Looking for a serious ramen book

November 30, 2010 2:23 PM

Where can I find a good book on the preparation and cooking of ramen in English?

My brother has some dreams of opening a ramen restaurant. He found a great book all about ramen on his recent trip to visit me, but, of course, it was all in Japanese, and his Japanese reading skills are not the best. I'd like to get him a book in English on the subject for Christmas.

I've done some searching for books on ramen on Amazon and the like, but most of what's turning up are goofy cookbooks for college students on a budget and things that don't get as deep into the subject as I'd like. Anyone know anything with lots of good information on making your own noodles and broth from scratch, and maybe some history thrown in?

posted by whitneyarner to food & drink (6 answers total)

I'm honestly not sure to it's authenticity, but i've had a great amount of success cooking out of the Momofuku cookbook. Ramen isn't the only thing covered in the book, but a fair chunk is.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:34 PM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was going to suggest something along the lines of what furnace.heart just suggested. Also maybe look for cookbooks with lots of different Asian noodle recipes.

The "gourmet" ramen trend is really just starting to spike in the US (and that only in major cities) - it's unlikely that anyone has written a cookbook in English devoted to ramen and only ramen, unless it's gimmicky college kid stuff.

I'd also do some online research - food blogs can jump on trend bandwagons much more quickly than cookbook publishers can, are more accessible (there's a strong chance he could just email Chichi Wang, who does the Seriously Asian series for Serious Eats, among other food writers he may find with a little digging on the web), and can often be more in-depth than their printed counterparts.
posted by Sara C. at 2:46 PM on November 30, 2010

Ah I almost forgot, in looking for very much the same thing you are, i've bookmarked 1 particular search that's helped quite a bit:

Tastespotting Search for Ramen

I know it's not a cookbook, or a history book, but it's a nice stopgap to make some great tasting ramen until we find one, right?
posted by furnace.heart at 3:00 PM on November 30, 2010

Momofuku looks good! I can point him to other online resources, of course, but it's hard to put those under the tree. Thanks!
posted by whitneyarner at 3:42 PM on November 30, 2010

You should also get him a copy of Tampopo.
posted by Rula Lenska at 7:09 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not a book, but this might be interesting to your brother.
posted by Sara C. at 11:35 AM on December 4, 2010