I’ve been considering venturing into the world of ramen, as an effort to vary both mine and Vaderlings diet, in how we eat what we eat if nothing else, although I would dearly love for him to open himself to some new things once in a while(there is more to food life than pizza, roast beef and takis).
To this end, as a start, I’ve been looking at just pictures of ramen dishes, sort of getting a visual sense of what it can/should be.
I see pork, poultry, fish, what appears to be sliced steak, how cross cultural can I make it? If I whip up something with a bit of italian dry salami, is it still ramen or something else?
What are the conventions? The culinary adventurer in me wants to know so I can explore the limits of them.
Technically, ‘ramen’ is just pasta (traditionally wheat or buckwheat but I’ve seen it made of pretty much anything that can be made into a flour) served in some kind of broth. There is an enormous variety of ramen dishes within Japan and I’m sure more ramen-like dishes across China and Mongolia. Traditional ramen is a bone broth (typically pork or chicken as those are the common meats in Japan) or a cold miso broth with chashu or egg but given some of the crazy things I’ve seen the Japanese do with pizza I don’t think there is anywhere you can go with adding stuff to ramen that would be unholy. Dry salami is probably something that would go over well if you introduced it in Kyoto. Go nuts.
I think there are about as many “conventions” as there are ramen eaters. I’ll just give you mine.
Start with good quality ramen, about which opinions also vary greatly. My go-to is Sapporo Ichiban Original.
I use much less water than recommended – maybe three-quarters of an inch or so in a medium saucepan. The idea is to have the noodles absorb almost all the water. When the water boils I put in the ramen and then I add sliced mushrooms and a small amount of some type of sliced meat, typically broiled or barbecued chicken breast or spicy pork, like jerk pork chops. (For some reason I find spicy pork to be the best complement with ramen.) When the ramen is just starting to get tender, flip it over, add about half the seasoning packet, and stir it in evenly. When done, pour into a shallow pasta bowl and garnish with chopped green onion and a few splashes of soy sauce.
ETA: IMHO, a small sprinkling of green onion (scallion) is important for three culinary reasons: appearance, texture, and flavour. As I mentioned in another thread, I’ve had great success keeping green onions from wilting by storing them upright, roots down, in a glass jar of water that I keep in a cool place (my garage in winter).
I don’t think you can make good ramen from a packet of instant ramen.
First thing you should do is to go to an Asian market and try to find ramen noodles that are not instant. If you can find a dried ramen that can be cooked to the right texture then you are on your way and it almost doesn’t matter what else you add to it.
I don’t claim that instant ramen is necessarily authentic, or that it compares with authentic stuff prepared by a good restaurant. However, I disagree that the instant stuff isn’t “good ramen” if you use a reputable brand like Sapporo Ichiban. Properly cooked, the noodles are slightly firm, and the way I make it are infused with the flavours of both spicy pork and the flavour packet, the mellowness of mushrooms, and the crunchy freshness of green onion, and it’s a pretty darn tasty if unpretentious dish. Another strong point in its favour is how quickly it can be prepared – literally just a few minutes for a dish that looks and tastes like it took much longer.
I would generally agree that not only that instant ramen isn’t “good ramen”, but that for the most part good ramen shouldn’t be made at home. I’ve done it, but to do it well takes quite a lot of work. If you want “good ramen”, then a ramen restaurant is your best bet.
All that said, I have made good ramen at home, but it was a lot of work. We’ve made other several nice Asian style noodle soups or just noodle dishes that were delicious that didn’t qualify as “good ramen”. Sometimes the base of that dish was made from instant ramen. It doesn’t qualify it as “good ramen”, but it can make a tasty noodle dish.
I love ramen and there are a lot of types. Salt based ramen, pork based ramen, soy based ramen, etc, then there are different types of noodles and garnishes etc. A magazine just came out here listing the top 502 types of ramen. lol. I love a good tonkotsu ramen.
