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>> ANTHONY BOURDAIN: Coming up,
noodles.
Specifically, the beloved ramen
noodle.
>> DAVID CHANG: That is insane.
These noodles are insane.
>> BOURDAIN: Dave Chang travels
to Japan for a bowl of tsukemen
ramen...
>> CHANG: Oh, my God.
>> BOURDAIN: ...explores the
history of ramen, and its
various regional
interpretations.
Harold McGee brings the science.
Chang transforms what we think
of as traditional ramen into
something else.
>> CHANG: Italians will be
rolling in their graves, even
the ones that are alive.
We invented pasta, I don't know
why Italians never adopted
chopsticks.
There you have cacio e pepe.
>> BOURDAIN: Enter the Mind of a
Chef.
♪
In Japan, there is rice, there
is fish, and there is noodle.
And the noodle that rules over
all others is ramen.
It is without a doubt the most
popular dish in all of Japan.
But ramen is much more than just
a meal, it's an institution.
A way of life.
And similar to barbecue in
America, the styles vary region
by region.
In Yokohama, where ramen first
appeared in Japan, the soup is
fatty and salty.
In Hakodate, the broth is pork
and chicken based.
In Sapporo, it's miso based.
In Kitakata, the noodles are
flat.
But no matter the regional
style, ramen is always being
tinkered with.
Chefs around the country are
constantly experimenting with
new flavors and techniques.
Chang's favorite out of all of
them is tsukemen, a style that
first appeared in Tokyo in 1954.
Chang and his pal, food writer
Peter Meehan, travel to Japan to
visit the ramen shop where the
tsukemen-style ramen debuted and
a legend was born.
>> CHANG: In 1951, a Japanese
gentleman named Kazuo Yamagishi
opened up a ramen shop called
Taishoken.
And I doubt that he had any
idea, you know, 60 years later
it would be a legendary ramen
shop and change food as we know
it.
When Yamagishi originally opened
up his shop in Nakano, it was
like 12, 13 seats, in this sort
of crappy building and if you
didn't get there at 10:30 in
the morning, you had to wait at
least an hour.
He was there all the time, he
was the first guy to put this
massive towel around his head,
sort of this mix between like
cook and WWF wrestler.
He was awesome.
Even though the original one's
closed, it's still a legendary
shop, it's still an institution.
Yamagishi is in his late 70s,
and he can't do what he used to
do, but it still means so much
to him to have everything taste
right.
So every day, even though he's
retired, his morning ritual is
come to the restaurant before
the service starts, sit down,
drink his tea.
After he gets his tea, he goes
into the kitchen to taste the
ramen broth.
>> (speaking Japanese)
>> CHANG: And he's like, "Oh, it
needs some more fish powder, and
some vegetables, some spring
onions and like it's ready to
go."
When that's done, he sits
outside like Marlin Brando in
The Godfather and greets
everybody all day long like the
don.
It's awesome.
So of course I had to bring
Peter Meehan here to experience
the master.
And this one.
>> So this is the spot you used
to come to?
>> CHANG: This is a different
location within the same...
>> Neighborhood.
>> CHANG: ...neighborhood.
The old place, it's around the
corner, it was like a mecca.
>> Right.
>> CHANG: And the line would be
like 200, 300-person queue.
Many things in Japanese cuisine
elevate something that was very
humble and not taken seriously
and take it to another level.
Yamagishi created what is known
as tsukemen.
Tsukemen is chilled noodles in
dipping broth.
And that broth could be really
the ramen soup but something
that's very highly seasoned.
He merged together soba and
ramen.
That alone made him, you know,
the legend that he is today.
But the biggest thing about
Taishoken is the size of the
portions.
I order a regular size.
Meehan gets the amore size of
ramen, amore in Japanese means
large.
It's like supersize me.
And they're not (bleep) around.
Meehan had been talking a lot of
trash that he can crush this
bowl of ramen.
>> You've been telling me for
like three weeks about how big
this bowl of noodles is.
>> CHANG: No, many years
actually.
