Tsukemen Noodles prepared at home better than Ramen
Tsukemen Noodles prepared at home better than Ramen
Overview
In this episode of John's Kitchen, John Daub stays at home during the state of emergency in Tokyo to prepare instant tsukemen (dipping noodles) from Nissin. Citing the crowded conditions visible on the Shibuya Scramble live cam, John opts for a safe cooking session rather than going out. He demonstrates how to elevate instant noodles by adding premium toppings like Hokkaido chashu (braised pork), ajitama (marinated egg), menma (fermented bamboo shoots), and negi (green onions).
Throughout the cooking process, John engages with his live stream audience, answering questions about ramen culture, travel restrictions, and specific noodle shops across Japan. He shares personal anecdotes about the best ramen he ever had in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, and discusses the differences between tsukemen and standard ramen. The episode serves as both a cooking tutorial and a casual Q&A session, offering insights into Japanese food culture during the pandemic.
John successfully prepares the meal despite previous cooking failures, proving that instant noodles can be delicious with the right additions. He concludes by discussing future travel plans, competitive eating encounters with Randy Santel, and tips for enjoying noodle soups properly.
Highlights
- 00:00:00 John introduces the tsukemen cooking session and shows the Nissin package.
- 00:01:15 Live camera view of the crowded Shibuya Scramble justifies staying home.
- 00:02:13 Display of premium toppings: chashu, ajitama, menma, and negi.
- 00:08:35 Cooking process begins with boiling noodles and preparing the tare (seasoning sauce).
- 00:14:39 Final presentation of the dish; John declares it a success.
- 00:18:53 Explanation of tsukemen etiquette and the difference between slurping ramen vs. dipping noodles.
- 00:24:06 Discussion of yaki-ishi (hot stone) used to keep broth warm in restaurants.
- 00:29:46 Q&A: Recommendations for Fuji City and views of Mount Fuji.
- 00:34:26 Review of the fire ramen at Menbakudai in Kyoto.
- 00:36:35 John recalls the best ramen of his life in Asahikawa, Hokkaido.
- 00:41:38 Story about competitive eater Randy Santel and abura soba (oil noodles).
Timeline / Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Tsukemen Package Reveal
- 01:15 Shibuya Scramble Live Cam View
- 02:13 Ingredients and Toppings Overview
- 04:47 Boiling Water and Cooking Process
- 08:35 Preparing the Broth and Chashu
- 14:39 Final Dish Presentation and Taste Test
- 18:53 Tsukemen vs. Ramen Culture Explained
- 25:25 Cost Breakdown of the Meal
- 27:49 Viewer Q&A: Travel and Shipping
- 29:46 Viewer Q&A: Fuji City Recommendations
- 33:07 Viewer Q&A: Favorite Ramen Flavors
- 34:26 Viewer Q&A: Bizarre Ramen (Fire Ramen)
- 36:35 Viewer Q&A: Best Ramen Experience (Asahikawa)
- 41:38 Viewer Q&A: Randy Santel and Competitive Eating
- 43:13 Closing and Next Episode Tease
Japan Travel Tips
- Stay-at-Home Context: During states of emergency, live cams like Shibuya Scramble can show crowd levels to help decide whether to go out.
- Instant Noodle Upgrades: Supermarkets in Japan have refrigerated sections with fresh noodle packs, separate broths, and toppings to make high-quality ramen at home.
- Ramen Etiquette: Slurping shows appreciation and indicates you are eating quickly, allowing the next customer to be seated sooner.
- Tsukemen Tip: Many tsukemen shops provide hot water spigots at tables to dilute the thick dipping sauce into a drinkable soup after finishing the noodles.
- Hot Stone Service: Some chains like Tetsu offer yaki-ishi (hot stones) to reheat cooling broth at the table.
- Fuji City: Recommended for travelers; rent a bicycle at Shin Fuji Station to ride around and view Mount Fuji.
- Shipping: Shipping costs from the US to Japan were noted to increase in April (2021 context).
Japanese Language & Culture Notes
- Tsukemen (dipping noodles): Noodles served separately from the soup; dipped before eating.
- Chashu (braised pork): Often served as thick slices or steak-like pieces in Hokkaido.
- Ajitama (marinated egg): Half-boiled egg marinated in soy-based sauce.
