Washoku: Authentic Japanese Home Cooking Recipes Cookbook - Perfect for Family Dinners & Cultural Cuisine Exploration

Washoku is a beautiful cookbook and likely a great addition to your collection if you are already familiar with Japanese cuisine, however, for a beginner like myself this not quite what I had hoped for.First, a few notes on the positive -Washoku is a hearty hardcover cookbook that can last many years of regular use. The pages are clear and crisp, and what images are included are indeed gorgeous. I enjoyed the introductory backstory about the author's observations and learning process in the kitchen with her Japanese mother-in-law. Very sweet and personal. The first third or so of this book is a very informative and detailed guide to individual ingredients, broken into sections by product type. This section alone is incredibly helpful and I would love to see an expanded version with more images for reference. Each recipe includes a short description and some include recommendations for variants on the same dish.Now the criticisms -I would give this cookbook a much better rating if I could see and understand what I am trying to make in advance. Japanese cooking is new to me and I'm finding it to be far from intuitive learning process. I blame my own lack of familiarity - but I did have high hopes that this cookbook would be my guide. Unlike the author I don't have an awesome Japanese mother-in-law to show me what to do each step of the way. I just have this book and it isn't quite as detailed or as expansive as I'd hoped.Specifically - I need more detailed instructions regarding preparation steps within each recipe and there are simply not enough photographs. Visuals of completed recipes cannot be underestimated. Without photographs I cannot know if what I am making is something close to the written description. I won't even know if the dish is going to be served cold, roasted, fried or sautéed until I read through the entire recipe and even then it's not always clear.I had hoped for a rough guide to cooking Japanese food at home (aka - introductory level cooking with simple ingredients) but found most of these dishes require a lot of prep work and small amounts of many ingredients - many of which tend to be very expensive. I purchased all the "10 essential pantry items" and some other items for good measure but still find myself needing another trip to a specialty market every time I cook a new meal. It's just not worth the hassle.Overall I'm giving this title a 4-Star rating based on book quality, but be wary if you are new to Japanese cooking, this may not be the best place to start. I imagine there must be more a more diverse collection of Japanese recipes out there in the world of cookbooks and maybe even one with more instruction. I'll just have to keep looking.