So, what is ramen, anyway? Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup dish, with Chinese-style wheat or egg noodles served in a very rich broth along with cooked sliced pork, fresh scallions, and a maybe slightly-more-than-soft-boiled egg. The dish differs from Vietnamese pho, which has a lighter broth, rice noodles, and beef rather than pork. Variations are endless, depending on the region of Japan you're in, and new interpretations pop up all the time. My favorite style is of course a seafood ramen making use of fresh shrimp, mussels, scallops, and snow crab (recipe for this below!).
The ramen joints in the U.S. typically classify their bowls in terms of flavoring--the sauce that's added to the master broth. There's shoyu, or soy sauce, added to more intense, often spicy ramen; shio, or salt, a lighter style that highlights the broth itself; and miso, the fermented soy bean paste, often used in vegetarian-style ramen for more umami. You'll also see tonkatsu ramen on the menu--this refers to the pork bone-based broth, steeped with aromatics and slightly thickened.
A truly authentic bowl of ramen is quite complicated to make on your own and time consuming. We have a much shorter recipe below for a simple seafood ramen though that is still gorgeous and delicious even if it's not a truly authentic one. Give it a try to warm up during this cold weekend!
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