Chef Jon Moch on Ramen

Asia

Feb 9

Written By

An Abbreviated History of Ramen

The history of ramen is believed to originate in inner Mongolia, around lakes with alkaline-rich water. This water created the perfect environment for a firm and delicious noodle that holds its density even when submerged in soup. Sometime in the 1880s, Chinese immigrants working as cooks in the Japanese port city of Yokohama began serving their unique noodles with soup. These Japanese restaurateurs began transforming the dish into a uniquely Japanese thing – they added Japanese ingredients and soon created what we know as ramen. Ramen gained popularity after the turn of the 20th century and especially in the 1920s. After World War II, the US government supplied Japan with wheat crops to help relieve their food shortage and the Japanese government promoted and encouraged the use of wheat noodles in Japanese cuisine. In 1958, Momofuku Ando created the process for instant ramen and consequently revolutionized ramen. In recent years, Ramen has exploded onto the American food scene.

How I Came to Know and Love Ramen

Like most Americans, my first experience with ramen was quickly-prepared, instant ramen, but my first introduction into what ramen can really be was in middle or high school when I first saw the film Tampopo – unequivocally the greatest ramen movie ever made and, in my opinion, the greatest food movie ever made. It follows a truck driver who decides to help a young single mother who owns a ramen shop on a quest to master her recipes and breath new life into her shop. And while it’s full of bizarre scenes that have nothing to do with the plot, the 1985 film has an amazing way of showing the significance of food in Japanese culture and society.

Not too long after, while traveling through Europe after high school, I visited a ramen shop in London called Wagamama – I ate there 3 times during my 4 days in London. It was the first time I had experienced ramen that was more than instant noodles and I had never eaten at a restaurant like this. The food was new and wonderful and the restaurant itself revolutionized my perception of the dining experience. Guests sat at long, communal tables and servers took orders with little handheld computers that sent tickets directly to the kitchen. While there is nothing remarkable about this today, back in 1998, it was so cool I though my brain was going to melt.

While studying at the University of Oregon, I frequented Toshi’s Ramen, a fantastic little ramen shop in Eugene that was way ahead of it’s time. Since these first experiences, my love for ramen has been like a little itch that has been quietly growing since I was a child. The more I scratch it, the more it obsess about it. I continued my ongoing quest to understand ramen on a recent trip to Japan with my wife and daughter.

Ramen in Japan

I learned a lot about ramen while in Japan. The most important thing I learned is the Socratic approach to knowledge of ramen. I thought I knew a reasonable amount about ramen but there was and is so much to learn. Three bowls in particular made me question everything – they were so different and interesting and perfect that it made me want to move to Japan and dedicate the next decade of my life to being a lowly cook for one of the ramen masters in an effort to understand just a fraction of what they know.

The first, and I think my overall favorite, was Afuri, the only ramen shop I want to twice (and I ordered the same thing). I ordered one of their specials which had lots of fresh yuzu zest (Japanese lemons) and was quite spicy. They finished the pork shoulder on a little grill and the noodles were very thin but had a wonderful, springy texture. Everything about it was perfect. I was filled with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and simultaneous sadness in leaving the restaurant. It was just so good that I was deeply sad the meal was over. We thought long and hard about getting in line again, but ultimately decided we were much too full for that. My next favorite bowl was a style called Tori Patan, a very rich and almost creamy chicken broth. The richness comes from emulsifying chicken fat into the broth, but it was so perfectly executed that it still managed to be light and refreshing. The broth is almost white and holds the heat more than other bowl I had – it was the only bowl I burnt my tongue on. The restaurant had only 8 seats and 4 cooks who put out two bowls at a time, no more. Each bowl was stunningly beautiful, served with vegetables and barely cooked chicken that finishes cooking in the hot broth. It was clean and refined and a beautiful experience. The last bowl I’ll mention was was beef ramen, which is unusual, and a small shop with 8-12 seats and 2 cooks. The ‘master’ took care of the guests, making sure everything looked right and everyone looked happy while the apprentice quietly made all of the food. This bowl was unexpectedly light and a little sweet. Our ramen journey was a great one – a huge variety of tastes, admirable mastery of the dish, and three happy bellies at every turn. Lucky for us, our daughter loves noodles, and there is nothing more wonderful to me than seeing a small child (my child!) eating a bowl of ramen and loving it. She is one year old and cannot get enough noodles and has already mastered the art of slurping.

