So I want to see how easy it is to make REAL Ramen Noodles.
I'm looking into it right now and I found a simple list, the only thing in all this that I may have a tiny bit of trouble locating is the Udon. I think Wal*Mart may carry it.
Has anyone here made (Close to) Authentic Ramen before?
You can basically do it all with normal ingredients but you need bonito flakes to really give it the flavor you associate with "authentic" ramen.
I've made Pho. AMA.
Is that a normal thing I can find anywhere or is that one of those I'm gonna need to find a chinaman for?
what do you consider the most fun to make?
Order bonito flaks online. It's not expensive.
The asian section at any supermarket will have them. But don't feel they are required--there are many different kinds of Ramen, and those that are based on chicken or pork based broths obviously don't use bonito.
>found on walmart.com
>25.02
JUST... WHY?
>Udon
Do yourself a favor and don't bother. They only use it in like 1 summer dish that I remember, and it's served cold.
I tried udon noodles and it made me feel sick eating them, because they are so thick, it felt like I was eating worms.
Honestly, don't use them, find regular ramen or soba or whatever. If you can't find some ingredient online don't be autistic about it, just replace it with something similar.
What's the volume?
>Order bonito flaks online. It's not expensive.
Lol, the price of those varies more than most foods. You'll find anything between cheap shit through very very expensive.
Most people use the instant stuff, like pic related.
I have made it before using:
>dashi (contains bonito)
>sake
>mirin
>soysauce
For meat I used pic related, I am not sure what you would call it in English because all my translations end up in bacon.
I use biological ramen noodles, slightly more expensive but very nice.
The mirin gives it a little sweetness, the marinade of the meat adds to the flavor.
If you want to go all out then you made a broth with chicken, lemon grass, ginger, brown miso paste which takes a day. Some shop did it this way, it was also very nice.
Forgot the picture sorry
Why does everyone say bonito 'flakes', the flakes are large pieces which go in other dishes. even the pics say dashi.
I feel like the bonito flakes/Udon is/are a required taste thing here
walmart.com
Though, I think it has to do with the fact it's 3 in a pack
I would be willing to give it a test if Walmart carries it.
(I'm writing a list for Walmart right now)
Looks like pork belly, user.
I like making the stock. I sub out traditional stuff for other things, for example using bok choy instead of celery, then adding seasoning you wouldn't normally use in a western style stock. Plating is fun too because it's all on the side, lime wedges, bean sprouts...it's just enjoyable.
Takes like an entire day though.
>I think it has to do with the fact it's 3 in a pack
well no fucking shit that comes out to about 8.50/oz which for what is essentially a pretty heavily refined spice makes sense.
I used these for dashi, they shouldn't be expensive.
walmart.com/ip/Dashi-No-Moto-Shimaya/172874624
They are small packets with it inside, you use about just about 1 for ramen.
If you want to make sweet omlette you also use it then you use 3 eggs and half a package
I've made udon noodles before, really easy and fun to make. You can hand cut them yourself to get the thickness you want.
For the broth I just used soy sauce, homemade chicken stock, and mirin, ginger.
That's called "pork belly" in English. If you were to cure it then it would become bacon. But just the raw meat is "pork belly".
>Why does everyone say bonito 'flakes',
Dashi is the name of the soup stock. Traditionally is made from Konbu (seaweed) and Katsuobushi (Bonito flakes). That looks like pic related.
The instant stuff, pictured in , is a cheap substitute for the actual flakes.
So I take it that the flakes dissolve fast then?
Go to an Asian grocery store/market. You don't need bonito flakes but if you want a true authentic recipe you should find them there.
They just drain them off and throw them away, all it does is give a slightly fishy taste to the soup stock. Same thing with seaweed.
Ingredients like mirin, sake, etc. Very similar, I only really used them for ramen because most of their other food sucks.
If you don't mind buying something you will use just once, go ahead. Just something to consider. Or maybe you'll enjoy it so much and make it many times, who knows.
I love making my own.
>boil ramen noodles for 3 minutes
>drain and rinse in cold water to remove slime
>put it in a bowl
>grated garlic
>grated ginger
>soy sauce
>chicken stock or veg stock
>mix them in 300ml of boiling water and stir
>either strain out the bits or put them in a bowl
There you go, simple delicious ramen. Add all the fancy bits you like, sliced roast beef, boiled eggs, etc.
>I feel like the bonito flakes/Udon is/are a required taste thing
Maybe, don't buy too much of them just in case you don't like them. Ramen is your best bet.
This is the video I watched to learn to make ramen.
youtube.com
The flakes don't dissolve. You steep them in the hot stock for about a minute or two then you strain them out.
