Ramen Confidential: Everything you need to know about ramen

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If you grew up in the states when I did (80s kid right here!), you knew ramen as the cheapest meal you could have.  You know, the brick kind, where you could eat for two months on $10. I remember making it with my mom and “doctoring it up” with eggs (essentially making it egg drop soup).  If we were getting really fancy, we’d add some meat but that was still foreign (ha).  If you had Cup Noodle, you were living large! Damn that Styrofoam costing another 80 cents.

One of the first things I could “cook” myself and be proud of not making a sandwich for a snack.  Fast forward and we all know college kids live off the stuff.  Now in the states, and I can’t take claim to knowing much of the movement as it’s mostly happened while I’ve been over seas, there are ramen shops popping up all over the place.

There’s so much to know.

Is there a “Best” Ramen?

Ramen in Japan is on every corner, streets full of them, you could never hit them all in multiple lifetimes, but you can sure try.  And try I do, but you have to watch it if you want to keep your waistline.  Tabelog, a popular Japanese restaurant search app, as of writing this post showed 30,000+ locations for you to indulge in. THIRTY THOUSAND. As soon as I find “the BEST”, it doesn’t take long before I find a contender to take its place. 

There are some exceptions to that, Zushiya in Yokosuka is definitely the hometown winner.  And Gomaryu in Tokyo is by far the best spicy ramen I’ve had.  Then Color Ramen is just amazing and in it’s own category (and technically Chinese so it doesn’t necessarily count).  Catch that? Yeah, the best part is that you can have MULTIPLE bests because there are so many types to have.

Keep reading for all the options at your disposal!

History of Ramen

Ah, you thought I’d let you get away without a bit of history. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I like giving you back ground! If you are familiar with Japan’s not so distant past, you know that her borders were closed to the outside world for nearly 200 years. Oh yeah, by penalty of DEATH if you were found. There was some slight exceptions to that but not much. The US went knocking in 1854, thank you Commodore Perry, and brought her back to the rest of the world. With that, a massive influx of different cultures, including Chinese noodles came to be. Exciting as they were different than the udon and soba of Japan!

Really, this was a reintroduction, as there are records back to 1488 for Chinese noodles. The first ramen in Japan is considered to be eaten by Mitsukuni Tokugawa in 1697 but, of course, who’s to say if it is close to what we have now. From the opening of the borders to the early 1900s there is plenty of mention of “Chinese noodle” shops but the same thing applies.

On that note, why was this new craze different? When they opened the borders, it also stopped a 1200 year ban on meat.

First shop in Japan

Rairaiken, opened in 1910 in Asakusa is considered Japan’s first ramen shop. The shop owner is sad to have stole a bunch of chefs from Chinatown in Yokohama to help him out. Sadly, they closed in 1976. There are plenty of options in Asakusa to get a taste of “the original” though.

What’s different between the Chinese and Japanese versions?

The soup. Japan added dashi. What’s Dashi? It’s a soup base that is used in nearly all Japanese cooking, it’s where umami comes from.

How is ramen different from other Japanese noodle dishes such as soba and udon?

Soba is completely off the table because it’s made from buckwheat flour. Udon though, here we are tricky. They are both basically made of the same wheat flour. The difference is the use of 鹹水, かんすい, kansui. Which directly translates as “salt water” but is actually lye water or alkaline salt. A product you can find in Asian markets. Take away the kansui and you get udon noodles (udon is also generally much thicker).

Types of Ramen

This is where it gets confusing.  Most people will say, “oh, I like miso ramen” or “Tonkotsu is my favorite!”. See… about that. Those are two completely different things.  One is a flavoring.  One is a base type for the broth. A broth base that very often has a choice to add the three major flavor bases: 塩 shio (salt), 醬油 shoyu (soy sauce) or 味噌 miso. Then you can get in the particulars of regional fare. So. Much. Ramen. You know why I started writing this article?  Because I was tired of not knowing how Yokohama style differed from the rest of them.  Research ensued and here you are, I’ve done the work for you.  My goal is to make you a master so you can wow your friends. 

Thick or Light?

Very often at Yokohama style, you have a choice to request your broth thick or light, which coincides with how thick you want your soup. They somehow add a concentrated base to it — which I always thought was oil but it makes more sense that its just added fat as Yokohama is a pork-bone based soup. 

However, that’s not what we are talking about here. One defining factor to ALL ramen is the consistency. Thick or light.  You often see the
Onomatopoeia words こってりor あっさり, kotteri or assari, thick or light to describe ramen. Also, look out for “濃厚” when describing ramen. “のうこう” or “noukou” means thick as well.  You’ll sometimes see it in the name of ramen shops.

I’m “こってり派” or Team Kotteri, as I’m now going to call it, so I don’t know if there is another way to say “light”. 

Broth Bases 

The broth is what makes ramen. Generally speaking they will be animal bone based: pork, chicken, beef. You’ll see variety of seafood as well: shrimp, clams, fish. Vegetables are sometimes the base (looking at the Vegan/Vegetarian movement) but generally they are added as flavoring.  Potato is still on my list to try but I’ve only seen that in Hokkaido. Leek, mushroom, onion, garlic, etc. are more aromatics and removed before serving.

The Other Styles

Not all ramen is broth and noodles in a bowl.

• つけ麵　Dipping Ramen, sort of self explanatory. The broth is on the side and you dip the other ingredients in it. Can be either warm or cold. You could make this your carb friendly version of ramen and just not eat the noodles!
• まぜ麺　Mazemen, a broth-less ramen. Broth too much? Just have the goodies.
• 冷やし中華　Hiyashi chuuka Chilled Chinese Noodles or summer ramen. Normal ramen but served cold.
• 担々麵, タンタンめん, tantan men, spicy ramen. Japan’s rendition of Sichuan dandan noodles.