Ramen Etiquette and Customs

Ramen is not a social thing in Japan. You don’t call up your friends and say, “Hey, let’s go get some ramen and sit and talk for a while.” Most ramen shops have a vending machine in the front where you order while waiting in line. Your food comes almost as soon as you sit down. The idea is to consume the noodles before they get soggy. To do this, you must slurp your noodles, which I think is a bit of a misnomer – the act is more of an inhalation in fact. When you receive your bowl, you pick up a small amount of noodles with your chopsticks, using your spoon to control the dangling noodles so they don’t splatter broth all over you. Then quickly slurp the noodles without sealing your lips. The idea here is to simultaneously cool down the noodles enough to eat and to get enough broth to season the noodles and fill your mouth with the delicious flavor. It is a seemingly simple endeavor but truly takes time to master. If you don’t slurp right, you’ll splatter yourself with hot broth or burn your mouth or, worst of all, get the broth and noodles in the wrong proportions! (If you’re a visual learner, check out the master in Tampopo teaching his young apprentice how to properly enjoy a bowl of ramen.)

What is Ramen, really?

While there are many many styles of ramen, they all share 5 key elements – The shiru (the broth), the men (the noodles), the tare (the seasoning element), the garnishes and the aromatic fat or oil. We now use kansui (water with sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate) to supply the necessary alkalinity to create perfect noodles. Separately, all of these ingredients can be wonderful and delicious, but when combined together they create an amazing microcosm of life and of the universe. When combined in the correct proportions they create balance that is like a little ecosystem of happiness and gastronomic satisfaction. The noodles can’t sustain themselves without the broth. The broth is lacking and a bit weak without the fat coating your tongue. The garnishes add character to the dish and give it a sense of purpose and uniqueness. The Tare (the seasoning agent) gives the whole experience meaning by adding the salt and umami that wake your tastes buds and allow them to fully engage the whole bowl. Any one part of the ramen just can’t be without all of the others.

One of the things I love about ramen is that it returns the love you put into it. If you microwave some water and pour it over instant noodles and add freeze dried seasoning mix, it will fill your body and sustain you. If you pour your soul into it and obsess about every element and use the freshest and finest ingredients, your love will be returned. You will have, or in our case give, an experience that can be life-changing. It will not only satisfy your hunger and sustain you, but will fill your heart and nourish your soul.

Start Your Own Ramen Journey

There are many wonderful ramen resources and cookbooks out there Unfortunately, most of them are in Japanese. Japan has a ramen museum and ramen reality shows and many cookbooks that deal with everything from only the tare or the noodles to ramen quite books and websites. There is even a website dedicated to documenting every ramen shop in Japan. There are a few English-language books I really like; Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan, their subsequent magazine Lucky Peach, and the TV show Mind of a Chef are all good starting points. Ivan Ramen by Ivan Orkin is one of my favorites. He is a personal hero of mine. Ivan is a white Jewish kid from New York that opened one of the best ramen shops in Tokyo. A few years ago, he released the book and opened a shop in New York. He has a very simple, clean style and embraces his heritage by doing a chicken and fish broth and rye noodles. Japanese Soul Cooking by Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono is another great book that covers ramen as well as many other Japanese dishes. They also have a very good ramen shop in NYC called Ganso. Harris Salat has written several very good books on different Japanese cooking styles from hot pots to grilling. I recommend them all. There are many other books on Japanese cooking but these are my favorites about ramen. Lucky Peach also published a great breakdown of the different ramen styles from the different regions of Japan.

Ramen in the Gorge

For several years it has been my dream to open a ramen shop and show the residents and visitors of Hood River how great ramen can be. The Ramen is for Lovers event on February 13 & 14 is the first step towards that goal. I am working hard to open a brick and mortar restaurant in Hood River called Nashi Ramen. Nashi is the Japanese word for pear. The name comes as an effort to pay tribute to the Japanese immigrants who worked so hard to develop the agriculture of the Hood River Valley. Without these hard working people, the area would never have become the agricultural wonderland that it is today. We’ve got more pop-ups in the works, as well as a crowdsourcing campaign and other fundraising endeavors. If you would like to continue to support us, invest in our business, or simply stay tuned, send me a message!

Special thanks to Quincho, Viento Winery, Kiyokawa Orchards, Crown Paella, Chris King Cycle Group and the love and support of our friends and families.