Teppanyaki Barbecue - Hideo Dekura

A book review by Franz Scheurer

Japanese Master Chef Hideo Dekura is an authority, not just on Sushi and Sashimi, but on many forms of Japanese cuisine, and his latest book, Teppanyaki Barbecue, brings Australian and Japanese cooking one step closer, teaching us all about cooking on a hotplate, a style of cooking Australian’s naturally embrace.

Dekura covers a lot of ground in this book, giving a solid understanding of what Teppanyaki is and is not and treating each protein source separately. If you read the introduction (and the shopping list) before you get started, decide what meat you intend to cook, then it’s easy to go straight to the relevant section, without needing to read the whole book. Once you have the basics, you can dip in and out of the recipes as you please.

‘Steak with Teriyaki Sauce and Green Salad’ on page 30 will start any meat-lover salivating and the ‘Asparagus Pork Rolls’ on page 44 are real party fun. Many people shudder at the thought of eel, but it’s really a very tasty fish and ‘Grilled Eel’ on page 76 might just convince you. The most different recipe in the book to my palate is the ‘Skewered Snapper with Sansho’ on page 92 but it’s not a difficult dish to cook and the flavours are exotic yet down to earth. There is even a perfect dish for the kids (or the not quite grown ups) on page 122 ‘Grilled Squid Stuffed with Fried Rice’ and I defy anyone to be able to leave a single ‘Gyoza Dumpling’ from page 154.

This is a book that gives you everything you need to successfully master Teppanyaki style cooking, even down to stocks, sauces and dressing. It’s instructive and fun.

Teppanyaki Barbecue

Hideo Dekura

Published by New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty.Ltd.

ISBN: 9781741105803