The instant granules (hon-dashi, ) dissolve very quickly.
Thanks, yes it is. we call everything bacon for some reason.
as for OP I use these for veg:
>carrot thick strips
>shiitake mushrooms
>any meaty mushroom as extra
>spring onion
>bok choi or small pak soi (just not too big)
>pork belly
I cook the ingredients in a pan, carrot first then mushrooms (meaty first) and then bok choi, then I add in the already marinated meat, the marinade runs through your veg. Add powder spices: garlic, ginger and add pepper.
These you cook while warming up your soup broth. Your ramen is already done by this point (you wash it cold after cooking then add it in with the broth at the final stages to warm up again). Don't boil the broth, it will lose flavour. Put it all in a bowl, add your veggie shit and tada. I don't do eggs cause I am too lazy to boil them prehanded.
I did not expect these many people to help me out.
Thanks guys
No problem
Just to add I use these for the broth:
>Fill my bowl with water, keep recog that ramen and veg will be added.
>almost a full pack of mentioned
>2 tablespoon soy sauce
>3 tablespoon mirin
>2 tablespoon sake
Here is for sweet omelette, a bitch to make in a normal pan.
youtube.com
>buying food from wal mart
Have you tried, I don't know, an actual grocery store?
walmarts are grocery stores user.
Last time I checked, WalMart is a grocery store.
I'd like to hear how you made the udon noodles. I make italian pasta but they don't have that same texture.
It may have a "grocery" section, but it's not a grocery store. It's wal mart. Go to a real store you subhumans.
What does that even mean?
Do you have those tiny little Walmarts that close at 10PM?
Our Walmarts are ridiculously huge user. They have basically everything. I'm sure even a drug dealer somewhere.
I should be going sometime tonight or tomorrow, if the thread is still up, I'll even take a pic of the oriental section.
No if you go to a super walmart they have a huge, complete grocery store as well as a normal walmart stuff.
There's nothing there that a normal grocery doesn't have. Butcher, fish, dairy, bakery, deli, etc. it's all there.
It was the only real grocery store in the small college town I went to. Did just fine there.
>Last time I checked, WalMart is a grocery store.
Last time I checked they also sold fully automatic rifles too.
There's not a walmart in the world that sells fully automatic rifles.
where would you purpose I goto then user?
Almost no place I know of carries most of these ingredients cept there and Kroger. And Walmart almost always has better deals. They have primarily everything people need.
Huge? Yes. Complete? Far from it.
I have two super wal-marts in my town. They're fine if you want things from major brand names or processed/canned stuff, but their selections regarding produce, meat, and seafood are pitiful compared to a proper supermarket. For example, check out the meat section. If you want XXXXL-size packs of ground beef or saline-injected chicken, you're set. But stuff like Oxtail? Nope. Bones for stock? Nope. Good quality steaks? Nope.
The same applies to most of the processed stuff they carry. You'll find stacks of big brand name stuff, but very little in the way of slightly more exotic things.
This guy gets it.
I'm from the UK, I don't know where your nearest Asian market/grocery store is.
Unless you live in a high-density mestizo area no average American supermarket is going to have oxtail. The steaks at wal-mart are comparable to any average supermarket steaks, you'll even have mass-marketed organic/grass fed stuff that's pretty good, and I'm pretty sure you can find stock bones there too.
Granted you're not getting Whole Foods/local butcher levels of quality beef, but you're at a walmart fuck you.
>UK
that explains the rifles.
I've never seen them in a walmart.
Do you see the words "Semi auto" right there on the tag?
There's not a walmart in the world that sells fully automatic rifles.
Stupid nogunz britbottles. Isn't just posting on this site enough to get you thrown in jail yet?
>where would you purpose I goto then user?
An Asian market and a proper butcher.
>>They have primarily everything people need.
They have shitty quality merchandise marketed to the lowest common denominator of society. And their prices are not always that good. Their business strategy is to get people in the door by offering super low prices on big-ticket items like electronics but their basic groceries are often not that good of a deal at all.
my wife makes real ramen a few times a week (right down to making the noodles). I have her make it as spicy as possible and udon is great also but the noodles have to be bought, making them is hard to do for some reason. and if this thread is still up in a few hours I'll have her take a photo of the ramen cause she's probably gonna make some again. I'll ask her for her recipe also
Most of the supermarkets in my mid-size Texas town carry oxtail. And roughly half of them carry USDA prime grade steaks. All of them carry bones for stock. I haven't seen any of that at a Wal-mart, ever.
>>Granted you're not getting Whole Foods/local butcher levels of quality beef, but you're at a walmart
Yeah, that's the point. Walmart doesn't sell good stuff.
