Japanese Home Cooking is an elaborate cookbook detailing the concept of Japanese cooking. The author shows you how to incorporate flavors and ingredients to deliver an authentic Japanese meal. And ultimately to expand the reader’s knowledge and experience of Japanese culinary culture.

This book is divided into two sections: Part one introduces the Japanese pantry and everyday okazu (dishes). This part introduces the ingredients unique to Japanese cooking.
Part two, *Okazu*, Sweets, and Beverages” is a collection of more elaborate recipes presents more involved okazu, as well as Japanese sweets, preserved fruits, and beverages including tea and sake.

The book begins with the principles of Japanese cooking, as the author introduces you to the five keys to Japanese cooking: freshness, seasonality, simplicity, beauty and economy.

You will also find the traditional styles of Japanese cuisines such as Kaiseki ryori (multicourse cuisine), sushi, shojin ryorui (vegetarian cuisine), and more. She writes that the “may find the Japanese cooking experience a bit daunting at first” but encourages them by introducing some culinary ideas and menu compositions that the reader should be aware of.

Also noteworthy are the five flavors in Japanese cooking — sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami; the five senses: taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight.
Five basic colors— white, yellow, red, green (blue), and black (brown, purple)
The five cooking techniques:
-nama (raw), which applies to dishes prepared with or with our the application of heat, such as sashimi
-niru (braised, simmered, or blanched)
-yaku (grilled)
-musu (steamed) and
-ageru (deep-fried or fried)

In the Kitchen equipment and tableware section, she talks about some tools used to prepare Japanese dishes such as knives - she introduces you to a Japanese knife; an all-purpose knife (santokubocho) for cutting meat, seafood, and vegetables, bamboo mat, chopsticks, (Ohashi or Hashi), digital scale, Donabe (a clay pot used for cooking on the stove or tabletop), rice cooker, pressure cooker etc.

In Part One (Japanese Pantry) the author introduces dash, a versatile broth used as a base for many components of Japanese cooking, including soups, sauces, and seasonings.
There’s also Kombu (seaweed): In this section, she shows you how to make a cold brew called kombu kashi. This is a vegan dish that can be used as a base for dishes such as suimono and misoshiru, bonito and kombu dashi
Other ingredients include Niboshi (Dried Sardines), Hoshi Shiitake (Dried Shiitake mushrooms), Soybeans (rich in umami)

A whole chapter is devoted to seaweed—the role of seaweed in Japanese cuisine. The author elaborates further on the nutritional contents of seaweed (it is packed with lots of minerals including potassium, iron, calcium, iodine, and magnesium) not to mention vitamins like A, B1, B2, niacin, and more. She lists some edible seaweeds including dashi, Nori, Wakame, dulse, and kombu. You will also learn how to prepare and store seaweed.

In succeeding chapters, the author lists out more ingredients such as rice, a staple in Japanese meals including the five basic grains which are:
(rice, barley, wheat, millet, and legumes; types of rice (long grain, medium grain, and short grain and how to cook rice).

In the beans and legume section, she shows you how to make soy milk, tofu, anko (sweetened adzuki bean paste).

Part two covers mouthwatering recipes such as homemade granola with lucky beans, mochi waffles with (fried chicken) and maple *yuzu kosho*, kenchin-jiru, hiryozu (tofu fritters), potato salada, and more.

Japanese Home Cooking is peppered with short stories from food purveyors in California and Japan. As the author takes you on a culinary journey, you will participate in a seaweed harvest, take a fish lesson, walk in wheat fields and so on.

She concludes with a list of resources to source for food, Japanese beverages, ceramics, pottery and kitchen equipment.

I came away from this book knowing a great deal about Japanese cooking as well as the ingredients used in Japanese cooking. If you’re craving a nutritionally balanced meal made with fresh ingredients, without having to splurge on an elaborate dinner in some high-end restaurant, this book is for you.

Many thanks to Sonoko Sakai, NetGalley and Roost Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sonoko Sakai's Japanese Home Cooking is an absolutely gorgeous and thorough look at Japanese home cooking. Readers are treated with history and methods for each ingredient, with each element receiving precise detail. You won't learn just how to make a soup, you'll learn how to perfect the broth, the layers, and each element going into a dish.

