[.ca] Nobu the Cookbook (ISBN 4770025335)

From Amazon.com:
Excruciatingly chic to the highest degree, the Nobu restaurants are among the hardest to get into on three continents. They are the personal inspiration of a Japanese sushi-trained chef, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, who, with unusual experiences in Peru, Argentina, and Alaska behind him, was fortunate enough to open an establishment in Los Angeles into which part-time restaurant entrepreneur and actor Robert De Niro happened to wander. During those years on the Pacific coast, Nobu began to experiment, combining the pure, fresh, uncomplicated flavors of sushi with the Western flavors of garlic, chili, and coriander. As he attracted a more upscale clientele, he complemented those flavors with luxury ingredients such as truffles and caviar. Nobu: The Cookbook represents the current state of play. Exquisite, expensive, and breathtakingly stylish, this food is designed to impress with its artful simplicity. Perhaps the two most representative dishes are the most celebrated: the New-Style Sushi, in which raw fish is given a sizzling dressing of hot oil; and the beautiful Black Cod with Miso, marinated in sake, mirin, and miso for three days then grilled and baked and served with a single ikebana-like spear of pickled juvenile ginger. Altogether a beautiful production. There are aspects of this cooking, however, that for all its glamour may require the turning of a blind eye. How many home cooks will be prepared to disembowel a live octopus? And eyebrows may be raised among environmentalists at Nobu's championing of Arctic sea bass, a fish known before its cosmetic rechristening a few years ago as Patagonian tooth fish and that is likely to become extinct within three years through illegal overfishing in the southern oceans. Food for thought. --Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk

Wonderful.:
This cookbook is full of amazing recipes and pictures (I love cookbooks with pictures, you can see what it is supposed to look like and work based on that!) Anyway, I had the privelege to visit the restaurant in NYC twice through a relative of mine, and was pleased to realize that some of the dishes we tried were available in this book. I also think that, while on the difficult side for cookbooks (obviously, Matsuhisa is a true master of cooking,) the recipes are not impossible if you are familiar with the techniques and ingredients listed.

Nobu - outstanding recipes:
After an exhaustive search for the Spider Roll (soft shell crab roll), we discovered it in this book. The recipe is easy to follow, the photos are fantastic and really step you through the process. Nobu simplified the Japanese/Sushi cuisine enough that even a first-timer like myself found it so easy - can't wait to try other recipes.

Into the mind of a Genius:
I am a big fan of Nobu's art; a miraculously simple, yet greatly inventive Japanese-Peruvian cuisine. This book gives a representative sample of what Nobu's is capable of. - RECIPES: step-by-step, easy to follow, and do not require sophisticated equipment. The pictures are nice and self-explanatory. In fact, Nobu's trademark dishes (New Style Sashimi, Tiraditos and Ceviches) are quite easy to reproduce with little effort or time. The only reason why I did not give this book a perfect mark is that I felt some sauces missed the mark, as if they were lacking an ingredient (my Matsuhisa Dressing trials greatly differ from the one I tasted in Nobu's restaurants). Plus, on rare occasions, the editor fails to specify which type of vegetable oils must be used (ex: in the spicy creamy sauce). - INGREDIENTS: many are easy to find in North America. Some are almost impossible to acquire if you do not live in a major city (for example Maui onions, sansho, etc.). Nevertheless, most of these ingredients can be successfully substituted with more common ingredients; for example, Menegi for Chives, Yuzu for lemon and lime juice, Monkfish liver for Duck or Goose Foie Gras, and so on. Like other viewers, I couldn't care less if Kenny G., Gandhi or Rasputin have been Nobu's clients. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book for all novice cooks and food lovers.

Great Reference for the Experienced Cook:
Wonderful plate presentations. Recipes are more for the experienced cook. Obviously, reading and actually executing the recipes are totally different things. Procedures appear simple but technique will play a very important role in Nobu's dishes. If you're a beginner and interested in Nobu's type of cuisine, get your copy and practice, practice, practice! Ingredients are not easy to get (hard to find and/or expensive).

Brilliant!!:
Almost like magic! My expectations were muted when I first tried to re-create a snapper sashimi dish we had adored at Nobu in Las Vegas, but low and behold it was the same incredible flavor. When you make something from a recipe in this book, it will taste like the dish you tried at his restaurant (assuming you can find the same quality of ingredients of course). Nobu is beyond generous to share his trade secrets with the rest of us in this gorgeous well written relatively easy to follow book. I keep it on my kitchen counter! Remember, making sushi requires time, time to develop the skills. There is no substitute for lessons and practice (along with the proper tools and most importantly the ability to acquire and discern quality sushi/sashimi fish), but this book can have you eating the genius of Nobu at home!