Best pasta & noodle cooking books according to redditors

Probably this one

https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Ramen-Recipes-Stories-Behind/dp/0761185526

No, but there are usually enough options that they can eat what is vegan and leave the rest. Most meals (like hospital food) have way more calories than a person needs for a meal, knowing that people won't eat everything.

Prisons do have kosher meals, however. And not just in Orange is the New Black.

The food tends to be really, really bad though. No fiber, no fresh veggies or fruit (all canned and mushy). Check out some pictures here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/07/07/what-s-in-a-prison-meal#.k2zSZctWu

The food is so bad, that ramen packets have become the default currency of prisons, over cigarettes. People who can't afford to buy food from the commissary (little prison store) will trade for them. So much so, that now there is a whole variety of prison ramen cookbooks for inmates.

Mastering Pasta by Marc Vetri has a chapter dedicated to semolina pasta. It focuses on extruding, but you can cook them fresh as well. There's also a recipe for gnocchi sardi which is made with semolina and always cooked fresh.

Great post and well written. It's wonderful seeing someone really delve into the minutia of something they obviously truly enjoy.

Lately I've been inspired by this book, Flour + Water. If you haven't read it already I think you would enjoy.


http://www.amazon.com/Flour-Water-Pasta-Thomas-McNaughton/dp/1607744708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421990040&sr=8-1&keywords=flour+water+eggs&pebp=1421990030463&peasin=1607744708

Here, here, here, and here.

i have been there before. try this hint you can find the ebook torrent for free. also eggs, sirracha, sesame oil, and any type of veggies will bulk up that ramen. sorry if i came off as a dick

101 Things to do With Ramen

But wait, there's more!

101 More things to do with Ramen Noodles

I can't recommend Good Eats enough as a basic primer for what is happening during a cooking process. It is that somewhat deeper level of understanding of the concepts that drive the process, not the process itself, that will enable more improvisation in the future. It's a good place to start.

Jame's Beard's Theory and Practice is a nice reference with A LOT of information. It's pretty academic, or at least very dry though, so it may not be for everyone.

America's Test Kitchen, as others have also said, is nice as well because it does give you some tips for why they do what they do in each recipe.

My best advice is to cook a lot of recipes verbatim until you get your feet under you, so to speak. You'll find that by the time you've tried four or five versions of a recipe for a certain dish, you'll be able to improvise with pretty decent success because you've seen what the recipes have in common, what's different, and where there is room for play.

Having said that, you have to remember that a recipe in a cookbook or on a restaurant menu has been tested A LOT of times, undoubtedly with some failures. Now, those failures may not have been as spectacularly inedible as the average home cook's failures, but that's simply because those chefs or cookbook editors have more experience.

I'd focus on technique, not specific recipes from different cookbooks. I tend to read cookbooks from cover to cover as if they're novels, but I rarely actually cook from them. Learning techniques will allow you to throw together anything that's in your fridge or on sale at the grocery store. Plus, cookbooks use tons of ingredients, whereas most nights I only use protein, salt, fat, seasonal veggies, and wine (I am lazy and not about to go to three grocery stores to buy a ton of ingredients that will only go bad in the fridge).

It's not in print anymore, but I feel that the only cookery book anyone really needs is Jame's Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.

Wet cooking techniques to learn:

• Boil
  
• Braise
  
• Steam
  
  Dry cooking techniques to learn:
  
  
• Sauté
  
• Roast/bake
  
• Pan roast
  
• Deep fry/confit
  
  Knife skills to learn:
  
  
• Dice
  
• Mince
  
• Julienne
  
  A few basic preparations:
  
  
• Roast Chicken
  
• Steak
  
• Chicken Stock
  
• Scrambled Eggs
  
• Pan Sauce
  
• Mayonnaise
  
• Vinaigrette

Hmm, well it's always good to really get your name out there when looking for work, I sent my resume to a shitload of different places before I got here. If that doesn't work, there's this great book you may like...

The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles and an Ol' Miss plush doll for your dogs to chew on.

How about a book?

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Pasta-Practice-Handmade-Gnocchi/dp/1607746077/

The ham is new to me for lasanga...I must try! Your layers are straight forward and now your making me want to try the same in my cast iron!!