- Menma (fermented bamboo shoots): Crunchy topping common in ramen.
- Negi (green onions): Often piled high in karamiso ramen.
- Tare (concentrated seasoning sauce): The base flavoring for the soup.
- Katamen (firm texture): Preferred noodle texture, achieved by boiling for less time.
- Itadakimasu (let's eat): Phrase said before beginning a meal.
- Yaki-ishi (hot stone): Heated stone placed in broth to keep it hot.
- Slurping Culture: While often thought to be purely about enjoyment, it also signals efficiency to the chef.
Food & Drink Guide
- Tsukemen (dipping noodles): Nissin brand instant version used. Cost approx $1.25 per pack.
- Chashu (braised pork): Hokkaido brand, pre-cooked steak style. Cost approx $5 for three pieces.
- Ajitama (marinated egg): Hanjuku (half-boiled) style.
- Menma (fermented bamboo shoots): Pickled bamboo sprouts. Pack cost approx $2.
- Negi (green onions): Fresh small green onions.
- Karamiso Negi Ramen (spicy miso green onion ramen): John's favorite flavor profile.
- Tonkotsu (pork bone): Thick pork broth, favorite style in Hakata.
- Abura Soba (oil noodles): Discussed in context of competitive eating.
- Sapporo Beer: Taisho era recipe mentioned for future episode.
- Tokyo Bananas: Pokemon themed version mentioned for future episode.
People
- John Daub: Host and cook. Demonstrates the recipe and answers viewer questions.
- Kanae Daub: John's wife. Mentioned as watching from the other room and giggling at his cooking attempts.
- Raj: Viewer/chat moderator mentioned by John.
- Nagoya John: Viewer who commented on the presentation.
- Randy Santel: Competitive eater mentioned; John helped him with an abura soba challenge episode previously.
- Cody (Ramen Guy Japan): Mentioned as an expert to ask about specific ramen shops.
Key Takeaways
- Instant tsukemen can be significantly improved with fresh toppings like chashu and ajitama.
- Tsukemen noodles are typically thicker and firmer (katamen) than ramen noodles to withstand dipping.
- The broth for tsukemen is concentrated and can be diluted with hot noodle water to drink as soup at the end.
- Travel to Japan was restricted in March 2021, with regional travel (Asia/Oceania) expected to resume first.
- John prefers tsukemen over ramen due to noodle texture and interactive eating style.
Notable Quotes
- 00:00:39 "Tsukemen is sort of like ramen, except that it's not. It's been separated."
- 00:03:18 "I usually find a way [to fail], but I think it's really funny too."
- 00:15:58 "This is the first time in the history of me in this kitchen. I'm actually not that bad of a cook that you know of."
- 00:19:43 "Slurping is an indication that you're going to be done real fast."
- 00:22:39 "When you dip it into the sauce, the taste of the noodles, I believe, is more important than the broth."
- 00:36:35 "I remember that was the best ramen I've ever had. I'll see if I can find the name of it and put on Instagram."
Related Topics
- Only in Japan Ramen Tours
- John's Kitchen Cooking Episodes
- Japanese Convenience Store Food Reviews
- Travel During Pandemic Restrictions
- Competitive Eating in Japan
Search Tags
#only-in-japan-go #tokyo #travel #tsukemen #ramen #cooking #instant-noodles #nissin #chashu #ajitama #stay-at-home #q-and-a #food-review #shibuya #hokkaido #kyoto #fuji-city #johns-kitchen
Full Transcript
00:00:00 John Daub: Another episode of John's Kitchen, a very, very popular show in a very unique community. How you doing, everybody? Today I'm going to be preparing for you in my kitchen, which has turned into a little bit of a studio here, tsukemen (dipping noodles), which is really cool. Check this out. So I have two varieties here. This is made by Nissin, which is very famous for making the cup noodles, right? They also make this, which is tsukemen. And I looked at the picture on this, and it looked so delicious. Look at that chashu (braised pork) steak and the noodles, and we have the negi (green onions) in here, and there's some menma (fermented bamboo shoots) in the corner.
