Best japanese cooking, food & wine books according to redditors

That's my monthly budget, too! (and as a 200 lb guy I do not have a dainty appetite so you can get plenty of food with that much)

Basically, this limits you from nice steaks and fresh seafood. Everything else is fair game.

My wife and I keep a list of what we've made so if we have trouble thinking of what to cook we can look through a bunch of options. (Note: the $200 monthly budget covers only me, not both me and my wife.)

In a given month, we'll eat:

• Pasta dishes (puttanesca, sauce+meat, sauce+eggplant, aglio e olio, butter/garlic/sage, etc)
  
• Stir fries, either following a recipe or using whatever veggies I have around
  
• Other Asian dishes - bibimbap, mabo dofu, jjajangmyeon (Korean noodles with a thick black bean sauce), kimchi stew, "sushi bowls" (sushi ingredients but usually no fish, and in a bowl of rice instead of wrapped), pad thai, etc
  
• Rice and beans with lots of cumin and garlic, plus celery and carrots and maybe heavy greens to add veggies
  
• Ham and navy bean soup
  
• Pizza (working my way through a recipes from a few different sources, slowly getting closer to actually good pizza, not just "good for homemade" pizza)
  
• Roast chicken! A 4# roast chicken is like $6 at Aldi and seriouseats.com has tasty seasonings
  
• Eggs - mixed with rice and scrambled, fried, poached, in burritos... however. Super cheap, super quick, super easy
  
• Tacos or burritos
  
• Chicken tagine (Moroccan braised chicken that is super flavorful)
  
• Doro wat (Ethiopian onion stew)
  
• "Green soup" served over ravioli (cheese-filled freezer ravioli) - throw a bunch of chopped veggies into chicken stock and boil until cooked, add a bag of spinach to turn it green, and then blend it with an immersion blender when it's done. Top with a drizzle of EVOO and parmesan
  
  A couple caveats: I buy very few prepared foods, very rarely have sandwiches so no lunch meat (it's spendy), and I don't eat breakfast. I do most of my shopping at Aldi and only go elsewhere for things they don't carry like specialty Asian ingredients. We have a couple big Asian groceries nearby that are good for that - we count a few basic sauces as staples that we find it's not too expensive to keep on hand that really open up our options for Asian recipes (soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and fish sauce).
  
  Edit: because this has gotten a good bit of attention I'll mention that we do have a good selection of cookbooks to work from. Not a huge number, but a well curated set that is mostly based on recommendations from friends and the internet, were gifts, or ones we knew were good because former housemates had them.
  
  But if you don't have many and don't want to spend the cash don't worry! Your local library should have a bunch, and many resources (that are less hit-or-miss than e.g. allrecipes.com) are available online. Good and Cheap, budgetbytes, and seriouseats (The Food Lab) are in my top 3 (I do have a paper copy from all 3, because I want to support what they do). Other cookbooks that I like, also listed in the "Source" column of the linked google doc:
  
  
• Chinese Takeout Cookbook. Meant to reproduce good American-style Chinese takeout, but often less grease-laden.
  
• Cook's Illustrated Best International Recipes (I think it's this one but I'm not sure - it was a gift and I got rid of the hardcover's sheath). I'm a little ideologically against recipes that use 15+ ingredients of which I only have half on hand, but the moussaka, pad thai, and chicken tagine recipes alone nearly make this book worth it (especially with some judicious substitutions)
  
• Everyday Harumi - I've had great luck with several recipes in here, but I also know that I'm not taking the recipes to their full potential because when my old roommate would cook from his copy it always turned out better.
  
