The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen: Inspired New Tastes [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Eric Gower (Author), Fumihiko Watanabe (Photographer) "Many Japanese believe that the best way to enjoy fresh fish is to eat it raw..." (more)
Key Phrases: fresh coarsely ground black pepper, liquid disappears, tablespoons shallots (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...when originality seems to be the missing ingredient in too many cookbooks, "Breakaway" is a good cure..." -- Los Angeles Times

"[This book is] ...full of easy recipes for American home cooks to try." -- Associated Press

Review

"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-and nothing is lost in translation.... A mad-scientist approach...amazing...gorgeously photographed.... Gower borrows concepts and tastes to produce Western food with just enough Eastern exoticism...lively...a wonderment...borders on brilliant...At a time when originality seems to be the missing ingredient in far too many cookbooks, The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen is a good cure for the comfort-food blues." -The Los Angeles Times
"California native Eric Gower recently returned after a decade or so in Japan exploring aspects of Japanese cooking - using shiso, ginger, sake and tofu, and fresh produce, fish and meats. Now he's put the results of his own experiments into a book The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen, full of easy recipes for American home cooks to try." -Associated Press
"Curious cooks will find surprisingly wonderful flavors in the Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower, who lived in rural Japan for ten years. His experiments with local staples like shiso leaves, ginger, and sake have led to such pitch-perfect dishes as 'Udon with Fig & Herbs' and 'Edamame Mint Pesto'." -Fine Cooking
"Eric Gower's cooking freely mixes Japanese ingredients and Western ideas, but don't call it fusion. He thinks of his cooking as a break with sometimes limiting traditions, and the title of his cookbook-The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen: Inspired New Tastes- perfectly expresses that philosophy." -Sunset Magazine
"Chef and author Eric Gower can whip up a fine-tasting Japanese dish....The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen, his latest cookbook, melds Japanese and Western ingredients and techniques into altogether new tastes...Gower's recipes would likely be considered renegade in Japan: there's scallops with miso and ruby grapefruit, and udon (wheat noodles) served with a sauce of figs and herbs, to name some combinations ... but even 'total neophytes' can follow the recipes." -Stars & Stripes
"Japanese food is associated with strict rules about flavor, balance and visual harmony, but Gower's book takes a relaxed approach. The recipes are a breeze to make; many of them can be put together in 15 minutes... and the lively flavors are here in the recipes without all the fuss." -The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
"Eric Gower uses an interesting mixture of American and Japanese ingredients to create unusual dishes with a Japanese flair: tofu salmon mouse shitake pesto. The results are more Californian than Japanese, but Gower's recipes are clear and ingredients are available in most American supermarkets. The photographs by Watanabe display a Japanese style of presentation that is both aesthetic and appealing." -Persimmon Magazine
"A bit like fusion approached from the other side, Eric Gower's The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen has its foundation on the classic tastes and presentations of Japan. However, Gower has given himself permission to play.... Gower's dishes are almost all exceedingly simple, his instructions direct and concise." -January Magazine ("Best Cookbooks of the Year Issue," fall 2003)
"It's easy to dismiss books, ideas, and recipes if one is unfamiliar with the ingredients and unwilling to try something new. This should not be the case with Eric Gower's The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen. After living in Japan for 10 years, Gower returned to California and started experimenting with the widely available once exotic ingredients such as soy, ginger, sake, and tofu. The results are not only terrific, they are healthy and most can be made quickly and easily....The secret of all the recipes is the author's imagination in combining Japanese and Western favorites to produce completely new tastes. Watanabe's photographs are as inspirational and mouthwatering as the recipes. Here's a case where fusion is not confusion." -Culinary Thymes
"Gower's cooking philosophy has two main tenets: first -eating healthy, delicious food does not mean you need to spend hours in the kitchen; second-it is not a sacrilege to experiment with Japanese food... Japanese cooking is rigid in terms of which ingredients can go together. Gower bends the rules with each recipe. Cooking his way is all about combining and emphasizing the flavors of the ingredients...The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen is an excellent source of deliciously seditious dishes to delight your palette and amaze your Japanese and other friends." -Eat Magazine
"The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower is his modernist/contemporary interpretation of Japanese food. The dishes are the result of a passion for good home-cooked food and experimentation." -The Global Gourmet
"These dishes add modernity to the Eastern staples of rice and tofu. Seemingly easy and quick to prepare, they will suit anyone who truly enjoys healthy, natural, and tasty food. Titles like 'Smoked Salmon with Edamame,''Cherry and Shiso,'and 'Beet Salad with Ginger, Smoked Trout, and Walnuts,' reveal how Gower 'breaks away' from the standard repertoire of our daily bread." -Kyoto Journal
"In The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen...Gower combined literary easy reading with an imaginative culinary brain unrestricted by formality...As traditional cookbooks go, this publication fails completely. It fails so gloriously and in such impressive style however, that it fully belongs on the bookshelf or, better still, open on the kitchen counter." Mainichi Daily News
"This is not a Japanese cookbook, but rather an eclectic selection of dishes incorporating Japanese staples like soy, persimmons and shiso with the olive oil, butter and fresh herbs such as mint and coriander found in a Western kitchen....The book gives a much-needed reminder that there's a whole lot more you can do with any given ingredient if you leave the straight and narrow conventions behind and try something new." Kansai Time Out Magazine
"The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen is a lovingly presented, hands-on cookbook with creative ideas for simple and fast Japanese-style interpretations of Western food. For readers less familiar with Japanese cooking, the book is certain to offer interesting new ways of adding an exotic accent to the meals they serve, while for Japanese amateur chefs it presents novel approaches to food using the ingredients they have always had around them." Skyward Magazine
"A flick through Gower's cookbook proves that he follows a passion for flavor rather than fancy style or presentation. Not once does he call his work fusion cuisine, or California-style, and thankfully there's not a single funny-named, rainbow-colored seaweed roll in sight. Instead Gower's introduction is down-to-earth, and his numerous recipes are simple, quick and unpretentiously minimalist. He focuses on unusual flavors... Breakaway Japanese Kitchen is a casual and un-daunting book that proves Japanese ingredients are versatile." Japan Times
"I discovered a new approach to tofu and other Japanese ingredients in a cookbook called The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower... His book has transformed my view of tofu. I used to think of it as a soft, inert, white blob. Now it is a gourmet treat." Shukan ST