00:00:39 John Daub: Tsukemen is sort of like ramen, except that it's not. It's been separated. The noodles go in one bowl, and the soup goes in another bowl. And then you dip the noodles into the soup, and it's just so good. So I thought I would make this today with you. I also have this other flavor. I'm probably not going to make both of them, but this one just seems to look better. I always like the richer soup more. This one looks a little bit richer. So we're not going to be making this one, but it is on the list.
00:01:15 John Daub: I also wanted to show you why I'm doing a stay-at-home episode today. That's a Shibuya Hachiko scramble right now. That does not look so safe to me. That's a live camera. So I thought instead of going out today, I would stay home and make some tsukemen, because it just kind of looks a little bit scary to be out there. So let's just stick in the kitchen here.
00:01:39 John Daub: I also bought, to make sure after the last cooking failure, that I get some of the ingredients. This is Hokkaido chashu, and chashu is braised pork steak. Now, you don't actually have to cook this, but I might cook it. It's already been pre-cooked. You just throw it on there. And then that fat melts into the soup, which is pretty good. Hey Edoven! Edo is here. Edoven just from Holland. This is the hanjuku (half-boiled) ajitama (marinated egg). Look at that. That looks so good. But does it really deliver? We're going to find this out by putting this into the soup.
00:02:13 John Daub: I also have menma. Menma, which are bamboo sprouts that have been pickled. They're so good. Crunchy. Perfect in ramen. They also are in here. So I figured I might as well buy some. And then I got some small negi, which I guess they're using big ones here, but these are a little bit greener. So I did not have to prepare anything. I kind of just bought it at the supermarket.
00:02:40 John Daub: Alright, are you ready for this success? Now, Kanae has no confidence that I will do this. She's probably watching in the other room just laughing. It's not fair. So she doesn't get any of this, okay? It's just for us. The first step here on the directions, and it kind of makes it easy because they put the picture here. Raj is cracking up right there. I think it's really funny too. If you're not going to be supportive, and you think it's going to be failure, when I do succeed, which I probably won't, she won't get any.
00:03:18 John Daub: Actually, this is two people's. We're going to open it up and see what's inside, but the directions are pretty simple. Boil the noodles for five minutes. Four minutes gives it a little bit of katamen (firm texture). Then add 100 milliliters of water to make the soup, and then add the tare (concentrated seasoning sauce) packet. Next, you want to wash the noodles with a strainer, and then put the noodles into the bowl and enjoy. It looks pretty simple, so I don't know how anybody could fail at this, but I usually find a way.
00:03:50 John Daub: Alright, let's open up this package, see what's inside. Smell test. Nothing. It's all packaged. Okay, so we get double the noodle packs. One for me, and one for me. You know what? Okay, I'll make one for her too. Everyone's keeping me honest. There's also two packs of tare, which is actually quite big. A lot bigger than the ramen ones. I know tsukemen is a much richer dipping sauce than in ramen's broth. And then there's some dashi (broth base), which if you don't like dashi, I don't think you have to add it in there, but it's there. We're gonna add that all in together. And I could ask Kanae for help, but I've decided not to do that. I will know if I'm going wrong by giggling in the other room.
00:04:47 John Daub: Let's start. So, I do have a pot here. I'm gonna put some water in here. And then we're gonna boil this. I know what I'm doing. The thing with boiling water is if you look at it, it does boil faster, I've been told by reputable chefs. The noodle packs do look fresh. I did buy this about two weeks ago. All disclosure, it expires tomorrow. So, I had no choice. I had to eat it by today, you see. So, this episode had to be done.
00:06:01 John Daub: While I'm watching the water, check this out here. That's just insane, right? That's Hachiko Scramble in Shibuya, not that far away. That is so many people. What are they doing? This is why I can't go outside. Although people are wearing masks, okay? Yeah, abort, abort, abort. Hey Nosh, I thought you were doing a live stream. I just got a notification. Are you doing both at the same time?
00:06:33 John Daub: So, while we're doing that, let's open up the chashu steak. I can prepare the dashi. So, we do have to put this in the bowl. And I should start to boil on the other burner. We have gas burners in Japan. Turn the fan on. We do have to boil the water for the dashi. The one thing about Japan that's really great, everything is perforated. So, it's so easy to open it up. Look at this. There's an arrow to tell you where to open it. Usually, you have to use the scissors. In the US, not in Japan, it's just so easy. Oh, look at the congealed fat. Put it in the bowl. This looks like miso paste. Don't lick it. It's real salty. I tried to lick it. When you lick the cookie batter, cookie dough, you can eat that raw. Don't try to do it with this. Use the water. It's kind of fatty and salty. A little nasty. It's not cookie batter.