• Maangchi's Kitchen - plenty of tasty, authentic Korean recipes. Like budgetbytes, her cookbook started on the web so all her recipes are available for free via her youtube channel, which is great fun to watch. Korean cooking can be involved so I rarely go beyond the simpler recipes (Korea is the only Asian country I've visited so it's the only one in this list I can speak to the authenticity of)
  
• the bread bible has some very tasty flavored breads (mushroom bread made with duxelle, or a cheddar mustard bread) and decent pizza
  
• Bread Baker's Apprentice has yielded some tasty baguettes and quite good pizza
  
• And I only recently got The Pizza Bible and have only managed to try one recipe from it but it turned out great

Of course! Mine is mostly from Momofuku

2 Large pieces of konbu (or other seaweed if you can't find konbu)
2 cups dried shiitake mushrooms, (you can use fresh if you want, but they're stupid-expensive where I am)
1 Large chicken, whole.
5 pounds marrow bones (I use pork neck bone)
1lb bacon (one package)
2 bunches of scallions (green onions)
Mirin or Sake, Tare or teriyaki sauce to taste.

Rinse all ingredients before putting them in the stock pot. All ingredients can be eaten in any number of ways after they've given their flavor to the broth.

1. Take 6 cups of water and bring the water to a simmer (right before boiling) somewhere between 180-200ºF.
   
2. Simmer seaweed for 10 minutes then remove
   
3. Simmer mushrooms for 30 minutes then remove
   
4. Pre-heat your oven to 400
   
5. Skim off all the scum you see from the top from this point on.
   
6. Put the marrow bones in the oven
   
7. Add the whole chicken to the pot, yes, the whole thing, remove water if you HAVE to but try not to waste too much.
   
8. After 30 minutes flip your marrow bones over to roast the other side.
   
9. The chicken and the bones should be simmering/roasting for an hour now, take the bones out of the oven and remove the chicken (save your chicken for a topping or just eat it while you wait for your ramen).
   
10. Simmer the pork bones and the bacon, remove bacon after 45 minutes, remove bones after 7 hours. (you can cut down on this time if you're trying to rush the recipe, but at least 3 hours)
    
11. add your scallions 45 minutes before you take your bones out.
    
12. Remove everything and you have your broth, it freezes REALLY well.
    
13. Add mirin and teriyaki to taste.
    
    Toppings:
    Flavor eggs:
    Boil some eggs, peel the eggs, then put them in a ziplock bag.
    Add teriyaki, peanut sauce, and a little mirin and shake that sucker. Leave in the fridge overnight.
    
    Spicy Pork:
    I buy the shredded pork in the package for this.
    Heat some oil in wok.
    Add the pork, let the oil cook it.
    Add whatever spicy sauce you want to it, I use a schezwan stir-fry sauce.
    
    If you have the pork, an egg, some chicken, extra seaweed and a mushroom or 3 you've gotyourself some ramen, get the broth piping hot and let everything cook in the broth before eating. (I use fresh noodles because they cook faster)

There are 2 Wagamama cookbooks. Recipe is probably in there.

https://andrewzimmern.com/2013/03/28/fuchsia-dunlops-fish-fragrant-eggplant/

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/03/the-food-lab-vegan-experience-best-homemade-falafel-recipe.html

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/03/israeli-style-extra-smooth-hummus-recipe.html

https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/pita-bread/

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/samosa-recipe-punjabi-samosa/

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/lemon-rice/

And stuff from these:

Thai Vegetarian Cooking (Thailand)

Real Vegetarian Thai (Thailand)

Teff Love (Ethiopia)

Kansha (Japan)

The Lotus and the Artichoke (Malaysia and Sri Lanka are my two favorites, but also has India, Mexico, and Ethiopia)

Decolonize Your Diet (Mexico)

Tahini & Turmeric (the Middle East)

http://thegreekvegan.com (Greece)

https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/topics/chinese-recipes/chinese-vegan-recipes/ (China, especially Sichuan)

https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-vegetarian-recipes/ (China)

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/recipes/vegan/ (India)

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com (India)

https://georgianrecipes.net/category/vegetarian/ (Georgia)

https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/vegetarian/ (Japan)

https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/category/all-recipes/meatless-recipes/ (Thailand)

http://www.phamfatale.com/cat_25/tag_vegetarian/ (Vietnam)

https://thevietvegan.com/recipes/vegan-recipes/ (Vietnam)

Hooray! I love cookbooks!

• Forest Feast is great for those veggies & entertaining
  
  
• A subscription to Cook's Illustrated
  
  
• A solid cookbook - Smitten Kitchen
  
  
• Anything by Yotam Ottolenghi but I particularly LOVE Plenty.
  
