Sapporo-Style Ramen 101

[spaztic1215]

How about writing a little primer on what traditional ramen is?

Sapporo is generally accepted as the birthplace of miso ramen (with a supposed origin story whereby a a customer in a noodle house called Aji no Sanpei asked the chef to add ramen noodles to his miso soup).

Now, Sapporo-style ramen is known for a rich, pork-based, heartier ramen tare (broth), accented with ground or minced pork, and heavy/ier on the ginger and garlic aromatics. It's considered traditional to cook the miso base, broth, veggies, and aromatics in a lard-greased wok before serving.

The usual toppings for Sapporo-style ramen include roast pork, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, scallions, minced/ground pork, ginger, garlic, butter, and corn.

[DonRocks]

spaztic1215, would you mind going either deeper into the Sapporo-Style Ramen topic, or expanding it into a big ol' Ramen Primer like our other "101" threads? (Thai Noodles, Middle Eastern Food, etc.) I think that's what porcupine had in mind.

Even just with Sapporo-Style, we could probably triple or quadruple the length and depth of this (although it's much appreciated as is, and is a fine start). You're clearly knowledgable, and this is the beginning of a great thing. For example, I suspect the majority of even our seasoned readers do not know what "Sapporo" is, other than a beer, and guess what? That pretty much includes me. I also suspect a large minority of our readers don't really know what miso is, or what it has to do with Sapporo much less ramen. Don't be afraid to go into intellectual depth and history - we all eat this up, I know I do, and I can't wait to read what you have to say. Our "typical" reader is something like: female, 25-35, with a graduate degree. We're a super-smart bunch, myself notwithstanding.

I figure that if you found the time, you could crank out a well-researched 500 words just about Sapporo-Style Ramen, and probably a good 5,000 about Ramen in general. Just write over it, or cut/paste it into a new topic, and I'll edit this one accordingly including the title. You will become a ramen superstar in the DC area. Promise! When all is ready, I'm-a-gonna tweet u.

Check's in the mail.

[spaztic1215]

Haha, there would be so much to cover! I myself am only familiar with a few styles of ramen, and that is generally limited to Japanese regional varieties and some Korean and Taiwanese twists on it.

Although many ramen-joints often break up their ramen offerings by the tare (broth-base) flavorings of shio (salt-flavored), shoyu (soy-flavored), miso (duh), and sometimes tonkotsu (pork-bone and marrow broth), these can even vary considerably depending on the blend of broth components (which usually involve a mix of pork, chicken, seafood, veggies, and aromatics) and the cooking methods. Even now, ramen chefs are still innovating on ramen-preparation techniques, that seek both a deeper and more complex tare while maintaining balance of flavors. One more recent innovation is the "double-soup" method, where two broths (for example, pork-based and dashi/bonito-based) are prepared separately and then blended at the last minute to avoid a muddying of flavors. This is what Momofuku does now, I believe.

That said, when it comes to comparing ramen styles, most ramen-enthusiasts break it down into 4 main components: tare (broth concentrate, generally shio, shoyu, miso), broth itself, noodles, and toppings. True ramen success achieves a balance between all 4 components.

And as much as I often refer to the notion of 'traditional' ramen, ramen itself (at least in Japan) is comparatively a more modern dish. Yes, noodles were introduced to Japan early, by the Chinese. But ramen as we know it today really rose to popularity in post WW2 Japan, when wheat was a cheap import from the West; that's also why additions like canned corn niblets and butter are considered commonplace in ramen dishes, because of their postwar abundance and it was thus a cheap way to add sweetness and texture to a time-consuming yet modest way to nourish Japanese soldiers.

David Chang (owner of Momofuku) has a publication called "Lucky Peach", that dedicated its first issue to ramen. It's a very good and fun primer to ramen's origins and regional styles, and more modern takes abroad. I would recommend that, and also the excellent website Rameniac, which also has a regional overview here: http://www.rameniac.com/ramen_styles/

[spaztic1215]

Oh and Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, a northern prefecture of Japan. If you ever find yourself in Sapporo itself, you'll start to sense that Sapporo is more synonymous with ramen than the beer! There are ramen joints everywhere, and the famous "Ramen Alley" which is an alley lined with just ramen stalls. I think they ran out of space, so now there's even a NEW ramen alley. It is truly...heaven.