I wanted to see Meehan be
uncomfortable.
Don't let me down.
>> It's got more of like a kind
of a bone flavor.
>> CHANG: Stop talking.
>> I haven't even like gotten
down to level on this bowl.
>> CHANG: Are you left handed?
You're doing it all wrong.
>> Fair enough, it works better.
(slurping)
I keep eating and they're
keeping the same amount of
noodles in the bowl.
>> CHANG: It was a pathetic
attempt, he was like "Oh, my
stomach hurts."
You hanging in there?
The average Japanese person can
crush this bowl of ramen.
Even smaller than average
Japanese people.
Look at the ladies behind you.
They crushed theirs.
Game on, dude.
I've done it.
Have no mercy.
Cobra Kai.
One thing about Japanese culture
in general, typically ramen
culture is you finish your food.
You want a fork?
I was embarrassed just as an
American.
>> It can't happen.
>> CHANG: Is that what you're
gonna tell your daughter when
she grows up?
Quit?
Be a quitter?
>> I want to live to see her
grow up.
>> CHANG: I was sad to see that
Peter Meehan couldn't pull the
trigger.
Taishoken one, Meehan zero.
>> BOURDAIN: There's one very
important ingredient in ramen
noodles that make them different
from other noodles: alkaline.
>> So we might start with the
question "What is alkalinity?"
if we're going to be talking
about alkaline noodles.
And alkalinity is the
opposite of acidity.
Alkaline ingredients are the
unacids in cooking, and they
have to do with the nature of
water.
Well, it turns out that most
foods have a lot of water in
them and so the nature of that
water and the balance between
the hydrogen ions and the
hydroxide ions makes a big
difference to the way the other
components of the food behave.
The carbohydrates, the
proteins, the fats are all very
sensitive to their chemical
environment.
When you add alkaline
ingredients to a noodle,
though, you change the chemical
environment for the flour.
The color changes, the noodles
get yellow, the texture changes.
And this is not that well
understood, actually, but
somehow the interaction of the
gluten proteins is changed in
such a way that the noodles
become much firmer.
And there's the effect on
flavor.
The flavor of alkaline noodles
is really distinctive, the
flavor is the aspect of food
that we know the least about.
So one of the great things that
alkaline salts do in a noodle
dough is to make the noodle much
stiffer and therefore it holds
up better in the soup.
You know if you take an ordinary
noodle and you put it in hot
liquid, eventually it's going to
dissolve because the proteins
are just going to fall apart
into the liquid itself.
So that's probably a big part of
the reason why alkaline noodles
have found a special place in
soups.
>> (speaking Japanese):
>> CHANG: These are yellow
alkaline noodles.
I prefer this noodle because you
can cook it at a higher
temperature.
The faster you can cook a noodle
without it breaking apart, the
better texture you're gonna
have.
If I cook these noodles and I
put it in the soup, it still
tastes like soup.
But if I put it in a
concentrated version of soup,
it's like dipping it into
barbecue sauce or something, it
just cooks the noodles and it's
well-seasoned.
What we have here is a ramen
broth that was up to this rivet
right here and we reduced it all
the way down.
I added a little bit of chili
flakes, a dash of vinegar.
This bottle, that's what we use
to season our ramen broth.
We call it tare, chicken
infused soy sauce.
We're taking the noodles and
we're putting it in the ice
bath.
We're trying to stop the cooking
process, so it's not gonna turn
to mush.
In Japan they really like their
white pepper in their ramen,
I don't like white pepper all
that much.
I don't even know why I just
added it, that's just me
being brainwashed.
Here we have some pickled Asian
pear, bamboo shoots, pickled
shiitake, pork shoulder,
pickled cucumber, and some
scallions.
Chilled-bath egg at like 60, 61
Celsius.
This is totally non-traditional
in terms of Japanese ramen,
which is the funniest thing,
too, because when new ramen's
created in Japan they're like,
"Oh, that's great, it's a new
style, but if it's done outside
of Japan, it's not authentic,
therefore, it's not ramen."
