The Complete Guide to

Making Ramen at Home

Ramen masters spend years mastering their craft, but that
doesn't mean you can't make a damn good bowl of noodle
soup for yourself. We asked Chuko co-owner David Koon
to light the path to DIY ramen greatness.
Cara Eisenpress Mar 11, 2015

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The cult of the New American ramen joint, with its endless wait times and ghostly bowls
of tonkotsu broth, has conspired to make the Japanese import feel off-limits to the humble
home cook. After all, how could you possibly unlock the mysteries of miso, or crack the
secrets of shoyu, when true ramen masters have spent yearsif not decadesperfecting the
dish?

Maybe you cant, but thats okay. Any home cook can make chicken soup, says David Koon,
co-owner of ramen restaurant Chuko.

According to Koon, its important to remember that, ultimately, thats all ramen is: soup with
noodlespreferably soulful and well-balanced, but still simple in essence. So, yes, there is
plenty of room to nerd out when it comes to the deep truths about ramen. But were not
going tonot here, not today.

Lets just agree that ramen has a storied culture and countless variations, and that its easy to
get bogged down in head-scratching details when we talk about and eat it at the best
establishments. That way, we can move onto the fact that ramen really only has four
elementsnoodles, broth, seasonings, and toppings. So while the question of the
perfect noodle to pair with tonkotsu broth may remain one of the profound mysteries of the
world, getting started on making your own ramen is easier than you thinkespecially with
Koon by your side.

Here, we offer a beginners guide to making your own ramen. Get comfortable with the
basics, then enjoy a lifetime of obsession.

1. Broth

The broth can be light

or heavy, clear or cloudy, says Koon. The whole bowl is about balancethe broth
balancing with the noodle, the toppings, and the seasoning. That means you can start with
the chicken broth youre already making and balance it out with other ramen ingredients
later. Heres the way I make broth: put 2 to 3 pounds of chicken bones or chicken wings into
a pot with 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, and 3 to 4 quarts of water.
After the stock boils, skim off all the scum, cover the pot, and let the pot simmer for 3 hours.
When you want to taste the broth to see if its rich enough, salt the bite you taste. To turn my
moms chicken broth into something ready for ramen, I combined pork bones and chicken
wings and followed the same directions. And thats it. Thats the big secret, says Koon.
Bones, meat, and you boil the crap out of it. Afterwards, strain your soup to remove the
bones and veggies.

If you want to dive into tonkotsuthe rich, opaque pork broth you see on a lot on menus
Serious Eats has a step-by-step guide. Youll need a source for pork trotters, which has
the collagen and marrow needed to achieve the right level of cloudiness. But before you
freak out, remember, tonkotsu is also just a big pot of soup. Koon likes to add aromatics like
ginger, scallion, and garlic towards the end of cooking. One potential secret ingredient is
apple, for sweetness.
2. Flavorings/Tare

Soup is easy, according

to Koon. Making it taste like ramen broth is harder. The soup is just water, says Koon.
You have to season it. You do this by creating a tare, which is something akin to the little
packet you get in instant-ramen packages. Salt and soy sauce are good sources of flavor. Miso
works too. Garlic mashed with salt is another option. You can ladle the broth into your bowl
and add the tare right in, tasting as you go in order to get the balance just right. A meat broth
seasoned with soy sauce becomes shoyu, an original ramen staple popular in Tokyo.

3. Noodles
The heavier the soup, the lighter the noodle you want, is the counterintuitive rule of
thumb for noodle-broth matching.

Its the reason why tonkotsu is balanced out with feathery fine strands, while thick miso
coats curly noodles best. Thats important information if youre cooking different kinds of
broths and have your choice of noodles at the store. (In New York City, check out Sun
Noodles new retail ramen kit operation.) When ramen chefs perfect a new broth, they book
several sessions with their favorite noodle makers, sitting down again and again to sample
how noodles customized with different widths, lengths, curly-ness, and egg-to-flour
ratio pair with the rest of the elements in the bowl. But in the end, all rules boil down to taste
preference, says Koon.

Cook ramen noodles in a pot of boiling unsalted water for the time specified on the
instructionsusually two minutes or less. Then drain them and add to your bowl right when
youre ready to eat.

