who doesn't love a bowl of ramen. Espeically in japan every where you look you will find Ramen i mean EVERYWHERE! its like the equivalent of starbucks in seattle. But they are all indivially own and each place serve their own particular style . Upon arriving my ramen IQ was very low i didn't know the different varieties or styles of ramen that were available. But that all change once i landed in japan. There, to the many local and foreigners there is something magical about this warm bowl of delicious goodness with the spring onions and MSG that draws you back for more and more. Yes i hate to say it but Yest there is MSG in ramen. MSG is one of those things you cant go without in Asian cusine its that extra layer of flavor (i hate using that term) but its true. Although in japan and across asian its called ajinomoto i believe used in small amount it really is not that harm full and i believe just some things taste better with it.
As for ramen there are four basic types of broths there is
1. Shoyu which is a Soy sauce base broth that is darker
2.Shio which is a salt base broth that is clear
3. Tonkotsu which is made with alot of pork bones, It is a bit more thicker and muddy color from all the fat and cartilage from the bones but pack full of flavors aslo it is the heaviest.
4. Miso which is made with a miso base broth.
Once you have decide on your broth then comes the noodles you have a choice of them beiing cooked Katame which is on the harder side or Yawarakame which is on the softer side.
one you have decide on that along with it comes the usual toppings braised pork belly or char sui, green onion, boiled egg
along my stay in Osaka i had the liberty of eating alot or ramen, i was fortune enough to stumble into a little place near Tanimachi Called Ya mon honma ramen. I quickly became a regular and made friends with the owner. Mr. takashi. Armend with only my little notebook of japanese phrase and what every japanese i could still remeber from my four years in highschool plus the help of his smart phone we able to understand one another. It started out with small talk like where are u from how was your day and what did u do today to eventual being able to ask him how he made this amazing broth for ramen. he was more than willing, allowing me to go behind the counter and see what was in his giant stock pot and what he put in it along with how to make the amazing pork belly. I wrote everything down step by step i wanted to get this right and then go home ab able to create ramen the right tway. This was my in and i love it.
Along with ramen is the infamous UDON you can't talk about ramen and not mention udon. I feel udon and ramen will forever have this on going battle to see which is better than the other. Like in david changs mentions in his cook book when he was working for a udon chef and the chef found out that he wanted to make ramen. The chef sat him down and told him it's UDON OR RAMEN pick one and we now konw which one he choose. AS for me i love the two they both provide something uquice and different. It also depends on my mood sometimes i feel like ramen and sometimes i am sick of ramen and want udon. I feel ramen provide a more complex broth where as udon is a bit more simiple but elegant ANd to me udon feels a bit more bosh then ramen also most udon place are usually more nicer then ramen joints.
