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Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint by [Ivan Orkin, Chris Ying, David Chang]

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Ivan Orkin

Chris Ying

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

by Ivan Orkin (Author), Chris Ying (Author), David Chang (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition

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The end-all-be-all guide to ramen as told by the iconoclastic New Yorker whose unlikely life story led him to open Tokyo’s top ramen shop—featuring 44 recipes!

“What Ivan Orkin does not know about noodles is not worth knowing.”—Anthony Bourdain

While scores of people line up outside American ramen powerhouses like Momofuku Noodle Bar, chefs and food writers in the know revere Ivan Orkin's traditional Japanese take on ramen. Ivan Ramen chronicles Orkin's journey from dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker to the chef and owner of one of Japan's most-loved ramen restaurants, Ivan Ramen. His passion for ramen is contagious, his story fascinating, and his recipes to-die-for, including the complete, detailed recipe for his signature Shio Ramen, master recipes for the fundamental types of ramen, and some of his most popular ramen variations.

Likely the only chef in the world with the knowledge and access to convey such a candid look at Japanese cuisine to a Western audience, Orkin is perfectly positioned to author what will be the ultimate English-language overview on ramen and all of its components. Ivan Ramen will inspire you to forge your own path, give you insight into Japanese culture, and leave you with a deep appreciation for what goes into a seemingly simple bowl of noodles.

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305 pages
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Publication date

October 29, 2013
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Featured Recipes from Ivan Ramen

Download the recipe for Dashi Maki Tamago Download the recipe for Omu Raisu Download the recipe for Schmaltz-Fried Chicken Katsu

--This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Ivan Ramen is a wonderful glimpse into the delicious, inspiring world of Ivan Orkin."
—Danny Bowien, James Beard Award–winning chef of Mission Chinese Food

"We are all fortunate that a young Ivan Orkin, growing up in 1970s suburban Long Island, fell in love with Japanese food. If he hadn’t, the world would never know Ivan’s amazing ramen, one of the most powerfully delicious noodle soups on the planet."
—Chad Robertson, James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and co-founder of Tartine Bakery and Bar Tartine

"Ivan has dedicated his whole life to understanding and creating the perfect bowl of ramen, and he has mastered the two most critical elements: the noodles and the broth. He consistently delivers the best bowls I’ve experienced in my life. Completely authentic, completely delicious."
—Ming Tsai, James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and owner of Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon

“What Ivan Orkin does not know about noodles is not worth knowing.”
—Anthony Bourdain chef, author, and host of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

IVAN ORKIN is a native New Yorker. He spent a total of thirteen years in Japan, but now calls Dobbs Ferry, New York home. He lives there with his wife, Mari, and three sons, but returns to Tokyo frequently.

CHRIS YING, editor in chief and cofounder of Lucky Peach, is also the coauthor of Ivan Ramen and The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook. He lives in San Francisco with his wife.

NORIKO YAMAGUCHI is a Tokyo-based photographer specializing in food, travel, and still-life photography. Her work has appeared in Elle Japon and Bunshun, as well as in a variety of other Japanese publications.

DANIEL KRIEGER is a New York–based food and portrait photographer. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Time Out New York, and Food & Wine. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This is an autobiography—and a cookbook, of sorts. More than that, it’s a journey of the making of an American ramen chef and an education into what constitutes a deceptively simple bowl of noodles in soup. Long Island–born Orkin traces his obsession with all things Japanese to his teens and college years, majoring in the language and its culture at the University of Colorado. After years of working unloved jobs and traveling to and from Asia, Orkin changed his life by attending the Culinary Institute of America and eventually secured stints at Lutèce and Restaurant Associates and opened a ramen shop in Tokyo. Thanks to his discovery by such celebrities as Ohsaki-San (Japan’s acknowledged ramen expert and manufacturer Sapporo Ichiban, among other good-luck encounters, Orkin established a following. Back in Manhattan, he now offers this book instructing readers in the ramen-making process: half-dozen-plus components fabricated from ingredients, all photographed and meticulously detailed in more than 30 recipes. Perhaps the tasks may be too complex, but by the end, all readers will gain an appreciation of the intricacies of ramen. --Barbara Jacobs --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Foreword

Hey Ivan!

First off, congratulations on—and thank you for—this book. Back when I was a twenty-nothing noodle-slurping lost sheep wandering from ramen shop to ramen shop, trying to decode the secrets of the soup, there was nothing like this in English, or maybe in any language. There is so much essential, indispensible information here for readers who want to learn something about ramen beyond the instructions on the side of the Styrofoam bowl. And then there’s your story, which is beyond remarkable: I couldn’t get a job in a decent shop when I was in Japan. You’ve broken through the ramen barrier in Tokyo, put your name on the map. Incredible.
And now you’re going to open a shop in New York! Well, let me be the first to congratulate you on a terrible decision. Here’s the best advice I can give you about trying it back home:

1. Do you know the classic 1992 Wesley Snipes–Woody Harrelson buddy basketball movie White Men Can’t Jump? Of course you do! What you might not know is that your next year is going to be an infinite loop of a sad variation of that film: White Men Can’t Eat Ramen.
When you put a hot bowl of ramen in front of most Americans—white or otherwise—they will wait for it to cool down. It defeats the purpose, but they do not know this. It’s the equivalent of ordering a burger, and then when it comes, you don’t touch it! You wait for it to cool down, the lettuce to wilt, the cheese to congeal.
Americans think it’s rude to slurp noodles. They have no concept that the noodles are continuing to cook in the soup. They have no concept that they should drink the soup first. And they will think the soup is too salty! They don’t understand that the soup is part of the noodles.
I know this. I’ve seen thousands and thousands of bowls at Momofuku. People have been leaving behind noodles before it was cool to be gluten free.
These will be your customers!