[DonRocks]

Note to David: Love Wu's Garden's Koh Tah Tofu, thanks to you. Cheers, Rocks

[Charles Tsui]

Oh and Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, a northern prefecture of Japan. If you ever find yourself in Sapporo itself, you'll start to sense that Sapporo is more synonymous with ramen than the beer! There are ramen joints everywhere, and the famous "Ramen Alley" which is an alley lined with just ramen stalls. I think they ran out of space, so now there's even a NEW ramen alley. It is truly...heaven.

Thanks for the great primer! Here are some visual aids from my 2010 trip to "Ramen Alley" in Sapporo. Note the slab of butter on top (Ren's gives you a much smaller slice cut cross-wise from a stick). The corn is unashamedly from a can. Delicious!

[Ericandblueboy]

5 Best Ramen joints in the U.S. I haven't watched the short film within.

[darkstar965]

Great stuff here. Thanks spaztic1215!!

And, just had to add on to the below bit of Don's initial request...

...For example, I suspect the majority of even our seasoned readers do not know what "Sapporo" is, other than a beer, and guess what? That pretty much includes me. ...

...by saying that while sure many (most) of us know the beer, that wouldn't be the kneejerk answer in a word association exercise. Nope. At least for me, it'd be the 1972 Olympics which were the redo after the award of the 1940 Olympics to Sapporo was thwarted by World War II. Japan's first gold medal came in that olympics in ski jumping, an event they swept by winning gold, silver and bronze.

[goodeats]

Daikaya's owner has a nice primer too (I hope I credited it right...): http://tasteoftravelroge.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/ramen-fine-points-and-how-to-eat-it/

[Kibbee Nayee]

Note to David: Love Wu's Garden's Koh Tah Tofu, thanks to you. Cheers, Rocks

+1

[Cizuka Seki]

What a great conversation! I've never been to Hokkaido and it's on my hit list of important food places to visit in Japan. Hokkaido is famous for producing a wealth of super awesome foods and ingredients -- dairy and seafood (especially crabs, salmon roe, uni) -- are most well known. Incidentally, the city of Otaru (小樽) is also said to be birthplace of the modern izakaya. There were always sakaguras (sake breweries) and sakayas (sake shops) but historically, they accommodated standing and drinking (tachi-nomi) and did not offer tables.

Anyway, as far as I know, Sapporo ramen -- like many a ramen -- originated from a Chinese restaurant called Takeya (竹家) that existed before the war. They started with a shoyu ramen that eventually evolved into the lighter stock version that exists today. Repatriots returned from Manchuria, which was just across the water (sort of like Palin's version of 'seeing Russia' only for reals), with the idea of incorporating pork bones for a deeper stock. And as spaztic1215 already mentioned, incorporating soy bean paste (miso) came into trend from a ramen shop called Aji no Sanpei (味の三平). Aji no Sanpei and Nishiyama Noodle Factory (where Daikaya procures its noodles) have a long history and others have probably studied this relationship more than I.

At some point, someone decided that the best way to protect the pork bone broth from the cold Hokkaido weather is to finish it with lard. Therefore, Sapporo stock is commonly on the fatty, heavy side. Sometimes, Hokkaido ramen might incorporate dairy as well for a whole different flavor profile.

MASSIVE SIDE NOTE: These spots I list (and many more) have their own special histories (and wiki pages) and it's pretty amazing. The one aspect of Japanese food culture that I really appreciate is that the focus and the history of a particular dish is not on the chef that created it but on the establishment from which it was created. The populist nature of the celebrity chef is a very, very recent phenomenon even in Japan. It's fascinating when you think about how that compares to food culture in the US, which very much revolves around the chef -- I guess because of food shows....

After the war, the famous "Ramen Alley" was developed. I only know about any of this because of an amazing magazine from the 50s called "The handbook for living" (Kurashi no Techo) and it's first editor was obsessed with Sapporo ramen. He also penned a piece on the invention of Sapporo-ichiban instant shoyu ramen, which was classic 50s food. Imagine if Kraft introduced ramen to the US along with it's other Madmen era food stuffs!

And so, children, as we've learned today, Sapporo ramen has a deep and long history and has evolved into many forms over time. Naturally, all are good in their own ways and it's worth trying it all!

[Tweaked]

Ivan Ramen owner, Ivan Orkin, is releasing a book in October.