I guess it's the same way when
Canada wins their World Series
or something it's, like, it
doesn't really count.
>> BOURDAIN: Noodles are only
half the equation to an
exceptional bowl of ramen.
Just as much love and attention
to detail is given to the broth.
>> CHANG: Momofuku ramen broth
starts just like a dashi.
The foundation is kombu, which
is simmered for 45 minutes at
60 degrees Celsius.
While the kombu cooks, pork
neck bones get roasted in a hot
oven.
The kombu comes out, some
destined for other uses,
and dried shiitakes go in.
After the mushrooms have
simmered for an hour, they're
not thrown out but removed from
the soup and pickled in soy
sauce.
Darkly roasted pork bones,
chicken legs and backs fill up
the pot.
A huge helping of bacon ends
from Allan Benton's smokehouse
in Tennessee gives the broth
its distinctive smokiness.
A day's worth of scallion
trimmings come next.
Onions and carrots are added,
along with water to cover.
The fond, those brown bits left
on the roasting pan, get
scraped in, too.
Then the kettle is closed and
the broth is left to simmer.
After 12 hours, and after
straining out all that goodness,
the broth is full-flavored,
full-bodied and ready to use.
>> BOURDAIN: There is one kind
of ramen that has transcended
all others across the globe as
few other food items have.
Invented in 1954 by Momofuku
Ando with a goal of feeding a
war ravaged country, instant
ramen has since become a staple
in pantries and college dorms
around the word.
It's cheap, and tasty.
As of 2008, consumption of
instant ramen reached 94
billion packages per year.
One of the many things that
make instant ramen this popular:
it's versatility.
Though one doubts that this is
what Mr. Ando had in mind.
>> CHANG: I think I was around
eight years old, I'd come home
from school and instead of
having Hot Pockets and stuff, I
had ramen.
I didn't know it was bad for you
to consume as a kid.
I thought it was healthy.
So what I did was, I first did
something like this as a kid.
It's pretty tasty.
And this is delicious.
This is pork stock, basically
freeze-dried vegetables, packed
with MSG.
There's no way it's not
delicious.
If I don't look bloated already,
I'm certainly gonna look bloated
tomorrow, just... not 'cause of
the MSG, because of the salt
content.
But this is where things got
really interesting.
I might've had like Capri Sun in
my left hand, and I would
sprinkle the seasoning packet
just like so.
And then I would go like this.
That's pretty much what I would
have as an after school snack.
And if you don't know how to
boil water, this is what you
gotta eat.
I mean if you put like Kraft
macaroni and cheese cheese
powder, put it on top, it's
pretty much eating like a
Dorito.
I've been told now, since I've
come out of the closet with
this, that I was not the first
to discover this.
There have been others to make
this breakthrough.
(laughter)
The beautiful thing about this,
what Momofuku Ando did when he
created instant ramen, was he
discovered a way to stop the
cooking process.
So this is a fully cooked
noodle.
And what he did was he basically
deep fried it, and it's just
gonna soak up water.
So instead of cooking in it
water and it's gonna soak up
water, why don't we make cheese
water?
We're gonna do cacio e
pepe, which is probably one of
my favorite pastas 'cause of
its simplicity.
We have boiling water, we're
gonna add butter, a healthy dose
of olive oil, cracked black
pepper.
I'm not trying to *** off
Italians.
This is not in any way, shape or
form Italian approved.
We're gonna add some cheese--
pecorino romano.
So what we're trying to do is
hope that by the time this
absorbs the liquid, it's gonna
be done.
We still wanna keep this al
dente, or as close to al dente
as an instant ramen can possibly
be.
So here we go, let's cross our
fingers.
Just trying to cook off all the
excess liquid.
I'm gonna pour a little of the
liquid out because I think I
have too much.
Obviously, Italians will be
rolling in their graves, even
the ones that are alive.
We invented pasta.
I don't know why the Italians
never adopted chopsticks.
And there you have cacio e pepe.
This is as authentic as you get.
I can't even say it with a
straight face.
