From Publishers Weekly
Feldner, a food enthusiast and Japanophile, offers an intimate and colorful guide to traditional Japanese home cooking in this unique and attractive collection. Focusing on recipes collected from a wide swath of life, from grandmothers to waitresses to fishermen, she highlights often overlooked techniques and ingredients. Most recipes are prefaced by a short story about the individual who shared it, offering glimpses into Japanese culture as well as cuisine. Feldner also offers a short tutorial on cooking tools, a section on techniques, including grating wasabi and pressing tofu, and a particularly helpful guide to essential Japanese ingredients such as burdock and dashi. Recipes are homey and mostly uncomplicated, ranging from pork and leek miso soup and sesame fried chicken to salmon teriyaki and spicy pan-seared eggplant. Desserts and drinks are also well represented, with oolong tea chiffon cake, sugar bread sticks, and gingerade. Feldner also includes a section on the basics, such as stocks and various types of rice. Entertaining, with striking full color photographs throughout, this book shows that Japanese home cooking is more than sushi and noodles, providing new perspective on everyday Japanese home fare.
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Review
"A charming, accessible introduction to Japanese home cooking." -The New York Times Book Review
"This inviting book is the warmest introduction to Japanese cuisine you could hope to find. Sarah Marx Feldner worked in Japan as an English teacher, but it was the country's food (everyday home-cooked fare, in particular) that captured her attention. Here, she shares her discoveries through charming stories and 100 appealing recipes, such as Crispy Rice Snacks, Soy-Glazed Chicken Wings, Braised Spare Ribs, and Cold Sesame Noodle Salad. Each hunger-inducing recipe is thoughtfully written and most are tantalizingly photographed. And nothing seems too foreign or difficult, which was Feldner's goal. She hoped readers would say, "I can make that!" And you will."—Fine Cooking
"Filled with step-by-step photos to help novices master essential skills, A Cook's Journey to Japan will give readers the courage to try new recipes. Classic dishes include tori karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken), age-dashi dofu (deep-fried tofu), and tonjiru (pork miso soup). But it's the nontraditional recipes that really catch the eye, like Japanese "cocktail peanuts" (nuts baked in a sweet miso coating), gingerfried soybeans and daikon salad with a spicy karashi-mentaiko dressing. A Cook's Journey to Japan gathers some of the country's best recipes, and will be a treat for anyone looking to expand their repertoire of Japanese cuisine."—Metropolis
"For us, most really good cookbooks are characterized as much by a sense of place and personality as by their recipes. A Cook's Journey to Japan has all three."—Ochef.com
"[The book] welcomes us in with a trove of recipes including Udon Soup with Chicken Meatballs and Japanese-Style Vegetable Gratin, which Feldner collected from everyday people she met in her travels. The recipes are set with the gorgeous illustrative photographs of Noboru Murata. And the forward is by Japanese cooking authority Elizabeth Andoh, who was one of Feldner's mentors."—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"In this excellent compilation of traditional and contemporary Japanese cooking, Feldner (senior editor, www.tasteofhome.com) focuses on certain regional specialties like Oyaki (vegetable-stuffed rolls) to reveal the diversity within Japanese cuisine. As Feldner points out, Japan is a small country with extremely different terrains, leading to distinct regional cooking styles. Her extensive travels throughout the lesser-known areas of Japan shine through in her distinctive recipes. Murata's fine photography is both beautiful and useful—many recipes feature a step-by-step photo guide of the preparation. The beginning of the book is an outstanding primer on ingredients and cooking tools that are distinctly Japanese. Verdict: This gorgeous, original, and easy-to-use cookbook is recommended for all levels of experience and for palates that are open to new and varied flavors."—Library Journal
