Current Events > You would never eat at a ramen restaurant

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is so true, same reason why I wont eat candy corn because I associate it with corn

Same reason I won't eat steak I associate it with hamburgers.

I have made authentic ramen before, and let me tell you - you're getting the best deal of your life at a ramen shop compared to basically any other type of food.

I'm serious. Pizza, chilli, sushi, mexican, indian, whatever - these are all laughably simply and quick to prepare by comparison.

There is more or less no other food that is so time consuming and work heavy and time-sensitive as ramen.

Now if you can't taste the difference or don't care then that's cool, nobody can tell you what's good or not. I'm just saying, if you understood the amount of work and craft that goes into a single ramen bowl you would be thinking "my god, only $10 for this?"

it takes about 26 hours to make ramen

Beveren_Rabbit posted...

it takes about 26 hours to make ramen

You didn't ask but I typed it out anyway.

Ramen typically has 4 components: the noodles, the broth, the toppings and the tare (seasoning sauce). Let's take a "tonkotsu" (pork broth) ramen as an example.

The noodles are handmade. They are the quickest thing to come together and require the least amount of ingredients, but they're also the hardest part to get right. There is very little margin for error and a considerable amount of craft. Usually there's a special noodle making machine required, and this is expensive to buy and maintain. Any ramen shop worth its salt is making its own noodles.

The broth for tonkotsu is a pork bone stock made over 2-3 days, sometimes a week. You can use a lot of pork bones, but for the really authentic kind you need pigs trotters. The bones are cleaned and blanched and then the boil has to be kept at a high rolling boil for the entirety of the time you're making it. You can't stick it in a slow cooker and forget about it - in order to get the creamy consistency required you need to keep it very very hot and you need to keep topping it up with water. This means it has to be manned regularly.

The toppings usually includes pork chashu, which is a slow braised roll of pork in particular liquids. This is usually finished with a blowtorch to get the perfect char. The braise might take 8 hours or so. Other toppings including soft boiled marinated eggs, kelp seaweed, mushrooms, etc. You can have a lot of things here, and a ramen shop will treat and prepare each of these toppings carefully.

The tare is going to be some complex ultra reduction of soy sauce, chilli, mirin and dashi stock. Blackened garlic is often used. A lot of ingredients will get used to make a very small amount of sauce.

So you prepare all of this, and the final step is to combine it all together with just the right timing. You need everything hot but you don't want the noodles to overcook or the toppings to lose their freshness. You can't pre-prepare ramen bowls. If it sits in the bowl for too long the entire thing is ruined. So all of these things you spent days preparing now has to come together and be served at just the right temperature in a 30 second window.

That's one ramen bowl. Every ramen bowl is prepared something like this, regardless of the type of ramen or ingredients used.

If you try to do this at home, it ends up being expensive and needlessly fussy. So if you want a real bowl of ramen, the only way to have it is to go out and eat it somewhere.

I've wanted to try a ramen stand ever since I beat Ehrgeiz with Inoba.

**Massive game-ending spoilers that completely lay out his story and deep motivations for fighting**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgFpX57H5dM

I love ramen

I've had real ramen a few times and I was very unimpressed. Literally nothing in it had flavor except the broth. Noodles are noodles, that's fine, but the meat and vegetables just tasted like they'd just been thrown in there and boiled with the noodles.

Ramen is best made at home

Anyone who thinks real ramen = instant ramen is just ignorant.

I really wish I still had a ramen place nearby, but the only one in my town closed like 10 years ago now, and I'd need to go like at least an hour away now.

I usually just stick w/ the instant stuff now and then add my own twists, like cooking chicken or beef separate, or adding an egg or chili crunch or whatever.

REAL Ramen is one of my favorite meals.

Had real Ramen many years ago with a korean family. No comparison to the instant shit. Oh my god it was hot though. Took a lot of getting used to.

There's a ramen restaurant next door to my apartment building. It has a ventilation fan anchored to the wall behind my refrigerator.

I'd honestly probably like it even if the noodles were packages of Top Ramen if they kept the same broth and toppings.

There's like 3 pretty decent ones within 20 to 40 mins of me!!

If the bowls are as big as I see in video games and Anime then yes I would

nishikis Akuma ramen is just the tops. No way Id ever make anything close myself lol.

real ramen or Pho is amazing

Super false

In America, Ramen eat you

pinky0926 posted...

I have made authentic ramen before, and let me tell you - you're getting the best deal of your life at a ramen shop compared to basically any other type of food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtVL76gh09U

pinky0926 posted...

I have made authentic ramen before, and let me tell you - you're getting the best deal of your life at a ramen shop compared to basically any other type of food.

I'm serious. Pizza, chilli, sushi, mexican, indian, whatever - these are all laughably simply and quick to prepare by comparison.

There is more or less no other food that is so time consuming and work heavy and time-sensitive as ramen.

Now if you can't taste the difference or don't care then that's cool, nobody can tell you what's good or not. I'm just saying, if you understood the amount of work and craft that goes into a single ramen bowl you would be thinking "my god, only $10 for this?"

where in the world are you getting $10 per bowl?

Arcanine2009 posted...

where in the world are you getting $10 per bowl?

Some mom and pop places are still that cheap, though it matters more on where you are. In Texas, for instance, I could find a $10 bowl without too much issue. In Washington I'm lucky if I can find a $15.

It's just me but authentic ramen has a rubbery texture to it while instant ramen noodles doesn't.

Arcanine2009 posted...

where in the world are you getting $10 per bowl?

Nowhere tbh, I was quoting OP

I've eaten ramen at a restaurant before and would do it again.

My wife and I go get ramen at a restaurant about once per month. We got it for Valentine's Day this year. We have our one place that we know does it well and then we also go and try new ones. Some are hits some are misses. Good ramen at a restaurant isn't even in the same plane of existence as cheap grocery store ramen.

why is it so hard to find a good ramen restaurant?

Instant ramen is already the best, I don't need to go to any restaurant.