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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
It is interesting to see that Ivan Orkin - who has a decades-long connection to Japan, including many years living, raising a family, and running a business there - comfortably and happily calling himself a Gaijin (literally meaning "outsider" or "foreigner", a term typically associated with white guys). He is happy to reclaim this term to highlight that he is bicultural, with deep insight into Japanese culture, yet can also take an outsider's perspective on it. An intriguing attitude by someone whose expertise is linked to their Japanophile credentials.
I like this book more than I had expected - I started it out of curiosity, but ended up thinking that this book is actually worth cooking from. This collection of recipes is well balanced between formal and casual/homestyle foods, between authentic ingredients and accessibility, and between washoku (traditional native-Japanese dishes) and yoshoku (traditional Western-influenced Japanese food). I love yoshoku and think it deserves to be better known. The book also has a good balance between recipes and memoir (interesting but not too braggy).
I like this book more than I had expected - I started it out of curiosity, but ended up thinking that this book is actually worth cooking from. This collection of recipes is well balanced between formal and casual/homestyle foods, between authentic ingredients and accessibility, and between washoku (traditional native-Japanese dishes) and yoshoku (traditional Western-influenced Japanese food). I love yoshoku and think it deserves to be better known. The book also has a good balance between recipes and memoir (interesting but not too braggy).
I bought this book for one recipe in particular, but I am interested in trying most of them...which is rare for a cookbook for me. I like the perspective of recipes from a foreigner who has immersed himself in Japanese culture, though it does mean that more authentic versions of some of these recipes that I already have I'll continue to fall back on.
I own a copy of Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji, and it is all the things they say: comprehensive, encyclopedic, exhaustive. And it left me a little exhausted. It’s hard to know where to begin, which is why I sought out a simpler, more narrowly focused book as a stepping stone.
I’ve made several recipes out of this book (and a few out of his Ivan Ramen book, which has more complex recipes and a better teriyaki recipe than the one in here). The chicken and vegetable rice (tori no takikomi gohan) is simple and was liked by the whole family, as was the okonomiyaki recipe in here. I love the blends of Japanese foods with his own food heritage - shiso gravlax, for instance. It gives ideas of how to incorporate Japanese flavors into your own cooking, which is one of my goals. Also, many of the recipes here gave me a springboard to find other, more complex or more authentic versions. The list of ingredients in the back is incredibly helpful for getting your pantry stocked for Japanese cooking as well.
This is a good beginner's Japanese cookbook aimed at American cooks, and I enjoyed his writing. I do wish he had included a few more suggestions for substitutions; it’s obvious he’s spent his life in big cities. Still, I feel more equipped to tackle Shizuo Tsuji now.
I’ve made several recipes out of this book (and a few out of his Ivan Ramen book, which has more complex recipes and a better teriyaki recipe than the one in here). The chicken and vegetable rice (tori no takikomi gohan) is simple and was liked by the whole family, as was the okonomiyaki recipe in here. I love the blends of Japanese foods with his own food heritage - shiso gravlax, for instance. It gives ideas of how to incorporate Japanese flavors into your own cooking, which is one of my goals. Also, many of the recipes here gave me a springboard to find other, more complex or more authentic versions. The list of ingredients in the back is incredibly helpful for getting your pantry stocked for Japanese cooking as well.
This is a good beginner's Japanese cookbook aimed at American cooks, and I enjoyed his writing. I do wish he had included a few more suggestions for substitutions; it’s obvious he’s spent his life in big cities. Still, I feel more equipped to tackle Shizuo Tsuji now.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Ivan Orkin is a self-described gaijin (guy-jin), a Japanese term that means “outsider.” He has been hopelessly in love with the food of Japan since he was a teenager on Long Island
Some great, more simple than expected reviews for Japanese classics. Although not super authentic, the author does explain why this is. I was a little put off by the random shifts in tone and swearing, as another reviewer stated, but that's a minor critique. It was a little weird reading this from a white author, as there are sometimes overtones of "this is a super weird foreign thing but I've learned to appreciate it" and "ooh Japan is so cool" in almost a fetishizing way. I'm not sure about this one.
This is currently my favorite cookbook. I decided to check it out because I watched this video of Orkin making Japanese curry the way he would at home. While he discusses using homemade and high-quality ingredients throughout the video, I found it super refreshing that he'd also recommend and encourages perfectly valid shortcuts, like using premade curry bricks, or some bouillon and veggies in place of homemade stock. When informed that the kitchen he's in doesn't have a microwave, his response is "Oh my fucking god! Seriously? That's my huge hack!". He follows up with a diatribe, which I adored, about how using microwaves and shortcuts doesn't make your homemade any less real. He quickly leaves the set with his carrots in order to find a microwave.
That same unpretentious approach to home cooking permeates this book, both in the recipes and in Orkin's voice. The dishes are ordered both by the type of the dish (like "things you eat over rice", "broths/soups/stews", etc.) and thematic categories: "It’s structured around the facets of Japanese life that I’ve come to identify with most strongly". The recipes are almost all based on what he cooks at home, with a few from his restaurants. The instructions are written simply and clearly, with no unnecessary distractions. Elsewhere, his love of Japanese culture and its food are clearly evident. I've got to be honest, I never thought a cookbook would draw me in like this one has.
That same unpretentious approach to home cooking permeates this book, both in the recipes and in Orkin's voice. The dishes are ordered both by the type of the dish (like "things you eat over rice", "broths/soups/stews", etc.) and thematic categories: "It’s structured around the facets of Japanese life that I’ve come to identify with most strongly". The recipes are almost all based on what he cooks at home, with a few from his restaurants. The instructions are written simply and clearly, with no unnecessary distractions. Elsewhere, his love of Japanese culture and its food are clearly evident. I've got to be honest, I never thought a cookbook would draw me in like this one has.
The recipes in here are very good. This is the first okonomiyaki recipe I've seen that has *worked*. The Salmon and Miso Hot Pot was surprisingly delicious! I have come to appreciate the flavor of miso.
A fun open romp of a book with hints of curmudgeon with a lot of seemingly easy recipes that I'm pretty sure I'll try at least a handful of (this is more related to owning too many cookbooks rather than the quality of this particular tome).
An interesting perspective, but a little bro-y to me.