00:08:35 John Daub: So, while I put the noodles in here, I'm going to use a timer. It's now 2:44. We're taking this out at 2:49. Ready? Watch this. We're taking it out in four minutes. Somebody use a timer. Let me know in the chat. I'm going to make good, delicious tsukemen. Jalapeno already says fail. What did I do? No. I measured exactly 100 milliliters. So, let's put this in here. That does look kind of nasty. That's exactly 100 milliliters. Nasty on the side there. Clean it up. It's starting to look better. Come on. How do I get rid of this chunk? All right, we got two minutes left. I think it's working. Just keep doing this. The chunks won't go away. A little bit better. It's getting thicker. This is hard, hard work.
00:11:30 John Daub: I'm opening up this chashu steak. I think if I try to cook it, it's gonna fail. Keep on the timer. We have two minutes. Ooh, chashu steak. Nice. I guess you don't have to cook it. Just put it in there. Just gonna put one in there. I forgot the dashi. This is going so well. Because it could be worse. Yes, it could be better. But definitely could be worse. All right, we got one minute. All right, menma. Real quick, menma, menma.
00:12:58 John Daub: Okay. All right, now let's cut open the ajitama here. Look, even this one, you don't need scissors. You just go like this. Finger licking good. Ajitama. Ah, make a mess in the kitchen. Drop that right in there. Noodles done. All right, next up. [inaudible]. Don't look in the sink. There's nothing to see here. Just mind your own business. That's it. It looks done to me. All right, let me remove this mess. It doesn't look as bad as it looks. Let's clean it up so it's not as bad.
00:14:39 John Daub: All right, I'm going to pan down in T minus 10 seconds. If we can get to 500 likes, it'll give me more courage. Because I don't have much courage right now to show you this. You ready for this? Okay, it's supposed to look like this. How close are we? That is not that bad. I mean, it could be worse, right? It looks pretty good. You could eat this, right? Be honest. You could eat this. Ajitama. We have here some negi. There's some chashu and menma in there. The internet seems to like this. It's real negi, absolutely. All true. Raymond said, this is much better than the first ramen attempt. I think so. I agree with you. Even the tsukemen looks good.
00:15:58 John Daub: Now, we have to eat this thing because we don't want it to sit here all day. All right. This is how we do it. And Kanae can see the pop tarts and the graham crackers a little bit back there. The almond slices. Let's try this here. Itadakimasu (let's eat). So dip it in the dipping sauce, then eat it. That's really good. I think this is a success. This should be considered a success. And this is the first time in the history of me in this kitchen. I'm actually not that bad of a cook that you know of.
00:17:27 John Daub: Now, I want to actually take a look now at that ajitama. All right. Are you ready for this? Let's use the good camera. So I want to show you what does the ajitama actually look like here. So inside of the soup, as we go ASMR, look at the chashu steak. Oh, that looks so good. Look at the menma go. You ready for the shot here? Break the ajitama real good. That's not bad. See, they never really cook it. It's usually cooked too much. What do you guys think? Thumbs up? Would you eat this? If I made this and presented it to you as a friend, would you eat it or not trust it? Let me know in your comments. I think I would eat it because I'm me.
00:18:53 John Daub: The great thing with tsukemen is that it's fun. It's like dipping the noodles. Ramen, you know, you slurp the noodles because the broth is hot. And that's not really, I mean, the chef can hear you doing it. And that's a way to show appreciation that you're eating the ramen really quickly. That's one reason why Japanese slurp the noodles. But really, when I talk to people, I think the chef is happy that you're slurping the noodles because it means you're going to get out of there really quickly so that the next customer is going to get there a lot faster. If you're sitting there talking, the chef's not going to be happy. So slurping is an indication that you're going to be done real fast.
