Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook

For once I bought a graphic novel and it was my wife who thought that I had already read it. Let's Make Ramen! is a fully illustrated cookbook about the growing culinary art of making the traditional Japanese noodle and broth dish that isn't fully a soup but it's too liquid to be considered a noodle dish.

The book came out in 2019. I definitely remember putting this on my wishlist that year. (It would be hilarious if my wife actually bought this for me and forgot where she hid it.) Anyway, at a recent trip to Five Below, I found this book for an amazing fraction of the cover price. With an exclamation of 'SCORE!', I swept it up in my arms and promptly made my way to the checkout.

The book is written by Hugh Amano a Japanese American whose exploration of his Asian culture became enamored with the Cult of Ramen and later became inspired to be a chef. Illustrated by Sarah Becon, the artist met Amano while working on a culinary related comic book. Finding a kindred spirit, the pair created this illustrated manual devoted to everything ramen. 

In Let's Make Ramen!, you first get a history of the dish, which compared to sushi, is a dish that is relatively young. Not more than 150 years old, I think. Then you are introduced to a basic recipe. Once you master this dish, you've got the foundation to change up the dish to your liking. There are variations of the stock, the seasoning component known as 'tare', different types of protein, vegetable accouterments, and even different types of noodles! Yes, you can use thicker, broader noodles that resemble linguine. You're also educated on the equipment needed, methods of preparation and storage. 

This really is an all-encompassing work which does more in educating a reader in only 192 pages, than most massive culinary bibles do. The only thing really missing is a more in-depth lesson in sanitation of which the Japanese culture is known for. But, I think that's the culinary educator in me that is longing for that in the realm of food entertainment because it's an issue that is seriously lacking on Food Network and in most, if not all cookbooks.

This book has inspired me. I'm seriously considering doing a lab where half my class makes chicken noodle soup and the other make a more stripped down version of ramen with teriyaki chicken. Then we compare and contrast the two. If I had an unlimited budget, I'd spend a whole week making the basic ramen recipe. But it's just not feasible.

Honestly, I don't think that the average family has the time nor the budget to do everything all at once. So be willing to make one item at a time. Buy some nice plastic containers and freeze things. Focus on stock first. Use a basic package of cheap ramen noodles for a while. Then work your way up to making your own ramen noodles. Add some pre-made Japanese proteins. Then once happy with the noodles, practice on the proteins, and so on and so on. Freezing along the way, eventually you will have everything ready for testing out the final product, created by your hands!

Time. Patience. The ability to adjust. A spark of customization. If you have these 4 elements in your culinary arsenal, you'll soon become another ramen master. Consider this cookbook a marathon and not a quick trek around the block, and you'll get the very most possible out of this graphic novel cookbook.

Worth Consuming!

Rating:10 out of 10 stars.

Killer Ribs: Mouthwatering Recipes from North America's Best Rib Joints by Nancy Davidson

This tome on the art of smoking ribs was published in 2006. It details some of the best rib eateries in all the 50 states and in Canada. Yes, Canada! Turns out that our friends to the North are known for taking culinary tours of American BBQ and some have brought the all-American meal of ribs, beef, pork and everything in between, back across the border with them!

If you are using this book as a travel guide, you might be rather disappointed. Of the 3 locations listed in my home state of North Carolina, 2 of them are now defunct. More often than not, BBQ joints are a family run business. So unfortunately death, divorce or old age has caused for quite a few rib joints to close. COVID-19 did a number on the restaurant industry as well. My advice, utilize a Google search when using this book as your next culinary travel guide.

Thankfully, there's more to this book than locales. In every 2 page spread, along with a history of the restaurant and its pit masters, you get a recipe and tips for selecting the right cut of meat and the best wood for the job. I was surprised that many of the recipes were provided by the pit masters. I always thought such information was treated with more care and confidentiality than an American President with Top Secret documents. 

Some of the recipes are for the rub. Some are for making sauces. Fewer are about actual cooking of ribs. Surprisingly, there's a recipe for making alligator ribs and another one for mutton. And if you are thinking about skipping the rub, DON'T! You might think that the salt is unnecessary sodium in the formula. But it's needed to help break down the proteins and impart the other spices and smoke deep down all the way to the bones. If you are worried about your blood pressure, find ways to cut it in the sauce. I was surprised to find how many pit masters thumb their nose at BBQ sauce! It's naked ribs or nuthin'!

So why did I read this book? Well, recently, my wife ordered me a smoker. We got a fantastic deal that I don't think I am at liberty in mentioning here. (Feel free to PM me if you want the details.) Now that the smoker has arrived and I am setting it up, I realized that I had this book, which I got as a prize for participating in last year's summer reading program at our local library. It felt as good a time as any to get some further learning on the subject. 

Here's a few highlights:

* Remove the back skin. Or don't. Some pit masters think that elastin keeps the ribs from falling apart. 