Couldn't agree more on cast iron. My wife and I used to always cook on steel and teflon. Now we have 3 cast iron pans complete with lids and use them all the time!! Such a wonderful thing. Let's not forget these bad boys are great to cook with everywhere! We take them camping all the time. Tastes do improve and you get a workout to boot given the bigger pans are quite heavy :)

I'll be ordering Mastering Pasta: The Art and Practice of Handmade Pasta, Gnocchi, and Risotto https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607746077/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_5TD7xbWZYC9TZ to help me build the pasta skillz!

for onigiri fillings, try pickles or marinated artichoke hearts(with the leaves cut off). Also, do you have a mold, or are you hand-shaping them? they're easier to fill with a mold

also for ramen recipes, try this book (I own and love it):
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Ramen-Lowcost-Gourmet-Instant/dp/1883385148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300931173&sr=8-1

obviously, unless EVERYONE wants to chip in, you're gonna want to but that used

I know you commented this half a year ago but I just saw it now so here’s the link: Prison Ramen

Enjoy!!

These were cookbooks I found continually helpful while working at a fine-dining Italian place:

La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy - 900 pages with a background on each recipe. Very helpful for research and creating dishes.

Encyclopedia of Pasta - Invaluable if you're doing fresh pasta. Provides a thorough explanation of each shape.

The Silver Spoon - a monster with 2000 recipes, but a great reference book. I think it claims to be Italy's oldest cookbook(?)...

I think these are a great starting point if you're in a serious kitchen - best of luck!

I do not have an exhaustive list, but I did learn a thing or two about shapes I'd never heard of in this book.

Minor technical point: the U.S. didn't exactly "send" wheat to Japan.

They made it appear that they were giving it away, bit in actual fact they were forcing Japan to buy it and supplant the rice culture.

The U.S. Had lost a major customer for its wheat and saw Japan as a potential replacement market.

This was aided on part by puppet government officials receiving incentives, but Japan spent a long time paying the U.S. Back.

There became a black market for wheat, which yielded the growth of street vendor ramen stalls.

Source: The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Untold-History-Ramen-Political-California/dp/0520282353

The classic ratio is to use one egg per 100 grams of flour. This is what Marc Vetri suggests in his phenomenal Mastering Pasta.

Have you made fresh pasta before? I'd make yourself a couple small batches for practice before attempting your 10 cup dinner. I've been making pasta every week this year, and although I'm not great, I can assure you experience helps.

I started with that ratio and it works great, but now I eye ball everything. I toss flour onto the counter, crack an egg into the center, and start mixing. I add a extra flour as I go. It's easy to add more flour but tough to add moisture. Sometimes my apartment is really humid, sometimes the eggs are smaller, sometimes I use only yokes -- start with the rule of thumb, one egg per 100 grams of flour, and get used to working with the dough.

If you have more questions about making pasta I'd be happy to answer them. It's my favorite thing to cook and I'm obsessed!

>authentic, multi-regional Italian food.

Slight lol.

Consider a16 (own - can recommend); mastering pasta (also own, can also recommend but maybe a little less).

The reason for the LOL is that that sicilian food is so different from neapolitan, and that from venetian, that there is no one cookbook.

I'd recommend focusing on one region at a time - there are lot of them - and going seasonal where you (she) can.

Um Mal deine Frage zu beantworten, nachdem dir hier alle sagen wie einfach kochen ist

hierfindest du einfache Rezepte mit genauen Mengenangaben die auch noch gut schmecken.

I have this book. It's alright, I think I wanted something with more exotic shaping guides, but the internet has been good for that.

I made some improvisations on it, but I mostly followed the recipes in the Ramen Fusion Cookbook. I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn to make great ramen at home. It has great pictures and step-by-step processes for noodles, stocks, and add-ins like menma and pork loin.

Not sure where you live, but here I can buy 1lb of 'seasoned shredded beef' in a container for about 6 bucks, a bag of russet potatos for a couple of bucks, and some cheese. These go a long way, potato + some cheese + some meat. Fried egg sandwiches (fried egg, w/ a sliced of american cheese on some cheap whole wheat bread), http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Ways-Make-Ramen-Noodles/dp/0962633526 , these are some of the things that sustained me during those lean years of my youth.

I know you've already got a ton of suggestions but, I highly recommend this book

Mastering Pasta by Marc Vetri

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607746077/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484998931&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mastering+pasta&dpPl=1&dpID=61FMdoMqdnL&ref=plSrch

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Ramen my friend

https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Make-Ramen-Noodles-Cookbook/dp/0962633526

Flour + Water. It's mostly pasta, but it's broken down by season. I'd highly recommend the book, and the restaurant if you're ever in San Francisco.

