The story behind America's hippest noodle

[Michel_Abood]

Great, now I’m dying for some ramen, thanks a lot. I’ve been to Ivan Ramen and have to say it’s pretty good. My wife is a ramen nut too and approved of his broth (being half-Japanese, that’s a compliment from her).

I do like a good pho and Chinese style too, it just depends on my mood that day.

[Frank_Deis]

One thing that interested me – in the original video, Kenshiro Uki mentions that one of the ingredients in their noodles is Kansui. This is a solution of 2 salts, potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, which for some reason makes the noodles a more yellow color, and gives them a firmer texture. It’s described in this blog post about making your own noodles at home.

Homemade Ramen Noodles

Another thing I know about ramen that interests me – outside a Ramen shop in Japan the sign is likely to say 中華, “chuuka” which means Chinese food, sometimes Ramen noodles are called chuuka soba. So if you go back far enough, ramen must have originated as a Chinese noodle.

[Kenny_H]

@Charlie Fu

http://www.yelp.com/biz/101-noodle-express-irvine

have you been there? They do the thick knife cut noodles with the lamb meat soup. Really good. The spare rib noodle is insane too. GOtta get an order of green onion pancake.

Place is very similar to xi’an. Man I haven’t been to xi’an since forever. Went to the Flushing one when they first opened 9-10 years ago.

nice find! gotta check that out.

[CWun]

I’m just glad that most of the crappy ramen bandwagon shops are closed now. In 2004-2008 or so there were a ton of crappy ramen joints (usually run by Chinese folk)

You really have to go to a Vietnamese centric suburb or dense area of a city to get really really good pho. Most pho is very mediocre. Not a lot of meat used in the broth, over reliant on fish sauce, and one note on the asian spices.

There are a lot of chinese noodle soup dishes out there, and usually broth is an afterthought for 95% of the places…except for maybe the taiwanese/lanzhou beef noodle soup. On the otherhand, the freshly handpulled (or variant “shaved”) noodles are the star at these places. You won’t find an equivalent at any other Asian restaurant except for Korean-Chinese joints or maybe an old school soba joint.

I’m tired of tonkotsu-style ramen. so tired. The double soup style ramen (ie ivan ramen) is a breath of fresh air.

[CFu]

@CWun

I’m just glad that most of the crappy ramen bandwagon shops are closed now. In 2004-2008 or so there were a ton of crappy ramen joints (usually run by Chinese folk)

You really have to go to a Vietnamese centric suburb or dense area of a city to get really really good pho. Most pho is very mediocre. Not a lot of meat used in the broth, over reliant on fish sauce, and one note on the asian spices.

There are a lot of chinese noodle soup dishes out there, and usually broth is an afterthought for 95% of the places…except for maybe the taiwanese/lanzhou beef noodle soup. On the otherhand, the freshly handpulled (or variant “shaved”) noodles are the star at these places. You won’t find an equivalent at any other Asian restaurant except for Korean-Chinese joints or maybe an old school soba joint.

I’m tired of tonkotsu-style ramen. so tired. The double soup style ramen (ie ivan ramen) is a breath of fresh air.

maybe at your crappy cantonese noodle shops

[Kenny_H]

@Charlie Fu

@CWun

I’m just glad that most of the crappy ramen bandwagon shops are closed now. In 2004-2008 or so there were a ton of crappy ramen joints (usually run by Chinese folk)

You really have to go to a Vietnamese centric suburb or dense area of a city to get really really good pho. Most pho is very mediocre. Not a lot of meat used in the broth, over reliant on fish sauce, and one note on the asian spices.

There are a lot of chinese noodle soup dishes out there, and usually broth is an afterthought for 95% of the places…except for maybe the taiwanese/lanzhou beef noodle soup. On the otherhand, the freshly handpulled (or variant “shaved”) noodles are the star at these places. You won’t find an equivalent at any other Asian restaurant except for Korean-Chinese joints or maybe an old school soba joint.

I’m tired of tonkotsu-style ramen. so tired. The double soup style ramen (ie ivan ramen) is a breath of fresh air.

maybe at your crappy cantonese noodle shops

asian throw down.

[CWun]

@Charlie Fu

…
maybe at your crappy cantonese noodle shops

cantonese noodle shops = wonton noodle soup (a place in SF also makes their noodles inhouse with the old bamboo pole method). You taiwanese make sh*tty wontons. sorry. #truthHurts

[dcornutt]

Tonkotsu = Yummy!

[CJ_Beazley]

Anybody ever see Bourdains old show about the guy that makes noodles in that upstairs apartment. He had a long pole he kind of sat on to kneed the dough.

[Michel_Abood]

@Frank Deis

One thing that interested me – in the original video, Kenshiro Uki mentions that one of the ingredients in their noodles is Kansui. This is a solution of 2 salts, potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, which for some reason makes the noodles a more yellow color, and gives them a firmer texture. It’s described in this blog post about making your own noodles at home.

The Cooking of Joy: Homemade Ramen Noodles

Another thing I know about ramen that interests me – outside a Ramen shop in Japan the sign is likely to say 中華, “chuuka” which means Chinese food, sometimes Ramen noodles are called chuuka soba. So if you go back far enough, ramen must have originated as a Chinese noodle.

Yep, ramen originated from Chinese noodles.

[Marshall_Gelb]

Now this is a fun thread! Love 'em all…pho, ramen, Chinese. Have not been to Xi’an, the restaurant but will be in Xi’an, the city this fall. Anyone been or have recommendations?

Cheers!
Marshall