  
• The god of pastry Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery
  
  
• David Chang's momofuku, his pastry chef Christina Tosi's milk bar,or a subscription to his magazine Lucky Peach
  
  I don't know if they're into making ice cream, but it's really easy and fun:
  Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, The Perfect Scoop, and Ample Hills are all great.

If you want to continue it past 30 days, I highly recommend this book!

Real ramen is nothing like those instant ramen packets. Fresh meats and vegetables, insane broths, and fresh noodles make it a completely different dish.

I was on a ramen kick awhile back and bought the Momofuku cookbook. AWESOME recipes. I spent hours making some of those broths in the book, went to several asian markets to find the right noodles, and spent a lot of time learning different techniques. It was a ton of fun, and now my kids are crazy about ramen. Even if you don't plan on making it yourself, the cookbook is a great read. It's basically more of a story about how the author got into ramen and opened his first restaurant, interlaced with recipes and other instructional stuff.

Edit: Here's the link for the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474393414&sr=8-1&keywords=momofuku

Ahhhh, my condolences, how tragic!

I'm something of a cookbook minimalist, and keep my personal collection pretty concise; I'm quick to give away books if they've been on my shelf too long without much use. I used to be a cookbook hoarder, but I don't have the space for it anymore, lol.

The cookbooks I have on the shelf rn are Season, The Palestinian Table, Arabesque, Afro-Vegan, Donabe, and several Japanese-language cookbooks.

For dessert-related things, I have Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft, Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique, SUQAR, and the Flavor Thesaurus.

Between Just One Cookbook, Japanese Cooking 101, Chopstick Chronicles, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art ^BOOK, and Ochikeron ^YouTube you should be able to figure out something you like.

I am not the biggest fan of any of Nancy Singleton Hachisu books for beginners, but there are other good books, like Everyday Harumi - pretty much any of Harumi's books will be good, she doesn't go for crazy ingredients (ala Nancy Hachisu) and she's usually the top cookbook writer in Japan.

You might enjoy reading Rice Noodle Fish.

The only cookbook I can find is Kansha. I have no idea of the quality but amazon reviews say its pretty good.

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:


Pan-Asian

• Asian Dumplings - the masterpiece on all things dumpling
  
• Asian American - Dale Talde's (Top Chef) book with lots of Asian cultures' food in the US
  
• Asian Pickles - pickles and fermented foods from throughout Asia
  
• Lucky Rice - recipes from the Asian festival of the same name
  
• The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook - traditional cooking passed down to American cooks
  
  Burmese
  
  
• Burma:Rivers of Flavor - good focus on difference in Burmese cuisine from other regional
  
  Cambodian
  
  
• Num Pang - Cambodian sandwich restaurant in NYC
  
• Cambodian Cooking - GREAT book on Cambodian cuisine, supporting refugees
  
  Chinese
  
  
• Ken Hom Complete Chinese Cookbook - great primer for cooking Chinese food using ingredients commonly available in US
  
• China Moon - classic SF Chinese restaurant food
  
• Feeding the Dragon - modern culinary journey through all of China
  
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking - omnibus focused on the home chef
  
• Breath of a Wok - focus on wok technique at home
  
• Every Grain of Rice - wonderful Sichuan food for home cooks
  
  Indian
  
  
• Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking - actually, any of her cookbooks are wonderful for Indian cooking
  
• Savour Mumbai - looks at Indian cuisine as a melting pot in Mumbai
  
• The Indian Family Cookbook - modern South Indian food
  
• Indian Harvest - Vikas Khanna's family cookbook
  
• Made in India - classic Indian food, from street to home
  
  Indonesia
  
  
• The Food of Indonesia - everything you need for a rijstaffel!
  