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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International; illustrated edition edition (August 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770029497
• ISBN-13: 978-4770029492
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #408,040 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally getting some flavor punch, May 1, 2005

By	C. Adair (Fairfax, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was getting a little tired of tiny, pretty portions of subtle food. I was starting to lose faith in ever becoming anything but a fair fried-chicken cook, when WHAM! I was hit with a cookbook that delivers flavor and elegance. I first saw one of Eric Gower's recipes in an issue of Sunset magazine - scallops with miso, ginger and ruby grapefruit. I followed the directions carefully, and I had about the best meal of my life. All of a sudden, I was a good cook! I bought the book -Breakaway Japanese Kitchen- and by now, I've made just about everything in it. I can now produce all kinds of robust, Asian-ish dishes that burst with flavor and joy and abudance. Garlic, tarragon, ginger, lemon and mint and blended here and sprinked there. And, I've learned that with these recipes, you really can make the substitutes that Grower suggests. It's all good. It's all easy. I understand Grower is publishing a new cookbook soon. I can hardly wait.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Professional cooks will steal these recipes, September 10, 2003

By	Jonathan Wilder (Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

As a guest in Eric's home several times over the past nine or ten years, I've seen Eric blossom from an excellent cook to a truly inspired one. And, recently, from the other side (a host's point of view) incorporating his unique recipes and their underlying themes of simplicity and uncompromising commitment to quality and taste into my menus has resulted in many compliments from guests.

Their palates ranging from the dullest and most provincial to the most jaded have been awakened and they have literally cried out with sensuous moans of delight.

Unlike previous parties where I have been able to take most of the credit for the recipes, I've had to give the credit where it was due.

Plus, the recipes from The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen, with their accompanying luscious photographs, are easy to re-create and given me time to enjoy the marvelous food along with my guests.

My favorites for parties:

Ceviche Japonesa --It works equally well with salmon instead of scallops. Chunk the seafood and make the dressing in advance, so all you need to do before serving is to mix in the dressing.

Broiled Pork loin with Dates, Umeboshi and Walnuts --the secret to this dish is not to broil it but to braise it!

Mint-Cilantro Udon -- making the sauce ahead of time and cooking fresh pasta just before serving makes this a super easy dish that is as close to perfectly refreshing as any pasta dish could possibly be.

Pan-fried Rib-eye with Ginger and Shallots -- an excellent party dish that does not suffer from further simplification by combining the first sauce-making step with the last one in the final stage. This way, you can also give the meat resting time before slicing it.

Hot Vegetable Summer Salad Vinaigrette -- hold back on serving all of it, because the leftovers eaten cold the next day are very good too.

Baked Onion Chicken Thighs Umeboshi and Shiso -- this is the one that really has people knocking each other over for the recipe. Prepare it in advance, but just leave the final baking step until forty minutes before you plan to serve.

I expect I'll be turning to this cookbook time and again as there are recipes that I willl make again and plenty more new ones to try.

PS I understand that if you go to Eric's web site http://www.ericskitchen.com/ after you purchase your copy, you can learn how to get it signed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible food meets easy preparation, March 22, 2005

By	Joshua Barratt (Santa Monica, CA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I placed this book on my wish list based on the strength of one recipe ("Boozy Potatoes") which I'd picked up off a food blog. It was subtle, delicious, and simple -- blending japanese flavors (sake, soy) into a medium I'd only approached with a more western palate in the past.

Now, having received the book as a gift, I can see that the Boozy Potatoes recipe was just the tip of the iceberg. After reading the book cover to cover in one sitting (it's not large, but it's densely packed with goodness) I broke out 3 of the recipes the following night. Preparation was easy, and the flavors popped, there was minimal fat and salt -- and best of all each dishes flavors were incredibly well balanced. I would have been happy to be served any of them at a restaurant. Some of his simple ideas (make a sauce by carmelizing shallots/thyme, then reducing rice vinegar) led to explosive flavors.

The only 'glitch' in the whole process, as mentioned by some of the other reviewers, is sourcing ingredients. Living in Southern California I thankfully have access to some great Asian markets, but since so many of the recipes require Shiso, (which I presume must be gotten fresh) it means planning ahead if I want to prepare many of them. Also -- if you plan to buy this book, you'll need a blender or a food processor. It seems to be by far his favorite kitchen tool! (Not that I mind, the results are spectacular.)