I'm very surprised to see that there is not a ramen thread created yet! How do you cook your ramen? What brand do you like? Any special spices? Good techniques? Ways to make it taste better?
This thread is of course, open to discussion about instant ramen and the more "fancy" kinds!
Has anyone gone to a ramen shop in japan? What are they like?
I'll go first!
I generally just make my ramen (Maruchan, I really hate Top Ramen) dry. I like the "hot" taste it has too it. My favorite flavors are probably the standard chicken, creamy chicken, and beef.
I used to add a few things to my ramen, like tabasco sauce, curry powder, or soy sauce, however now I generally just use the package of flavoring that comes with it. When eating ramen with soy sauce you don't even need to add the included flavoring, as the taste is pretty strong.
My ramen stories are not very interesting. Anyone have anything else to share?
Usually plain with a lot of pepper and salt, sometimes a bit of soy sauce. If i'm a bit more hungry than usual, i'll add an egg and just poach it in the broth, and sliced ham and a bit of green onion. I generally prefer the 'spicy' kind, but my favorite is oriental. The only ramen you really can find around here is Mr. Noodle.
Sapporo Ichiban original, green onions, Tabasco.
And eggs.
I don't like instant ramen, but I do like ramen from restaurants. Even kimchi ramen, although I don't like kimchi by itself. Gyoza ramen is nice too. Extra points if the restaurant has little pots of minced garlic to stir in.
I like ramen, usually I add a little meat to it.
But my brother adds milk butter and parmesian cheese plus a bit of meat (usually chicken). Tastes like fettichine.
small pieces of hot chicken and grilled garlic right out of the pan and some fresh spring onion.
Kind of lame, but tasty
A lot of times I boil my noodles seperate from the flavor until they first get soft. Then I put them in a pan with different stuff like some meat, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, chicken broth, veggies, and add in some of the flavor packet sometimes too, basically whatever is lying around. (But unless you like the flavor really strong, don't put in the whole packet since there's no water to make the flavor not as strong.) Then I just cook it till it gets kinda sticky, or at least not as wet and slippery.
It's a pretty good way to get a lot of different things out of a 10 cent meal and use up leftovers or whatever you have around.
Usually I boil the noodles with the flavor packs until there's hardly any water left in the pot. Then I throw it in a frying pan with some sesame oil (when I can afford it) and crack an egg on top. I let that fry for a bit, then throw in whatever the fuck else I can find in my fridge. Usually comes out pretty tasty.
The record label Fueled By Ramen used to have a page on their site with a lot of tasty and insane ramen recipes. Now they're just MTV PUNK ROCK OMG MCR, and I can't be arsed to search archive.org for the page right now.
Fucked if I know anymore. Must have been around 96-97, back when I still listened to Less Than Jake. :S
You don't seem to realize that ramen ≠ instant ramen. Not to knock the instant stuff, but there is a huge difference between the two. A ramen shop puts a lot of work into the broth (sometimes days of prep) as it's usually the feature that will distinguish it from another shop's ramen. Also, ramen buffs put a lot of importance on fresh noodles. I've gone to ramen shops that refuse to offer ramen on their take-out menu because they don't want people to think less of their ramen when they get home and the noodles are soggy.
Anyway, from the instant ramen varieties you're mentioning I see you haven't found your local Asian food store. Find it. You'll find entire shelves dedicated to different varieties of instant ramen, some which go to great pains to get as close to ramen as possible (separate broth packs, different topping packs, freeze-dried ramen noodles...). While you're there, ask where you can find a local restaurant that serves ramen. You're in for a treat.
I've been in the San Diego area for a little while and have found three restaurants that serve ramen: Hanaoka, Tajima and Kampai (Kampai being my favorite). Hanaoka also has Kyoto, a Japanese food store, right across the street. Directions for all three are pretty easy to find using Google... anyone else in the SD area have recommendations?
There's a place near Chicago that I used to go for Ramen, it was in a food court for a japanese mall in Arlington Heights. I think the mall was Mitsuwa Marketplace if anyone's in that area...
For instant ramen, I usually just do the instant bowl of shin ramen. The kind in the pack is /horrible/, but the kind in the bowl is /amazing/.. go figure. I add kimchi, too, If I got any.
>>12
What?
>This thread is of course, open to discussion about instant ramen >and the more "fancy" kinds!
>Has anyone gone to a ramen shop in japan? What are they like?
as in, instant ramen, ramen you can buy and make delicious, AND ramen shops. Not instant ramen in ramen shops.
thanks for the advice on the asian market. Though, I was just there a few days ago. there are three of them around here, but two of them kinda suck. I still buy Maruchan, because, well, I like it more, but there are all sorts of different brands - i've tried them all, but eh.