2. Prepare to compromise.
I’ve been to ramen shops in Tokyo. It’d be nice to serve sixty people a day in a twenty-seat restaurant, two bowls at a time. You won’t be able to do it like that here. The economics of New York are different.
While you can sell ramen relatively expensively in Japan, you can’t do it in America. People will unblinkingly pay $20 a plate for spaghetti pomodoro—which is just canned tomatoes and boxed pasta—but they will bitch to the high heavens about forking over $20 for a bowl of soup that requires three or four or five different cooked and composed components to put together. Plus, you will rake yourself over the coals looking for ingredients that even approximate what you can buy down the alley from your shop in Tokyo.
You’ll have to find a way to make food faster, and that means doing some things that may be sacrilegious in Japan. You’ve gotta make the compromise between having the soup hot, but not so hot that people can’t eat it. If you serve dishes with ramen, it’s going to slow the experience down. People will have a conversation instead of eating. That’s the main difference. In Tokyo, if you go to a really good ramen-ya, you hear nothing but slurping. In New York, people want to chat over their soup! It is unthinkable to those of us who have prayed at the altars of the ramen gods, but it is a reality you must confront.

3. Get ready for the most ridiculous complaints ever known to mankind.
You should shave your head now so that you have no hair to pull out when the Internet gets revving on you.
Get ready for criticism from the whole Asian demographic. Half the food bloggers in the world are Asian women. You’re going to be their bread and butter. They’re going to laugh at you and yell at you. They will be upset that your food isn’t “authentic” or that it’s not Japanese enough.
White people will say, “I’ve lived in Japan, and this isn’t authentic.” You’re never going to have seen so many people express their feelings. Everybody is going to have their opinion on what Japan is. They may not have been to Japan, but you know what? They might have dated somebody from Japan.
People are going to look at you like this weird thing, like the Eminem of ramen. I can almost get away with doing ramen because I’m Asian. You’re probably fucked.
Fifty percent of people will be cheering for you, and the other 50 percent will want you dead. Get ready to accept that people hate you and want nothing but your demise. Use it as fuel.

4. It’s like in Band of Brothers when the guy says, “The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you’re already dead.”
When I opened up, people in New York didn’t know anything about ramen at all. The funny thing is, people know even less about ramen today. New York is so far behind the world of contemporary ramen in Japan—a world I can’t quite fathom how you conquered or why you’re leaving.
What I originally loved about ramen shops in Japan was that it was a whole fascinating world. I can eat something really delicious for ten or fifteen bucks. It’s exactly like going to In-N-Out and knowing the secret menu. Once you’re in the know, everything’s good. You know what to order.
What drew me to cooking ramen was—and I hate to use this term— the punk aesthetic. It was a contrarian stance. You take something deemed by the world as junk food and pour passion into it, and make it the most delicious food possible. In that conflict is what I love about ramen. At the end of the day, it’s just soup and noodles. It’s one of the simplest forms of food, but also the most beloved. And of course you know that. You’re making Jewish comfort food through a Japanese lens.
And down there on the Lower East Side, where Jewish chicken soup has roots more than a century old, you will slowly build an audience that understands your soup.

Americans will fail you more times than you can anticipate, but if you’re smart and steeled and shrewd—or maybe just incredibly fucking lucky—you will get what you’re looking for: your customers.
There will be babies born and nourished on your food. One day they’ll be nine years old, and it’ll be really weird: they will have formed memories in your restaurant, on your ramen. They will learn to eat the way you want them to. You will learn from them.
You’re feeding people, you’re going to bring people a lot of joy. It’s a heavy-duty thing when you get past all the bullshit. But do not underestimate the bullshit.
Congratulations!

—David Chang

PS: Once you open the restaurant, all of the emails you will ever get will look like this: Can I have a reservation for 6 people at the ramen counter at 8:30 tonight? I know it’s Saturday and you just got reviewed but I’m coming in with this great group of . . . --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Ivan Ramen is a wonderful glimpse into the delicious, inspiring world of Ivan Orkin."
—Danny Bowien, James Beard Award–winning chef of Mission Chinese Food

"We are all fortunate that a young Ivan Orkin, growing up in 1970s suburban Long Island, fell in love with Japanese food. If he hadn’t, the world would never know Ivan’s amazing ramen, one of the most powerfully delicious noodle soups on the planet."
—Chad Robertson, James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and co-founder of Tartine Bakery and Bar Tartine

"Ivan has dedicated his whole life to understanding and creating the perfect bowl of ramen, and he has mastered the two most critical elements: the noodles and the broth. He consistently delivers the best bowls I’ve experienced in my life. Completely authentic, completely delicious."
—Ming Tsai, James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and owner of Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon

“What Ivan Orkin does not know about noodles is not worth knowing.”
—Anthony Bourdain chef, author, and host of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CNQ9SFW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press (October 29, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 29, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 25770 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 305 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #173,726 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #18 in Japanese Cooking
- #39 in Soup & Stew Cooking
- #82 in Japanese Cooking, Food & Wine

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Borderbumble

A culinary turning point in my life.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 25, 2013

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I think that those who rated this book on the low side really didn't understand what it was all about.

