an encyclopedic introduction to “the complete range of modern Japanese home cooking.” She breaks down Japanese food into three main styles: washoku, or traditional fare, includes sake-steamed cod, mixed rice with greens (“a favorite since the Edo period,” Itoh notes), and sukiyaki (beef hotpot); chuka, or Chinese-influenced dishes, ranges from chicken and ginger soup with glass noodles to sweet and sour okara and tofu meatballs; and yoshoku, Western-style cuisine, includes cream stew, classic tempura, and Japanese milk bread. Tips abound to help readers achieve authentic flavors even when ingredients aren’t accessible: boiling spaghetti in a baking soda solution, for example, helps mimic the texture of Chinese noodles. Alongside the more than 500 recipes, Itoh immerses readers in Japanese food culture, with fascinating sidebars on the science of umami and the history of cheesecake. The result is a one-stop resource that Japanese food enthusiasts will turn to time and again. (July)