  Japanese
  
  
• Japanese Farm Food - authentic rural Japanese cooking
  
• Preserving the Japanese Way - how to make awesome Japanese pickled vegetables
  
• Sushi Chef - not strictly speaking a cookbook, but "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" book in English
  
• The Japanese Grill - authentic hibachi and Japanese grill recipes
  
• Japanese Comfort Food - lots of traditional Japanese recipes
  
• Nanban - Japanese "soul food"
  
• Tokyo Cult Recipes - hip modern urban food from Tokyo
  
• Yum Yum Bento Boxes - updated modern take on bento boxes
  
• Ivan Ramen - traditional ramen for a Western audience
  
• Izakaya - traditional Japanese pub food & small plates
  
• Nikkei - emigrant Japanese food culture in South America
  
• Donabe - traditional Japanese hot pot recipes
  
• Kyotofu - very unique Japanese dessert cookbook
  
  Korean
  
  
• K Food - modern take on Korean street food
  
• Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking - great resource for Korean cooking in a non-pro kitchen
  
• Traditional Food - omnibus of four regions of Korean food
  
• Koreatown - authentic, approachable guide to Korean food in a US context
  
• Smoke & Pickles - Edward Lee's fusion of his Korean heritage and southern barbeque
  
• The Kimchi Cookbook - many, many recipes for kimchi...
  
  Malaysian
  
  
• Malaysian Cooking - good overview of Malay cooking
  
  Middle Eastern
  
  
• The New Persian Kitchen - modern Iranian food
  
• Ottolenghi - Israeli-Palestinian collaboration
  
• Persiana - dynamic modern recipes from throughout the Middle East
  
• Zahav - modern Israeli food
  
• Sweet Middle East - traditional and modern desserts
  
  Philippine
  
  
• Filipino Homestyle Dishes - good intro to classic Filipino dishes
  
  Russian
  
  
• Mamushka - focus on Ukraine
  
  Sri Lankan
  
  
• Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka - beautiful photo-cookbook on Sri Lankan cuisine
  
  Taiwanese
  
  
• The Food of Taiwan - um... food... from Taiwan
  
  Thailand
  
  
• Nong's Thai Kitchen - she beat Bobby Flay in pad thai
  
• Pok Pok - Portland's most AWESOME Asian restaurant
  
  Turkish
  
  
• Istanbul:Recipes from the Heart of Turkey - lovely focus on urban Turkish food
  
• Anatolia - wonderful approachable approach to Turkish cuisine
  
• Essential Turkish Cuisine - focus on history and evolution of Turkish food
  
  Vietnamese
  
  
• The Slanted Door - great Vietnamese restaurant cookbook
  
• Vietnamese Market Cookbook - focus on simple Vietnamese from fresh ingredients
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen - traditional Vietnamese home cooking
  
• The Banh Mi Cookbook - the greatest sandwich in the world!
  
• Vietnamese Home Cooking - another great overview
  
  (edit: screwed up a couple links)

Love Japanese food. This book taught me loads :)

Just a some that likes cooking alot here. Maybe pick one of these bad boys up and start playing.

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-1&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Bakery-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579654355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-2&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/French-Laundry-Cookbook-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579651267/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-3&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579652395/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-4&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Sous-Vide/dp/1579653510/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-6&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-9&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373678139&sr=8-1&keywords=ratio

I like The Just Bento Cookbook that someone else already linked and also this cookbook: https://smile.amazon.com/Everyday-Harumi-Simple-Japanese-friends-ebook/dp/B01J24WP6Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=Japanese+cookbook+harumi&qid=1571830355&sr=8-3

I also really love the Cooking With Dog cooking show on YouTube. Her website is here with all the videos: https://cookingwithdog.com/ it appears that some of the recipes are translated to German.

She is Japanese-American. I highly recommend her cookbook Japanese Cooking: Contemporary & Traditional

Fuschia Dunlop is a good source for Chinese food. Her published recipe for Kung Pao Chicken is pretty killer. Eileen Yin-Fi Lo is also a well respected Chinese recipe author, check out My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen.

For Thai Food, Andy Ricker's Pok Pok is pretty interesting (and the restaurants are pretty awesome). There's also a tome, simply called Thai Food from David Thompson, as an outsider, looks complete and exhaustive (it's also daunting to me, but nice to have).

Hot Sour Salty Sweet also features Thai (as well as other SE Asian flavors). And I really like Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges as a more upscale cookbook.