THIS BOOK is an expensive Kindle book by an underrated ex-pat who lives in France. Highly recommended; her recipe measurements and cooking times are always spot-on, something rare in cookbooks. //I know the author from a distance, but trust her recipes implicitly, having cooked many of them as published.

Love me some fresh pasta. Maybe make sure you are kneading it enough to make sure that it is thoroughly elastic? The "look inside" feature on Amazon of Flour and Water has some great different recipes. They're a bit yolk heavy, but that just makes it more rich and delicious.

I've been good I swear!!

You can never know too much about Ramen! Maybe...

In my opinion it's way easier to make ravioli from the sheets, you can buy him this fancy crinkle cutting wheel and a pasta making book! I recommend Mastering Pasta and Flour + Water Pasta.

I meant tonkotsu and mispelled it.

Also, I know tonkotsu (the ramen) isn't chinese, but they have ramen in China. And actually, in The Untold History of Ramen they talk about how the origin was a Chinese soup with noodles in a pork broth that migrated to Japan and then the Japanese took it and ran with it.

That's besides the point though...Do you think in China they only have Chinese restaurants? Do you think they don't have ramen shops and all kinds of other ethnic cuisines...? They have every kind of food in China, just like we do in the west where we have restaurants of different ethnicities. Not sure why you had such a big problem with this.

just like to say Flour + Water is the quintessential pasta cookbook.

Noodle - by Terry Durack:
http://www.amazon.com/Noodle-Terry-Durack/dp/1864483474/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292786870&sr=1-9

They also have a nifty little book full of Top Ramen recipes

For me and a buddy he is "that guy" We watched a movie called "The Stoned Age" when we were younger and he was in it. He played a character named Tack. Ever since then we see him show up in EVERYTHING and always say to each other "Its Tack that worm!"

As a kinda gag gift this year i got him a book co-written by Clifton Collins Jr called Prison Ramen.

I would pretty much kill for this movie, but at 24 dollars its kind of pricy. :S I'd also be pretty stoked with this much more reasonably priced cookbook however.

Pretty soon you'll have gifted everybody on this sub!

Recipe loosely taken from Flour + Water

Seriously, it's the best! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607746077/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Im so glad you said this lol there's literally cookbooks that are all about prison recipes and you better believe they use ramen

https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Ramen-Recipes-Stories-Behind/dp/0761185526

just in case someone wants it

Here you go!

James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.

Can't speak to the others.

Would you like a falafel with that? Depends on if you like falafel.

Anywho...I would suggest getting a Crock Pot such as this. That way you can make easy, cheap and healthy meals.

That and a Ramen Cookbook. The greatest thing we ever did was add things to "classy-up" our ramen. I love beef ramen with steak, soy sauce, raw bell peppers (for a nice crunch), steamed broccoli and sauteed mushrooms and onions. My husband likes his beef ramen with steak, hot sauce and hard boiled eggs.

Ramen to the Rescue Cookbook: 120 Creative Recipes for Easy Meals Using Everyone's Favorite Pack of Noodles

My mom gave me this book in paperback many, many moons ago. I definitely recommend James Beard's "Theory and Practice of Good Cooking." Such a wealth of knowledge contained in its pages.
https://www.amazon.com/Beards-Practice-Cooking-Library-American/dp/0762406135/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FC15A8G2V2VQNPV62W99

Love the idea!

Maybe add some cookbooks too. I love these two in particular for history, variety and recipes that consistently taste great.

Ramen Fusion

Ivan Ramen

Accessories

• Noodlestrainer or two is nice Noodle Strainer Example
  
• Ramen bowls (found some I like at Pier 1)
  
• Unique chopsticks /soup spoons
  
  Ingredients
  
• A block of high quality katsuobsushi + blade to shave (can find on amazon)
  
• Variety of soy sauces and sesame or chili oils (dark, light, mushroom etc.)
  
• High quality Kombu
  
• Gift card to Asian Market/grocery store for more ingredients
  
  
  
  I’m sure there are other items too but those are all things I’ve collected over time (except the katsuobushi- I just use the lower quality packets)
  
  What an awesome and creative gift though. I might borrow that idea sometime too!
  
  
  

My favorite cookbook (that is accessible to a home cook) is Flour+Water by Thomas McNaughton. It's a great book that not only explains the hows, but also the whys of pasta. I love it.

I feel awkward that this is on my bedside table.