Robata

“Robata” is a style of Japanese grilling that originated in Japan when fisherman would bring grills that were encased in stone onto their boats and cook their fresh catch onboard.
Now there are shichirin grills that are made of or clay that use different types of charcoal and sauces to grill meat, seafood and vegetables to tender perfection!
The grill cannot get wet, and the coals should be put in a metal bucket with water to cool down. The coals can be used for making an odor free refrigerator or for making rice fluffier.
You will learn how to take care of a robata grill, which tools to use with it, and of course, recipes to use with it, but you can use the recipes on any grill you own.
You will be using classic ingredients, such as wasabi and miso, along with a variety of seasonings to flavor your food.
In the first recipe, Large Blue Rope Mussel Shells with Miso Butter, you are told how to clean out the mussels and mix the miso butter, which is very helpful if you are not familiar with cooking seafood and using miso.
Another recipe, Sea Bream Fillet with summer pickles and Courgette (zucchini), gives you the specific steps in preparing the fish and pickles, and even some salsa, so that you have a delicious full meal.
There are also many steak, chicken and pork recipes, such as porterhouse steak with uni butter that are easy to make and look delicious!
There is a vegetarian recipe that sounds unique Robata Garden in Quinoa Soil that looks like the vegetables are in a pot of soil!
There are also salad, soup, yakitori and even dessert recipes such as Toasted Bincho Dust Marshmallows, the variety is endless -enjoy!

While I'm not sure how many patrons would utilize this text, this is an excellent resource for Japanese Grilling. Not only does Bjerrum use both simple and advanced techniques in this text, but the recipes are unique and innovated.

Robata is a stunningly beautiful cookbook. As a visual treat alone, Bjerrum’s book is delicious. After a detailed dive into the mechanics of Robata grilling, Bjerrum lays out the basic ingredients that are needed for this style of cooking. I’ll admit that the discussion of charcoal was a bit intimidating, but I was encouraged by the claim that the recipes will be delicious, even if we use more conventional grilling equpment. While the other ingredients can be somewhat harder to find, a well-stocked Japanese grocer will set you up.

If you are lucky enough to be able to source fresh fish, that chapter, with its inventive side dishes, are well worth the price of admission. I’ve tried only a few dishes from this cookbook (the Sea Bream Filet was terrific, and the side pickles a treat), but very much look forward to sampling more extensively. This is a cookbook to use, not just to read.

Translated as “fireside cooking”, Robata is a Japanese style of grilling food. It pairs well with sushi to create the perfect combination of flavors and works well as a shared, communal food.

In the introduction, the author describes the History Of Robata, How To Cook Robata, Setting Up The Grill, even How To Create Your Own Robata Grill. Once your grill is set up you will want to review the tools recommended.

The key Japanese ingredients which will be used for the recipes are described, complete with pictures of many. The introduction also includes information on sourcing salmon sauces, cooking times etc.

The final section in the introduction covers How To Enjoy The Robata Meal. It gives you an overview of both the old-school and new modern Robata-styles.

The recipe categories cover:

Fish Robata
Other Robata
Classic Yakitori
Other Skewers
Nipples
Salads And Sides
Desserts And Drinks

Each recipe category begins with a brief description of the type of food found within. There are lots of pictures throughout the book, most of them with the label next to the dish complete with recipe name and page number. This will make it much easier to find the dish that visually appeals to you.

The recipes themselves each include a description and serving size. Most of the serving sizes mention the number of persons it makes as a main dish, as well as the number of dishes which should be included if it was served Robata style.

An Amazing Array Of Temptation

The glorious photography throughout the book will have you rushing to your grill in no time. The sheer variety of selection and unique flavor combinations mean nearly everyone will find something they absolutely love in this collection.

I must admit I cannot grill to save my life, nor can I say I’ve had much success with Japanese food in the past. That said, however, I find myself itching to try many of these recipes.

See the full review and the recipe for Asparagus Namban at The RecipesNow! Reviews And Recipes Magazine. This review is written in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.

A delicious Japanese cookbook, explaining the Robata style of fire-side cooking. The recipes looked mouth watering, and as soon as I have a backyard to cook in, I will certainly be buying myself a copy of this book in print, and I will be experimenting with these recipes all the time.