We don't have Walmart in the UK. Only companies owned by it such as ASDA. They sell most of the stuff needed for Asian cooking, you might struggle finding things like mirin or bonito but there's a possibility you can find them.
>Most of the supermarkets in my mid-size Texas town carry oxtail
High density mestizo areas, like I said.
>ameriplebs can't buy oxtails
You need a permit for that, buddy?
Man you really hate Walmart don't you?
I'm sure going to those is great and all but in my area, we don't have that that easily. I'd have to hunt it down user. I'll consider it after the first time making it.
That would be pretty cool.
See my link I posted a while back.
No, it's just not as common. It's like Cookies and Cream Pocky, only Kroger carries it
My town is hardly a "high density metro area".
Population is well under 100k. I'm not talking about Austin, Houston, DFW here.
MESTIZO, not METRO
M E S T I Z O
YOU GOT A LOT OF SPICS DOWN THERE
F
>Man you really hate Walmart don't you?
I really do. Their selection of foods is pitiful and most of everything else they sell is cheap junk that doesn't last.
>be amerilard
>want to buy some oxtails
>travel to walmart on my motorized scooter
>they don't have any
>load my cart up with 400lbs of saline-injected chicken tendies
>on my way home
>fall off scooter in to the road
>ambulance comes
>not big enough to carry me
>backup ambulance comes
>taken to hospital
>overnight stay in hospital
>police come while resting in bed
>arrest me for jaywalking
>pay $30,000 bail to go home
>pay $500 to get motorized scooter from the impound
>sit down on industrial-strength metal bed in living room
>mail comes
>medical bill, $230,000
>come on Veeky Forums
autism
So this sucks, went to walmart and they only had it on the site and not there -.-
Udon is in a lot more dishes than just one summer. Personally I'm not a big fan but it is pretty nice when its used to sop up left over sukiyaki
Now buckwheat soba, that shit is gross
ramen?
You say you want real ramen noodles, but then say you can't find Udon. That's like saying you want an American peanut butter sandwich, but can't find pepperoni. Ramen requires ramen noodles. You can't really find them in America, but you can make a damn good substitute with spaghetti, baking soda, and an oven. If you want a legit Udon dish, that's a hell of a lot easier to make.
Try to find a specifically Japanese market for your ingredients, Asian markets lead you astray with Korean and Chinese ingredients. Look up ramen recipes in Japanese so the internet does not inevitably lead you to recipes written by hipster middle aged women in
New Hampshire who know nothing about Japanese cooking. Try the japanese site cookpad for mom teir, or look deeper for the good stuff. Expect to do scary things like boiling a chicken carcass. The real stuff is salty, fatty, very bad for you, and wonderful.
yeah, there are some places around me that serve real ramen so I think what I'll do is go try it there first.
>Asian supermarkets don't exist
Finding the noodles is easy. Making ramen at home simply isn't worth the effort though
What this person said.
Fucking plebs. Ramen noodles are an alkaline noodle. Fuck off with this udon shit.
Baking soda in oven. Turns into stuff. Mix with water and salt. Rest. Make noodles.
You can add a yolk if desired.
Google it. Any recipe without that baking soda shit is weebo.
And flour lol
>Making ramen at home simply isn't worth the effort though
What effort? If you make it with dashi like this thread started out as that takes only about 30 seconds to make if you use Instant, and about 10 minutes if you make it from scratch.
If you want to go all-out and make tonkotsu broth that does take hours of simmering, but it's all hands-off. Let that shit cook while you're busy doing other things.
And once you've made a batch of broth you can portion it up and freeze it for making more ramen later on.
>So this sucks, went to walmart and they only had it on the site and not there -.-
Well no shit, OP. We just got done telling you that Wal-mart is not a good place to buy this stuff.
What part of "Asian Market" do you not understand? At the very least find an upscale supermarket that has a good import section.
Can't you hop on the train or bus and go to your nearest chinatown? Or hipster town?
I still say udon isn't worth it, it's not the noodle that restaurants use. Why can't you buy online? You know Amazon has a groceries section right, I got a lot of my Asian stuff from there. Like I don't understand this thread.
It takes like a fucking day and a half to make the broth and tare. It's worth it if you don't have anything else to do for a couple days
Udon isn't ramen, it's udon.
They literally do not nor have they ever.
Only certain walmarts will stock it. My area happens to have a very large korean and hispanic community, so there are entire aisles dedicated to that stuff. And then one shelf for kosher garbage that no one wants.
t. nogunz
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"REAL" is a meme
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Needs more corn syrup