4 Levels of Ramen: Amateur to Food Scientist

[energetic drum music]

I'm Bianca and I'm a level one chef.

I'm Lorenzo, and I'm a level two chef.

Hi, I'm Yuji, I've been a ramen chef for eight years.

[energetic drum music]

How often do I make ramen?

Embarrassingly enough, more often than I should.

When I wanna get fancy and add the chicken,

maybe a couple times a month.

I make this type of ramen,

which is with a nice broth,

probably once a month,

moreso during the winter,

but I like soup all year round.

I wanted to create the ramen that I wanna eat every day.

I'll be combining fresh chicken bones

and also the fish bones.

[dramatic thumping music]

We're gonna start it off with shredding the chicken.

So I am just going to submerge my pork belly 10 minutes.

Whole fish breakdown process starts

from removing the fins.

I'm just taking the scale off.

Make sure that guts are removed.

Rinse the head.

Half an onion,

as well as this beautiful dab of ginger

into our marinade bag.

Soy sauce.

Rice wine vinegar.

Sugar!

Salt, pepper, garlic.

[Yuji] Cut the skin.

Turn it, same process,

and then take the tail off.

Cut the ribs.

So obviously this is level one, okay?

Don't judge me.

It is important to roast bones at the high temperature,

so you don't lose the gelatin that's underneath the bone.

And let's let it up!

Oh, lord have mercy!

[laughing]

Don't open it yet 'cause it still

obviously has pressure in it,

or else it's gonna be all over your ceiling.

Maybe I should've took the skin off,

but you know, nobody's perfect!

The best way to enjoy the skin and the fat underneath

is by torching very quickly at high heat.

Right after that, you wanna put it into the ice bath

and shock it.

Let me just massage it through.

Look how nice and dark that is.

I have corn starch,

and I also have flour.

And we're gonna easy coat this.

I am just trying to crisp the outside of it.

About six slices for ramen-- Toppings.

Now, we are chopping up some scallions--

For my stock.

I am going to also prep the scallions for my topping.

I usually use the cayenne pepper to top it off.

I love lemon in soup!

You want something to brighten it up.

I really like the flavor of fennel.

The leaf is so delicate that

it actually doesn't add any flavor.

That's why I actually put it on top of the bowl.

I love red pepper flakes to saute vegetables.

A couple handfuls of my bean sprouts.

You're just gonna warm it through.

Salt.

We're going to move onto a leek.

Oh, just the green part.

Good for the broth.

A leek has a lot of fiber,

so if it's minced up, it tastes much, much better.

The ginger that I'm chopping right now

is gonna be for the topping.

So now it's time for the-- Broth.

You pour the water.

The old red pepper flakes.

These, I will leave whole.

I will add my onions, tomato,

this will melt into the stock.

My ginger, garlic.

The water will start to boil

and we'll add some garlic powder.

So now you gotta do it.

It's my favorite salt bae, you know?

Today, I am actually using this

crazy display of bones.

[Yuji] So I'm going to start with the chicken first.

This is about five to six pounds of bones.

So next, I'm going to put the fish bones

that I just rolled back nicely.

And the vegetables, aromatics,

and then water, just enough to cover the ingredients.

[Lorenzo] I am actually gonna put some chicken broth in.

[Bianca] So, we're gonna add

some chicken flavor seasoning.

Mix it a little bit.

So I'm gonna bring it to 180 to 200.

I'm gonna keep it same temperature for eight hours.

It smells like [laughs]

three AM, studying for finals.

And then I'm going to strain the broth

and I'm gonna add the last component, which is kombu,

which is a dried kelp.

[Lorenzo] Look at that, you guys.

Away we go.

This is the broth that I strained.

So you can see how gelatinous this is.

This instantly becomes like a ramen broth.

But not instant ramen, the real ramen.

I actually use the ramen that comes in those college packs

of buy 10 for a dollar. [laughing]

Something like that.

I add a little soy sauce.

I like to kinda like split it in half.

I think, you know, it kind of like

allows for faster cooking.

Voila.

So I'm gonna have OO of flour,

gonna make a little room right here in the middle.

And just our water.

And then kansei.