I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Robata translates into "fireside cooking" and is a Japanese style of grilling foods, served alongside raw and cooked dishes.

The book contains 8 chapters and begins with an Introduction which includes a history, how to cook robata style with how to setup a grill, tools and ingredients.

The are plenty of recipes to pick and choose from. There is a chapter on Fish Robata, and another on Other Robata, which includes sharing dishes using pork, beef, lamb and chicken which is great for a crowd.

Another chapter named Classic Yakitori translates as grilled bird using almost any part of a chicken - to prove this there is a recipe using the chicken heart included and looking at the photograph that accompanies it, you wouldn't know as it looks simply delicious.

A further chapter on Other Skewers includes more recipes using fish, vegetable and beef, These recipes are generally smaller portions.

To accompany the main dishes, this book covers Nibbles and Salads & Sides. Finally to finish off there is a chapter on Desserts and Drinks. Some of these dishes don't need to be grilled and are cooked on the stove or in a ordinary oven.

Each chapter includes wonderful colour photography, either next to the recipe or at the beginning of the chapter laid out as a full meal and each recipe has both metric and imperial measurements.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

Though I love sushi, I did not know about Robata, the art of Japanese grilling, so I found this an interesting book. The book is beautifully laid out, with the most glorious photographs, which makes it a delight to read.
The introduction includes a brief history of robata, and a detailed explanation of how to set up the grill and cook robata, including how to set up an ordinary barbecue.

I liked the fact that she says that the recipes are her interpretation of traditional recipes and that she gives suggestions in the chapter Other Skewers to encourage new combinations of ingredients and flavours.

Not all the recipes are for grilling, for example there are recipes for sashimi, nibbles, salads and sides.
I tried the Cured and Robata’ed Sea Trout and served it with the Nasu Deganku (aubergine) Both were delicious, easy to make (on a traditional barbecue) and with interesting flavours. A success like this means that I will certainly try more of the recipes!

I would have rated the book with 5 stars, but I am a little concerned when I find editing errors; in the Charred Leeks with Spicy Dip the ingredient list calls for 8 medium sized leeks and 1 pepper, but the instructions mention peppers (more than one?) and baby leeks (which are quite different to medium sized leeks) Granted these are minor errors, but I did wonder if I would find more as I worked through other recipes.

This is a beautiful book, with very simple recipes which revolve around the use of a Robata grill - a Japanese charcoal traditional grill.
The layout, photographs and information in the book is superb - it makes a beautiful coffee table book. If you want to try making the food, the recipes are easy to follow, although some of the ingredients maybe challenging to find, Having said that, there are many recipes that have simple ingredients and can be tried at home on a charcoal grill, instructions on how to make a DIY Robata grill is provided.
I love this book it offers pure fresh food with beautiful flavours

TITLE: A how-to for Japanese robata grilling and lots of do-able recipes

With a sushi and robata restaurant inside Whole Foods Market in Kensington, London, UK, this author has a lot of experience to share. When the author found that cooking on a gas robata grill did not get the results she was looking for, she turned to a shichirin grill, (a konro grill), that uses binchotan (bincho) charcoal. This book—a very specialized one--tells you how to use this Japanese-type grill and bincho charcoal.

Writing is a bit dry, and not as personable as it should be, but it does a good job of getting a point across. Definitely take into consideration that these recipes were formulated by a typical, successful, restaurant chef: With anxious-to-please suppliers, with the best equipment, a big budget and plenty of staff for prep and clean-up…… If you are looking for a more down-to-earth rendition of Japanese grilling, check out Tadashi Ono’s books. His Japanese cookbooks are always personable; a pleasure to read and cook from.

The binchotan charcoal is a must if you are going to take this book—fully--to heart. It burns fast and hot and clean. According to the author, grilling on a shichirin calls for the best ingredients, a great attention to detail and the preparation of ingredients. With a straight forward and streamlined cooking technique, marinades and cures, sauces/salsas/relishes, and sides are utilized to create umami and interest.

