Sushi is Japan’s most famous dish which has spawned dozens of cookbooks showing you how to make sushi. For sure, you’ll find the best recipes in books by sushi chefs and Japanese sushi masters.
Whether you’re a beginner starting, an enthusiast who wants to develop further or a professional chef who wants to discover sushi’s soul, making sushi just got easier.
Here are my eight best sushi cookbooks.
The Complete Guide to Sushi and Sashimi: Includes 625 Step-by-Step Photographs – Jeffrey Elliot and Robby Cook
The Complete Guide to Sushi and Sashimi is a must-have sushi cookbook for beginners, enthusiasts and professional chefs. It’s both easy-to-follow with lots of useful colour photography, and comprehensive enough to develop more advanced sushi-making skills.
Elliot and Cook’s have created an essential resource to learn everything you need to know about how to make mouth-watering sushi and sashimi.
- Well-organised and detailed covering ingredients, equipment, cutting fish, preparing sushi rice and dozens of delicious sashimi and sushi recipes
- Step-by-step easy-to-understand instructions with over 600 colour photos
- Master the art of sushi from start to finish with this incredible guide
Buy Complete Guide to Sushi and Sashimi >>
Sushi: Taste and Techniques – Kimiko Barber and Hiroki Takemura
Sushi: Taste and Techniques is an easy to understand sushi-making guide with beautiful illustrations. Organised into three sections – basics; fish, shellfish and roe; and making and sushi – it covers everything from utensils, ingredients and recipes to sushi etiquette.
Kimiko Barber and Hiroki Takemura have created an excellent resource for traditional Japanese-style and contemporary sushi cooking techniques.
- Learn how to make five types of sushi: nigiri (hand-pressed), maki (rolled), chirashi (scattered), oshi (pressed), fukusa (stuffed) and sashimi (raw fish)
- Includes recipes for fish and vegetarian sushi, rice bowls, omelettes and sandwiches
- Enjoy a fun and colourful approach to making sushi at home
Buy Sushi: Taste and Techniques >>
Sushi Chef: Sukiyabashi Jiro – Shinzo Satomi
Sushi Chef: Sukiyabashi Jiro is the ultimate ‘Edomae’ (Tokyo Bay) sushi guide and cookbook with colourful stories from revered chef and restaurateur Jiro Ono (from Jiro Dreams of Sushi). A delightful book to learn from the world’s most famous sushi master with beautiful photography, detailed instructions and well-thought-out explanations.
Shinzo Satomi has created the ‘Sushi Chef Bible’ – a must-have for serious sushi lovers and sushi chefs looking to master their practice.
- Discover Jiro Ono’s secret recipes which make up the seasonal flavours of his restaurant, his techniques, and has fascinating stories from decades of experience
- Includes precise instructions about preparing seafood and making seasonal sushi: nigiri (hand-pressed), maguro (tuna), maki (rolled), gunkan maki (warship roll with seaweed), sushi rice and a lot more
- A timeless classic with exclusive insights into the world of authentic Tokyo-style sushi
Buy Sushi Chef: Sukiyabashi Jiro >>
The Complete Book of Sushi – Hideo Dekura, Brigid Treloar and Ryuichi Yoshii
The Complete Book of Sushi features traditional, contemporary and innovative sushi recipes you can make at home. It also provides information about the health benefits of sushi, etiquette, traditional customs and eating at a sushi restaurant.
Dekura, Treloar and Yoshii’s book is comprehensive with step-by-step instructions and photos for every recipe.
- Learn how to make eight types of sushi: nigiri (hand-pressed), hosomaki (thin rolls), futomaki (thick rolls), temaki (hand-rolled), uramaki (inside out rolls), inari (tofu-wrapped), gunkan (battleship) and chirashi (scattered)
- Includes recipes for vegetarian sushi, sashimi (raw fish), sushi rice, soups, decorative sushi, sauces, accompaniments, condiments and drinks
- An excellent book for beginners and people who want to develop their sushi-making skills further
Buy The Complete Book of Sushi >>
Edomae Sushi: Art, Tradition, Simplicity – Kiuo Shimizu
Edomae Sushi: Art, Tradition, Simplicity reveals how to make authentic Edo-style Japanese sushi. A Tokyo-based sushi master chef takes you on a journey of discovery with detailed explanations about the elements of sushi.
Kikuo Shimizu’s Edomae Sushi is a beautifully illustrated book for serious chefs and people who want to immerse themselves in Japanese sushi culture.
- Discover sushi’s soul and traditions which have evolved through the decades
- Includes sections about essential authentic sushi ingredients and techniques: Edo-style nigiri sushi (hand-pressed), wasabi, nori (seaweed), rice, nihonshu (sake), and classic fish and shellfish
- A must-have book to discover the art and simplicity of sushi
Buy Edomae Sushi: Art, Tradition, Simplicity >>
Muko-Ita Cutting Techniques I: Fish – Japanese Culinary Academy
Muko-Ita Fish Cutting Techniques is an essential expert guide to preparing sashimi for professional chefs and serious amateurs. Created by the prestigious Japanese Culinary Academy, it’s a high-quality written book with beautiful photos and design.
Learn how to make sashimi from the most comprehensive and authoritative English-language guide.
- Discover the art of sashimi, advanced Japanese knife skills, and the cultural and historical context about eating raw fish in Japan
- Includes detailed sections with photos about filleting and cutting techniques for tuna, salmon, sea bream, bonito, yellowtail, flounder and more
- Master Japanese-style fish cutting to create high-quality and authentic sashimi and sushi
Buy Muko-Ita Fish Cutting Techniques >>
Vegetarian Sushi Secrets: 101 Healthy and Delicious Recipes – Marissa Baggett
Vegetarian Sushi Secrets: 101 Healthy and Delicious Recipes is full of delightful vegetarian sushi recipes. It’s more than just a sushi book suitable for vegetarians as it also covers sauces, condiments, soups, appetisers, salads, pickles, desserts and drinks recipes.
Marissa Baggett has brought together years of sushi experience to this cookbook full of exciting and eclectic recipes.
- Learn how to make vegetarian sushi: nigiri (hand-pressed), maki (rolled), futomaki (jumbo rolls), gunkan (seaweed-wrapped – also known as battleship or warship rolls), inari (tofu-wrapped), temaki (hand-rolled) and urumaki (inside out rolls)
- Includes traditional, multi-grain and brown rice sushi rice recipes and quinoa
- Enjoy making Japanese and Western-style vegetarian sushi
Buy Vegetarian Sushi Secrets >>
Sushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi – Iina
Sushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi is the world’s first and only vegan sushi cookbook. Modoki means to mimic in Japanese, and you’ll find tomatoes instead of fatty tuna, mushrooms instead of scallops, and carrots instead of salmon, and a lot more in this book.
Japanese chef Iina has created a unique and inventive cookbook with delicious, healthy and colourful vegan sushi recipes.
- Learn how to make vegan nigiri (hand-pressed), maki (rolled), chirashi (scattered), inari (tofu-wrapped) and oshi (pressed) sushi with step-by-step instructions
- Includes over 50 vegan sushi, salads, soups, sauces, pickled vegetables, and hot and cold drink recipes
- Discover the art of making authentic vegan sushi which tastes like the real thing
Buy Sushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi >>
Are you feeling inspired? I hope you’ve enjoyed my round-up of the best sushi cookbooks.
While sushi exemplifies Japan’s refined approach to cuisine, at the other end of the scale, ramen is the countries most famous soul food. Discover how to make ramen with my recommended best ramen cookbooks.
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