I used to be in the habit of keeping three or four packets of shrimp-flavored instant ramen on hand for the rare night that work or play would prevent me from preparing a better dinner. Rain or shine, I’d have it about once a month just because I liked it.
Put a handful of frozen, peeled shrimp in a glass of water. While they thaw, finely chop a leek and sauté it in oil. Cook the ramen with the leek (add water and spices). Rinse the shrimp to get rid of any ice and/or bits of shell and chuck ‘em into the pot toward the end, along with some frozen peas.
It’s an imported concentrate you mix with boiling water. Each packet makes two cups of broth, which I serve with chuka soba noodles from the grocery store, precooked sliced chashu from the freezer section of a local Asian grocery (or bacon if I don’t have time to go to the Asian grocery), hardboiled egg, green onions, sauteed mushrooms, and a few sheets of nori.
I’ve had the 5-for-a-dollar ramen packets, and I’ve had so-called higher quality dried ramen, and I actually think I prefer the 5-for-a-dollar stuff. Maybe it reminds me of college. I do use my own broth and add whatever veggies I have in the house. Garlic, ginger and a splash of toasted sesame oil are standard.
Hmm, I made some bone broth this weekend and I have some asparagus that needs eating-- might be a ramen dinner tonight!
If you do make the cheap packet ramen and use better broth, save the flavor packet- you can use it as an umami bomb in stews and gumbos.
Typically ‘ramen’ means an alkaline noodle. That’s what makes them so yellow and delicious (it’s the same thing that makes a pretzel different from bread). I have made ramen noodles from scratch because it’s really hard to source quality ramen noodles where I live but I only ever did it was because it was just so much work.
Clearly you have many paths to choose from here:
Jazz up instant with toppings
Find a restaurant that serves it
Find fresh/dried noodles and make broth from scratch
Make noodles and broth from scratch
If any of those is intimidating or difficult just go with an easier one. Ramen is wonderful in all its forms.
It is, but there’s an important difference in that the alkaline is in the dough for ramen, but not for pretzels (where the bread is quickly (par)boiled in an alkaline solution before being baked.)
I just use the cheap ramen but dress it up with veggies, pork/chicken/shrimp (bbq pork is especially good) and maybe an egg. I also like a few dashes of fish sauce. Usually I use a little less water unless I’m really feeling like a lot of broth. Speaking of broth, this show on Netflix about Korean broth isn’t directly about ramen but watching it made me want to put all kinds of new things in it (or find a Korean broth place which I don’t think we have here, all Korean BBQ). Watch A Nation of Broth | Netflix . This show is also very charming , I really enjoyed it.
A couple of threads we’ve done on Ramen itself or toppings:
Personally, I’ve had good ramen at a specialty shop, and poor ramen at a specialty shop (which thankfully closed, they did NOT have the organizational skills to make it work), but when it’s good, its far beyond what most people would ever make at home even with a ton of effort.
In general though, I’ll buy mid-range instant Ramen (Shin) and use the legumes package and the noodles, and do the rest myself. I’ll generally go with a mix of my homemade poultry or pork broth and good water, kicked up with soy, mirin, and sesame oil. Add a bit of miso paste for additional saltiness and flavor, and top with a poached oil or other easy protein such as leftover smoked pork loin, shrimp or a mild fish.
Top with sliced green onions and some crispy chili, and it’s hot, filling, and satisfying, and even with everything above, half the price of a specialty shop.
Yeah. I’ve been getting imported instant from the Asian grocery, and while I’m sure it’s not nearly as good as ramen from a restaurant, it is significantly better than the cheap Top Ramen stuff. I’m personally partial to Neoguri spicy seafood flavor, which I recently realized I can buy from Amazon and save myself a trip to the Asian grocery store.
I like to throw some shrimp in with the noodles while they’re boiling, and then top with some stir fried vegetables, usually something like bok choy, broccoli, and mushrooms, a hard boiled egg, and some green onions.
