Product Description

The specialized cuisine served at Kyoto's famed Kikunoi restaurant is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate, and Kaiseki, by owner / chef Yoshihiro Murata, is at once a cookbook and a work of art. This sumptuously illustrated volume features—in seasonal format—the style of cooking that began as tea ceremony accompaniment and developed into the highest form of Japanese cookery.

Kaiseki celebrates the natural ingredients of each season with a spectacular presentation. After a front section explaining the history and components of kaiseki cuisine, Murata introduces his establishment's impressive menu. With candor and insight, he shares his thoughts on ingredients, preparation methods and the philosophy behind his dishes. He explains how the cuisine has changed over the years and continues to do so. His professional and personal accounts are enlightening; ranging, for example, from how some dishes evolve in the search for the proper combination of ingredients to a description of a learning encounter with a zen master.

Approximately twenty dishes from each season, chosen by chef Murata, have been lovingly and carefully photographed to convey the experience of being an honored guest at his restaurant. Also included are the exact recipes direct from the Kikunoi kitchen, and a glossary of kaiseki terms.

"It seems fitting that Kyoto should be the home of a cuisine, which, like the city itself, is born of an intimate communion between the work of man and the gifts of nature. This is what makes Yoshihiro Murata a truly unique chef." —Ferran Adrià [elBulli]

"Chef Murata represents the best of a rarified area of Japanese cuisine: he has a firm commitment to traditional excellence along with a desire to always look for something fresh and innovative." —Nobu Matsuhisa [Nobu]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199895 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Review

"If it has ever occurred to you, as it has to me lately, how the food of some superstar French and Spanish chefs leads right back to the Japanese tradition of exquisite little plates called kaiseki, this book confirms that idea. Preparing the food beautifully photographed in the lush KAISEKI by Kyoto restaurateur Yoshihiro Murata is almost beside the point; understanding, and salivating, is."
-Newsweek

"Visually stunning... Each dish is a beautiful example of the Japanese cooking art form, Kaiseki."
-Kirkus Reviews

Review

"If it has ever occured to you, as it has to me lately, how the food of some superstar French and Spanish chefs leads right back to the Japanese tradition of exquisite little plates called kaiseki, this book confirms that idea. Preparing the food beautifully photographed by in the lush KAISEKI by Kyoto restaurateur Yoshihiro Murata is almost beside the point; understanding, and salivating, is." --Newsweek
Sumptuous photographs. --Gourmet
"A Striking new book on kaiseki cuisine by one of Japans top chefs and restaurateurs. The recipes give insights into the mechanics of a little-understood culinary world." --Financial Times
"Visually stunning.... Each dish is a beautiful example of the Japanese cooking art form, Kaiseki." --Kirkus Reviews
"It is an art form. Full of a collection of carefully formed recipes and photographs of artfully presented dishes."--The Globalist.com

From the Publisher
A stunning journey in dazzling photos and insightful text through the courses of Japan's most elegant and artistic cuisine.

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous. Sensual. But probably not for dinner tonight.
I have two sorts of cookbooks in my collection. There are the books that I cook from, in which many pages have food stains, folded-down corners, and bindings that fall open to favorite recipes. I also have cookbooks that I consider "picture books." Sure, they have recipes, but I look at them primarily for inspiration or entertainment or fantasy ("Yeah, like I'm gonna cook something with two pounds of fois gras!" or "That's over the top, but isn't it beautiful?"). I rarely cook anything from the picture books, but that's okay; I enjoy them nonetheless.

Kaiseki is very much in the latter category. If this book isn't nominated for an award on visual merit alone, I shall be appalled. Photographically, it's simply stunning. If you appreciate how beautifully food can be presented... well, it earns its five stars right there. It's also a stunning example of how good Japanese food can be; many of the photos make me yearn to consume them.

The cookbook is organized in an unusual manner. The recipes are all in the back of the book, in small type (too small, I think). Most of the book is given over to the delicious photos, menus, and text. The text is largely what you'd expect as a long headnote in a regular cookbook. For example, you get two long paragraphs about the seasonality of fresh bamboo shoots, accompanying a blow-you-away picture of bamboo shoot sushi (it looks like a bird of paradise flower arrangement). These sections are divided into Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, reflecting the restaurant's focus on eating whatever is ripe right now.

I can't imagine that I'm going to cook anything here, though. The author doesn't try to Americanize anything, or to suggest "if you can't find sea bream, substitute [something else]." It's definitely a Japanese book. Maybe, if you have more Asian markets than I do and you know the cuisine better, you're better able to contemplate the recipes. If so, you'll probably be interested in steamed tilefish with fresh green tea leaves; or abalone in a salt dome; or fresh black soybean skewered on pine needles.

But don't worry if your ability to make these recipes is as distant as my own. Kaiseki may spend more time on your coffee table than in your kitchen, and that's okay. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous book, and well worth it for anyone who simply loves to admire food treated well. It would make a superb present for any foodie, too.

Elegant Zen
Yoshihiro Murata's "Kaiseki" is a real beauty. It provides a walk through the most elegant of Japanese cuisines, showing off the fine purity of the tea ceremony meal with all of it's evocative wabi/sabi aesthetic. The photographs are stunning and well worth a perusal. The actual recipes are pretty arcane (I would refer the home cook to Tsuji's "Japanese Cooking" or Vitell's "The World in a Bowl of Tea"), but this will be a real addition to a cook's library or to the Japanophile.

A new look at an old tradition
This is a beautiful book. It looks at the Kaiseki meal (which comes from the food served during the Chaji, or tea ceremony, and how it has evolved into a seasonal culinary art form. Mr. Murata shows his skill at creating food that evokes the culinary traditions and the seaonal landscape of Japan while transforming this artform into his own unique expression of Kaiseki. It's a beautifully put togheter book. the recipes are surprisingly easy to follow and offer great results. As a History buff, I would like more back ground on Kaiseki and it's relationship to the tea ceremony as well as the seasonal, traditional foods. Still, this is a great book and a welcome additon to your cookbook collection.