I found this book to be very insightful into the art and aspect of Japanese style cooking. I found the layout to be incredibly easy to use and the instructions easy to follow and keep up with. I look forward to getting to cook these recipes in the near future ( )

I received this ebook for free from Early Reviewers. This is the one time where I would've rather won the paperback instead of the ebook. The reason is on my tablet, whenever the recipe called for a half, quarter, third, etc. a block would appear instead of the measurement.

For the rest of the book review, visit my blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/86466.html ( )

I was excited to have a guide to a new type of food that I was interested in but had NO experience in attempting to prepare myself. This is a great introductory cook book for Japanese cooking that increases complexity while your skills should be increasing. Good format for learning a new cuisine. ( )

I own a lot of cookbooks, but I am not especially familiar with Japanese cuisine. *Japanese Cooking Made Simple* is, in fact, my first Japanese cookbook. It follows a fairly standard format: A section of introductory material that discusses the ingredients, tools, techniques, and philosophy pecuiliar to Japanese cooking, followed by categorized recipes. The introductory section is useful and informative. I particularly appreciated the classification of tools as "must-have," "nice-to-have," and "highly recommended." But the essence of a cookbook is its recipes. The variety and descriptions of the recipes included in this book are pleasing, and I felt that they offered a good assortment of different styles, flavors, and techniques to try. The biggest flaw in the design of the book is the relative dearth of pictures of the prepared recipes. Those that are included are attractive, but there simply aren't enough of them. I would have preferred to see a picture accompany each recipe.

For purposes of this review, I picked out four recipes to make: Miso-Egg Soup With Peas, Cucumber Roll, Broccoli With Sesame Dressing, and Castella Sponge Cake. The soup and cucumber roll came out quite nice (and it was only my second attempt at making sushi), and the cake was satisfyingly light, airy, and pleasantly mild. The broccoli, while decent, was not particularly exciting. Still, though, that's a pretty good success rate. I intend to keep trying other recipes from this collection! ( )

Lots of easy recipes to start with. As you progress in skill, there are more complicated recipes to try. A couple of them have become regulars in my dinner rotation. The most difficult thing about the book was finding some of the more exotic ingredients in stores near me. Highly recommended. ( )