What it does is to add extra gluten into the noodle.

[Lorenzo] I do like to try to break it up a little bit,

just makes it cook faster.

I kinda just allow it to sit

and it'll kind of like break apart on its own.

I'm kneading just enough so that it

becomes almost like a mochi.

So I'm gonna just rest this for a half hour.

I kinda like to wait for a certain type of consistency.

I cannot tell what that type of consistency is,

but I know it when I see it.

You wanna feel like a almost a texture of the leather.

It's important that you do it quickly too,

so that the noodle doesn't get dried out.

I kinda like to wait until the noodles are a little bit,

I don't know, straight?

Okay, so let's just pull one out to see

if it's the right consistency.

We're gonna do it with this lucky guy.

Yes, we are done.

Yeah, it's ready to go, mm, it tastes so good.

So, I try to strain as much as possible.

I feel good about the texture.

I'm gonna just fold it into the size

that's perfect for each slurp.

You know, combine all of them together,

leave it out right now so it actually says in this radius.

I'm going to boil noodles for about two minutes,

and I'm gonna build everything.

So we start off with pouring the noodle

and the broth inside the bowl.

Now we're gonna add a dash of cayenne pepper for some spice.

And mix that in a little bit.

Just to kind of like get a nice cayenne to noodle ratio.

[Lorenzo] Sauteed bean sprouts,

fried pork belly.

So now we're gonna add some chicken.

And lastly, the scallion. Scallion.

Let's put the egg in.

Now, pour the broth.

A little bit of sesame seeds.

And a little citrus to bring it on home.

I like using a little bit of sesame oil.

I am also gonna go use, don't get scared now,

fish sauce, a little bit, a couple drops.

I always add a little bit more soy sauce.

Chicken fat.

Scallion ginger oil,

leek, ginger, and then the pepper.

And that is super hot,

make sure the normal water is coming out

so that noodle will just keep sucking up the broth.

Then I'm going to have nori

seaweed in the middle like this,

and the sashimi snapper.

And then the fennel.

And then eggs.

This is my chicken ramen.

[thunk]

My ramen noodle soup.

[thunk]

This is my motainai shoyu ramen.

[thunk]

[warm anticipatory music]

So now for the tasting of the finished product.

[slurping]

That's good.

It's spicy, it's flavorful.

I think this actually turned out really, really great.

Ramen is just gonna soak up

all of those delicious flavors,

so you need a good base and broth is the base.

And that, that ramen's fantastic.

I'd like to leave and eat some more. [laughing]

So everything is so well-balanced that

you cannot tell what is inside exactly,

but as a overall, it makes a really nice one giant flavor.

I'm gonna just finish it. [laughing]

So good.

[slurps]

[thunk]

Ramen is a Japanese comfort food

that loosely translates to pulled noodles.

Nearly every region in Japan has is own variation of ramen.

Let's take a look at how our three chefs did

with this classic hearty favorite.

[rumbling drums]

Bianca made a very simple dorm room ramen

which relied on an instant chicken-flavored noodle package.

She elevated her meal by adding rotisserie chicken

from the grocery store for an easy protein.

And garlic powder and cayenne for a layer of complexity

in this very salty style of ramen.

[coughs] [laughs]

You know what?

That's the type of kick that I like, though.

Lorenzo made a pork-based ramen

using pork belly as his main protein.

Pork belly is a boneless cut of pork

with a lot of fat that can absorb a lot of flavor.

Pork belly.

It's actually really, really soft.

He marinated it with soy sauce for saltiness,

rice vinegar for acidic notes,

and to tenderize along with salt, pepper, and fresh ginger,

with fresh garlic and onion.

He marinated it for 40 to 50 minutes

to add flavor to the surface of the pork.

But only the salt will penetrate more than surface deep.

Lorenzo then coated the pork belly

in corn starch before frying it.

Yuji used sushi-grade red snapper

as the main protein for his ramen.

He breaks down his fish and heats one side

of the descaled fish very quickly with a blowtorch.

Just enough to dehydrate it

so that the skin remains crunchy,

but it doesn't cook the filet of his fish.

Yuji is also unique in that he'll use

every part of the fish while creating his ramen,

leaving nothing to waste,

it's as efficient as it is delicious.

