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Title: The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen: Inspired New Tastes by Eric Gower, Fumihiko Watanabe ISBN: 4770029497 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.89
Rating: 5
Summary: LA Times review says it all
Comment: "Cookbook Watch"
FROM THE WILD, WILD EAST
AN INVENTIVE COOK CORNERS FUSION AND
TAKES JAPANESE FOOD ON AN ADVENTURE.
By Regina Schrambling , Special to The Times
Japanese and fusion are two cuisines that make me nervous. One is daunting and the other usually a disaster. But the best new book I've cooked from in months dabbles in both - with dishes such as edamame in mint pesto and shiso with corn - and nothing is lost in translation.
"The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen" (Kodansha, $27) is by Eric Gower, a self-trained San Francisco cook who lived in Japan for 15 years and whose first cookbook was written in Japanese. Like a photographer who knows his technique so well he will shoot out of focus for greater effect, Gower takes Japanese ingredients and concepts into territory undoubtedly never explored in Tokyo. Or California.
Gower clearly is so comfortable with the flavors and traditions of his second home that he can take a mad-scientist approach to them and make every recipe work in a few steps and very little time. Tofu baked with a pistachio-mint pesto is a combination that would never occur to me, but it's one of the most amazing things ever to come out of my oven.
This is not "Japanese Cooking for Dummies," although a kitchen virgin would have no trouble mastering any of the 45 recipes, each gorgeously photographed by Fumihiko Watanabe. One of the few typical Japanese dishes is a twist on tonkatsu in which the breaded pork cutlets are baked rather than fried. More often Gower borrows concepts and tastes to produce Western food with just enough Eastern exoticism.
His lively interpretation of coleslaw is dressed with ginger and brown rice vinegar and garnished with roasted peanuts. His beet salad is a wonderment with smoked trout, ginger and walnuts; his pot roast is braised with soy sauce and orange (and a hint of very un-Asian chipotle chile). The tofu recipes would convert a carnivore. Even his rice is a hemisphere away from Uncle Ben's: He seasons it with bay leaves and Dijon mustard and substitutes carrot juice for water. With all those, you can forgive him for including the requisite miso-glazed fish.
Gower has a thing for pesto, but he takes one of the most clichéd concepts into another universe. His version made with ground dried shiitakes and roasted almonds borders on brilliant. Like the other reinterpretations, one with edamame and another with pistachios, it was just as great as a sauce for steamed green beans and a spread for bruschetta as it was on pasta.
"Breakaway" lives up to its title in other ways. It includes no appetizers or desserts, and it makes a persuasive case for taking as much care with the choice of serving bowls as with the food in them. (A list of sources is included.) None of the recipes calls for anything more exotic than shiso leaves, miso or brown rice vinegar, all easily located in an Asian grocery. But the vinegar alone was worth the detour: It's as smooth and deep as balsamic but tarter and not as syrupy. Not every one of Gower's creations is a winner - potatoes with sake were soggy, for instance - and yields are sometimes off. But those are quibbles. After I cooked four dishes for a dinner party, one guest went out the next morning to buy his own copy of the book.
At a time when originality seems to be the missing ingredient in far too many cookbooks, "Breakaway" is a good cure for the comfort-food blues.
Rating: 5
Summary: Delicious. Unique. Simple to Prepare.
Comment: What a fun recipe book! I am having a great time making the dishes Eric created with readily available ingredients brought together in unique and creative combinations. Recent guests raved about the Mint-Cilantro Udon with Fresh Ginger and Meyer Lemon. My desire to have a picture of the completed product is totally satisfied with this book and I love the format of opening to the recipe on one side and the picture opposite. This is a book I'll bring out regularly for guests and as well as easy dinners for the two of us.
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply Inspired
Comment: In the ever evolving landscape of the culinary arts there has been a small but delightful new contribution to the gardens where East intermingles with West. Eric Gower shares a beautiful perspective on Japanese foods and cooking styles gained from over a decade of living in Japan blended with a well honed understanding and appreciation for traditionally Western foods and techniques. Taking delight in experimenting with some simple elements of both worlds Eric has distilled in this book a new set of flavors born of his simple yet inspired approach to good food. These simple inspirations give new dimension to common ingredients. The freshness of these inventions is complimented by a beautiful economy of means, very sympathetic to the busy pace of our times.
On the whole the book provides not only a series of recipes but an approach to thinking about food and cooking that can enhance anyone?s forays into the culinary arts. Nicely crafted, the photography enhances the recipes themselves. From the depths of his appreciation for both Western and Japanese cuisine and culture, Eric offers up a delightful new range of flavors to freshen any cook?s perspective. Readily accessible and in flavorful harmony with our increasingly busy and quick paced culture.
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Title: Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto by Victoria Abbott Riccardi ISBN: 0767908511 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: California Dish : What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution by Jeremiah Tower ISBN: 0743228448 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 04 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Japanese Homestyle Cooking by Tokiko Suzuki ISBN: 4889960368 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go by Naomi Kijima ISBN: 4889960732 Publisher: Japan Publications Trading Company Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Essentials of Asian Cuisine : Fundamentals and Favorite Recipes by Corinne Trang ISBN: 0743203127 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 03 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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