There aren't any real ramen shops around here, unfortuantly :(. I'm kind of surprised about this myself, as this area is pretty asian (lots of asian stores, lots of anime stores, lots of asian people!) but alas, i've looked and asked around, and there is nothing. Thanks, though!
As for me, when I was younger I came up with a good recipe for what I call "fried ramen."
Note: I prefer Maruchan Shrimp for this.
Another recipe I've tried is ramen pizza.
Pretty much what's at http://mattfischer.com/ramen/?p=316 but with my own twists, such as using real cheese, cooking it in the oven, and adding real toppings... so it short, guess I just used his ramen "dough" in replacement for regular dough.
ive made ramen on more than one occasion.. haha, look at my name... also know several places to get it japanese style, and several brands (dry and plasticked) that are good. however, i can never get the chashu right. i understand all ramenya have secret recipes, but the pork cant be that hard to make. im probably missing something important, any thoughts?
my methods:
M1) tie chunk of pork up with string to prevent disintegration. use soy sauce (the dark kind) to simmer until soft. this usually results in similar flavors, but not exactly chashu
M2) same as 1, but with different herbs added. this is tricky, ive yet to master the flavors...
M3) sautee tied pork and simmer in sauce. This prevents disintegration and looks much like store chashu.
If only I were lucky enough to have a real ramen place nearby
:( I find that for the instant kind, I don't like chicken flavor, any other flavor packet is okay. I use only half the flavor packet and add veggies, chopped spinach and sliced button mushrooms are really good for this. The veggies make it a lot more palatable.
when americans talk about ramen they mean instant ramen, if they talk about japanese ramen they will say japanese ramen, I don't think we should edit what we say just to adhere to your idiotic standards
>_>;; on the instant ramen issue since we don't have a ramen shop in town... ^^ i like adding veggies into it if i don't have anything fresh (which is just boiled along with ramen) i'll go with frozen. ^^ if your feeling like a change i go to the asian market and pick up fish balls (freezer area)
>>18
My standards may be idiotic, but your generalization is untrue. Nyah nyah.
Anyway, I'm visiting Orlando FL and haven't found any good ramen shops. I've tried Oyaji on Municipal and Japan Food Aki Restaurant on Universal and both were very bland, with only soy sauce and salt flavors. However, there's a little Japanese grocery store called J Food Mart also on Universal that sells good instant ramen (I recommend the miso). They also sell freeze-dried ramen, which was all right.
>>20 I've only found decent noodle places near the orlando area... not in it check near colonial drive ... if your still around there lol near the... near the oriental trader that whole area is pretty good for food.
eigo wakannne-kara nihongotukae
suck my dick.
NULLPO
THIS IS AN ENGLISH FORUM.
SPEAK ENGLISH
基本的には英語の使用を強く希望します。ただ nihongo板なら日本も英語もアリですよ。
Chinese nudles are colled Ramen in Japan.
Have you ever tried making a ramen ommlette? Its strangely appetizing.
Anybody here have the guts to try Ryoko Hirosue's favorite instant ramen recipie/ritual from the movie "Collage of Our Life"? It is basically Nissin Instant Ramen with mayonnaise. I remember Nissin did actually release this ramen-"flavor" for a short while as a promo item for the movie.
I wanted to try this out a couple of times, but I'm too scared! Ryoko seemed to enjoy this in the movie, through...and she's so very cute...try it out guys, for her sake!
It sounds as apetizing as mayonnaise pizza. Is it just dumping some mayo in the soup?
>>39
sort of...this is what she does:
2. Squeezed a fair amount of mayonnaise into the cup. Then stirred it up.
3. Freaked out her insecure, aspiring photographer boyfriend by eating the noodles with childish delight. Then made him even more quesy by encouraging him to try it.
I don't know what flavor the cup noodles were. I always assumed it varied. The one Nissin produced already had the mayonnaise flavor in it.
>>40
As gross as that sounds I think it might work with the right kind of mayo, if you drained the broth first. The jarred stuff you get in north american supermarkets is much too thick and goopy. I tried this other kind from a certain region once. It was a lot creamier and smoother, with a noticeable citrus tang that balanced out the "fattyness" of the mayo.
Wikipedia sez:
Japanese mayonnaise, typically made with rice vinegar, tastes somewhat different from mayonnaise made from distilled vinegar. Sold in squishy plastic squeeze bottles, it is complementary to sushi and Japanese cuisine. It is even used on pizza. Kewpie is one popular brand of Japanese mayonnaise, advertised with a Kewpie doll logo.
The use of English is strongly basically hoped for.
The use of Japanese is strongly basically hoped for.
Anyone familiar with Saimin?
I had some from a local Hawaiian place just now, but found it extremely boring. The broth tasted like plain chicken stock from boullion, far less flavorful then either ramen or pho... only a generous injection of soy sauce and the chunks of spam made it halfway decent. Does my Hawaiian BBQ suck or is saimin just not an exciting food?
