Ramen Guides

Plain-language guides to how a bowl of ramen is actually built, written for people cooking one at home rather than reading about one. Free to read, no account, and each one links into the glossary when a term of art turns up.

• Tare vs broth: the two-part soul of a ramen bowl

  The seasoning and the stock are two different jobs. Knowing which is which is usually what fixes a bland bowl.

• Anatomy of a ramen bowl: the five components

  Tare, broth, noodles, aroma oil, toppings: what each part does, and the order they go into the bowl.

• Your first tonkotsu: a realistic first cook

  What a day of hard boiling actually asks of you, hour by hour, and the two mistakes that cost most first cooks the bowl.

• Why ramen noodles need kansui

  The yellow is not egg and the chew is not luck. Both come out of one bottle of alkaline water.

• Equipment for your first bowl: a stockpot and a scale

  The short list that actually stands between you and a first bowl, and the longer list that can wait.