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1
Prepare the tare. Combine soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a 2:1:1 ratio and reduce over moderate heat until slightly thickened. Reserve. For the niboshi variant, bloom dried sardines in cold water overnight, simmer for 10 minutes, then strain; the liquid is incorporated into the broth in place of a portion of the plain stock. The tare is done when it coats a spoon and carries a concentrated, rounded saltiness with no raw alcohol.
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2
Reduce 500 ml chicken-pork double stock to 200 ml over steady heat. This is where the dish lives or dies: the broth must be 3–5 times more concentrated than a standard eating soup, carrying enough flavour to season each noodle portion in a brief dip of 2–5 seconds — dilute broth at this stage cannot be corrected at the table. The reduction is ready when a small spoonful, tasted alone, is intensely savoury and almost uncomfortably salty in isolation.
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3
Off the heat, stir 3 tablespoons of tare, 1 tablespoon white sesame paste, and 1 tablespoon rice vinegar into the reduced stock. The vinegar is not optional flavour: it cuts the richness of the concentrated broth. Return to low heat and bring to 70–80°C before service. The broth is ready when it steams visibly and the surface shows a thin, mobile sheen of fat — not a congealed layer.
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4
Cook the thick noodles (2–3 mm) according to the package instruction. Drain, then briefly run under cold water to arrest cooking. Do not chill to ice cold: cool room temperature is the target. The noodles are ready when they are firm to a pinch — they should resist slightly — and have lost surface stickiness.
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5
Divide the noodles among four plates or shallow bowls — a larger volume than the broth, reflecting the 3:1 noodle-to-broth ratio by volume. Arrange toppings (chashu, menma, nori, soft-boiled egg, naruto) on the noodle side only, not in the broth bowl, so that the concentrated dipping broth is not diluted before the first dip. The presentation is correct when the noodle mound is clearly dominant and the broth bowl is small and full.
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6
Serve the dipping broth at 70–80°C in a separate bowl beside the noodles. At this temperature the fat in the broth is fluid and the gelatin mobile. The test: the surface shimmers; a finger held above the bowl registers distinct radiant heat within 5 cm.
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7
After the noodles are finished, offer wari-soup: ladle mild, lightly seasoned chicken stock into the remaining concentrated dipping broth at the diner's request until it reaches a drinkable soup strength. The diluted final broth is correct when it has the character of a rich but fluid ramen soup — deep and savoury, no longer sharp with concentration.