Let's Make Ramen by Sarah Becan and Hugh Amano
Updated: Nov 12, 2020
A comic book cookbook with accessible ramen recipes for the home cook, including simple weeknight bowls, weekend project stocks, homemade noodles, and an array of delicious accompaniments, with insights and tips from notable ramen luminaries.
Playful and instructive, this hybrid cookbook/graphic novel introduces the history of ramen and provides more than 40 recipes for everything you need to make the perfect bowl at home including tares, broths, noodles, and toppings. Authors Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan present colourful, humorous, and easy-to-follow comics that fully illustrate the necessary steps and ingredients for delicious homemade ramen. Along the way, they share preparation shortcuts that make weeknight ramen a reality; provide meaty tidbits on Japanese culinary traditions; and feature words of wisdom, personal anecdotes, and cultural insights from eminent ramen figures such as chef Ivan Orkin and Ramen Adventures' Brian MacDuckston. Recipes include broths like Shio, Shoyu, Miso, and Tonkotsu, components such as Onsen Eggs, Chashu, and Menma, and offshoots like Mazemen, Tsukemen, and Yakisoba. Ideal for beginners, seasoned cooks, and armchair chefs alike, this comic book cookbook is an accessible, fun, and inviting introduction to one of Japan's most popular and iconic dishes.
Hugh Amano has been part of other popular book called The Adventures of Fat Rice.
The first time I'd read a comic cookbook was in January 2018 - Robin Ha's Cook Koran! So Eater mentioning it, here, kinda gave me a little bit of a kick - https://chicago.eater.com/2019/7/30/20747337/lets-make-ramen-comic-cook-book-sarah-becan-hugh-amano-ten-speed-press
And there's a nice review in Chicago Tribune - https://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/recipes/ct-food-lets-make-ramen-comic-book-cookbook-0710-20190710-5bkbid2oxnempf4ot7c7ysyyla-story.html
We wanted to keep it simple for ourselves, so we decided we'd each do one or two elements. And it worked out wonderfully! Shriya made two kinds of broths - a shio broth and a miso broth. Swapnil made the pulled chicken and the chashu pork belly. I made some Ajituke Tamago. I also made some wheat noodles. I had a packet of no MSG, no onion, no garlic, fully vegan noodles from Umai Crate. I also had a bunch of things to add - nori and wakame, carrots and cucumbers, bacon, togarashi (that a friend who visited Japan brought me) and plum pastes (another Umai Crate delicacy). And then we mixed and matched and made our own ramen bowls.

It's not often that I love cookbook meets this much. I never insist on a format or program to follow. But this was the FIRST time EVER that people spoke about how they made something and actually ended up talking about the time and ingredients that went in. It made me mighty happy. And to be very very honest, if folk who are genuinely interested are like this, bring them on!