Also, I find this little, unsung book to be a great resource. It has fairly simple recipes that can yield some nice flavors, great for weeknight dishes.

And, Momofuku is a fun contemporary twist with some good basics, but it's not a beginner book by any stretch!

Finally, The Slanted Door is on my wishlist. Looks divine.

Japanese Farm Food ... awesome recipes and a very helpful perspective. Award-winning

Donabe: Japanese Clay Pot Cooking ... requires a donabe

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art ... a famous comprehensive bible of Japanese cooking

Im also on justonecookbook.com all the time.. and if they would ever print an actual cookbook I would buy it.

It's all about the broth, which means it's all about simmering a bunch of stuff in a giant pot for a very long time. Momofuku's ramen is not my favorite but the recipe in the Momofuku cookbook is very detailed. Good place to start.

I got this japanese one and this thai one for my mum a month ago and she absolutely loved them! Maybe they'll suit your fancy?

Yamato does have a Computer Shipping service that I used when bringing a tower to Japan, so even if you're not making a large shipment through them, that's still probably an option. Alternately, I've also seen people take the components they want in static bags inside hard cases and just buy the case/PSU/Monitor in Japan. This route is a lot cheaper and safer, TBH.

Your company isn't going to give you any support for the moving process? That seems a bit odd.

As for staples... If you don't know how to cook Japanese food you'll need to start there and then figure out what you like, which will dictate what you need. Keep in mind that a lot of Japanese cookbooks are written for a western audience and tend to use ingredients readily available in the west, rather than being tailored for Japan. This book is one I was gifted and it's pretty basic, but also pretty authentic, and may be a good place to start.

My criteria on choosing a cookbook:

1. do I have an emotional connection to the restaurant/author/subject (I.e: my favorite restaurant, I know the author and they've signed the book for me, I'm missing one book in a set, it's a souvenir from a trip)
   
2. can I find the same or similar set of recipes online?
   
3. does the cookbook offer any other features that I can't find easily online? (I.e: step by step instructions like the series "quick and easy", http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/4915831019?pc_redir=1396393156&robot_redir=1 )
   
   I only have about 8 cookbooks total, and I keep my list down so that I don't get overwhelmed, and I don't have a tonne of room either.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Kansha-Celebrating-Japans-Vegetarian-Traditions/dp/1580089550/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505363078&sr=8-1&keywords=kansha

You're welcome.

//thread

I think there are a few books that would help. I don't know of any specific titles but I know there are some fairly famous books that basically talk about flavors and which flavors go with what. They are quite specific and thorough. It'd be worth learning more about that if you try things on your own a lot.

I think something else that really helps is understanding the science behind cooking. Places like The Food Lab are great for that. Check out Kenji's other posts on that site as well, mostly from the Burger lab. He covers a lot of the science and always writes about the full journey. What his goals were, what he tried, what did/didn't work and why. Very useful.

Finally, if you can grill, bake and fry, you might try and play around with the 'new' forms of cooking that are popular. Read up on Sous Vide (The Food Lab has a great article with a beer cooler hack) and Molecular Gastronomy. For MG, this is a great source as well as this and on that blog for a fun read check out this

If you want some good cookbooks with a challenge look for anything by Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal, David Chang and a few others. I'd say start with Keller's Ad Hoc. The recipes are things you are familiar with but often quite complex. Check out this for an example. I don't have it myself, but I've heard for lovers of asian food, this is the best book out there.

By far, the best cookbook I've bought/used is "英語で和食/Recipes of Japanese Cooking"
http://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Japanese-Cooking-International-Fujita/dp/B00117E5XO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292385360&sr=1-1

It is an amazing foundation for starting out cooking Japanese food. It has many common recipes, and each one is both in English and Japanese. Both I and my Japanese wife use it all the time. It also has a glut of interesting information about Japanese food culture/customs.
I really can't reccomend this amazing book enough.


You can look inside the book on the Japanese Amazon site:

http://www.amazon.co.jp search: 英語で和食


Also, about Harumi's books, they are great, and beautiful, but the recipes are more complicated, and I would recommend them as a next-step after trying out some of the stuff in the above mentioned book.

