Shōyu Ramen

Tokyo's original ramen: a clear, amber broth of chicken and dashi, seasoned with a shōyu tare of soy sauce, mirin, and kombu, with wavy noodles, chashu pork, nori, and a soft-boiled marinated egg

Origin: Tokyo (Edo), Japan

From the journey of Soy.

Shōyu ramen (醤油ラーメン, 'soy sauce ramen') is the oldest and most historically fundamental of Japan's four canonical ramen styles (shōyu, shio, miso, and tonkotsu), and the style most directly descended from the original 19th-century Tokyo ramen tradition. The dish arrived in Japan through Chinese immigrant cooks in Yokohama's Chinatown (Kantō region) in the 1880s and 1890s, and the shōyu tare (a concentrated soy sauce seasoning) was the Japanese adaptation that transformed Chinese noodle soup into something distinctly Tokyoan: clear, amber, precisely seasoned, and built on the dashi tradition of Japanese stock-making rather than the opaque, long-cooked Chinese bone broth. The tare (タレ, 'sauce' or 'seasoning') is the heart of shōyu ramen: a concentrated solution of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and kombu that is made separately and added in controlled quantities to the clear broth at the moment of assembly. The ratio of tare to broth is the ramen cook's signature; different shops guard their tare recipes as closely as any trade secret. The tare is what makes shōyu ramen unmistakably itself: the umami of the fermented soy, the faint sweetness of the mirin, and the mineral depth of the kombu combine with the clean chicken-dashi broth to produce a bowl that is simultaneously simple in profile and impossibly complex in execution. Tokyo shōyu ramen is characterised by a clear broth through which the bowl is visible: the clarity of the soup is a mark of technique, produced by simmering the chicken stock at a gentle temperature that does not emulsify the fats and cloud the liquid. The traditional garnishes, chashu (braised pork, itself glazed with soy sauce and mirin), menma (bamboo shoots), nori, and the ajitsuke tamago (soy-marinated soft-boiled egg), are all secondary elements that orbit the central drama of broth and noodle.

Ingredients

Noodles

400 g fresh ramen noodles (medium wavy, Tokyo style) or dried ramen noodles

Broth

1.5 litres chicken stock (made from whole chicken or chicken backs and feet, simmered 2–3 hours, fat skimmed)
10 cm kombu (dried kelp), for the broth

Tare

80 ml shōyu (light soy sauce or equal mix of light and dark)
30 ml mirin
20 ml sake
5 cm kombu, for the tare

Chashu pork

500 g pork belly (skin on), rolled and tied with kitchen string, for the chashu
60 ml soy sauce (for chashu braising liquid)
60 ml mirin (for chashu braising liquid)
30 ml sake (for chashu braising liquid)
1 tbsp sugar (for chashu braising liquid)
200 ml water (for chashu braising liquid)

Marinated eggs

4 eggs (for ajitsuke tamago: soy-marinated soft-boiled egg)
50 ml soy sauce (for egg marinade)
50 ml mirin (for egg marinade)
100 ml water (for egg marinade)

Garnish

4 small sheets nori (dried seaweed), to garnish
2 spring onions, finely sliced, to garnish
60 g bamboo shoots (menma, pre-seasoned if available), optional

Method

Make the shōyu tare (up to 1 week ahead): combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and kombu in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from the heat, and allow the kombu to steep for 30 minutes. Remove the kombu. Cool and refrigerate. The tare keeps for 2 weeks under refrigeration.
Make the chashu pork (best done the day before): brown the rolled pork belly in a little oil in an oven-safe pot. Add the braising liquid ingredients. Cover and braise in a 160°C oven for 1.5 hours until very tender. Allow to cool in the liquid, then refrigerate overnight. Slice thinly for serving. Reduce the braising liquid to a thick glaze for serving.
Make the marinated eggs: bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Gently lower the eggs in and boil for exactly 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Transfer immediately to ice water to stop cooking. Peel carefully. Combine the soy sauce, mirin, and water for the marinade in a small container. Add the peeled eggs and marinate for at least 4 hours (overnight is better). The eggs turn a deep amber-brown and the whites are seasoned through.
Prepare the broth: place the chicken stock in a large pot with the kombu. Heat gently to 60°C and steep the kombu for 30 minutes, then remove it (do not allow the stock to boil with the kombu in). Bring the stock to a gentle simmer. It should be clear and golden. Keep hot.
Cook the noodles according to packet instructions (usually 1–2 minutes for fresh ramen noodles). Drain well and divide between four warmed bowls.
Add 3–4 tablespoons of shōyu tare to each bowl. Ladle the hot broth (about 300–350 ml per bowl) over the tare and noodles. Stir briefly to combine. The broth should taste deeply savoury, clear, and balanced.
Assemble the garnishes: add 2–3 slices of chashu pork (reheated briefly in the chashu glaze or in the hot broth for 30 seconds). Halve the marinated egg and place cut-side up. Add bamboo shoots, a sheet of nori pressed against the inside of the bowl, and spring onion. Serve immediately.

Notes

Shōyu ramen is a project-level dish: the components (tare, chashu, marinated eggs, broth) are best made over two days. The tare and chashu can be prepared up to a week ahead and refrigerated. On service day, the work is assembly and broth heating only. Good ramen noodles are available fresh or dried at Japanese and Asian grocery stores. If fresh are unavailable, dried thin wheat noodles (the kind sold as 'ramen' in packets) are an acceptable substitute. The chashu braising liquid, once the pork is removed, should be reduced to a thick, syrupy glaze: use this glaze to coat the chashu slices when reheating, or add a few drops to the bowl as an additional seasoning layer.

The Gastrographer

Name: Shōyu Ramen
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 400 g fresh ramen noodles (medium wavy, Tokyo style) or dried ramen noodles; 1.5 litres chicken stock (made from whole chicken or chicken backs and feet, simmered 2–3 hours, fat skimmed); 10 cm kombu (dried kelp), for the broth; 80 ml shōyu (light soy sauce or equal mix of light and dark); 30 ml mirin; 20 ml sake; 5 cm kombu, for the tare; 500 g pork belly (skin on), rolled and tied with kitchen string, for the chashu; 60 ml soy sauce (for chashu braising liquid); 60 ml mirin (for chashu braising liquid); 30 ml sake (for chashu braising liquid); 1 tbsp sugar (for chashu braising liquid); 200 ml water (for chashu braising liquid); 4 eggs (for ajitsuke tamago: soy-marinated soft-boiled egg); 50 ml soy sauce (for egg marinade); 50 ml mirin (for egg marinade); 100 ml water (for egg marinade); 4 small sheets nori (dried seaweed), to garnish; 2 spring onions, finely sliced, to garnish; 60 g bamboo shoots (menma, pre-seasoned if available), optional

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control