Having had ramen-ya's in Osaka, I can understand the fanaticism surrounding this noodle. There is so much more to ramen than the instant packages you can get 10 for whatever...

For all home chefs, you remember the day you had your "AHA!" moment. I did with this cook book. His friend's comment on why no one was about to impart to Ivan the secrets of making ramen is that they only knew what they were taught and never actually THOUGHT about what made that bowl special or even contemplated on making something based on personal desire and taste.

I've always wanted to make ramen from scratch. And this book REALLY had me THINKING about what I really was contemplating on doing. Making my OWN signature bowl with the things I really LOVE about ramen all in one spot.

My whole outlook on home cuisine has changed dramatically.

I've been a biochemist for most of my adult life, only switching my focus on completely new pathways in the last five years. It's time to break out my bench notebook and start working on a new and exciting project, one I'll be working on for the rest of my unusual life.

Life is uncertain, as Ivan pointed out. Having been through some bad earthquakes myself and helping my friends dig their homes out after the Kobe Earthquake, well, a bowl of ramen really was more than a bowl of ramen back then. It's life-affirming.

So I really did get it. A lot more than I had anticipated, so I feel this book was worth every single cent and then some.

PS: Planning to host a Ivan Ramen Night. Will be parceling out each component out to fellow foodie friends, and for one night only, we'll assemble the whole shebang, and ACTUALLY be able to spend time eating and laughing rather than frantically rushing about the kitchen trying to get everything out... I'll let you know how it goes!

31 December 2013:

Okay, we all decided to make our yearly New Year's Eve party something to really remember. Tonight was our Ivan Ramen Night!!! Man, I would want to do this at least monthly! It was really great with the least painful way to put together this great bowl of noodles. I took photos. Won't be able to put them here like I would like it, because I go crazy on layout and photos. Can't do it here at Amazon... let's get back to the subject at hand.

Took us less than an hour before we started serving yummy ramen. I also had made some black garlic oil if you wanted it in your bowl. I have had it this way, and I loved it!! The noodles were stunning -- and I made these all by myself! So now I can do this as often as I want. And I do like making homemade pasta. It soaks up the flavors wonderfully. I was amazed on how great the broth was. I definitely want to make my own magick fish dust. I could use this in many recipes I make. The problem is that this is an expensive ingredient. But it is cool to have a grating box exactly like Iron Chef Morimoto.

I highly recommend that if you want to do "the ramen", parcel out the job to fellow foodies. Now that I know what this all tastes like, I can replicate this all by myself easily. It won't assemble itself. I'll give myself at least a week.

My only change? I love the pork in this recipe. It would cause a HUGE imbalance, but I'd rather have 2-3 slices. And I LOVE hard-boiled eggs. At least 2 here.

We decided to do something very different. It's like Evening at the Improv as we each described how we made in the most humorous way possible. I'm glad I digitaped this. It was hysterical!

So it's almost 23:00. We're all fat and sassy with too much ramen. However, I know what happens to ramen after you've even a huge bowl of it. You'll want something decadent and deep-fried. So we're having deep-fried cilantro shrimp rolls. I've also thawed out some really great honey-smoked salmon from Peninsula Seafoods. I've turned it into smoked salmon rangoon with a fine dipping chili sauce -- 1 part chili sauce and 1 part plum jelly. Yummy!

I do highly recommend putting together this meal of ramen with friends who love ramen, too.

147 people found this helpful

Helpful

FireMesh

Read the story & make authentic Japanese ramen!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

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.

10 people found this helpful

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Miguel

It DOES have recipes! An amazing book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

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 :)

8 people found this helpful

Francisco

Ivan and Amen!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 5, 2022

Verified Purchase

He is one responsible of the Ramen trend in the las decade, a true lover of Japanese food and got to fusion this dish with western world and elevate Ramen to another stage . he is one of the Chefs who had influenced the most, thx to people like him food become more appealing and affordable to anyone and no need to go to 3 star Michelin restaurant, probably those chefs will go to his restaurant for a Ramen instead

Rosie Martin

Perfect book for true ramen lovers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

My boyfriend love this, it was his Christmas present. The book is a fantastic biography as well as technical information on making the perfect ramen. Less a recipe book and more of an instruction manual but for a dish as technically detailed as ramen this is perfect.

2 people found this helpful

Susaq

Not for beginners

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

I researched the best ramen recipe book to buy and decided on this one but it’s a little high-end for our taste and we have struggled to find the ingredients used. Definitely for serious ramen makers!

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