The story of Ramen
Ramen began as a Chinese noodle soup that reached Japan in the early 20th century, in the port cities and Tokyo, under names that meant Chinese noodles. After the Second World War it became cheap, filling street food, then a national dish, and each region developed its own style: shoyu in Tokyo, miso in Sapporo, shio in Hakodate and tonkotsu in Fukuoka.
Tonkotsu, the famous white and rich ramen, is made from pork bones boiled hard for many hours, so it is not kosher. The same principle, a broth emulsified by collagen and fat, works with chicken, and in Japan it has a name: tori paitan, white chicken broth. That is our ramen, kosher and meat, with chicken thigh chashu in place of pork chashu.
What makes Ramen itself
Ramen is not one soup but an assembly. The broth gives body, the tare gives salt and umami, the oil gives aroma and gloss, and the alkaline noodles give a spring that pasta lacks. Each part is made on its own and meets the others only in the bowl, so each has to be good by itself. Our broth is not salted at all; the whole seasoning comes from the spoonful of tare at the bottom of the bowl.
