Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style: A Cookbook

by Sonoko Sakai

A bold, fresh new approach to Japanese 120-plus globally-influenced recipes—from the author of Japanese Home CookingIn this dazzling and wholly original cookbook, culinary authority Sonoko Sakai redefines what Japanese cooking can be. Wafu (literally “Japanese style”) food is fusion at its best, combining flavors, ingredients, and techniques from around the globe with a distinctly Japanese personality.Wafu Cooking is a collection of recipes that captures the cultural exchange between Japan and the rest of the world in dishes that have come to Japan from abroad and been “wafu-ed” to suit local tastes, and in Japanese dishes that are reimagined through an American lens. From Dashi Cheese Grits with Honey Miso Butter, Collard Greens and Cabbage Miso Soup with Crispy Bacon, and Fish and Lotus Chips to Caesar Salad with Aonori Croutons and Bonito Flakes, Shio Koji Marinated Roast Chicken, and Miso Apple Pie, these are recipes  that reflect—and celebrate—the multinational, interconnected way in which we all eat today. Sakai also introduces the essential building blocks of Japanese cuisine—dashi, miso, and soy sauce—that can be used to give any dish a wafu twist.A book that reflects as much the author’s own journey—a life spent in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico, and elsewhere—as it does the foods of Japan, Wafu Cooking is an utterly unique, thoroughly modern cookbook.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking, Japan

352 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is very little NOT to like in this cookbook. It does a great job giving enough detail about each recipe to be interesting and helpful. I also particularly love sauces and condiments and almost 15% of the book is based around those things. Also a whole chapter on all day breakfast- count me in. The Dashi Cheese Grits with Miso-Honey Butter were perfect. I utilized the shrimp and bacon topping, but would eat it by itself too. It's fall in the US as I'm writing this and so we made the Kabocha Squash Soup with Miso, Creme Fraiche, and curried pepitas which was a knockout. I'm looking forward to making the water kimchi in summer melon brine when it's that time of year again. A very enjoyable and informative cookbook. Thank you to the author and publisher for an early review copy.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wafu Cooking focuses on Japanese style recipes with some fusions with other cuisines.

The Sections are
wafu flavors (dashi, fermented condiments)
all days breakfast
soups
plants and vegetables (salada, vegetables and beans, pickles)
curries and stews
seafood
meat
noodles and dumplings
sweets and baked goods

Each recipe has servings, recipe blurb, ingredients, and directions. The pictures are beautiful and the recipes are thorough. There are SOOO many good recipes that I am excited to try. The cookbook does a really good job at ingredients overlapping into many recipes, so you aren't buying a new item only to use once.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Jessica Feng · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some fun facts about the western/Chinese influences on modern Japanese food, along with some history. I don’t think I would make the recipes from this book (although there are some that I have already made variations of), but I will take away that miso can be substituted for salt, dashi for broth, sake for wine, in western recipes with a Japanese twist.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the introductory chapters, but there are too many specialty items for this to become my go-to book. I love Japanese cooking, so maybe as I can commit more time to large projects this book can be revisited.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird is miso apple pie

apples stewed in miso
flour - sonora flour or all-purpose flour
sea salt - water
egg - cane sugar

think of apple strudel with very little sugar and someone dropped a bottle of miso on it

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing in here I want to cook

[Kate]

Made the cod in papillote, the shio koji-marinated salmon (I nixed the cedar plank and it was still good), citrus sunomono, and cucumber salad. Fun cookbook with a lot of options.