I'll start by saying that I haven't actually made anything from this cookbook. Also, I'm highly unlikely to ever make even half the components of a bowl of ramen from scratch. But if I ever do, this book will be the reason why.

The food illustrations and graphic novel portions are gorgeous, with rich colors and thick linework. The various bowls of ramen and other recipe illustrations made my mouth water the same way some delicious-looking Studio Ghibli meal might.

The book starts with a brief history of ramen, provides a guide for navigating a Japanese ramen-ya, includes a few pages of ramen pantry staples and cooking equipment, and then gets into recipes, starting with stocks and broths, the noodles, then meats, then accompaniments, and wrapping up with some ramen offshoot recipes like tsukemen, abura soba, mazemen, and more. There are also some tips for using a pressure cooker to speed up parts of the cooking process.

I didn't go into this thinking I'd be inspired to make an entire bowl of ramen from scratch and, honestly, these recipes underscored that. I don't have the willpower, time, freezer space, or kitchen equipment. What I might be able to manage, however, is to jazz up a bowl of cheap ramen with something from the accompaniments section. I might even figure out how to cheat on parts of the recipes at the end and make something from there, or even, if I'm feeling really fired up, make broth from scratch. It hasn't happened yet, but we'll see.

This book can be a little overwhelming at times, as it uses several Japanese words well before it defines them, and tells readers that they don't need a lot of specialty equipment while including recipes that mention a lot of specialty equipment. But you can tell that the authors really do want readers to love ramen as much as they do, and there are numerous points in the text where they reassure readers and give them tips for streamlining the cooking process and making things a little less daunting. Most of the ramen components in the first few parts of this book are assumed to be made well ahead of time, with guides as to how long they'll keep in the fridge or freezer.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

In the same style as Let's Make Dumplings!, which is to say, engaging, informative, and fun, filled with recipes that are easy to follow. ( )

I picked this up on a whim, having read something about it somewhere. It is, in fact, a graphic cookbook that gives a detailed overview of how to cook ramen, introducing the ingredients and illustrating (literally) the cooking techniques. The thing is, I was sort of more interested in how the information would be presented, rather than the information itself -- I don't eat pork, which is the base for the majority of ramen preparations, and I'm not really interested in super complicated cooking, which ramen-making certainly is. So, for those reasons, I couldn't give full stars to this book. Though, that isn't meant to take away from the presentation of the information, which is in fact excellent, and if I WERE interested in cooking ramen, I would consider it an invaluable resource. I do love ramen, but it is one of those foods which I am content to eat in restaurants, when I can get ones that are made from things other than pork -- a position which this book has only served to reinforce. ( )

I like cooking, but I love food. One of the things that stops me from branching out is not knowing where to start and that is why cookbooks are my best friend. I like this one because the images are super helpful when understanding the steps in the recipes. The art is fun and a little whimsical. Not a book I would use every day, because I don't always have all of the ingredients for ramen, but it is a really fun one for when you are feeling adventurous and you have time.

This...did not encourage me to delve into the world of making my own ramen the way I hoped it would, though I am always there for comic cookbooks and Sarah Becan's art. Everything here seemed too complicated--the ingredients too hard or expensive to procure (especially living out in the boonies as I am right now), and I am not in the financial position to justify getting much of the equipment. It was recipe-heavy rather than story-heavy...more [b:Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes|27209316|Cook Korean! A Comic Book with Recipes|Robin Ha|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1445789042l/27209316._SX50_.jpg|47250707] than [b:Relish: My Life in the Kitchen|15786110|Relish My Life in the Kitchen|Lucy Knisley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345686126l/15786110._SX50_.jpg|21505033]...but at least with the former, I felt inspired to dig into Korean cooking. For now, I'm content paying for others to make my good bowl of ramen. ( )