00:19:43 John Daub: So let's give this a proper try. We've done a pretty good job here. What say you, Internet? Nagoya John's in the house. I can't like your video 500 times, man. But your presentation looks good. And I'd be grateful if you served me that. Nagoya John, I appreciate that. Don't like it 500 times. Just once is enough. Ready? Pretending like I'm in the restaurant now. Pick up your noodles. Dip them in the sauce. Mmm. Pick up that ajitama. That's good. Look at that chashu steak. Ho, ho, ho, ho.
00:20:58 John Daub: You know, the steak looks pretty gross in the bag. But actually, when it's been sitting in the hot water for a while, the fat will melt a little bit into the broth, giving it even more of a robust taste. The chashu steak has been grilled a little bit, so I can taste some of that. That chashu steak has been sitting in broth or something. I don't know what it is, but it's got a really good flavor to it. And the menma, of course. Let's see if we can find a piece of menma. It's always good. Menma as a topping adds a crunch to it. And it's really important to have that.
00:21:40 John Daub: Tsukemen is my favorite. I like udon more than ramen. But I like tsukemen more than udon. The reason why tsukemen is really good is because I like the taste of the noodles. I like the consistency of the noodles. If the noodles were to sit inside the broth too long in ramen, they start to get soggy. But I boiled these noodles for exactly five minutes, as it says on the directions. And it's somewhat like katamen. A little bit of tension to it. It's not super soft. It's not soft like ramen. And the noodles in tsukemen are a little bit thicker than in ramen.
00:22:39 John Daub: But when you dip it into the sauce, the taste of the noodles, I believe, is more important than the broth. And I think with ramen, maybe the broth is a little bit thicker. But more important than the noodles, you seem to get more of the broth taste. And that's sort of the difference. Now, the broth for tsukemen is quite thick. You can eat it like a stew. It's almost like a stew consistency. But in tsukemen restaurants, you'll see that on top of the counter, there's actually like a water spigot-looking thing on the table quite often, which is the hot water from the noodles. And you can pour that into the soup. And then when you pour that into the broth, it makes it into a lighter soup. And then you can actually drink the remaining soup. It's so good.
00:23:35 John Daub: Typically, ramen is quite oily. So is this a little bit. But when you add in the water, it flattens out the oils and makes it a little bit thinner. And you get to eat it like a soup. And it's quite good. So you don't really waste anything. I know a lot of friends will do that. They'll ask for the hot water to add to it to get rid of the thick saltiness of it. And then you can just drink that. And then you can just take it and relax with that if your noodles are done. A lot of tsukemen places will also give you refilled noodles if you pay, I don't know, like another dollar.
00:24:06 John Daub: And if your soup is getting cold, some of the places like Tetsu, which is a chain here, they'll give you a yaki-ishi (hot stone) or a hot rock. Sometimes it's actually made of metal because it's easier to clean. And they will put the hot rock into the broth. And it starts to boil violently. And warms up the soup for you. And it's just kind of a fun presentation. Some of the shops do have that. You can ask for yaki-ishi. And they'll bring a hot rock to you. Especially if you see the hot rocks like baking at the entrance, you know that they have yaki-ishi.
00:24:43 John Daub: Tsukemen, often the noodles are the same price. You can get a super large size tsukemen. It costs the same as usually a small size of noodles. The amount of noodles that you order at most tsukemen shops is about the same. You can get extra noodles for the same price. Sometimes they'll refill it after you've made the order. Because it requires cooking time. They have to cook the noodles. So that makes a lot of sense. But if I have to compare between ramen and tsukemen, every time tsukemen wins. Because it's just more fun. But it's a very close battle.
00:25:25 John Daub: This brand is Nissin, which makes cup noodles. And every now and then you'll see them bring out the flavors of some of these masters here. And they do a great job of capturing it. This one is another pork bone based broth. Look at that chashu steak. But it doesn't come with the egg and the chashu steak. Just the soup. So you have to buy that separate. One of these packs cost me about $2.50 for two. That is a steal. So it's $1.25 for one person. But the toppings start to add up. If you want the quality menma, this pack costs about $2. This chashu steak from Hokkaido cost me $5. And it's three pieces in there. So you can put one piece, one piece, and maybe one piece. You can save it. That's quite expensive. But the chashu steak adds a lot of flavor to it. That's the most expensive part of this. And then the negi was less than a dollar. And it's a pretty good meal. I'm quite happy.
