Maybe it was from watching Tampopo, but I have an urge to make some Ramen soup - from scatch. I scoured the Internet for information, but all I could turn up in regards to Ramen were the cheap $0.20 things you get at the grocery. I’ve never been to Japan, but I go to a very good Ramen place every week in San Mateo, CA, so even though it’s probably not in the same league as good Japanese places, I know vaguely what it’s supposed to taste like.
So, how you do you make the soup? ( I realize there are many different recipes and methods, and tastes. A simple one to build on would be sufficient.)
How do you make the noodles?
It’s OK to be brief and vague - I’ve made noodles and soup before…
Just a guess to get things started: For the soup, some dashi (the same base as Miso soup) as base, pork bones, chicken stock, maybe some onions as well. I know the toppings: pork, green onions, roasted seaweed, and something pickled, slices of something or other (I don’t know the name).
From Tampopo, I gather the noodles are made with sparkling water. However, flour or rice? Eggs? I have no idea…
Good thread, Avumede. Real ramen is one of my obsessions, too. I’ll be interested in seeing a noodle recipe. In the event, however, that none is forthcoming, I think you needn’t be ashamed to get fresh, packaged noodles at a Japanese supermarket. If all your other ingredients are fresh and homemade (especially that broth - yummy!), it’ll all come out well.
I’m in San Jose. What kind of sake shall I bring for the sampling?
I thought this would be easy to find on the web, but I searched for ramen on various Japanese search engines, and all the pages are about good ramen shops. I found just one page which said “well, I tried to make a soup, and it turned out OK” page, and not a single page on how to make the noodle. It seems that the usual Japanese method of “enjoying” ramen is to search for good ramen shops, not try to make a good one yourself.
According to my dictionary (!) ramen is made of wheat flour, salt, eggs, water and “kansui.” This “kansui” used to be either well water rich in minerals, or water with ashes from certain plants dissolved in. Now it’s just water with sodium carbonate and/or phosphate of sodium and/or potassium, and having a ph of 7 to 8 (slightly basic). I think this was translated as “sparkling water.” I have no idea where to get this though, sorry.
As for the soup, it’s pretty much what you expect. “Dashi” just means soup stock, by the way. Standard Japanese soup stock is made from dried sardines, shaved dried bonito, and/or dried kelp.
FYI, the traditional dashi is made from shaved bonito flakes and steeped (not boiled) konbu (a specific type of seaweed). No anchovies or anything else in there.
Good luck with your dashi recipie, I spent months trying to perfect dashi, but I could never get anywhere close to the flavor I remember from when I lived in Japan. I finally asked some nihonjin why this was, they said its because nobody makes real dashi from scratch anymore, they just use instant powder, or use chicken broth instead.
Chas.E: Thanks for the link, but all I could find was instant ramen info… and I’m although I AM a slacker, I was looking for the fresh ramen…
pugluvr: I visit “Santa” on 8th and B in San Mateo. It’s the best. I recommend the “soy bean flavor”. Ryowa in Mtn View is good. “Toshi Sushiya” in Menlo Park doesn’t have ramen, but it has the best udon I’ve had (not to mention a great sushi place all around).
scr4: Great info. That’s definately what I was looking for on the noodles… I think I can substitute seltzer or some sort of spring water for the “kansui”. I find it strange the dictionary would list both water and “kansui”, though…
Anyway, maybe a ramen chef in Japan reads this board… I would doubt it, but you never know around here!
Thanks. I really need a better Japanese-English dictionary… Is it just sparkling water after all, or something separate? Can you buy it in a bottle at stores?
Sorry for the late reply, I posted something last nite but the board choked and wouldn’t accept my post.
As far as I know, kansui isn’t carbonated, its just water with minerals. But then, I’ve never made my own ramen. I’ve shopped in many Japanese stores in the US, I’ve never seen kansui on sale in the US stores, but I was never really looking for it.
I think the best approach is to try to find a specialty store that sells Japanese gifts. At certain times of year in Japan, gifts are exchanged, and foods are a common gift. I used to see huge piles of giftwrapped premium ramen (as well as soba, somen, etc) in the department stores in Japan. I’ve seen these on display at US stores like Yaohan too. Buy some good ramen, not the cheap stuff. Its tasty. Its not as good as ramen that is freshly made and not dried, but hey, its as close as you are likely to get. I recall seeing these in late summer, but you’d probably also find them in late December, for New Year’s gifts.
I’ll poke around some more for a website for you. A couple of years ago, I used to have some good sites collected about ramen with recipies for handmade noodles, but they’re all dead links now.
scr4, I believe there is actually a lot more to the soup stock for ramen. The Japanese consider ramen to be a rather Chinese soup, as opposed to udon and somen, which are considered entirely Japanese. Udon and somen are usually served in dashi (bonito flake-based broth). Ramen stock, however, is not dashi but is based on chicken and pork, and flavored with soy sauce, among other things. This was gone into in rather intimate detail in the movie “Tampopo,” as Avumede says.
More details nobody asked for: I’ve noticed that ramen is sold in shops which are almost exclusively devoted to ramen, and you cannot get it at a more classic Japanese restaurant. In other words, you can’t get it at a sushi bar or a tempura/teriyaki restaurant, although you can get udon, soba and somen there. In San Jose, I usually go to “Katana-ya” in Japantown, and am usually the only non-Asian person in the place. They exclusively deal in ramen soup, with a few other lunch-y dishes such as curry rice and gyoza.
Hey, you got me started on a search for recipes for ramen. Like you, I had no luck with ramen noodle dough, but I sure came up with some interesting sites regarding ramen. Here’s one:
There are many types of ramen stock, like miso ramen (uses dashi in the miso base) shoyu ramen, etc. Every local area has their traditional version, and they will all argue that only theirs is the authentic version.
As far as buying ramen, the coolest place is definitely one of Japan’s vanishing traditions, the “ramen-uriba.” I only encountered this once, of all places, it was right in the middle of Shinjuku where I least expected it. A ramen-uriba is a little wooden shack just large enough to hold one man, a tank of LP gas, and some water and an ice chest for the ingredients. The operator will strap the whole thing on their back and carry it around from place to place.