The aromatic vegetables he used

were fennel, ginger, and leeks,

reserving some fennel for garnish,

so he wastes nothing in making this bowl of ramen.

Motainai shoyu ramen.

Motainai mean to not waste.

[rumbling drums]

Bianca's broth is not flavorful, just salty.

In the flavor packet that came with her instant ramen,

you'll find things like MSG, salt, sugar,

dehydrated garlic and onion,

along with palm oil, hydrolyzed corn, wheat,

and soy proteins.

Maltodextrin is added for body,

and turmeric for color.

TBT for all you guys, okay?

This is a throwback.

Lorenzo starts his pork bones with cold water,

which is important so that the bones heat evenly

and at the same time as they simmer,

allowing for even flavor extraction since all of the bones

are diffused with the same amount of heat.

Lorenzo strained the protein-based foam

that forms when simmering animal bones,

leaving a dark, rich, and flavorful stock for his ramen.

Yuji also made his own broth

from his red snapper bones and head,

adding chicken bones for additional flavor.

The chicken and then the fish have different umami asset,

that's why it's important to layer them.

He roasted his fish bones,

which extracted minerals from the bones into his broth,

darkening it and adding yet another layer of flavor.

He simmered this bone broth for six to eight hours,

without boiling, for maximum flavor extraction.

Because particulate in larger pieces of food

mix and move around, creating a thoroughly infused broth.

Lastly, he adds kombu, which is an edible kelp

that brings an ocean salinity to his broth,

which will complement the fish very nicely.

[rumbling drums]

Bianca used wheat-based instant noodles.

These noodles are either dehydrated at high temperature

or are pre-fried, so they're difficult to overcook

when adding the boiling water.

Sometimes, it can overcook,

and it becomes like this weird, mushy,

disgusting noodle worm.

Lorenzo used convenient pre-made noodles.

This is a disc of ramen,

how the heck do we open this dang thing?

But he added soy sauce to increase

the salinity of his cooking water.

Adding a large quantity of salt in the form of soy sauce

will not only make the water appear darker,

but it increases the boiling temperature,

thus shortening the cooking time.

Yuji made his own noodles with special OO flour.

This flour is made from hard durum wheat,

and has a protein content of approximately 11 to 12%.

When we're talking about protein content in regard to flour,

it's the glutenin and the gliadin

that form gluten that we're considering.

And higher gluten equals firmer textured noodles

that can hold their own in hot broth.

He adds sodium bicarbonate and alkali,

which raises the pH, making the flavones,

which are normally white or colorless in wheat,

slightly golden in color,

while also making the gluten more elastic.

The addition of sodium bicarbonate--

Whatever that means.

Also increases the cooking time of the noodles,

allowing them to soak up more flavor from the broth.

[rumbling drums]

Bianca adds her shredded chicken, cayenne pepper,

and scallions to the top of her ramen

for color and for crunch.

You know, you gotta add a little shimmy to it.

Lorenzo adds his noodles, pork,

and toppings of bean sprouts, lemon, scallion,

and a soft-boiled egg, which is traditional

and adds additional protein to his ramen dish.

Yuji adds his leeks and fennel,

ginger and oil to the bowl first.

Then he pours his broth over it,

adds his noodles, kombu, and uncooked red snapper

before topping it with a soft-boiled egg and fennel fronds.

This method of building a ramen creates visual appeal

and minimizes disruption of the noodles

and heavier ingredients,

making this sashimi the real star of his ramen.

The also each added an egg,

allowing additional protein as well as visual flair.

When serving ramen, it's important to remember

that ramen noodles get soggy quickly

if they're left in the broth for too long,

giving them an unappetizing mouthfeel.

So they should be eaten immediately upon serving.

And yes, it's perfectly okay

to make a slurping sound when eating ramen

because the slurping enhances the flavors

and helps cool down the hot noodles

as they enter your mouth.

You have to do the sound,

it makes it much better.

So slurp away.

[slurping]

There's so much you can do to personalize your ramen dish,

from the broth used to the various proteins available.

Even if you're using a store-bought packet,

this is a dish you can always put your own unique stamp on.