For $3.25 I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, but I could have had their much tastier loco moco for a buck extra.
Sapporo Ichiban(miso) is the best.
But never use water when you cook.
Use MILK instead.
>>48
What's the difference? Is any milk good, or is whole/homo/1%/2%/skim better?
>>49
Hey you have been thinking about such a small thing for 24 hours!
Don't think too much. Just try!
I hate packaged ramen but I love the real thing. My favorite is kimuchi ramen (kimchee), even though I hate kimchee by itself. There's a Tokushima-style ramen place near where I live, but the broth tastes too strong and ... single-flavored?
> Tokushima-style ramen
What is it?
ramen is noodles but are noodles also ramen?
ramen is noodles but are noodles also ramen?
Yeah, that Homo-milk is pretty good. Has a bit of a salty flavor, though. XD
>>57
Homo = homogenized. You need to get your mind out of the gutter.. It's not gutter friday yet.
I boild noodles. Drain them. Then add seasoning. The have quite a bit of flavor...but are kinda dry :P
I'm sort of happy to find a Ramen thread! Yes, Ramen is one of my favorite food. This is a bit silly question, but I've never heard there are Ramen restraunts except in Japan. Do your country have one?
Ramen is my passion. I live to eat Ramen. No other food could make me satisfied when I eat up. But it seems like some contries only have instant noodles, that's too bad. Soy soup ramen is really awsome. Hope you will have a go one of these days.
Which is the best ramen restaurant in Japan?!
>>62
Good question, I don't know!
It's all up to your tougue. There are many kinds of flavors such as soy sauce, miso, and fatty or not.
But there are many popular and famous ramen restrants here,
top among them, Nakamuraya. It was awarded in a Ramen competition, if I remember correctly.
I hereby declare ramen replace spagetthi one of these days.
Have you ever had a bowl of Abura Men?
That taste wonderful. I'd call it a new era of Ramen.
I just made some ramen to eat for lunch, and added spring onion, corn, and baby peas to it. It's really tasty, but it's tongue-numblingly hot and spicy! It's still a pleasing taste though, and the aroma is wonderful.
I eat ramen with mayonnaise, make it first, drain it, add the mayo and mix it in. It's great but probably not brilliant to eat too often.
mayonnaise tastes pretty good with ramen.
I've tried cooking the ramen, draining it and then sprinkling powdered Parmesan cheese into it. It tasted yummy.
Never seen a ramen shop here. I lived in California for 22 years then Utah for 9. Strangely California has a lot of different ethnic foods (everything from Armenian to Thai) but no Ramen shops that I ever knew.
Ramen in the US is just the instant packages for sale about $.15 a package. Just imagine how awful it is if it's only worth $.15! I bought some Japanese instant ramen at an import store. It was very good.
For me, I just add egg to mine. I'll either beat the egg first and put it in, or just add 1 whole egg and mix it in. Either way it tastes the same.
tooooo expensive :o
I find that 'instant Ramen' in microwave with a bit of Diet Coke mixed in has a rather unique and enjoyable flavour to it.
pssh, there are no ramen shops where i live... which sucks. i'm gointo japan one of these days to eat some good food
>>72
i'm going to try that if for no other reason than it sounds kinda crazy. but you may very well be right! if it doesn't kill me, i'll reply with my findings
There's these Korean instant ramen that I like that come with Kimchee packets...they are SO good.
Myojo Chukazanmai brand are really good too. I like those a lot but they can be expensive.
try this with any beef kind i liked it =3 Cook your ramen in water normally then after it comes out drain most of the water and add
chopped lettuce
green onions
leftover beef ( not too much)
crushed tortilla chips( not too much)
taco seasoning
ramen seasoning
crushed red pepper
garlic powder
optional: ketchup ( i use a little bit)
viva le ramen
You only need some vegetables OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!!!!
Bump. Ramen are cool. We should talk about them.
As for me, I've fallen in Love with Nissin Mushroom & Chicken latery.
this winter vacation I went to quebec in canada to go snowboarding for a week. I went with my friend's collge. Before checking in we bought about a dozen packs of some generic ramen, the ones that come in squares, not cups. By the end of the trip we had about half of them left.
So I was like, "we need to check out soon, what are we gonna do with all this ramen?" So I thought of it, and I went out the balcony. We were on teh second floor and from the balcony, we could see the hotub.
I chucked the remaining ramen into the tub.
>>70
Sorry to hear that.
We have many ramen shops here in Japan. Fresh ramen is served there. Also, we can buy packed fresh ramen in supermarkets.
Take a look at those images:
http://images.google.co.jp/images?hl=ja&q=%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A1%E3%83%B3&btnG=%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2
In my opinion, fresh ramen tastes far better. Hope some American starts doing Ramen buisiness where you are.