00:26:41 John Daub: And I think I will prepare this one for Kanae who stopped giggling. Because I proved to her that I can make this if I fail a couple of times. And if you want to see those failures, don't. But they are available on Only Japan live streaming channel from earlier last year. I guess because we're staying at home. When I was staying home last year, I was more in the kitchen, more at home. Trying to find what I could eat. Trying to find ways, delivery food, things like this until the situation got better. The state of emergency in Tokyo has been extended another two weeks. We kind of expected that. But I will be trying to do my best to keep this channel interesting for you to watch. Because it's not as much fun as going on a trip and traveling around the country. But the icing on the cake is that in two weeks, this will be effectively the state of emergency will be lifted. Like I'm pretty sure. And I'll be able to travel again more freely.
00:27:49 John Daub: I just want to respect the law as much as possible. So I'll be in the local areas for the next, at least for the next ten days. Unless I'm invited. If I'm invited to go somewhere to film, I do get on the train and will go. Because it's more than just a, it's not a vacation. It's actually a job. Does anybody have any questions about tsukemen from Nissin or any kind of Japanese food in general? I will now take questions for the next two minutes. I can't believe I've been doing this for 30 minutes. It went by in like five minutes. It's crazy. This is really good.
00:28:27 John Daub: Can you order instant ramen online and have it shipped to Japan from other countries? I think you could from Amazon.co.jp. It'll tell you if it can be shipped. But of course the shipping costs are going to be higher. The shipping costs for the United States are going to go up in April, by the way. This is something I've been telling my supporters who are Daimyo supporters, who I send packages to. The charges will go up in April. So I've been trying to add more Daimyo supporters. In the market, is that the refrigerated section or the frozen section? It's actually in the refrigerated section. There's aisles. So these are refrigerated, so they're somewhat fresh. There's aisles in there where it's an open refrigerator. They're stacked in rows. And usually on the top are the toppings. And sometimes you can just get the broth from the ramen. You can pick the different broths. And then you can just pick the ramen noodles and then make your own ramen in the refrigerated section. So if you want tonkotsu (pork bone), if you want spicy miso, you can pick that. You can pick that broth separately. Some of the supermarkets have that, which is pretty cool in Japan.
00:29:46 John Daub: Spiral lighting rates in here. Hi, John. My Japanese hubby rented us an apartment in Nagatacho, Fuji City. What do you think of the area? I was just in Fuji City. I highly recommend Fuji City. It's one of these places between Nagoya and Tokyo that a lot of people don't stop in. I loved my time there. It's not a super exciting city with attractions. Except for every time you go outside your door, you look up and Mount Fuji is this big. I used to live in Fujinomiya, the neighboring town. It was amazing to open up my window in the morning, get a cup of coffee, and just look at the clouds rolling past or behind Mount Fuji. Or some days it's not even there just because it's enveloped in humidity or something. But it's a beautiful place. Great food in Fuji City. The people were friendly. I just made an episode on Mount Fuji green tea that sort of shows that entire area, including Nagatacho, I believe. And I did have a bunch of live streams there three months ago. So you might want to check that out. Fuji City is high on my list of places to stop, just spend a day or two, rent a bicycle at Shin Fuji Station and ride around there.
00:31:01 John Daub: How soon can we travel to Japan? Ken writes in here. I'm not sure. But according to Qantas, we're going to be there in about a week. Which is what I brought up in the live stream yesterday. They said that flights from Australia to Japan are going to be starting up in October. Which means I guess they have some information that we don't have. They are more confident than October. Things are going to be safe enough to return. At least for Australians, which does not have a big problem like in a lot of other countries. So I think that the returning to travel to Japan, we're probably regional at first, maybe Taiwan, Korea, which don't have such a big problem. I'm not sure what's happening in China. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and then we have Australia, Indonesia as well. I'd like to see my Indonesian friends. Satrio's got to make the trip over, right? And we would love to see, I'd love to see more people here despite, you know, the risks. It's just really, really quiet and lonely and not the same without you. It's more fun if, you know, people are going, hey, John. And I look around and go, hey, you, nice person watching the show. You know what I mean? Get to make some friends. Hong Kong as well, yeah.
