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.