Seems like a little while since I did a pack instant ramen from Japan. This is one I found during my trip to Taiwan last November at the Carrefour in Taipei by the Miramar Entertainment Park. I tell you – they had quite an impressive instant noodle aisle – like 4 aisles really. So this one is a shio instant ramen. Here’s a little from Wikipedia about shio –
The origin of ramen is unclear. Some sources say it is of Chinese origin.[7][8][9] Other sources say it was invented in Japan in the early 20th century.[10][11][12]
The name ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese lamian (拉麵).[13] Until the 1950s, ramen was called shina soba (支那そば, literally “Chinese soba”) but today chūka soba (中華そば, also meaning “Chinese soba”) or just Ramen (ラーメン) are more common, as the word “支那” (shina, meaning “China”) has acquired a pejorative connotation.[4]
By 1900, restaurants serving Chinese cuisine from Canton and Shanghai offered a simple ramen dish of noodles (cut rather than hand-pulled), a few toppings, and a broth flavored with salt and pork bones. Many Chinese living in Japan also pulled portable food stalls, selling ramen and gyōza dumplings to workers. By the mid-1900s, these stalls used a type of a musical horn called a charumera (チャルメラ, from the Portuguese charamela) to advertise their presence, a practice some vendors still retain via a loudspeaker and a looped recording. By the early Shōwa period, ramen had become a popular dish when eating out.
According to ramen expert Hiroshi Osaki, the first specialized ramen shop opened in Yokohama in 1910.[9]
Shio (“salt”) ramen is a pale, clear, yellowish broth made with plenty of salt and any combination of chicken, vegetables, fish, and seaweed. Occasionally pork bones are also used, but they are not boiled as long as they are for tonkotsu ramen, so the soup remains light and clear. Chāshū is sometimes swapped for lean chicken meatballs, and pickled plums and kamaboko (a slice of processed fish roll sometimes served as a frilly white circle with a pink or red spiral called narutomaki) are popular toppings as well. Noodle texture and thickness varies among shio ramen, but they are usually straight rather than curly.
I should mention that while this article claims the origin of ramen is unclear, I have spoken with many people with many different opinions they hold as fact on this. Let’s tear open this package and see it’s innards.
Fujiwara Hokkaido Hakodate Shio Ramen – Japan
Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge). Unsure of meat contents. To prepare, add noodle block to 600ml boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Add in sachet contents. finally, stir and enjoy!
The noodles in their own sealed pouch.
The soup base sachet.
A liquid base.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, chashu pork, spring onion and shichimi togarashi. The noodles have a firmer chew to them than your average instant. This imparts a more quality effect. The broth is very tasty even though the pack only has one liquid sachet and takes 600ml water – a pretty large amount. The shio taste is pretty good – and the oiliness is just right; beads dance on the surface like glistening jewels of slurpiness. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. JAN bar code 4976651083555.
