Book Review: Ramen To The Rescue Cookbook

I have to admit, I haven’t cooked ramen noodles since my college days at Oregon State University when time and more importantly money were in short supply. I remember that when I was ready to graduate, I was completely sick and tired of eating ramen. So when I was asked to review the book, Ramen to the Rescue by Jessica Harlan, I approached the task with some trepidation. Anyway, the book begins with a brief history of ramen noodles and how the instant version is made. Harlan then draws upon her experience as a kitchenware writer for about.com and Clean Eating Magazine to recommend “must-have” kitchenware as well as suggesting pantry items needed to prepare her ramen based dishes.

This book is rather small as cookbooks go but is packed with over 100 recipes. Most, including the two that we tried, use only the noodles from the ramen noodle package and do not include the sodium laced flavor package. Instead, each recipe builds its flavor from fresh vegetables, seasonings, and other ingredients that are combined with the noodles to create fast, healthy, great tasting meals.

In our review, we made Pad Thai and Cold Sesame Noodles. Both dishes were incredibly easy to make. In fact, we didn’t even need to buy any additional ingredients other than the ramen noodles in order to make them. We liked the fact that the book includes both small recipes (1 to 2 servings) and extremely large recipes (8 to 10 servings). This is a great little cookbook for large families or anyone who wants to learn how to make faster, easier, and more economical meals. We give Ramen to the Rescue three out of five stars.