At Home with Japanese Cooking [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Andoh (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (November 12, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394412192
• ISBN-13: 978-0394412191
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in America though Japan has been my home for more than four decades. As you can see from my photo, I am not ethnically Japanese.

My formal culinary training was taken at the Yanagihara School of Traditional Japanese Cuisine, in Tokyo. In 1972 I began my own culinary arts program, A Taste of Culture, that combines spicy tidbits of food lore with practical tips and skill-building lessons on how to prepare Japanese food. My programs are conducted in Japan (Tokyo & Osaka) and offer a unique opportunity for foreign residents and visitors from overseas to explore and enjoy Japan's culture through its food.

I publish an electronic newsletter about 6 times a year. Each issue includes a short essay/story focused on some aspect of Japan's food culture. Each edition of the newsletter includes several photo-illustrated recipes related to the chosen theme. Recipes can be downloaded and printed out, making it easy for subscribers to take into the kitchen when they cook. A Taste of Culture's newsletters are free-of-charge, though permission-based. To subscribe, fill out the form on the home page of TASTEOFCULTURE dot com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, would that some smart publisher reprint this book..., January 1, 2001

By 

Susan Porjes "Food writer" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Home with Japanese Cooking (Hardcover)

Hands down, this is my FAVORITE Japanese cookbook. Elizabeth Andoh, an American married to a Japanese, is not only a fine cook, cooking teacher, and journalist in her own right, but is in the unique position of being an American consultant to the Japanese food industry. This is her first cookbook, published in 1980 (it was followed by "An American Taste of Japan" in 1985). It's a primer of "pure" Japanese home cooking -- like Mama used to make, if your mama happened to be Japanese. I learned to cook in the kitchens of Japanese friends, and the flavors of Ms. Andoh's recipes make me swooningly "natsukashii" (nostalgic) for Japan.

The book's 130 recipes are organized in the classic order of Japanese cuisine: soups, rice, noodles, braised and simmered foods, grilled foods, deep-fried foods, steamed foods, mixed and sauced foods, pickles, and sweet things and beverages. No photographs, but crystal clear recipes are complemented by beautiful line drawings that illustrate ingredients and techniques. A section in the front details Japanese cooking techniques and equipment, while a glossary at the back not only translates the names of unusual ingredients, but explains how to choose and store them. In all, it's a wonderful book that I can't recommend highly enough.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In My Top 5 Cookbooks, January 30, 2006

By 

Alicia (CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: At Home with Japanese Cooking (Hardcover)

I loved this cookbook so much I photocopied the entire (out of print) copy my library had several years ago, which cost me at least three times what I would've paid if I could've bought it new. I'm thrilled to find it used, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Everything I have made from this book over the last 10 or 12 years has been delicious (with the exception of a failed rice bran pickle experiment I forgot about when I went on vacation...whoops). Elizabeth Andoh is to Japanese cooking what Barbara Tropp was to Chinese; passionate, knowledgeable, down to earth, the kind of cook you wish was your neighbor.