* Use the smoker to primarily impart the flavors. Going at a temp no higher than 250F, a lot of pit masters get the ribs up to temp by finishing in the oven.

*Speaking of ovens, that's the time for the sauce. Not while in the smoker. That's the #1 way to ruin a smoker. Not to mention, burning the ribs.

*Lastly, the amount of celery seeds and celery salt used by rib joints... It's a wonder that I have made it to 48. I'm very allergic to stuff. Yet I would say 3 out of every 10 recipes didn't call for the stuff! I eat ribs a lot. How have I not succumbed to a batch of saucy hidden dangers?!

If anything, I learned the process. I've got my own ideas for the blend mixture of wood chips to use. Same goes for the sauce. Just about every pit masters in here has firm guidelines for how to smoke their meats. But when it comes to flavors, spiciness and taste, they almost always say to adjust with what you prefer. 

I've got nearly 2 decades of culinary education and experience, so with exception of the mutton recipe, I'm going to experiment. But if you are a newbie to cooking, definitely start out with what the experts say on the first go-round. Then adjust to your preference as you repeat the recipe. 

Oh, and one more thing, if you are going to become the next great pit master, get a high quality smoker. But don't break the bank. The cheapest of smokers often are not worth the materials that they are constructed from. In fact, the greatest smoker I ever encountered was my grandfather's and it was made from an old drum and ample amounts of solder. If you know how to build it yourself and you can do the job right: do it! Size doesn't necessarily matter either as the 2nd best one was a tiny little number my other granddad got at Lowe's. 

If there's one thing that I know about BBQ, not grilling barbecue, but BBQ'd beef, pork, chicken and gator, apparently, it's that while all these championship pit masters claim that they know how to make perfect smoked grub, there is NO definitive way to smoke meat. So, go with what you know and love and you'll enjoy the lengthy process of low and slow for some killer ribs!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook- Official Recipes From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Yesterday was Life Day. It's like Star Wars Christmas. First established as part of Star Wars canon, the Wookiee people's most sacred day was introduced in the Star Wars Holiday Special on November 17th, 1978. The special is notable not just because of how bad it was, but also because it contained a small animated segment that marked the debut of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter, Boba Fett! 2023 marked the 45th anniversary of all that and it just so happened that yesterday coincidentally when I finished reading this Life Day themed cookbook.

The book is written as if it really did exist in the Star Wars universe. The writer is acclaimed chef of Maz Kanata, Strono 'Cookie' Tuggs, who is a main character at the Star Wars experience at Disney, was also the writer of the Galaxy's Edge cookbook from 2019.

There are over 3 dozen recipes written from Cookie's perspective. He talks about the actual ingredients and the planets that they come from. Thankfully, you're not expected to have bantha meat and mudhorn eggs on hand. Earth-bound writers Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak assist to translate Cookie's recipes with the human equivalent ingredients. 

If you look over the recipes closely, you'll realize that the Star Wars universe enjoys holiday treats that are similar to ours. Gloomroot Pancakes are the latkes with sour cream and apple sauce we enjoy at Hanukkah. Wroshyr Sap Cider is the hot apple cider that keeps us warm near a roaring fire. There are even some non-holiday recipes involved too. The color-changing Cirilian Noodle Salad is the magical Unicorn Noodles dish I've made with younger students for years now. Can't afford to buy supplies at the Black Spire Outpost? Cookie has you set with several DIY projects to make life day robes, trees and orbs. 

Speaking of the orbs. For Life Day yesterday, I taught some of my Culinary Arts students how to make a mini version of the jelly orbs recipes. I didn't have the right ingredients. But I was able to use a fair substitution. Hopefully after Thanksgiving, we'll give it another go with the required agar agar powder.

The photos in this cookbook were absolutely stunning. So colorful and vibrant. The food stylists behind these portraits deserve beaucoup accolades and I hope they've won some awards for them. 

Lots of great ideas. Maybe next year for some holiday fun in a galaxy far, far away, I might use recipes from this cookbook to my students to do a culinary venture based on Life Day. My student's might not enjoy it as much as me. But it'll be a heck of a lot less stressful than having to do a Thanksgiving themed sale. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars. 

As Cooked on TikTok by Emily Stevenson and TikTok

TikTok.

If you ask me, it's the single most important piece of media to influence and inspire amateur chefs and foodies in the last 5 years. In the 80s, it was PBS cooking shows. The 90s and 2000s, it was Food Network. The 2010s was the decade of abrasive chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay. Today, if a student comes to me wanting to explore a new recipe, the idea usually came in the form of a video from TikTok.

Due to the apps questionable tracking methods of users data, I don't use TikTok. Plus my school blocks it. So if a student wants me to see something on the social media site, they usually have to show the video from their phones. So when I discovered this officially licensed cookbook over the summer, I jumped at the chance to buy it for my culinary classes. 