If you cant find noodles labeled ramen, you can still make a bowl of ramen with any fresh
or dried egg noodle you find at an Asian market. Short of that, turn to the package of instant
ramen and grab the dried cake of noodles that popularized the dish here in the first place.
Toss the flavor packet. Cook the instant noodles quickly in boiling water, then strain, rinse,
and drain them before adding to your soup.

4. Seasoned Oil

A seasoned oil is tares trusty side-kick in helping you flavor your broth. A good oil will add
aroma as well as taste. For an easy solution, simply drizzle in a few drops of toasted
sesame oil. To make a knock-out garlic oil, mince a few cloves of garlic and put them in a
little bowl. Heat some oil in a small saucepan until its very hota tiny drop of water
should sizzle like crazy. Then pour the oil right over the garlic and let them steep together
while you prepare the rest of the ramen. Spoon both garlic and oil into the bowl when you
assemble.
5. Egg

To make a soft-boiled egg whose yolk is actually a little more gooey than the one
pictured, bring a pot of water to a boil and put whole eggs in for exactly 7 minutes.
Then, cool them under cold running water and dry. You can give each bowl just half an
egg if you want to maintain the lightness of the bowl.

6. Meat

Pork is traditionally the meat topping you see on soup, and pork belly is especially popular.
To get pork belly prepped for ramen, you have to cure, roast, and slice it. David Changs
recipe is simple and direct (most of the cook time is waiting). Pork shoulder is another
optionits an economical cut made even cheaper if you use the bulk of the meat and bone
to make broth, then slow-roast the rest for the topping. You can throw on shredded chicken
or brisket or flank steak, which are less authentic but perhaps more readily available. But
probably the easiest and tastiest option of allthe one that doesnt stray too far away
from the essence of ramen but is much quicker than curing pork bellyis stir-fried
ground pork. Cook a small amount of oil in a hot pan, then season with salt and bean paste,
suggests Koon. Whatever you choose, try to go easy on the meat. After all, this is the kind of
balanced meal you should want to eat every day.

7. Other toppings

A handful of green scallions, sliced super thinly on the diagonal, brings a mild onion-y
zing to the finished dish. You can also toast sheets of nori and cut them into strips, or
sprinkle on Japanese seasoning mixes like furikake and togarashi. Youll see menma
fermented bamboo shootsand fish cakes on many menus, but I couldnt source either
easily. On the other hand, I can never pass up thin slices of kimchi, whose spicy brightness
balances out almost any bowl thats accidentally gotten a little rich with pork fat and
flavored oil.

8. Assembly
To get the right ramen balancethats the mantra of ramen, whether youre obsessive or
notyouve got to respect the integrity of each element as you assemble. The most delicate
ingredient is your noodle, which can easily get too soft. Thats why Koon suggests scooping
the noodles into your bowl last. Start assembly by mixing together a serving of broth
with your tare to taste, then pile in the noodles and finish quickly with the flavored oil,
meat, the eggs, and any other toppings.

9. Speed Eating

Now, you eatfast. You want to eat it at its peak, when its at its best. If it sits for a
while, the noodle starts soaking up the liquid, and they get mushy, Koon explains. In
Japan, ramen is slurped rapidly and at the exclusion of everything else. The idea is you keep
the integrity of the food as its supposed to be, says Koon. Eating ramen, thats all you do
youre not there to talk, or have a conversation. You wait in line, you sit at the counter, you
get your bowl, you crush it in four minutes. Many ramen joints are standing room-only to
discourage lingering.

The drawback here is that ramen leftovers are considered worthless. While some American
ramen restaurants are stricter enforcers of the no take-out policy than others, at home you
avoid the problem entirely by only ladling out as much soup and noodles as you can
stomach. Store uncooked noodles and unused broth in the fridge so you can boil them up for
a quick, fresh dinner tomorrow.

10. Slurping

Slurping noodles carries the aroma of the soup, the tare, and the oil out of the bowl,
letting them linger near your nose just seconds before you take a bite. There arent too
many rules for ramen-eating beyond whats intuitivejust like ramen cooking. In both
cases, focus on whats in front of you, taste it carefully, andwith each bowl you make and
bite you takeyoull get one step closer to unlocking the noodle soups deep mysteries.