Once rather obscure, ramen has gone from a cheap convenience food to a culinary obsession. And more recently, it’s not only become more readily available in a flowering of new ramen restaurants, it’s subject to a wide variety of modern interpretations.
Historically, Japanese ramen was rooted in Chinese noodles, buoyed with salty pork and chicken broth, and topped with the likes of roasted pork, scallions and pickled bamboo shoots.
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At the 2019 Atlanta Ramen Fest competition, the ramen noodles were donated by artisan Japanese maker and purveyor Sun Noodles. Beyond using the same noodles, though, the participating chefs and restaurants put all sorts of homegrown spins on their bowls.
Among the winners, Ramen Station offered up menudo ramen with pork belly, roasted tomato and fried hominy. Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q served Texas-style smoked brisket ramen. Steinbeck’s Ale House dished up lobster broth ramen with pork belly and uni butter. And Noona Steakhouse and Oyster Bar took first place with a Cajun-inspired crawfish ramen with andouille sausage.
While ramen is a Japanese art form, and master ramen chefs create masterpieces, making ramen at home can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be.
The DIY ramen party has become a fun way to take some of the mystery out of the process, not to mention an easy way to entertain a crowd.
And while there are plenty of hacks for turning packaged ramen into a feast, taking a little more time, and using a few clever shortcuts can result in some surprisingly satisfying slurping.
Experimenting and adapting recipes, we found the best way to ramen party success was to make a couple of different soups that can be kept on the stove or in slow cookers.
For vegan and vegetarian friends, make a vegetarian clear soup. For meat eaters, a quick and easy creamy soup with pork and chicken is the way to tonkotsu-like flavor and mouthfeel.
When it comes to noodles, you can try making your own, especially if you’ve made pasta and have the tools and patience. But high-quality premade noodles are readily available at Asian markets and even grocery stores. Be sure to check package instructions and boil noodles to order using a mesh strainer.
Purists will always prefer Chinese-style chukasuimen noodles, which are made with kansui, an alkaline salt water that gives ramen noodles their distinctive bite. But changing up flavors and textures, or accommodating gluten-free eaters, you can offer soba, rice or other noodles, too.
Store-bought low-sodium or sodium-free vegetable, chicken or beef broths work well as a base for adding umami and spice with ingredients like ginger, garlic, dried mushrooms, chile pepper flakes, and soy sauce.
Of course, vegetable and protein toppings and garnishes like pickles and scallions are the crowning glory of ramen, adding both flavor and color to the bowl.
Instruct your guests to build their own bowls from the bottom up in this order:
- Flavored oils and liquid seasonings such as soy sauce.
- Soup.
- Cooked noodles.
- Meat, seafood, seasoned eggs, and vegetable toppings.
- Garnishes such as pickles and scallions.
Most of all, encourage everyone to experiment and have fun.
Shop Asian markets such as H Mart to find everything you need to make ramen at home.
There are many high-quality broth bases available in Asian markets and online. Concentrated liquid bases are preferable over powders.
The immersion blender is your friend to help aerate the broth and evenly distribute the fat.
Pick up roast pork or duck from an Asian market or restaurant.
Thinly sliced eye of round (used in Korean BBQ) can be dropped into the bowl and topped with hot broth, where it will cook in 20 seconds.
Swirl a pat of of butter into the soup before serving to give it a richer mouthfeel.
For a smoother broth, stir in shiro miso paste.
For spice, add gochujang to taste.
Crack a raw room-temperature egg into a bowl of hot broth and wait two minutes before serving.
Serve sake, Japanese rice beers, and American craft lagers with your ramen.
These recipes for noodles, toppings and broth will get you started making your own DIY ramen party.
Chukasuimen Ramen Noodles
If you make Italian pasta at home, and have a pasta machine, you might try making these basic ramen noodles. Otherwise, high-quality store-bought noodles will be your best bet.
Adapted from “Ramen at Home” by Brian MacDuckston (Rockridge Press, $19.99).
This classic ramen topping is surprisingly easy to make, though you need to marinate it overnight. Once it’s cooked, beware of bacon lovers who will want to snatch bites before it gets to the bowl.
This is another classic ramen topping that’s also easy to make, but takes some time to marinate. The hardest part is evenly slicing the eggs before serving.
This is a tonkotsu-like shortcut that will give your ramen bowl a creamy consistency and mellow flavor without the smell and hassle of cooking a traditional bone broth for 24 hours. An immersion blender is the essential tool to aerate the soup and give it a thicker texture.
Recommended noodle: Wheat, fresh if possible.
Adapted from “Ramen at Home” by Brian MacDuckston (Rockridge Press, $19.99).
For this easy version of soy sauce ramen, you can use any kind of clear broth from vegetable to beef. To make it vegetarian, omit the dried fish and add another mushroom.
Recommended noodle: Rice.
Per serving: 66 calories (percent of calories from fat, 27), 8 grams protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 2 grams fat (trace saturated fat), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 2,319 milligrams sodium.
These messy and tasty “mixed-up noodles” are so-called because the sauce and toppings are meant to be combined with the noodles using chopsticks.
Recommended noodle: Soba, fresh if possible.
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