Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking

by Masaharu Morimoto

Iron Chef star Masaharu Morimoto describes his cuisine as global cooking for the 21st century with its distinctive Japanese roots and multicultural influences. Morimoto's flavorful cooking is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756631238
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: DK
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 3.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.8" x 1.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

I felt like the foodie version of Being John Malkovich

Cooking. For me this is an orgasmic book of unmeasured proportions. I have loved Iron Chef. I have loved Japanese cooking and finally the two have merged and come full circle. On viewing the book it's self - wow. A nice presentation. A heavy slightly over sized cookbook. The editing of this book is very well done. Nice graceful modern designs. Page after page of glossy step by step images and techniques, and notations on traditional Asian ingredients and how that translates to using and accessing them (or a finding suitable substitutions) in the US . If I ever wanted to publish a cookbook, it would be in this style. This book showcases why Chef Morimoto is at the axis of a foodie empire, in this creative and intuitive take on Japanese cuisine. When I read this cookbook, I felt like the foodie version of Being John Malkovich , as this book allows you to peer inside the thoughts and actions of this culinary genius. In relation to skill level, I would recommend this book to people who have at least an intermediate knowledge of culinary techniques. The beginning home cook might not know how to utilize or apply the techniques Chef Morimoto has outlined in this book. It would be wise to do some further research on Japanese Culinary techniques also, as this book can only highlight certain facets of the cuisine itself and not act as a reference manual or course book on Japanese Cuisine as a whole. If you have ever had an inkling of adoration for Asian style cuisine, or are awestruck at the complexities of the full spectrum of Professional Japanese Culinary , as I am, you would enjoy this book. Highlights of this book include: * An in depth look at how the Japanese chef works his knife magic to create beautiful Sashimi w and Sushi w works of art out of various ingredients - parts of fish, Octopus , and Various Vegetables . * Recipes that are full of depth and charisma. * Master recipes of various sauces and marinades. * Text about the origins and importance of ingredients utilized in Japanese cuisine. * Beautiful photography displaying the frame by frame procedures for each culinary technique, and the eloquent plate presentation for each recipe. * A glossary of Japanese terms , as well as a source guide for obtaining specialty ingredients. Overall this book is a wonderful culinary journey that enables the reader to cultivate a better understanding of chef Morimoto, Japanese cuisine and the culinary revelations that Morimoto has contributed to todays culinary field. I loved this book!

Gorgeous Book

Morimoto's book is just simply gorgeous. You may want to transfer the recipes to a card and leave the book out of the kitchen if you tend to try and cook and read the recipe at the same time (a bit messy and you definitly do not want a stain in this book). Others have mentioned that some of the ingredients are difficult to find. I think they have not gotten to the end of the book where there is a listing of suppliers. Most of the items can be found easily in a good Asian grocery store if you are lucky enough to have one where you live. This book also gives you great insight into the mind of an amazing chef and the care taken from the choice of ingredients to the preparation, execution and presentation of a dish.

About the chef or the food?

For celebrity cookbooks, sometimes it's tough to determine how much the book is about the chef, and how much is about the food. In this case, the book falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. The lessons on knives, rice, and sushi, for instance are very tough to apply. Hard to relearn his 4 years of being a rice apprentice in just a few pages, and other than "Get great fish and sharp knives" it's hard to pick up the sashimi cutting techniques. Most of these sections are, "I'll have to try it at his restaurant" On the other side, there are several "I think I can do that" recipes. The recipe for Pork Kakuni (a fantastic dish at restaurant) leaves the reader thinking, "I can do that" as does the braised Cod. Many of the other recipes are somewhere in between. The caveat on practicality is the book definitely assumes access to a good Japanese food and grocery store. Fair enough given the author. Try it out!

A top pick for any library strong in international cookbooks.

Masaharu Morimoto's cooking has Japanese roots but also draws on other cultural influences, from China to Italy, to explore Japanese cooking in a refined French style. Over a hundred recipes accompanied by color photos explain his unique cooking and presentation techniques, presenting chapters that include sushi, rice, noodles, vegetables and even breads. The color photos are sensational and the dishes will intrigue many a home cook interested in fusion cuisine, making MORIMOTO a top pick for any library strong in international cookbooks. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

The mind of Morimoto

IMO, one of the most innovative chefs of our time. I absolutely love his combination of knowledge of tradition, combined with his blatent disregard of the constraints of tradition. The photography is superb, showing his mastery of plating skills and hinting at his highly advanced knife skills. He clearly goes beyond traditional Japanese cuisine, bringing in influences from multiple other cuisines. While this is certainly a great coffee table book to look through just for inspiration and to stir conversation, it is also a great book for the innovative chef to cook from. My only minor, very minor, criticism is that a few of the pages have the text written over a background pattern, making it a bit difficult to read those few pages. It's worth the effort to read them anyhow. This book has been carefully edited and is a most readable English, having lost none of the skill of the chef from it's editing. Actually, the editing enhances your understanding of what Morimoto is thinking. He is an obviously sophisticated thinker in terms of how he designs 'his cuisine.' The recipies are really quite straighforward, simple in the Japanese sense of having worked hard to remove complexity. Some of the ingredients are not common, but to worry about that is to miss the point of the book - innovative fusion cuisine at it's finest. You are given sources for ingredients, so you should be able to duplicate the recipies nonetheless. This book challenges your preconceptions with stimulating recipies, beckoning you to stretch your own culinary skills. When the likes of Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, and Ferran Adrin, all masterfully innovative chefs, praise this work, I know I'm in good company.