Practical Japanese Cooking: Easy and Elegant

The striking photographs and creative design of this oversize cookbook stressthe physical beauty of traditional Japanese cuisine. The wonderful surprise is that the book succeeds in making these artful effects accessible even to novices of Japanese-style preparation and cooking techniques. The most exotic-looking dishesclam soup, for example, or jade green deep-fried shrimpprove to be relatively simple to prepare. Unfamiliar cooking methods are illustrated by detailed, full-color sequence photographs. And in a lovely preface, Tsuji (Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, president of a professional culinary school in Japan (where Hata is head chef), encourages newcomers to make Japanese cookery their own, experimenting, substituting, rearranging without fear that they will violate the spiritof a most adaptable cuisine. Calories per serving are included with the varied, ample offerings. (September 15)