Chicken Genius

Gorgeous important book. So many great recipes. Worth the wait. There is a reason why so many chefs love this book. That's how I heard about it. The book should be the first and only choice for anyone interested in AUTHENTIC YAKITORI. It is the first such book on real yakitori in the USA and the best book on yakitori even in Japanese. Trust me, I know. I love yakitori. BTW the broth recipe is incredible and the real Japanese taste. I always wondered how they make this. It is so different than Western techniques. The best book I found in Japan had unclear tiny photos. Also, I like that the recipes are in the back, just like many other cook books in Japan.

I've been eating at Yakitoriya for over a decade, and this book is a great celebration of all that I love over there. I dont think it was intended to be a cookbook as much as it was just trying to be a celebration of what the author loves about the place. I have it on a table where i work, and have been showing it off to people non-stop. I really enjoy how the pictures show the process of breaking things down, and felt like words weren't really necessary. I guess some of the other people who picked up the book didnt like that as much. To each his or her own i guess. I've been enjoying the book since it arrived. Heck, i even ate there last night because its been on my mind. All in all, I'm just happy to see something like this as a celebration of a restaurant i love so much.

Agreed with the other 1 star reviews. A bunch of decent pictures printed in very poor quality. Preordered back in May, very excited to get it. Read through all of the text on release day in 20 minutes. Recipes are of poor quality and low detail, covering a handful of pages at the back of the book. Anyone expecting to get anything useful out of this is sure to be disappointed. First time I have ever bothered returning a cookbook.

For those of us who have had the distinct privilege of feasting on Toshi’s delicious yakitori at his venerable L.A. restaurant, no book could adequately express his considerable skill, focus, and total commitment to his craft. My husband and I have been dining at Yakitori-Ya for 20+ years, about as long as we’ve been traveling regularly to Japan. The high quality and consistency of his yakitori (as well as other dishes) and his simple, straightforward yet uncompromising approach, always serve to remind me of Japan—as few other places in L.A. can. I hope this book will inspire others to visit Yakitori-Ya. I wish more young chefs would learn and experiment with yakitori. In my opinion, it’s the most delicious, healthy, and underrated Japanese style of cuisine.

This book lacks a narrative to make sense of the nicely detailed photos as a cookbook, but that seems to be the intent which is to be more of an art book. This book is probably intended for coffee tables. Chicken and Charcoal is a more useful yakitori cookbook because it has words that walk through the process with more recipes.

The photographs in this book are incredible and completely convey Toshi’s process. They show the butchering process of the chicken, endless individual unique skewers, and some desserts at the end. Great cookbook/beautiful coffee table book for food lovers.

Great edition to my cocktail table. My friends love looking through this book. Such a work of art. Love it!!

Unfortunately this book did not live up to the hype or the LONG wait while the release continually moved. I was surprised when I first opened it, it's basically a picture book--- they are very beautiful pictures, but I was looking for recipes. The description states there are 100+ recipes, but in actuality, it's only 37. There are 6 pages dedicated to recipes out of almost 200 pages.

With elegance this book shows how the everyday can be revelatory. While daily we're pummeled with tips, tricks, advice and recipes, here is a respite and a refreshing advance on a worn-out trope. It's like watching a friend work magic in the kitchen--if that friend were a genius with chicken.

sublime look into the mind of a modern japanese master at the top of his art

this book is terrible do not buy it is a waste of money

Not what I was expecting, the book is mainly photographs on how to butcher a chicken, there are a few pages of recipes but not ones that you generally associate with yakitori, at least not in the West. Waste of £20.