Details
- Author
- Rie McClenny
- With
- Sanaë Lemoine
- Publisher
- Clarkson Potter
- Published
- Oct 24, 2023
- Pages
- 256
- Recipes
- 85
- Language
- English
- ISBN-13
- 978-0593236352
A supermarket-friendly doorway into Japanese cooking
Rie McClenny grew up in Japan and learned to cook the way most people really do — by watching a parent at the stove. In her first cookbook she carries that childhood kitchen into an American one, showing that authentic Japanese home food doesn't demand a specialty shop or a passport. Most of what you need is already down the aisle at your local grocery store.
Best known from BuzzFeed Tasty's "Make It Fancy" series, McClenny has a knack for taking dishes that look intimidating and quietly walking you through them. The book leans on a compact set of building blocks — soy sauce, mirin, sake — and a few core techniques: assembling rice bowls, frying a clean home-style tempura, and coaxing flavor out of vegetables and proteins with a gentle simmer.
"Rie's marvelous recipes taught me new things about familiar ingredients, and reconnected me with the wonderful Japanese home cooking that I have always loved." — Nobu Matsuhisa, chef and owner, Nobu Restaurant Group
What you'll be cooking
- Reimagined staples: a loaded vegetable miso soup with kale and sweet potato, roasted cauliflower goma-ae in toasted sesame dressing, a quick soy-sauce ramen and mini okonomiyaki.
- Can't-miss classics: crisp pork tonkatsu, ginger-laced chicken-tofu tsukune, and oyako don piled with tender chicken and softly set egg.
- Food for a crowd: a ponzu chicken hot pot for cold nights, gyoza with crackling skirts, and roll-your-own temaki for a hands-on party.
- Something sweet: the iconic strawberry shortcake, a matcha snacking cake, and citrusy mochi doughnuts.
Every recipe comes with bright photography, and McClenny writes like someone anticipating your next question — the small pointers and cultural notes land exactly where a home cook tends to hesitate.
Who it's for
If you're just starting out with Japanese food, this is one of the gentlest on-ramps in print — a genuine "everyone" cookbook. Once you've nailed her tempura and oyako don at home, it's worth chasing the restaurant versions too: Miku in Vancouver and Toronto sets a high bar for polished Japanese plates, while cozy izakaya rooms like Guu Izakaya are a fun place to taste the small-plate spirit these recipes come from.
Beginner-friendly Weeknight Everyday classics 85 recipes