Hello is it this?

https://www.amazon.com/Kansha-Celebrating-Japans-Vegetarian-Traditions/dp/1580089550

What level difficulty would you say the recipes are?

If you're just using it for miso, you don't need to marinade or even really cook it. You could cut a block into about 8 pieces and freeze it for maximum use (though that will change the texture a lot). Just slice into small cubes and simmer in the dashi or broth before you add the miso paste (stir a spoonful in a bowl with a little dashi, and add it right before you turn off the heat).

You might be able to buy dried shiitake online. Probably more expensive in the UK, but I got a huge jar of sliced and dried mushrooms from Amazon and the whole thing lives in the freezer. I soak about 6 pieces in water for half an hour to make a basic base for miso.

If you're in a large city, look for Asian grocery stores. Most cities will have at least one, and you'll probably find tofu much cheaper.

And yes, that's the konbu you want (that you linked). It lasts for ever, and expands a ton. You probably only need about a square inch per bowl of soup.

Check out this book. It's incredibly simple, all vegan Japanese cooking which doesn't rely too heavily on obscure ingredients. You can figure out some substitutions for lots of the veggies she suggests, but I found it an easy way to understand the typical flavors of a meal without too much effort.

Ninja edit: one of the awesome things about miso paste (I love the white variety) is that it lasts for bloody ages in the fridge (like a year or more if you store it in a zip lock bag). So many of these ingredients that look pricey are actually extremely cheap considering how much use you'll get out of them.

Boil 4 c. water, add veggies at the beginning (enokinotake, shiitake (these come dried too, just rehydrate before using or soak in the broth for 10-15 min or longer), negi, tamanegi, wakame (you can get dried 'cut wakame'), tofu, kabocha; pick from some of these kinds of veggies). Add 1.3 tsp dashi no moto. When veggies are cooked but still somewhat crisp (not completely limp and gross), turn off heat. Add 6 tbsp or 132 g awase miso paste (mixed red and white) in 1 c. of the liquid. Mix it into a thick mixture that is thinner than the miso and thicker than the broth; get all the clumps out. If you don't, there will be clumps in the final soup. Then mix this miso mixture into the main broth. You'll end up with a bit over 4 c. soup, and its delicious! You can add cooked meat at the end if desired (chicken etc) (or fresh clams when you're done boiling so they cook but aren't overcooked), but I like mostly veggies. Everybody has their own twist on the dish so I encourage you to experiment.

edit: I recommend this book for beginners as I found it to be pretty representative of Japanese home cooking, and pretty damned accurate in terms of taste and ingredients (based on my 6 host families in Saitama prefecture 2004-2005). One of my goals during my exchange was to learn home cooking from each of my host mothers. This turned out to be an excellent choice =D

edit2: you can mix 1/2 red and 1/2 white miso to get 'awase' miso (mixed miso).

No real sites that offer great food. You can google some names of dishes, but you won't find the real chunks of knowledge you need to really make great Japanese food. Here are my best book recommendations:

Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes
Nobu: The Cookbook
Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook

Buy yourself a nice Japanese knife with that first book, then move on to Nobu, then the Izakaya book. They are awesome resources.

If you are headed to Japan and you enjoy food, you should check out the book "Rice, Noodle, Fish" by Matt Goulding.

https://www.amazon.com/Rice-Noodle-Fish-Travels-Through/dp/0062394037

The book's chapter on Hokkaido was the reason that we decided to go there. The author is very complimentary of Hokkaido, yet we felt like he didn't represent the vast array of artisanal food offerings we experienced.

Hokkaido is also just stunning in terms of natural beauty and landscapes. I cannot recommend it enough.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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I checked out this book from the library a few years back and really enjoyed the few recipes I made from it. The "calamari" is amazing!

I've heard good things about Kansha as well but have yet to read it.

I saw a recipe in David Chang's book (Momofuku) that I'm going to try:

Ginger scallion noodles.

