There’s No Ramen Like Shoyu Ramen!

Do you have Ramen restaurants in your country? Have you eaten Shoyu (soy sauce) Ramen before? Today we’ll be researching Shoyu Ramen thoroughly!

The Broth and Soup of Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen soup is made by stewing chicken and vegetables for many hours, then adding dark soy sauce to the soup stock for completion. Vegetables used typically include green onions, onions, garlic, carrots, but other vegetables and fat such as lard are also added to create a unique flavor.

Noodles Used in Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen goes well with noodles that have a medium thickness with medium moisture, or noodles that are thin. Noodles that are too thick or too chewy don’t quite go well with Shoyu Ramen’s soup.

*Moisture of the noodles is referring to the ratio of flour to water when the noodles are created.

How to eat Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen is served topped with menma (boiled bamboo shoots), chopped green onions, chashu pork, and nori. Ramen with extra chashu pork as its main topping is called "Chashu Men."

Making Shoyu Ramen

Here we’ll go over 1 way to make Shoyu Ramen with chicken stock.

1. In a storage container add some kelp and dried bonito. Add water, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to create Japanese-style soup stock.
2. Put the chicken to be used in a bowl and add plenty of water to drain any blood.
3. Clean the chicken with running water. Pre-boil the chicken once by putting it into a boiling pot of water for 30 seconds.
4. Put the prepared chicken, green onions, ginger, garlic, vegetable bits, sake, and water in a pot and simmer it over low heat for around 6 hours.
5. Strain out the chicken and vegetables, leaving just the soup.
6. Complete the soy sauce soup by adding the soy sauce, which is made by putting soy sauce, sake, and vinegar in a pot and bringing it to a boil. You’re finished once the chicken stock and soy sauce are combined!

Shoyu Ramen for the Modern Japanese Person

It is said that the original soy sauce ramen was based on "Tokyo ramen" which was served at "Rairaiken" in Asakusa, Tokyo back in 1910. Soy sauce ramen can be considered the origin of ramen for Japanese people, and it can be said that it is the ramen that has the most familiar taste to the people.

For the chashu served with Soy sauce ramen, the pork is stewed with the soy sauce of the ramen. This makes it differ greatly from the sauce used with shio (salted) ramen and miso ramen.

Soy sauce ramen has a long history, with local soy sauce ramen served all over the country, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. In Hokkaido famous ramen include Kushiro Ramen (Kushiro City, Hokkai) and Asahikawa Ramen (Asahikawa City, Hokkaido).

Others include Kitakata Ramen of Tohoku region, Sano Ramen (Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture) in the Kanto region, Kyoto Ramen (Kyoto City) in Kinki region, Onomichi Ramen (Onomichi City, Hiroshima) in Chugoku region, and Miyazaki Ramen (Miyazaki Prefecture) in Kyushu.

What did you think? We hope you enjoyed learning about the features and history of Shoyu Ramen.