Ramen Guide: 7 Popular Types of Ramen

Ramen is a noodle soup from Japan that features wheat noodles in a flavorful meat or vegetable-based broth with toppings like sliced pork, soft-boiled eggs, and scallions. Ramen restaurants typically categorize ramen noodle dishes based on the tare (seasoning) that the soup is flavored with: shio ramen (salt ramen), shoyu ramen (soy sauce ramen), or miso ramen (fermented bean paste ramen).

Ramen noodles are springy, yellow, wheat-flour noodles served in the Japanese noodle soup of the same name. Ramen noodles get their yellowish color from kansui, an alkaline mineral water. In Japan, ramen shops serve noodles with a variety of thicknesses and textures. Ramen originated in China as chuka soba (Chinese noodles), but it became common in Japan, particularly after World War II, when ramen’s popularity rose above other Japanese noodles such as soba and udon.

The two main types of ramen broth, paitan and chintan, can be made from chicken bones and meat from different animals cooked together with aromatics, like leeks, to form flavor variations for ramen broth. The key difference is that paitan is cloudy and chintan is clear.

• Paitan: Paitan broth is opaque, full of fat, and silky in texture due to gelatin, which forms when the collagen-rich connective tissue is cooked at a high temperature.
• Chintan: Chintan broth is clear, with a lighter mouthfeel, and it is often cooked at a lower temperature. Chintan chicken, vegetable, and seafood broths are often mixed with dashi—the popular Japanese soup base made from katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and kombu (kelp)—to make ramen.

Ramen broth is often made unsalted and then mixed with tare (seasoning) to add saltiness and flavor. From Tokyo to New York City, chefs at ramen shops use a variety of soup bases and tares to make this comfort food staple.

1. 1. Shoyu ramen: Shoyu ramen is served in a soup base, typically chicken broth, flavored with soy sauce. It is the most common type of ramen in Japan.
2. 2. Miso ramen: Miso ramen is served in a broth such as chicken stock and seasoned with miso (fermented soybean) paste. Miso ramen originated in northern Hokkaido in the 1960s and is sometimes called Sapporo ramen.
3. 3. Tonkotsu ramen: This type of ramen is served in a fatty, golden pork broth. This style originated in Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu island and is also known as Hakata ramen.
4. 4. Shio ramen: Shio ramen is seasoned with shio (sea salt). This dish is often served in the city of Hakodate with light, seafood-based broths.
5. 5. Wakayama ramen: Wakayama ramen is Tokyo-style ramen made with a tonkotsu pork bone broth flavored with soy sauce. In Tokyo, this ramen is often called chuka soba.
6. 6. Instant ramen: Instant ramen consists of dried instant noodles and a flavoring packet that can be rehydrated with boiling water. This pantry item was invented in Japan in 1958 and can be found in grocery stores around the world.
7. 7. Ramyeon ramen: This Korean instant ramen often features the spicy flavors of kimchi and/or gochujang (fermented red pepper paste).

A bowl of ramen is made complete with toppings. Some favorites include:

1. 1. Chashu: Fatty pork belly or loin simmered in soy sauce and mirin (rice wine) until tender.
2. 2. Green onions: Thinly slice green onions, also known as scallions.
3. 3. Soft-boiled eggs: Hard boil eggs, marinate them in soy sauce, and slice each one in half.
4. 4. Bean sprouts: Blanch or stir-fry this crunchy vegetable before adding to the ramen broth.
5. 5. Sesame seeds: For a nutty flavor, add sesame seeds or sesame oil.
6. 6. Shiitake mushrooms: To achieve an umami flavor to ramen soup, add shiitake mushrooms. (Dried shiitakes can also be used as part of a dashi soup base.)
7. 7. Bok choy: Quarter this leafy cabbage before adding it to the ramen broth.
8. 8. Nori: Add thin sheets of dried seaweed to the ramen.
9. 9. Menma: These fermented bamboo shoots are sweet and a little nutty.
10. 10. Beni shoga: This bright-red pickled ginger is often paired with tonkotsu broth.
11. 11. Kamaboko: Kamaboko is the iconic pink-and-white fish cake served in neat slices. When decorated with a swirl, it's called narutomaki or simply naruto.

You might find two variations of ramen noodle soup on the menu at a ramen restaurant. Abura soba (oil noodles) is a brothless ramen dish in which noodles are coated in oil and seasoned. A runny egg typically takes the place of the ramen broth. Tsukemen (dipped noodles) is a dish served with the noodles in one bowl and the broth in the other. To eat it, you grab noodles with chopsticks and dunk them in the broth.

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