NANBAN; Japanese soul food (Clarkson Potter, 2015, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-553-45985-2, $35 USD hardbound) is by Tim Anderson, now proprietor of the Nanban pop-up restaurants. This is stick-to-the-ribs comfort food that is packed with flavour. He has 110 preps, all Japanized European dishes (Nanban means "southern barbarian" the initial name for Europeans in Japan who arrived from the East Indies). This applies to dishes like fried chicken and escabeche. The recipes are divided into seven sections: fundamentals, small dishes, large dishes, grilled, ramen, desserts, and drinks. Most of the recipes are for two or four people. Each prep has English titles and Japanese pictographs, and there are stories behind each one. Preparations have their ingredients listed in mainly metric and avoirdupois measurements, but there is no table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: loves of Japanese food looking for more than sushi.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: kurume-style ramen; tea-pickled eggs; kushiyaki; tempura; mentaiko pasta; karashi renkon; whippy-san; hiyashi chuka.
The downside to this book: strange flexi-binding but it should hold OK. I always photocopy recipes first anyway, to reduce stress on the book.
The upside to this book: good looking photographs.
Quality/Price Rating: 89.
Chimo! www.deantudor.com
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