From Deseret News archives:
'101' cookbook for ramen innovative if not very gourmet
Layton publisher Gibbs Smith has kept to the same successful style — a small, ring-bound book with a splash-proof cover. There are no fancy color photos, and the recipes are fairly simple.
Past "101" books were written by former Provo resident Stephanie Ashcraft, who now lives in Rexburg, Idaho. This one is written by Toni Patrick of Walden, Colo., who, according to the press release, learned to cook ramen noodles in college, just like thousands of other students. I suspect colleges now offer degrees in Ramen 101.
Ramen was already a Chinese and Japanese staple when Nissin Foods introduced "instant" Top Ramen in the United States in 1972, where it soon became known as a cheap and filling meal. For many years it was known as "Oodles of Noodles" in the eastern United States.
Somehow, I missed out on the ramen phenomenon. I graduated from Utah State University in 1977 without eating even a bowl of it. Maybe it hadn't caught on there yet.
It was quite a few years later that my 5-year-old son came home from visiting a friend and raved over the "Roman noodles" he'd eaten and how we needed to buy some. It took awhile before I realized these "Roman" noodles weren't Italian pasta. Since then, we usually keep a few packages of ramen in the cupboard for snacking.
Just throw them in the microwave with a little water, and in a minute or two you've got something that looks like Nicole Kidman's hair on its curly days.
The cookbook has lots of simple soups, salads and casseroles — and even desserts, such as Ramen Haystacks (crumbled noodles coated with butterscotch chips).
Some recipes are innovative; some would be great budget stretchers when you still have more month at the end of the paycheck. But I wouldn't rank most of them at the top of the "company's coming" menu.
The Oriental Chicken Salad is a version of the popular recipe featuring crumbled ramen noodles, shredded chicken breast, almonds, celery, sesame seeds and chopped lettuce or cabbage in a vinaigrette dressing. But this book's recipe is different, because the noodles are cooked instead of crispy, and you don't use the seasoning packet in the salad dressing as many local versions do.
Ramen noodles, while filling, aren't exactly health food. A packaged serving contains 190 calories, 27.5 grams of carbohydrates and 7.2 grams of fat. So roughly one-third of ramen noodles are fat. In contrast, 1 cup of boiled egg noodles contains 213 calories and 2 grams of fat.
CHEDDAR BEEF CASSEROLE
2 packages of beef ramen noodles
