Shoyu ramen's development is documented from the early 1900s — the Tokyo style of ramen established by Chinese restaurants that adapted the clear, soy-seasoned chicken noodle soup they brought with them from Guangdong. The tare tradition distinguishes Japanese ramen from its Chinese noodle soup ancestors: the Japanese tare system — concentrated seasoning added to a pre-made broth at service — is a Japanese innovation that allows standardisation of the seasoning while allowing the broth and tare to be developed separately.
Tare (pronounced 'tah-reh') is the concentrated seasoning paste or sauce added to a ramen bowl before the broth is poured — the preparation that gives each style of ramen its character. Without tare, a ramen broth is a soup; with tare, it is a specific style of ramen. Shoyu tare (soy sauce tare) is the seasoning base of Tokyo-style shoyu ramen — the original ramen style, developed in the Tokyo Chinese-Japanese restaurant district of Asakusa in the early 20th century. It is not simply soy sauce: it is a reduced, seasoned compound of multiple soy sauce varieties, mirin, sake, and aromatics — more complex and more balanced than any single component.
**The tare system — why it matters:** The ramen shop's tare is its most closely guarded recipe because it is the preparation that most distinguishes one ramen from another. The broth (tonkotsu, chicken, dashi) provides the body; the tare provides the salt, the umami, and the specific aromatic identity. Changing the tare changes the ramen's character entirely, even with the same broth. Learning to make tare is learning to control ramen's identity. **Shoyu tare composition:** - Koikuchi soy sauce (dark regular soy sauce — Kikkoman is the widely available standard): 200ml. - Usukuchi soy sauce (light-coloured soy sauce, saltier than dark): 100ml — adds saltiness without adding colour. - Mirin (sweet rice wine): 100ml. - Sake: 50ml. - Dried kombu: 10g (for additional glutamate depth). - Katsuobushi: 10g. - Sugar: 1 teaspoon. - Optional: niboshi (dried baby sardines) for additional depth. **The production:** 1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. 2. Bring gently to below simmering (80°C). 3. Hold at 80°C for 20 minutes — infusing the kombu and katsuobushi into the seasoned soy and mirin mixture. 4. Remove the kombu and katsuobushi. 5. Allow to cool. 6. Store refrigerated. The tare improves significantly after 24 hours as the flavour compounds continue to integrate. **Using tare:** The ramen bowl: add 2–3 tablespoons of tare to the hot bowl first; pour the hot broth over it. Never add tare to the broth in the pot — it must be added at service to each individual bowl, because the quantity per bowl adjusts the salt level to taste. Decisive moment: The 24-hour rest after production — the tare at completion is technically correct but lacks integration. After 24 hours in the refrigerator, the soy sauce-mirin-sake mixture has mellowed and the kombu-katsuobushi infusion has deepened. This is not negotiable: tare used immediately tastes sharp and separated. Tare used after 24 hours tastes unified, deep, and round. Sensory tests: **Taste — the tare alone:** A small amount of tare on the fingertip: intensely salty, deeply savoury, with a slight sweetness from the mirin, a clean alcohol note from the sake, and the specific Japanese soy sauce aromatic (primarily 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone — a compound unique to Japanese-style fermented soy sauce). It should taste too concentrated to eat alone — it is a seasoning, not a sauce. **Taste — the seasoned broth:** 2 tablespoons of shoyu tare in a bowl of neutral, well-made chicken broth: the broth should immediately acquire depth, roundness, and a specifically Japanese character from the soy sauce's unique aromatic compounds. The salt level should feel balanced — forward but not sharp.
Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat, *Japanese Soul Food* (2013)