The recipes are all from TikTok users. Add to it some cooking tips from professional chefs such as Blue Ginger's Ming Tsai. Throw in some useful cooking hacks from the TikTok tech team and include QR codes in order to access each recipe and you're as close to becoming a TikTok chef without being an official user of the site.

My students were very excited when I showed them this book. Some laughed, thinking it was absurd to buy a cookbook when I can get all the recipes for free on TikTok. But just about everyone I shred this book with was enthusiastic to use this new resource.

I decided to incorporate this cookbook into my lesson plans under the unit for recipe development as well as the unit for pricing and budgeting. Incorporating social media technology into a culinary business was also explored. We tested out several recipes ranging from a cake recipe that only called for ice cream and flour to a lasagna noodles recipe that called packs of ramen noodles. 

My students were very surprised at how the ice cream cake turned out. But I explained to them that ice cream with it's milk, fat, sugar and eggs has everything else you need to make a cake with in addition to the other ingredient of flour. So if you are in a pinch or can't afford all the ingredients that a cake recipe calls for, you can make a semi-decent cake alternative similar to a pound cake loaf consistency.

The reaction to the ramen lasagna was mixed. Some folks liked it. Others abhorred it. All wanted to know why someone would use ramen noodles to make a lasagna. I explained that a lot of users on TikTok are Millennials and Gen Zers on a budget. You can buy 4 packs of ramen for almost as much as 1 pound of lasagna noodles - or cheaper. Frugal cooking calls for creative substitutions and as a chef who's known for utilizing items about to go bad or expire in creative and affordable ways, it's one thing that I really admire about the TikTok community. 

We also explored food trends and how recipe ideas go viral by making one of the foods that put TikTok on the culinary map: cloud bread. Essentially egg whites, baking soda, some sort of dairy and of course food coloring, these tie-dyed little cakes are like eating a eggy little cloud. We also learned that with something as simple as cloud bread, it's really easy to mess it up. The easiest recipes usually are.

There's a bunch of recipes that I personally hope to explore. Full of quirky and creative ideas that can also be rather affordable, I think I found a great modern resource for my culinary students; that's also a book! Sure, my students could use the app on their phone. But one problem I noticed with TikTok is that nothing is written down. Unless you follow the video precisely and can remember all the steps, my students often get lost and tend to forget something important. So while the app is free, having everything collected in a book that can easily be photocopied and shared with multiple cooking teams is a handy tool to help bring a relatable culinary resource safely into my classroom without breaking the confidentiality of anyone's online presence.

Plus a portion of the sale of this cookbook benefits No Kid Hungry; a very worthwhile cause that I support and personally battle every single day within my school's struggling community.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Cooking With Deadpool

This was a birthday or Christmas gift from my Bride last year. You'd think that a cookbook by a fictional character would mostly be useful for entertainment enjoyment purposes and not be very useful to a professional chef and culinary teacher. Yet, this has got to be one of the most technically sound cookbooks that I have ever encountered in the celebrity chef/series franchise cookbook realm.

Segments are on advanced culinary terms like mise en place and spatchcock chicken. Articles on menu planning and the right types of knives to use abound in this book. There's some basic baking and chocolate work. Add in breakfast cookery, appetizers and breakfast and Cooking With Deadpool feels like the year-long Culinary Arts I course that I teach 9th-12th graders! Except Deadpool and his creative team don't seem to mind taking photos of work and the various steps more trickier recipes need in order to be successful executed!

That's not to say that this cookbook isn't oozing with Wade Wilson's signature off-kilter look on things. Each recipe has an introduction made by Deadpool that will dive into his past history as inspiration for the dish. Friend and X-Man Cable provides a couple of recipes for the book. Tex-Mex cooking gets a lot of love in this book. Spider-Man provides his Aunt May's famous recipe of wheat cakes! And yes! There is an entire chapter devoted to the Merc With a Mouth's beloved chimichangas!

While I did really appreciate the technical merits of this book, I did feel like some of the ingredient choices were odd. Okay- it's a cookbook written by Deadpool. It's not supposed to be totally normal. For instance, the tres leches cake uses pomegranate for moisture and garnish. That just sounds strange to me. The Latin American restaurant down the street from me uses cherries and it's A-MAZE-ING! So when it comes to the ingredient lists, feel free to adjust the recipe as needed without changing the steps. I'm making the ceviche recipe for my wife, but I didn't put as much onion or jalapeno as I know that's not quite her taste. As for some of the fusion dishes, like the beef stroganoff inspired meat pies, I admire the creativity and inspiration. Putting chopped celery in a tuna casserole is just blasphemy.

A book that teaches about cooking while very much full of Deadpool humor and lore!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Written by Marc Sumerak. Recipes by Elena P. Craig.