Momofuku: A Cookbook

A really good origin story of the Momofuku restaurants. I concur with what most of the 5 star reviewers have said, and will not repeat. I initially had a library copy of the book but bought my own to have more time to spend with the recipes. And most are very good, but I had some problems:The pork bun recipe says it make fifty 25 gram buns. (=1250 grams) But there are less than 1000 grams of ingredients here. And the recipe specifies a volume rather than weight for the flour, which is disappointing. I used 120g/cup (as that is King Arthur Bread Flour recommendation) but I think 125 would have been better, as my dough was a little sticky. But no alternate value for a cup of flour would get you near 50 buns. My 38 buns came out tasting good but weren't pretty.The pork for the buns (or ramen) is a very simple recipe. But I don't see how you can put a piece of meat with 1/4 cup of sugar on it , into a 450 degree oven for an hour and not end up with a lot of burnt sugar. Are you maybe supposed to rinse off the salt and sugar before roasting? And I did not get any of the highly touted "pork jelly"; the mix of pork fat and burnt sugar did not decant. Maybe if it was covered for the low temperature part of the recipe. The pork was delicious but the recipe text did not match my experience (two batches.)I tried the chicken meat glue recipe. (Moo-Glue RM from Amazon) I am cooking for two, so I wanted to try the roast method one night and the fry method the second with my two boned chicken halves. The first (roast) came out OK and certainly was a novel form of chicken and its nice to have a disk of chicken with skin all the way around it. But the white and dark meat don't taste any different because they have been glued together. But the second night, when I unwrapped the other half chicken that had been glued two nights previously, it became completely, totally unglued before cooking. I have seen no mention of this happening with meat glue.I made the ramen noodle soup pretty much as written, except that I could not bear the thought of adding a pound of expensive bacon to the broth to get some smokiness. (I used bonito flakes).So I'm having a lot of fun working through these recipes, and there are plenty that work exactly as written. YMMV.

I bought Momofuku a few weeks ago, after I heard an interview with the author on NPR. Coincidentally, my eleven year old daughter and I are going through a Ramen Noodles craze, inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's films (the grandfather in Whisper of the Heart serves noodles to the young ones when in distress; and in Ponyo the mom makes noodles look like magic).In any case, I wanted something better than the packages available at the local Asian grocery store. Now, a month later, not only are my ramen noodles exquisite, but Momofuku has made me a much better cook. Here's why:* Chang's attention to the quality of the ingredients one uses: I found a local farmer who raises pigs and drove an hour and a half on beautiful Oklahoma country roads to her place. My freezer is now packed with wonderful cuts of free ranging, non-chemical raised pork, stew meat, and bacon.* His large quantities did not deter me. Actually, the book's advise on how to store food is perfect for my family of two. I made a huge pot of ramen noodle broth, let it reduce and once ready (simmered for 6 hours), stored in small containers in the freezer. Now I have absolutely wonderful broth for months. (Note: as a Colombian from the Andes, I don't want my broth to have any fishy flavor, so I excluded the Kombu from Chang's recipe)* Chang's recipe for roasting pork is amazing too! I followed it by the book and ended up with something so good I had a hard time believing I had made it. I roasted a huge chunk of shoulder, and once ready and cool, shredded it, divided it in small zip lock bags, and to the freezer. As with the broth, I have excellent roasted pork to add to our weekly ramen noodles.* Chang's creative techniques: I will never fry chicken any other way. Momofuku's recipe for fried chicken is exquisite. Easy, creative, and the chicken is delicious, tender, not oily, brown on the outside ...perfect.* Small details that take once's eating experience to an entirely new level: such as the ginger, scallion recipe. Again, as a Colombian, when nostalgic sometimes I add a little chopped cilantro to the ginger-scallion sauce.Chang's approach to Asian cuisine, his respect for tradition without the anxiety of hybridizing, bending, mixing, is perfect for a Colombian bored with the food available in central Oklahoma and trying to make good food out of an ordinary, everyday life kitchen.

This is one of my "go to" cookbooks. First its a fun read, like the Vivien Howard book I read cover to cover before making anything from it. Its an interesting story and well written. No its not an Asian Cookbook - Its a David Chang cookbooks packed with "mother" recipes that can be used and applied in every day cooking. So YES several of the recipes reference other recipes as ingredients but that is part of the fun and the efficiency! For example - I few times a year I make the ramen broth and freeze batches (followed by the pickled shiitakes and seaweed salad because both are delicious and are leftover from the broth), at the same time I also make a batch of red beans (not a David Change recipie) because I put the chicken from the ramen broth in my beans. So one afternoon of cooking leaves my freezer stocked. I do the same with pork belly and steamed buns - so I always have the building blocks for a quick meal. Because so many of the recipe's work in multiple recipes the investment in time and ingredients pays off for me. No I will probably NOT be making the 48 hour Sous vide short ribs but I might make the sauce for braised beef cheeks. For Christmas 2019 I did both the Kewpie Mayonnaise with YuZu for Jonah crab claws and the hamachi crudo with edamame cream - super quick prep and easy. Bo Ssaam is perfect for a casual dinner with friends and the dragon sauce is delicious on almost anything. This cook books works for me and the way I like to cook. LONG LIVE BENTON'S BACON