Ramen

The four primary ramen broth styles are shoyu (soy sauce-based), shio (salt-based), miso (fermented soybean paste-based), and tonkotsu (pork bone-based). Tonkotsu is strongly associated with Hakata/Fukuoka, while miso ramen is most closely tied to Sapporo in Hokkaido, where it was popularized in the mid-20th century.

Authentic tonkotsu broth requires simmering pork bones — typically trotters, neck bones, and rib bones — for 12 to 18 hours at a rolling boil to extract collagen and emulsify the fat into the liquid. The bones are usually blanched first to remove impurities, then transferred to fresh water for the long simmer.

Ramen noodles are made with wheat flour, water, salt, and kansui, an alkaline mineral water that gives the noodles their firm, springy bite and yellow tint. Kansui originally came from Lake Kan in Inner Mongolia, and modern ramen shops use either bottled kansui or baked baking soda as a substitute.

Chashu is braised pork belly, typically rolled, tied with kitchen twine, and simmered low and slow in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and dashi. The name derives from Chinese char siu (roasted pork), but the Japanese version is braised rather than roasted and is far softer in texture.