To be honest, quite of lot of this book is information-only, for me. I came away with a greater appreciation for Japanese food. This book serves to remind us that Japanese food reaches far beyond sushi and ramen, but to comfort foods. I can't say I'll ever make my own noodles - no, I'll never be patient enough for that - but understanding how it is made and how it is made to a high quality gives me depth of appreciation I didn't have before. Don't get me wrong, there are recipes here that I will attempt, but I found this to be so much more than a cookbook.

I will post a full review to Goodreads, Blog, and Twitter closer to publication date. Thank you to Sonoko Sakai, Roost Books, and NetGalley for approving my access to this beautiful book.

I recently returned from a trip to Japan and fell in love with the food and people.  I received this book from Netgalley.  It is beautiful.  There are lots of colored photos and great descriptions of the different types of ingredients and equipment used.  I also loved how the book explained the history behind the foods featured.  I learned so much about Japanese culinary arts and culture through this cook book.  A definite must have if you are interested in cooking and learning about Japanese food.

Thank you NetGalley for this wonderful ARC.
This cookbook perfectly describes the essence of Japanese Hook Cooking.
I cannot wait to try out all the recipes in this book!

This book has great overall coverage of simple, family oriented, classic Japanese dishes with the interjections of the authors experience with locals and experts in specialties like farming and fish butchering. I enjoyed the focus on first creating basics and then expanding them to recognizable complete dishes.

A nice bonus was the section on Japanese alcohols!

Sakai-san has created a masterpiece, a master class in how to cook Japanese home cuisine. Easy to follow lay out and beautiful pictures are also accompanied with excellent instructions and guest authors who talk about foodstuffs and their importance.

Beginning with a list of pantry items and gadgets and flowing into the Five Elements of Japanese Cooking, this book is like the Do-Re-Mi song in Sound of Music. You must first learn the notes, the flavors and techniques, then you can sing the song or make the recipe.

This is sure to become a sought after item for the cookbook collector but is a must purchase for anyone who loves Japanese cuisine and wants to learn more.

Thank you Roost Books and Netgalley for a copy of Japanese Home Cooking by Sonoko Sakai for review. Available November 19/19 this book is perfect for those looking for authentic Japanese flavours at home.

Japanese Home Cooking is very detailed and includes recipes for the broths and sauces and creating all the amazing flavours found in authentic Japanese food. This book is not for a quick weekday dinner. I found the recipes detailed and well described but a little complicated. I love learning about all the different ways other cultures develop flavours and the techniques they use but I wouldn't turn to this book last minute on Friday night. The recipes need a level of detail and specialty ingredients that would require planning and forethought.

Very well done, beautiful sounding recipes for when you are willing to put the time and commitment into learning new techniques and try new flavours!

Semplici e saporiti, costituiti da ingredienti sani e freschi: sono i piatti che non si trovano nei nostri ristoranti giapponesi, ma che arricchiscono le tavole delle famiglie più comuni.
Un modo di scoprire le basi di una cucina che ha sempre più successo, gustandone la parte nascosta agli stranieri.

This is a beautiful book. Drool-worthy food and accompanying pictures. It starts at the fundamentals of the kitchen and cuisine and works its was through to an appealing array of recipes. I skimmed a bit on the seafood and meat recipes since I don't eat those but every other section that I looked at was full of food that I would love to eat.

My rating: 5/5

I was absolutely floored when I actually opened up this book. First of all: the pictures are amazing and full of life, full of many different types of subjects.

Secondly, though, this isn't a normal cookbook. This is one that I would truly consider a heritage cookbook, in that the author has not only gone over the recipes and how to cook them, but with plenty of background for the subject of each chapter and that many of the recipes are for ingredients I would not expect to have seen a recipe for (e.g. tofu -- from scratch! what?). I love the in-depth explanations for all of the variances that the author brings up, like the different types of shoyu or pickles or anything else that I saw in this cookbook.

It was also pretty interesting to see the tie in for Koda Farms and other local producers as a Californian, which was cool!

I feel like this is a Japanese cooking reference manual and cookbook rolled into one, and it's fantastic. I would highly suggest picking this up, especially if you enjoy cooking Asian foods.

Let me start by saying that I LOVE Japanese food. It's a cuisine I've often longed to master. I love how recipes are so simple and flavors so complex. This is absolutely a book that I would consider purchasing for my cookbook shelf. I love the way everything is organized and broken down into digestible parts. And, of course, the photos are gorgeous.