2004年01月02日 金曜日

The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen

by Justin Hall

Food

Eric Gower speaks about the Breakaway Japanese Kitchen Eric Gower speaks, photo by David Adam Edelstein
If you've already cooked matcha tiramisu or maggot salad, and you're craving some more mixed culture cooking, you might pick up the book: The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen by Eric Gower (and photos by Fumihiko Watanabe. Gower lived in Japan for 15 years; there he developed a deep appreciation for traditional Japanese cooking and a craving to innovate and make the food his own.

I heard him on Forum on KQED. Iron Chef is a cooking freak show, he points out, food stunts. Ordinarily, people in Japan don't eat edamame, for example, with anything but beer. He mentioned an edamame tapanade on the show; it sounded inspired.

Edamame Mint Pesto Edamame Mint Pesto, photo by David Adam Edelstein
David Adam Edelstein has a series of pictures of the Gower and one of his dishes up on his weblog Noise to Signal. Gower has his own web site, Eric's Kitchen, which promotes the book and also includes a list of a few recent meals he has put together.

Note - this is Eric's second cookbook; his first, "エリックさんの新・和食" was published in Japanese and it's available on Amazon.co.jp.

Posted by Justin Hall at 2004年01月02日 18:28

Comments
1- mie

I recommend this book. I was still in Tokyo when my parents experimented with it...they are both foodies. All recipes they tried came out very well, usually with an exciting twist if you are used to more traditional uses of Japanese ingredients. The best part though was that the recipes were rather simple. Straight forward cooking with great results. Enjoy.

Just came across this very cool site--thanks for the review, Justin!

3- anne

yes! i heard this on npr, too! i was going to suggest a post to chanpon, but should have known you would beat me to it.

i am fascinated by western-fusion, that is, the integration of eastern and western cuisine from the eastern perpective, and the chanponization of cuisine. while in japan, i purchased a couple of dessert cookbooks that included interesting recipes- shortbread cookies with matcha, etc. it is exciting to experience traditional japanese flavors in new forms- kinako ice-cream, etc. i'm all about breaking boundaries.

i will be looking for mr. gower's new book. i really want the first one- sadly, i don't think i can read japanese well enough to make the recipes! i don't suppose it's available in english?



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土, 1 3, 2004, @ 15:55
Breakaway Japanese Kitchen
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