is a

ramen is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen h ...

dish that originated in

Kurume is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 295,367 in 137,140 households, and a population density of 1309 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kurume is located in the Chikugo Plain ...

, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and is a specialty dish on the island of Kyushu. The

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish, or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups ...

for tonkotsu ramen is based on pork bones, which is what the word means in Japanese. It is prepared by boiling the bones in water for up to eighteen hours, at which point the soup becomes cloudy in appearance. Additional broth ingredients can include onion, garlic, spring onions, ginger, pork back fat, pig's trotters, oil, and chicken carcass. The dish is traditionally topped with chāshū (sliced

pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty Primal cut, cut of pork from the Abdomen, belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in American cuisine, American, British cuisine, British, Swedish cuisine, Swedish, Danish cuisine, Danish, ...

), and additional ingredients can include

kombu ''Konbu'' (from ) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as ''dasima'' () or ''haidai'' (). Kelp features in the diets of many civilizations, including Chinese and Icela ...

, kikurage,

shōyu Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' Aspergillus sojae'' molds. It i ...

, chili bean paste, and

sesame seeds Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for it ...

. The traditional preparation method for tonkotsu ramen is for the noodles to be hard in the center. Some ramen shops allow customers to select the level of firmness, including ''futsu'' for regular or standard, ''harigane'' for very hard, ''barikata'' for

al dente In cooking, al dente (, ; ) pasta or rice is cooked to be firm to the bite. The term also extends to firmly-cooked vegetables. In contemporary Italian cooking, it is considered to be the ideal consistency for pasta and involves a brief cooking ...

, and ''yawamen'' for soft. Some restaurants also provide a second order of noodles if requested by the customer, in a system referred to as ''kaedama''.

History

Tonkotsu ramen was invented in 1937 by Tokio Miyamoto, a '' yatai'' food vendor, in

, Fukuoka Prefecture, in northern Kyushu. The dish was further refined to its milky appearance by Katsumi Sugino when he accidentally overcooked the broth. In Fukuoka, the dish is often referred to as , with Hakata being the historical name of central Fukuoka. It was originally prepared as an affordable and easily prepared

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

for laborers at

fish market A fish market is a marketplace for selling Fish as food, fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between Fisherman, fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish ma ...

Noodle firmness

Some ramen restaurants in Fukuoka offer customers a choice of noodle firmness levels, which has become a recognizable feature of tonkotsu ramen culture. Common firmness levels include the following: * bari-yawa(バリ柔) – very soft * yawa(柔) – soft * futsū(普通) – regular (standard firmness) * katame(硬め) – firm * bari-kata(バリ硬) – very firm * harigane(針金) – "wire-like", extremely firm * kona-otoshi(粉落とし) – literally "flour dusting", noodles barely boiled * yuge-tōshi(湯気通し) – "steam pass", noodles exposed only to steam

References

External links

* {{Japanese food and drink, state=autocollapse Ramen dishes Japanese cuisine

History

Noodle firmness

See also

References

Further reading

External links