I'm a sushi chef and I've worked up the line in a Japanese kitchen from dishwasher to the other end of the line calling out orders and making entrees. Paying someone to teach you how to cook Chinese food is a joke. For the most part it's very basic. Wok + hot oil + chopped up food + seasoning = dish. Then everything not cooked in the wok is most likely fried, then there is the steamed fishes and shellfish, which is also very basic. Even the higher end Chinese dishes like shark fin soup and abalone are simple. Martin Yang's cookbooks are good.
Japanese is much more technical, but you can learn everything through working in a good Japanese restaurant. The majority of "Japanese" restaurants around my area (New Jersey and Philadelphia) are Chinese or Korean owned. To get the best education find an authentic Japanese restaurant with an authentic Japanese chef. The only good Japanese cookbook published in English is Nobu, but he puts so many different flares on his dishes that it's not pure Japanese. That's not bad, but if you're looking to learn Japanese it's better to cut through the fusion. The best Japanese cookbooks are softcover magazine type books that are from Japan and showcase works and recipes of current Japanese masters.  |