To the person who may be considering the purchase of this book: Do you have access to the best ingredients, as a restaurant sushi chef would? If not, many recipes in this book may be out of your league. Can your budget handle the price of Binchotan (bincho) charcoal? Can you find a decent shichirin grill to buy? If you came to this product page on purpose, then excuse me for seeming to talk down to you. I don’t mean to. But if you’ve stumbled across this Japanese cooking technique out of curiosity, then you really should consider the above questions before proceeding. Of course, there are substitutions for a quality shichirin grill and for binchotan charcoal, but using them would force a lot of what this book is trying to convey to be overkill.

Why? Because this book is all about the best: The best way, the best ingredients. It’s all about the details, too. And those details take much time and dedication. And the ingredients are not inexpensive.

But, maybe overkill is not all that bad. There are recipes here that can be made using other grills and other techniques.

Recipes are varied and interesting. Instructions are appropriately detailed and helpful. If one reads through them a few times before starting to cook, one should not flounder with indecision while working.

Recipes are not complicated and many have very manageable ingredient lists.

There are plenty of photos—not only of finished dishes, but prep photos, too.

It is possible to make use of the side recipes in this book even when you don’t want to go through all the trouble of dealing with the shichirin grill.

You will need access to ingredients that are only available from a large, quality oriental market. You will need a quality fish market.

There is a chapter for fish/seafood, because that is the traditional robata. There is a chapter of “other” robata: Pork, lamb, beef and poultry. Besides robata, there is a chapter of yakitori, with “grilled bird” of course, but also pork and veggies, a chapter of “other” skewers. The book is rounded out with chapters on “nibbles” and salads. You will find recipes for flatbreads, pickles and more. There’s even drinks and deserts.

*I received a temporary download of this cookbook from the publisher.

Robata: Japanese Home Grilling by Silla Bjerrum, is not your everyday grilling cookbook. It is, in fact, very different, and will appeal to those who love Japanese food and culture. The book includes chapters on the history of robata, how to cook robata at home, and how to eat robata, and the ingredients needed to make the dishes.

Even though this book features an excellent chapter on ingredients, some of the ingredients are difficult to find, and the author has not offered substitutions for those who can’t find them. For instance, Okonomiyaki flour, and yuzu juice. I have two huge Asian grocery stores near me, and although one or the other have always had what I needed, yuzu juice or powdered yuzu was not to be found; the okonomiyaki flour was carried at both stores, so I was able to make one of the delicious dishes - Okonomiyaki Masquerading as Prawn (Shrimp) Toast, which was worth searching for the flour. I had to order several ingredients online, including the yuzu products. In the meantime, I prepared the Chilean Sea Bass with Choy Sum (available at the Asian grocery) and Onion Relish, and it was delicious. Actually every recipe in the book that I have tried so far has been delicious.

The word “appetizing” is relative, and chunks of skin-on fish and fish with heads do not fall into that category in most American households. Those of us who have spent some time in Japan know that the cultures are very different, and what is mouthwatering to the Japanese isn’t always mouthwatering to the Americans. That said, however, doesn’t make the recipes unappetizing; they are simply unique, and many are absolutely luscious. Recipes in my queue so far are Salmon Smoked on Yuzu Leaves, Rib Eye with Wasabi, Baby Back Pork Ribs, and Yuzu Chicken. There are dozens of recipes that are worth making. The recipe directions are succinct and easy to understand, and many of the dishes are pictured – it would be better if all were pictured since the dishes are quite foreign.

All told, this is a very unique cookbook for grilling enthusiasts. The book makes it possible to bring a bit of Japan into American homes, and that will make for a good summer of non-boring grilling.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This book is delightful if you like Japanese cuisine, doubly so if you are light on space and a full sized grill is not really in the works for you! Filled with clear instructions on how to set up the grill and easy to understand recipes, you get an excellent cookbook. The food looks delicious and the yuzu chicken has my mouthwatering...now if only I can find a good source of local yuzu!

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy by of this book via netgalley! I loved it very much and I'm looking forward to try some of these recipes!

#Robata #NetGalley #Japan #Grill #Summer2018

Silla provides us with rich and authentic recipes of this culinary art which is the Robata. The collection includes step by step recipes for the main meal, drinks, appetizers, and others. Delicious!

The pictures were beautiful and the variety of recipes is more than satisfying. They are also not too complex although some of the ingredients might not be readily available if someone doesn't know where to look. Overall, I'm excited to try more of these recipes out.