00:32:30 John Daub: I am still nowhere near John's level, but yet, but hope I can reach it someday. You mean level of cooking? Trust me, you're already there. If I can make this, anybody can make this. Do you think you could make a only in Japan video on instant ramen? I kind of did, and it kind of went badly. Actually, the first time I did it, I think it was like last April. The first time I did it, it was really, really not received well by the internet, including Japanese viewers and Japanese wives who said even my husband could make that. It was actually not a confidence booster.
00:33:07 John Daub: What's your top five flavors of broth? I would have to say karamiso (spicy miso) is my favorite. That's a spicy miso broth. Then I would have to go with shoyu (soy sauce), which is just a good old standard one. Then tonkotsu, which is a really thick pork bone. I love miso ramen the most. Up there, they have a more oily version in Hokkaido, which I like. It has a lot more flavor of shoyu ramen. Then salt ramen, which I think is a little plain, but it's not that bad. It's called shio (salt) ramen. Karamiso negi ramen is my favorite. You better mountain up that negi. I want a mountain of green onions on top of that because I love the onions. You work your way through the onions. It's very healthy, too, right? Then you get to the broth and the noodles, and it's really good. For me, the karamiso negi ramen is my favorite. If that's on the menu, that's what I get.
00:34:26 John Daub: What is the most bizarre, unexpected ramen you have tried? That Menbakudai [?] in Kyoto has the fire ramen. That was pretty weird. They put a fire oil on top of it and it makes a fireball. The problem with that is the ramen was bad. I didn't like the taste of it. If you're going with the taste, it's not worth the price. If you're going for a performance and getting an Instagram picture, it's really good. I don't know if the chef would be proud of the taste. I think it's very average. That's why 90% of the people coming in there are tourists and they charge double the price of a bowl of ramen. So there's a queue of tourists out the door. They make a heck of a lot more money than they would if the locals came. I don't think many locals go in there to try that fire ramen.
00:35:36 John Daub: Don't get me wrong, though. There is some very good burned oil ramen. There was an Okinawa ramen shop in Tokyo, in Ginza, that I used to go to. It was a black ramen. But in order to make the black ramen, they actually burned the miso with fire inside with oil. They would flame it. You'd see from the kitchen, poof, they didn't make a presentation out of it. It was actually used to enhance the flavor. Where in Menbakudai [?], I think they kind of do it as a presentation to sell more ramen. To get tourists in the door. They did this as actually a technique to enhance the flavor. And it was really good. The chashu steak had a really incredible just burned taste to it. Like a salty, crunchy, burned charcoal goodness to it. And the steak was like this thick. When you get steaks this thick, you know it's going to be like an experience, right? So good.
00:36:35 John Daub: The best ramen I might have had was in Asahikawa. And I say this because you can't compare. I had some awesome ramen in Fukuoka, in Hakata. And then I had, I believe it's called the Nakatsu area. It was really good. It was a place that was more tonkotsu ramen, but mixed. But the broth was not so thick. I thought that was the best. Until I had the one up in Asahikawa. When I was hitchhiking, the driver who picked me up took me to a place. And I remember sitting down with him. And I looked at the picture and I said, oh my. I remember looking at the picture and said, I've never seen anything like this. The chashu steak was incredible. It was massively thick. This is Asahikawa in Hokkaido. So they probably got a ton of pork steaks up there. That whole city is probably a big pork steak. And I remember picking it up. Like, it was voluminous. It was amazing. And it was just grilled perfectly. And it's so much enhanced. The taste of the broth and the noodles. It just all went together. And I left there. I was bulging and so happy. And I went to sleep that night like a baby. I couldn't eat anything else. The next morning, I wasn't even hungry. But I was still pretty happy. I remember that was the best ramen I've ever had. I'll see if I can find the name of it and put on Instagram. I'll put it in the Discord server. How about that? They had a website, too. So you can check it out.
00:38:07 John Daub: But I'm always finding that there's new ramens coming into town. Tokyo is very competitive. Ichijoji in Kyoto is an incredible ramen town. I think they have the most ramen shops per capita in one area, which is pretty crazy. Any other questions? I'll take one more. Because I gotta go edit. It moves. I might miss your questions sometimes. I do apologize. This is really crazy up there. It's a fun shop, though. It's near Nijo Castle, I believe.
