Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint

I could write a substantial 5-star review on the merits, but many others have already done so. I will mention the most noteworthy qualities to me, and then move on to addressing the criticisms found in the 1-and-2-star reviews, because when I read reviews I start with the bad ones... First, my TLDR: If you've ever had your life changed by a bowl of ramen and thought "I have to know how to do this!", this is your book. It won't have the exact recipe for the exact bowl you enjoyed, but it will give you a week-long recipe for one particular amazing bowl that will shift your world a second (or Nth) time. More than that, it will give you many techniques and sensibilities that are so essential to making other amazing bowls. Meaning, if you found a ramen recipe elsewhere that looked great but turned out meh, you might go back and make it again with much more success after reading this book. And the story is essential to really "getting" how this ramen recipe came about and fits into the larger ramen culture. It's a starting point for a journey into great joy and appreciation for yet another wonderful thing this world has on offer. OK. Now the responses to the critics... The biggest complaints of the 1-star reviews are: Language, and Scarcity. Language: This book has F-bombs. If that bothers you, move along. I think there were 4 F-bombs total - I can easily craft 4 into a single very useful sentence, so clearly I don't care about this criticism. Scarcity: There is one recipe for ramen. But to fixate on that is to miss the point: this book teaches you how to make amazing ramen, with techniques, considerations, and sensibilities that apply to infinitely many more recipes. You could find a book with many ramen recipes which are all underwhelming. Or you could start with this book and learn how to make something wonderful, and then move on to that other book with many recipes and make all of those fantastic, too. I would rather learn how to be amazing, than be told exactly how to do many disappointing things. Also, the "1-recipe" reviews are just BS on the face of it. There is 1 recipe for a single bowl of ramen, which is actually a dozen recipes for various parts spread over 36 pages, which can be modified and recombined in myriad ways. PLUS another dozen recipes for other wonderful and unique accompaniments which can be served with and without ramen. Again, the techniques and sensibilities alone are worth more than a full book of specific recipes. If you can't imagine ever being inspired to create something of your own, and use your learnings to push your craft beyond the recipe, this book might not be for you. If you are turned off by endeavors that may take days of work (and months of practice) to yield their full results, this book is definitely not for you. If you think Anthony Bourdain was pretentious, I just don't know what to say, but for some reason his "pretentiousness" was mentioned in multiple bad reviews, so... You can go join the other haters of life and communion and skip this book. Bottom line: If you don't mind an occasional f-bomb in a personal memoir, and you think effort is the start of character and quality, and you have ever had a religious experience while eating, and you are looking to grow your own cooking craft more than stockpile random recipes, then you can safely disregard 90% of the 1- and 2-star reviews.

I was a line cook for many years in Nashville. I always liked instant noodles as a kid and would constantly try to think of ways to make them taste better. I visited some of the more renowned ramen places in Nashville, but I was never truly impressed. However, a few months ago, I stumbled upon videos featuring chefs making homemade ramen, and it reignited my love for it. This particular book was highly recommended for ramen enthusiasts, and let me tell you, once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I devoured the entire book in one sitting. The captivating story and the anticipation of trying new ramen places across the US, and eventually in Japan, enthralled me. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in delving into the world of ramen. It's a delightful read overall, and the recipes will teach you a great deal. Even if you don't follow the recipes exactly, I'm certain they will enhance your ramen-making skills at home. I would purchase this book solely for the incredible insight it provides into the process of creating an authentic bowl of ramen. Nowadays, all I can think about is ramen, and this book is to blame for my obsession!

First of all, I love many things Japanese, so you can say I am kind of a Japanophile also. So naturally, I love this book and the story behind the man and his ramen. It is as real and as authentic as you can get in terms of showing us what it was like making it in Japan, and showing us how to make a bowl of delicious Japanese ramen. Ramen is a very unique kind of Japanese food, there are a few key components that makes up a bowl of so called Ramen, but then the sky is the limit when it comes to creating a bowl of ramen of your own, so this shio ramen recipe which Ivan has decided to share with the world, just give us a starting point of where we can go from here. I think his idea is not for us to make exactly what he has created, but, if you are able to do so, you are pretty amazing for being able to do that, but I assume it is more of a guide that allow us to explore the interesting and delicious world of ramen. There are few other ramen recipes in the book which are interesting, and the side dishes are great too. All the recipes he had shared in his book are all quite inspiring, they have given me some ideas for the ramen shop I planned to open later. On a side note, I read some of the one star reviews and that are just plain silly. This book is not a pure recipes-filled cookbook of twenty thousands kind of ramen dishes, it is a book of stories with some recipes, which also includes one super special ramen recipe that brought Ivan his success and fame in Tokyo, Japan, of all places. Another thing is that the book is not suppose to be a super book that allows you to create ramen of all kinds till eternity, so that you don't have to eat out and seek out ramen shops anymore. On the contrary, it is supposed to get you excited about ramen, and urge you to explore the world of ramen, and encourages you to go out and try out all kinds of ramen, plus give you some inside stories, and demystify certain aspects of the ramen world. If you are brave enough, you can also embark on the adventure of seeking out special ingredients, and use your ramen loving power, go through all the steps, prepare the dashi, the broth, the chashu, the noodles even...and then create a special bowl of authentic ramen of your own. The only thing I wish to have more of from this book, is that it contains more background stories as he shows us all the other dishes, for example, when he teaches us how to make the steamed rice, I wish there were some stories about rice from Japan. So, if you have an open mind, love ramen, you will love this book, remember, this is not a cookbook per se, and its not an end-all ramen book. I hope Ivan will write more books about his time in Japan in the future.

Excellent livre , pas juste un livre de recettes, mais également les émotions et inspirations qui vont de pair avec la cuisine.

The reviews claming there are no recipes are not fair. They are mad because making ramen is tricky and the recipes of this book are real (days of work for a ramen bowl). It has some other nice and easier recipes and it is overall a really interesting reads. You will need patience to cook like Ivan, but you have all the info you need and alternatives suggested for the ingredients hard to get. The view into Ivan’s story and creative process is super interesting. Happy with this purchase :)

Nice quality and authentic recipes are there Thank you mr ivan ramen

Ich habe mir das Buch von Ivan Orkin gekauft nachdem ich Ihn und David Chang in verschiedenen TV Serien gesehen habe. Wer diese TV Serien gesehen hat, kann den ersten Teil des Buches getrost überschlagen, dort steht die Lebensgeschichte und der gastronomische Werdegang von Ivan Orkin noch einmal ausführlich beschrieben. Wer die Rezepte sucht, sollte direkt auf Seite 96 weiterlesen. Hier startet der Aufbau der berühmten "Ivan Ramen Shio ramen" Schritt für Schritt, Rezept für Rezept. Jede Suppe jede Zutat wird hier gut und verständlich erklärt und das Rezept steht praktischer Weise direkt neben der Schritt für Schritt Anleitung. Als Fan der japanischen Küche ist dieses Buch ein muss. Auch wenn man vergeblich viele Rezepte sucht ist es eine detaillierte Anleitung die viele Möglichkeiten zum Variieren bietet. Von mir ein klares *** und eine fünf Sterne Wertung.

I wanted learn about ramen, instead I got mostly personal stories and tons of portrait photos of the author. If he called that book "Ivan - my ramen story" or something like that, then I wouldn't mind that, but because title is bit misleading I feel like I was tricked and lost my money. It is like buying a book about how to change an engine in a truck and most of the content is personal stories of the mechanic and photos of him and his family. This is bit ridiculous to be honest. No offence to the author and his family, its just not what I was looking for.