Ramen is really a noodle soup dish that originally made its way from China to Japan once the country reopened its borders through the Meiji Restoration. The dish has been refined and improved to such an extent over the past century that it has almost overshadowed its original Chinese cousins ??on the world stage. The world of ramen is quite complicated and this article will systematically classify the various styles of ramen which are common in Japan with their various soup flavors, broth types, meats, and accompanying toppings.

hio Ramen. Shio means salt and this is traditionally how ramen soup is flavored. All Western broths will be regarded as of the Shio type. The salt will not alter the appearance of the broth and then the Shio soup is commonly light and limpid in color. Shio flavored soup will are usually a little more salty compared to the other types.

hoyu Ramen. Shoyu means soy sauce and this is the next oldest type of flavor. Instead of salt, a sauce obtained from the fermentation of soybeans is used to help make the broth salty. This sauce is not your regular table soy sauce, but typically a special sauce with additional ingredients prepared according to a secret recipe. Broth for Shoyu may be the only type that tends not to contain pork. Shoyu soup can be usually clear, nonetheless it is dark in color and sweeter than Shio soup.

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iso Ramen. In more recent times, miso paste has also been used to provide ramen broth its savory flavor. If miso is used, it is immediately evident because the soup will be opaque. Shio or Shoyu flavored soups just accentuate the flavor of the broth below, while miso leaves a fuller and much more complex taste in the mouth as it also has a solid flavor.

onkotsu Ramen. Technically it isn’t a real flavor since it contains salt or soy sauce. It is made by boiling ground pork bones (ton = pork, kotsu = bones) for 12-15 hours until all of the collagen has dissolved in the broth like jelly (details here). The effect is really a rich whitish soup distinct enough to consider Tonkotsu as a separate fourth flavor of Ramen. To be clear, the use of pork bones will not automatically mean that the soup is of the Tonkotsu type. If the pork bones are boiled whole for a relatively shorter period, the result is merely normal pork broth.