Shoyu ramen — the Tokyo ramen tradition, with its clear amber broth and straight, curly noodles — represents the original ramen style and the one with the most direct connection to Chinese la mian. The broth: chicken and/or dashi-based, seasoned with a specific soy tare whose character defines the bowl. The balance: clean enough to appreciate the broth's delicacy, rich enough for the satisfaction of a meal.
- **The shoyu tare:** Not plain soy sauce — a reduction of soy with mirin, sake, kombu, and sometimes katsuobushi. The specific layering of shoyu, mirin's sweetness, sake's depth, and kombu's glutamates produces a tare of greater complexity than any single-ingredient seasoning. [VERIFY] Ono and Salat's tare recipe. - **The broth:** Clear chicken broth (made with whole chicken — the collagen from the chicken produces just enough body without the aggressive richness of tonkotsu). - **The toppings:** Chashu pork (rolled, tied, braised pork belly — different from the cut pork of tonkotsu), menma (fermented bamboo shoot — its specific fermented character is the defining bamboo note in Tokyo ramen), nori, narutomaki (fish cake), and negi (Tokyo's specific long onion, different from spring onion). - **The noodle:** Thin, straight or slightly curly wheat noodles — the Tokyo noodle is different from Hakata's straight, hard noodle or Sapporo's wavy noodle.
Japanese Soul Cooking