Cooking Via Video) : Negotiating the Sometime Tricky Traditional Kitchen Skills Needed in Oriental Cooking Is Easy With New Generation of Instruction Kits That Combine Visual and Written Aids

Ever yearn to perform the culinary wizardry of a Japanese teppan chef or to produce some of the exotic dishes of the Chinese but lack the courage to try? You’re not alone.

According to a recent survey published by MRCA Information Services of Stamford, Conn., when compared to American diners in 1978, 50% more Americans are eating dinner away from home, many of them in Oriental restaurants, forgoing the challenge of preparing these elaborate dishes at home. The life styles and time restraints of young singles, one-person households and two-career couples are some reasons cited for this change in dining habits.

Others still are becoming increasingly dependent on takeout items for dinner in an attempt to satisfy the desire for restaurant fare in the home. Meanwhile, bookstore shelves are brimming with cookbooks that provide instruction on subjects ranging from Tassalaraja cooking to tofu cuisine, and the video cookbook business seems to be equally prolific.

Imagine how much time and energy could be saved if someone combined all of these resources to produce a simple instruction medium that could teach the Oriental flair for cooking with the same delicious results. . . .

Someone just did.

HP Books and Best Film and Video Corp. have combined efforts to present two new video cooking kits, “Chinese Cooking” and “Japanese Cooking,” featuring Rocky Aoki, founder and chairman of the Benihana restaurant empire. The videos are easy to follow and provide detailed instruction and personal tips from Aoki that should make Oriental cooking easier than ever.

The video cooking manuals provide viewers with the opportunity to see each stage of the recipe as it occurs, which is especially important when teaching unfamiliar and unusual Oriental cooking procedures to first-timers. The beauty of this visual medium is that it is like having a personal cooking lesson in the privacy of your home, with an instructor who doesn’t mind going over and over a subject until you get it right.

Each kit containes a 90-minute video on the techniques, equipment and cooking styles used in Japanese and Chinese cooking, plus a copy of HP’s previously released cookbooks, “Japanese Cooking” by Susan Fuller Slack and “Chinese Cooking” by Rose Cheng and Michele Morris. The kits are available in VHS and Beta formats. They retail for $39.95.

Each tape begins with an introduction to the cooking utensils used for each cuisine, followed by a detailed description of the ingredients essential to each cooking style.

In “Chinese Cooking,” Rosa Ross, cooking instructor, familiarizes the viewer with the most versatile cooking instrument, the wok. She explains its functions and its advantages as a non-stick heating element and solves the mystery of seasoning and preparing the wok for its first use. (The benefit of video instruction is especially apparent here as the viewer watches the wok’s steel lining transform from a shiny silver surface to a darkened, charred one, an aspect of the procedure that is not as well defined in the book alone.) The importance of a good set of sharp knives, especially a cleaver, and the attributes of the bamboo steamer are also covered in this segment.

Chinese cooking techniques of stir-frying, deep-frying and poaching are demonstrated in the next part of the video. Beef with broccoli, a Cantonese-style dish of marinated beef strips, is a simple recipe from the accompanying cookbook that is chosen to demonstrate the proper method for stir-frying. Other easy recipes demonstrate each of the cooking techniques, giving the viewer an opportunity to practice and review each step before moving on to the more difficult recipes.

In “Japanese Cooking,” cookbook author Susan Fuller Slack introduces the American viewer to cooking vessels found in Japanese kitchens, including the rice cooker, the wok, types of chopsticks, yakitori skewers and the sushi-rice tub. She describes Japanese ingredients and seasonings like wasabi , sake, bean paste and dashi , giving examples of usage, origin and availability of each product.

Slack also explores the rehydration of dried mushrooms and vegetables, explains the treatment of bean thread noodles and details the making of perfect rice.

As in the “Chinese Cooking” video, recipes are chosen to demonstrate the various methods of cooking. Japanese favorites like sushi, tempura and shabu shabu (beef hot pot) are some examples. Japanese knife cuts for garnishing are also a focal point in this video.

Slack lived for four years in Japan, where she studied with famous chefs. She has since taught classes on Japanese and Chinese cooking, has written magazine and newspaper articles, and runs a cooking school and food consulting business, Culinary Bouquets, from her home.

Ross, a native of Hong Kong, is head of her own cooking school and is a lecturer at New York University.

Aoki was born in Tokyo and studied hotel and restaurant management in New York. In 1964 he opened the first Benihana restaurant on West 56th Street in New York. He entered the frozen food market in 1984 with Benihana-style frozen dinners.

In both tapes, emphasis is placed on familiarizing the viewer with the components of Oriental cooking. A great deal of time is spent on preparation of ingredients and utensils, and a thorough explanation of terminology and methodology is given. A recipe from each chapter concludes the demonstration.

The videos are handsomely packaged in sturdy oversize storage cases, which neatly hold the cookbook and the video in the kitchen or bookshelf. They are available where videos are sold or by mail. To order, send $39.95 plus $1.95 for postage and handling per kit to HP Books Inc., Box 5367, Tucson, Ariz. 85703.