JAPANESE COOKING FOR THE AMERICAN TABLE

A trim, attractive introduction, beginning with a guide to equipment, special techniques, and ingredients. (A list of suppliers is appended, though such stuff as daikon, kombu, and soba is no longer exotic to frequenters of natural-food and ethnic food stores.) Like Andoh (At Home with Japanese Cooking, 1980), Green groups basic dishes according to method of preparation. The first category, soups and stews, begins with the basic broth, dashi, that will be called for in other recipes, and includes Japanese and American versions of sukiyaki. In another section, sashimi and sushi are carefully and enthusiastically explained. Other sections cover tofu and miso; hakimono, or ""heat-seared"" meat and fish, including teriyaki; tempura and other deep-fried foods; and rice and noddle dishes. Salads lean toward cucumber in various vinegar and soy sauce combinations, which also flavor most of the vegetable dishes. Oddly, the sweet desserts consist of such main-course foods as azuki or lima beans prepared in sugar. (The usual Japanese dessert, Green tells us, is plain fruit, a more inviting suggestion.) The virtues of this pristine cuisine have obvious contemporary appeal; and Green honors traditional practices and ingredients whill putting Americans at ease.