I'm definitely not gonna get a
visa now.
I like instant ramen, I never
eat it anymore because my doctor
will be really mad at me at my
cholesterol, my sodium level.
These are all bad things.
But what we're gonna do is from
this we're gonna make a
Parisian-style gnocchi out of
it.
Gnocchi is traditionally
potato, but because of all the
modified starch in this wheat,
it actually make a superior type
of gnocchi.
I'm dead serious about that.
I have poured some milk and
what we're gonna do is heat it
and put it to a point where it
absorbs the water that has been
extracted from it, so it is now
edible again.
I'm gonna process this.
These are four egg yolks.
Pick that up at Jamba Juice.
So what we now have is gloppy,
gloppy consistency.
We're just putting this in the
pastry bag.
When that mixture cools down you
get this.
So over boiling water, we're
squeezing out the end and
cutting out with anything that
gets you a straight edge.
As this comes out of the water,
we're just gonna roll it in some
olive oil.
We're adding some unsalted
butter into a black steel pan
and we're gonna roll it in
butter so it gets a little
color.
I worked for a guy once and he
was like "Make it G.B.D.--
golden brown and delicious."
A little lemon juice, gonna add
some parsley, tarragon, and
chives.
I'm not gonna add too much salt
'cause we're gonna douse this
in parmesano reggiano.
And that's the dish.
We've seemed to offend the
Italians and the French now, but
that's America.
I feel like George W. Bush.
>> BOURDAIN: Tokyo train
station, one of the busiest
stations in the entire world.
Tucked away in one of its many
corridors is this shop,
Rokurinsha, serving tsukemen on
a whole other level.
>> CHANG: One of the things I
love most about ramen shops is
the fact that most of them now
are automated, and this is
pretty in writing what they've
done at Rokurinsha is they only
serve one thing, tsukemen.
And not only just one thing,
they put photos up.
>> I know the photos help me.
>> CHANG: All right, what's even
more cool about this since we're
in the train station...
>> Subway card, you can buy
ramen.
>> CHANG: This is probably the
coolest thing I've ever seen.
>> Boom.
>> CHANG: All right.
>> Let's see this.
>> CHANG: Let's do this.
Some of the best restaurants in
the world are located in the
basement of train stations and
subway stations.
I mean, if you try to convince
somebody and be like, "Hey, can
you open up a restaurant in the
basement, you know, back
alley corner of Grand Central...
>> Right.
>> CHANG: They're gonna be like,
"No, that's a terrible idea."
And here we have what people are
saying is some of the best ramen
in Tokyo right now.
I think what has made this place
so popular is that they only
serve tsukemen, and they're the
first ramen store to ever create
a noodle specifically designed
for tsukemen.
Like Italian pastas are designed
specifically for...
>> To carry different sauces.
>> CHANG: To carry different
sauces, and it's no different
than what the Japanese have done
with the ramen noodle.
It's fascinating that in this
food culture, it's like they
took so much pride usually, no
matter what cuisine you're
making, if you're not getting
the great product, you can't
make food.
>> Make great food.
>> CHANG: That's why the great
product and the great technique
and care turns into that crazy
queue.
Oh, my God.
>> Oh man.
>> CHANG: That is insane.
These noodles are insane.
>> Yeah.
>> CHANG: This broth is insane.
(slurping)
>> It's the perfect temperature.
>> CHANG: The noodles are
insanely good.
>> Totally chewy.
This broth is like...
>> CHANG: It's crack.
>> I would wait in line in a
train station for this.
This is, like, far and away the
best... definitely the best bowl
of tsukemen I've ever had, but
this is like probably the best
ramen I've ever had.
>> CHANG: I've had a lot of
ramen in my day, this is (bleep)
really delicious.
The line's so long they have
another queue.
They have a line for the line,
all these people have jobs.
They walked out of their desks
to eat.
"Where you've been three hours?"
"Oh, very easy, boss.
I've been eating the best bowl
of ramen I've ever had."
"You missed an important
meeting."
"But you missed an important...
very, very important bite of
food."