00:39:12 John Daub: What's the worst ramen? I don't want to talk about the negative stuff. But sometimes businessmen who give up their jobs for dreams of becoming a ramen chef, they take all of their savings and invest in the ramen. And they have this, like, fake confidence. And then they open up the doors and the ramen is so bad. And they go out of business in, like, three weeks. Nobody comes there. And they're trying to perfect the recipe while they're running the shop. It doesn't work. It doesn't end well. Tsukemen usually available in ramen shops. For chain shops, they are. It just depends on the place. A lot of them that are famous don't offer tsukemen because it's a different kind. Some of them do, and they'll separate it, and some of them don't. But I think tsukemen restaurants that just specialize in tsukemen, sometimes they will serve ramen and vice versa. But most often, I see them as specializing in tsukemen or specializing in ramen. And having that also on the menu. And sometimes the ramen shop will have amazing tsukemen and vice versa. They'll have amazing ramen. But each shop has a speciality, and that would be tsukemen. In my experience, anyways.
00:40:30 John Daub: How do you rate Horyu ramen in Sapporo? I don't know what that is. I've eaten a lot of ramen, but it doesn't come to my mental database. We'll have to ask Cody from Ramen Guy Japan. He knows. Anything in Sapporo was okay. It was pretty good. Where's ramen noodles cupped from a vending machine in a manga cafe? That does sound pretty bad. Have you tried yuzu ramen? I have. Yuzu is more in udon because it comes down. Udon is very popular in Shikoku, and yuzu is quite big in Shikoku, as well as sudachi (citrus), another citrus fruit in Tokushima. They'll add that into the udon, and it's such a great enhancement taste, the citrus. But it's pretty good in ramen, too. That citrus taste takes off that salty edge to it a little bit and gives it a freshness that's really good, just like cilantro might do it in some dishes. Citrus is quite good.
00:41:38 John Daub: All right, I guess that's about it. I see here dessert ramen. I'm not really that interested. Abura soba (oil noodles) was okay, but it's not really. If you're hungry, you'll eat anything. Randy Santel was here about two years ago. He's a really popular competitive eater, and I got in touch with him and helped him out with one of his competitive eating episodes, which was abura soba. And he ate like four or five mega bowls of it, and he wasn't even close to what the Japanese champion had eaten. But still watching Randy, he just. I don't know if you guys know who Randy Santel is. He's an amazing competitive eater. One of the nicest guys. He is who he is, too, right? A lot of people that are YouTubers, they're one way in front of the camera. They're another way in person. Randy is Randy, which I thought was really cool. Just a nice guy. He had enough space to go for a second dinner. So we went out and talked and had a beer and talked about his trip. He was in the last leg of a world tour, eating tour, before we started nursing school. And that guy could eat. He had four or five bowls of that abura soba. And I'd never seen anything like that. Just the professionalism and how serious he took the competitive eating. I had a lot of respect for him. He had fans coming. He had like three by fives or four by six photos that he signed for them, which was really nice. That's not something I don't think I would ever take it that far. But he was really kind to his fans, and I just learned a lot from hanging out with him.
00:43:13 John Daub: All right, guys. So that seems about the end of this one here. It is a lot of sodium, but just take it in moderation. Don't try to eat too much of it. Don't try to be a hero and try to eat like six bowls before you leave Japan at Narita Airport or something. Just have one bowl. You don't want to disturb your neighbors that are sitting next to you on the plane by stinking like a bowl of tsukemen, which, depending on how far along you are on your flight, could be not a bad thing. See you in the next live stream, probably tomorrow night. By the way, to Mr. Das. Can I show the refrigerator? Our midnight camping episode. This is a Sapporo beer that is a recipe from the Taisho era 100 years ago. It's a very rare beer. So I've been saving this for an indoor camping episode. So that might be pretty cool to try. Sapporo beer's Taisho era recipe. They haven't made this in a very long time. So I'm kind of excited about that. And I do have Pokemon Tokyo bananas to eat for an indoor camping episode. Maybe tonight or tomorrow night. That should be a lot of fun as I stay at home and try to make it through the stay-at-home order. Not the state of emergency, which is not a stay-at-home order. It's just be careful. That's sort of what it means. All right, everybody. Have a good day. Have a good night. That was a pretty good meal. Doesn't look as good as it did. But I'll have one more bite. For all of you. Because John cares. See you on Discord.