Instant Ramen Kitchen by Peter J. Kim

[blue_dolphin]

After listening to a podcast author interview, I've read Peter J Kim's first book, Instant Ramen Kitchen (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) from cover to cover and think it’s quite a clever book.
 

Peter Kim has created something akin to an instant ramen version of Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat with enough info in the first sections of the book to enable anyone to come up with their own instant ramen variations, learning a bunch of cooking fundamentals (the value of mise en place, dealing with differing cooking times and balancing flavors for personal taste) in the process. Armed with a bunch of instant ramen packets and some pantry ingredients, a kitchen novice could learn a ton by making a bunch of these little single-serving, low cost meals, using either the recipes or the general guidelines to come up with their own combos. 

Up front, he breaks down the steps (prep, pre-simmer, simmer and finishing) with example timelines, reviews types of instant ramen widely available in the US and the importance of choosing the right simmer time, usually shorter than the label specs. 

Next, he presents a “Ramen Flavor Wheel” which serves as a guide for choosing flavors and also introduces all the ingredients used. 

Each of the ingredients gets a little blurb outlining how to use it. For example, spices might get bloomed in fat before simmering or be used in finishing. There are chopping and cooking time recommendations for each veg and protein.  
That’s followed by a section with sub recipes for toppings, a few sauces and dressings and a couple pages of quick ideas for cup noodles..

Anyone who’s taken the time to read through these sections, is set to start creating their own dishes but there are also plenty of recipes for those who’d rather skip reading the manual and get cooking.  The first few are intended to make the instant packets more ramen-ish with recipes inspired by classic ramen styles. After that, caution is thrown to the wind and the flavors and ingredients are all over the map with soups, stews and sauced noodles inspired by frijoles de la olla, moqueca, shakshuka, borscht, Thai curry, Xi'an-style cumin lamb, and Mac 'n’ cheese, among others. 

 

I think the book would be a fun gift for a beginner cook, maybe with some ramen packets and a few condiments.  A more experienced cook who’s frequently pressed for time might also find useful information here, as I did when I doctored up a packet of ramen the other day. I usually think I can chop and add veg while the noodles simmer but I followed his recommendation to prep everything first.  I found his veg cooking times spot on and didn’t overcook the noodles while scrambling for toppings at the last minute. 
 

He doesn’t specifically address the often alarmingly high sodium levels in ramen packets but does explain the importance of proper seasoning, reducing the amount of the seasoning packet used when salty additions are included vs using more with unsalted additions so one can be judicious there. 
 

Here's a link to The Dinner Plan Podcast episode with Peter Kim discussing the book and featuring a couple of recipes from the book.  I plan on trying the spinach ramen gratin, at least. 

 

[ElsieD]

I clicked on the link but the intro kept repeating, so I couldn't watch it.  Too bad as I'm interested in this.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I clicked on the link but the intro kept repeating, so I couldn't watch it.  Too bad as I'm interested in this.

That’s too bad. I believe the recipes are only available at that Substack link in my post but there are other ways to access the podcast. Where do you usually listen to podcasts? 

Here's an Apple Podcasts link to the episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/improvising-dinner-with-peter-j-kim/id1769201553?i=1000725500686

 

And here's a Spotify link:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CA4aXZPPq4APuJcBiJkTf?si=xEVOA5KsTQSKBPfV4QZxMA

 

 

 

Edited 6 minutes ago by blue_dolphin
Typo (log)