The Japanese Grill: From Classic Yakitori to Steak, Seafood, and Vegetables [A Cookbook] Paperback – April 26, 2011

Because I saw so many conflicting reviews on this book I decided to check it out of the library first. I've had it for three weeks, and I've now ordered my own copy from Amazon. It has so much good information in it: Marinade recipes, techniques for adapting your Weber grill (gas or kettle) to the classic yakitori style of grilling, how to thread your skewers for yakitori, tips for getting the most from your marinades and bastes, and advice on what cuts of meat (fowl, beef, pork, lamb), species of fish, types of veggies to use, and where to get hard-to-find ingredients. This cook book takes classic Yakitori grilling and puts it in a very fresh new light: It takes Yakitori grilling off the in-home table top and shoves it out into our back yards. The authors present the classical approach via our American love of outdoor grilling.I love to grill, BBQ, whatever you want to call it--I'm out in the yard all the time. And because I live in lower Texas, I'm outside cooking more often than not. I've got a smoker, several grills and a setup for open flame. Give me hardwood charcoal, pecan wood from our trees out back, propane; give me a grate, or skewers or a red-hot cast iron griddle: Point is, give me almost any type of food and I'll try to cook it outdoors. I may not be the most "normal" of grillers, but I bet the further South you travel in this great country of ours, the more "normal" I appear to be. Because the more opportunities there are to grill outdoors, the more you embrace it.Problem is, grilling so often, sometimes I need a little creativity boost. I'm unhappy with myself when I start putting the same-ole', same-ole' on the table. American-style barbecue sauce is barbecue sauce; you can change it just so many ways. Same goes for American-style marinades. So there was a time that I got tired of the usual recipes for "BBQ" and grilling in general and I turned to "Fushion" recipes and started incorporating soy sauce, ginger, scallions, hot peppers into my marinades and bastes. Add another culture's grilling style into your repertoire and you're off and running again.So I got cozy with the Asian markets in my vicinity and now I've got a whole cabinet full of Asian sauces and condiments. And that's where I was a month ago: Experimenting. And while I love to experiment, I also love to have some expertise behind my gambles.Now I have this book and it provides a wealth of different marinades and a lot of techniques to make the most of them and to pair them with the right cut of meat, seafood or veggie. Granted, there are a lot of recipes that are "variations on a theme", but in most of those recipes there is a little tidbit of very useful information, and those tidbits of info then feed my "fire" for more creativity.I especially love to prepare whole fish on the grill. This book has an extensive seafood and fish chapter. And, the authors have provided a good variety of fish species as alternatives. I'm very happy with that.If you have investigated Asian markets before, you are probably familiar with most of the ingredients listed. (If you've never been to an Asian market, you really need to do yourself a favor and make a day trip of it--you will be amazed!) Most are pantry shelf items that you can find and keep at home. There are two herbs--shiso (perilla) and mitsuba (Japanese parsley)--that you can grow in your garden. There might be one or two hard-to-find condiments, but they are described in the book with such detail, you can probably make do and concoct your own reasonable substitute, (There it is again: Creativity!).I also have the authors' book: Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals. Now, I wasn't so keen on that book as I am on this one. That book does require a lot of fresh veggies and greens that are not available daily in my area. So it wasn't so user-friendly for me. But we have reconfigured our winter garden to incorporate some of the veggies and greens that are used in hot pots, so we're using that book more often. Plus, the more often you use the names and ingredients that go with the names, it all gets easier.I'm very glad to have this book in my cook book collection. I've got a whole shelf on grilling, another shelf for Asian and Japanese, a shelf for seafood and fish, a shelf for beef and pork, many shelves for veggies--this book is a stand-out on any of these shelves!NOTE: If you need to shy away from salt in your diet, you may want to check this out of your library before deciding to purchase it. There is a lot of salt in the sauces and condiments used; a lot of salt in soy sauce and miso pastes. I personally try to avoid a lot of salt in my diet, and I find that I might be able to cut down a touch of salt in these recipes. I also pair these grill recipes with plain rice and steamed veggies. You might never appreciate plain rice until you use it as a counterpoint to a richly flavored, salty taste of grilled meat or fish. After pairing the two together, you will crave the combination more and more often.ANOTHER THOUGHT: I list below a few other cook book titles--not that I consider them as fine as the one I'm reviewing here, but they might work for you: If you like the idea of adding another culture's ingredients to your grill recipes, but think The Japanese Grill contains too many unknown or unfamiliar ingredients, you may want to take a look at some older books: Steven Raichlen was one of the first--if not the first--to start writing about grilling "cultures": The Barbecue! Bible and Planet Barbecue!, and any of the series by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison, like Hot Barbecue (Hot Books). These books would allow you to approach these new flavors at a more leisurely pace.Happy grilling!