The Seasonings

The aforementioned salt, soy sauce, and miso. I want you to get these out of your head as the ‘type’ of ramen, right now. These are additives, not the broth.  Though Tokyo style can be considered ‘just’ soy, but I digress. Can you imagine just adding them to water? Ick. Granted, there are some places that go light on everything else so the seasoning IS most of the taste. These fall under “Team Assari”. 

Generally speaking, unless the shop is very specific, they might have the option to have their base broth include one of these. Shio or salt is your closest to the original and seen with lighter broths. Miso will definitely make it thicker yet and shoyu or soy sauce is in-between. Miso is also the most pungent. 

So 豚骨, とんこつ, tonkotsu (not to be confused with tonkatsu which is deep fried breaded pork) is pork bone broth. If I had to pick my favorite I’d probably say shoyu tonkotsu (and guess what Yokohama style is?). I’d never just say shoyu as your base flavoring could be any number of types! 

The Noodles

Different regions of Japan tend towards different types of noodles.  Straight or curly. Thin or thick. Wide or narrow. I tend to prefer thick and curly as they seem to soak up the flavor better. 

Hungry? Have a 替え玉, Kaedama. This is where you have extra broth and want more noodles.

Can you make Ramen noodles from pasta?

Back to that 鹹水, kansui thing. It’s the same as why Japanese noodles are different from the Chinese noodles. The same goes for pasta. Pasta your only option at home and your Asian market doesn’t carry kansui (枧水, jian shui, in Chinese)? You can get similar results by adding baking soda (1 tsp per liter) of your water.

Yokohama Style

Fun fact: this post all started because I wanted to know what Yokohama style (横浜家系) was. So, back to the Yokohama thing.  A shop was opened in Yokohama in 1974 by Yoshimura (吉村家). He was a truck driver and ate ramen all over the country. He got the idea to combine Tokyo style soy-sauce ramen with Kyushu Tonkotsu ramen. Voila, a new style is born! The “ya” in his name is one word for family. His recipe is considered a shoyu tonkotsu but there is also chicken breast in the broth. If you see 家系 (iekei, which can be translated as family tree) with the name of a shop, it’s this style.

There are many shops (upwards of 300 according to this feature) that are “family tree” style ramen.  Six of them are “sanctioned” by Yoshimura but most just love the style and follow suit.

Other Regional Options

Nearly all regions have something different (Potato ramen in Hokkaido anyone?) so if you are travelling around try out some different styles.  

Toppings

Yokohama iekei ramen has nori, spinach, chashu (pork) and green onion. Some shops vary their toppings but these are common as based on the original. To this though, almost all ramen shops allow you to customize! 　

• 玉子, Tamago, egg
• のり, nori, seaweed (ie. add more if the style calls for it!)
• ライス, Rice?!? Isn’t the noodles enough carbs? This is a newer thing for me.
• 野菜, yasai, generically vegetables, usually of the green leafy variety
• ネギ, negi, onion
• キャベツ, kyabetsu, cabbage
• うすら, usura, quail eggs
• Really there could be anything!

Making it your own

In addition to everything you’ve already had the chef cram in your bowl, ramen is completely customizable. Things you will find on the counter or your table could include:

• ガリックパウダー, Garlic Powder
• 塩, shio, salt
• こしょう, koshou, pepper
• 酢, su, vinegar
• しょうゆ, shouyu, soy sauce
• 七味唐辛子, Shichimitōgarashi, Seven spice blend
• 生姜, shouga, ginger
• 味噌, miso
• ニンニク, ninniku, garlic

How to Order

Most ramen shops make it super easy. There’s a machine! This one has English but that’s not always the case.

Pro tip: The upper left corner is 99% of the time the stores specialty.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

Short on time during your visit to Japan and want to try lots of ramen? Ramen museum!! The World’s First food-themed amusement park opened in 1994. That’s one of those things I tend to be skeptical about (first? really?) but that’s what they are claiming so we’ll go with it.

I liken this to a “country” at Epcot World showcase. It is set up to look like Japan of the 1958 once you step inside. Significance of the year? The year instant ramen was invented. Want to learn more about that? Head over to
Cup Noodles Museum. It’s definitely a one stop shop to try A LOT of ramen.

There are eight shops (including one from Germany!) to give you a wide variety on types of ramen to try. They rotate though so always check back to see what new shops they have!

Like spice?

Looking for spicy ramen? I still recommend you head to Tokyo for the best option.

Instant Ramen

You can thank Momofuku Ando for bringing a quick and easy version to the world. For the history, I recommend you head over to the CupNoodle Museum in Yokohama (there is also one in Osaka).

Did you know you can try the Michelin prized ramen in instant form? Good if you can’t make it all the way to Japan! The instant ramen scene is booming with many regional options for every prefecture. So, you can literally go on a tour of Japan with all the different options.

Eating in style at home

Having your own ramen bowls and spoons makes eating ramen at home more luxurious. It might even be nicer than most shops you’ll try! Looking for some of your own? I suggest heading over to Kappabashi, Tokyo’s kitchen district.

Did I miss something?

There is honestly so much to write about on this topic, I’ve been working on this post for a long time. If you know something I missed, let me know and I’ll update it! Have a question? Leave it in the comments, I’ll do my best to answer.

Keep in straight for later. Pin this.

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