There's a free preview with the recipe on the book's Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X

It is a challenge to be vegetarian in Japan, but it's doable and once you figure it out there are actually some really amazing and delicious options. I got a copy of this cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Vegetarian-Cooking-Simple-Soups/dp/0895948052 in order to get ideas for meals with local/affordable ingredients.

There are a few vegetarian restaurants in Osaka, a bunch in Kyoto, and couple in Kobe. Unfortunately I cannot recall the names, but I think there was some kind of locally published magazine/directory that you could try looking for. You could also try ethnic restaurants, I definitely remember going to an Ethiopian restaurant in Osaka that had veg options, as well as a Mexican one.

One of my on-the-go staples while I was there were Konbu Onigiri, kelp inside a rice triangle wrapped in seaweed. Super tasty and you can buy them at pretty much any convenience store. Sometimes you could also find rice rolls with natto, which is fermented soy. Definitely an acquired taste.

Quinoa and re-fried beans would be on my list of things I would have liked to receive while I was in Japan.

Tofu Ryouri is a new cookbook with 30+ Japanese tofu recipes to help you discover new ways to cook with tofu, Japanese style! Each recipe has a corresponding video that will be available in an online cooking program. If you're the kind of person who's trying to eat healthier, more plant-based, vegan or vegetarian cuisine this might be a tasty option worth exploring! Especially if you're curious about tofu, Japanese cuisine or want to try something new!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J1YVWXJ

Free today through October 9!

They're from this book, which has a ton of good stuff. I'll try to take a picture of the pages when I get home.

I personally love this cookbook for Japanese cooking. It's more of an archive of recipes than a how-to to Japanese cooking, but it does detail certain ingredients and techniques. This cookbook, however, does not shy away from hard to find ingredients; I can't even find all the ingredients I'm looking for some times, and there are Japanese groceries all around my area. Sometimes you just need to figure out whatever the alternate names for things are. Ironically, I was able to find Komatsuna under the Gai Choy, which I believe is the chinese word for the same thing (mustard greens). Same with Shungiku under Tung Ho (chrysanthemum greens).

The most important things I learned in this book was that the mirin I usually buy is actually not true mirin. Real mirin is made in a similar process to sake, while aji mirin (what most people are familiar with) is mainly corn syrup. Another thing I learned was that high quality rice vinegar is usually brown, not clear (like the kind I buy). Not to mention, homemade dashi (using bonito flakes and konbu) is significantly better than making it from hondashi (the dashi equivalent of boullion powder). Almost every recipe will use a combination of these things (with soy sauce of course), but it's also exciting trying out recipes with ingredients less familiar with the uninitiated (ume/sour plum, dried shrimp, kabocha/Japanese pumpkin, etc.).

I have both Wagamama cookbooks and use them all the time. Also, if you scroll down the page to the list of books others bought, there are quite a few good, basic japanese cookbooks for the beginner. Also have a google. This is a pretty handy site for beginners. Good luck and enjoy. (It also helps to find a local asian food shop for things like panko breadcrumbs, miso, wasabe, pickled ginger, and shoyu.)

Rice, Noodle, Fish https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T3DNJQM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Also seconded Murakami. Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood are good starting points.

Nancy Singleton Hachisu has written a few books that sound up your alley (e.g. Japan: The Cookbook). She's originally from the US but has lived in the Japan countryside for many years after marrying a Japanese man, and her writing reflects her extensive learning experiences and research.

I'm sure you can use this as a guide/inspiration

Hey I got one for Christmas as well.

I also got this cookbook and it has been very informative.

u/Monkoton is right. First make a batch of rice porridge in your donabe to season it before cooking.

Great British Chefs, Challenging Recipes

Momofuku Milkbar

Thomas Keller recipes

I learned how to make Buta no Kakuni from The Japanese Kitchen This is a different recipe.

I have these three that I like quite a bit:

Japan: The Cookbook

Preserving the Japanese Way

The Gaijin Cookbook

You're welcome! Happy to help.

In the UK they sell it in the restaurants, failing that [Amazon](The Wagamama Cookbook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1856266494/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_QikkybZEVJW6S) or any reputable bookseller.

It's great. Lots of recipes in there.

This?