We got our first Konro (aka Shichirin, robata grill, yakitori grill) and wanted information about grilling, recipes, etc. This book has it all - a little bit of history, in-depth glossary of terms, basic ingredients' list, cooking techniques, and recipes, all in an easy to read and beautifully pictured book. We were up and grilling in a few hours and it was great. Highly recommended, especially if you still think a hibachi is a grill :)

Again, another book from ono/salat that i love. Their soul cooking book covers everything good that you find everywhere, but this cookbook focuses on grill cooking which is awesome. I love the subtle flavors of chicken grilled with just salt, and this book goes through all the different types of chicken skewers you'd get at a yakitori restaurant (which literally means grilled bird). But in it, also has grilled beef, and grilled vegies that you also find in popular japanese restaurants and izakaya (japanese pubs). Also a very popular thing amongst japanese is the grilled rice ball, which they go over the 2 popular styles of shoyu and miso. Overall, a great way to impress your friends and have some delicious yakitori at home as this book shows you how to cut the chicken as well as season them and setting up the grill correctly using binchotan (japanese charcoal from real hardwood). A must for any Japanese food enthusiast. One thing though, which is suprisingly absent is grilled awabi (abalone), which is very popular at Japanese Onsen Inn's throughout Japan. There are fish and clam, shrimp and lobster, scallop recipes but l was suprised that it didn't have awabi.

My husband and I love Japanese food. And this book has helped us experience that Japanese flavor again and again.The recipes are simple, and although some ingredients are kinda hard to find outside japan, we still can find most of them in Indonesia. I made around quite a lof of dishes from this book ( the garlic sauce, miso mushroom) and I'm happy with the taste. It is very mild compared to American barbeque. But we actually like the subtle taste. It feels like the food they serve in ishikaya.I would recommend this book if you like Japanese bar food, and want to create it yourself at home.

Delicious looking recipes. I hope we get invited over for dinner very soon.

I received my copy over the past weekend and noticed it was missing pages 8 through 24. I sent it back to Amazon.com via their free shipping and received a new copy today. The new copy is fine and all pages are present. The book itself is a nice collection of great grilling recipes and fairly straightforward, simple marinades. However, you will have to track down certain marinade ingredients at your favorite Japanese market. The flavors looks very good and instructions are very clear. One of the better books devoted to Japanese grilling techniques. If you order this book, make sure it contains all the pages when it arrives. Amazon.com, as always, takes great care of its customer.

This book is clearly written for Americans who enjoy grilling and want to broaden their horizon. The national trend is toward smaller portions of meat, shorter cooking times and fantastic flavors, this book is a road map in that direction.Some of the ingredients may be difficult to find in some areas BUT - there is always Amazon. They carry everything you will need or want.I have retired my huge propane fueled "Sunshine" barbie from Australia and work with a Lodge cast iron Hibachi and lump charcoal now. (However, this book will teach you how to configure the grill you have in your backyard to grill all the Japanese delicacies).It is a lot of fun to cook meat fish and vegetables in a matter of minutes for me and my friends.