What I write about when I write about ramen - Part 3.

So when I last wrote about ramen I said the only place I’d spend money nowadays is Gogyo Fitzroy for its kogashi ‘burnt’ miso and soy ramen.

The other ramen I spend money on, the best in Melbourne,
and I’m not sure how many of you have guessed it,
is the Tori Paitan ramen
at my own home.

I know, I know, what a shameful, embarrassing cop-out.

This last (I think) post about ramen is not really about ramen, but more on my philosophy of cooking.

Do you have a cup of something nearby?
Because this is going to be a long one.

It all started with a Marcato Atlas 150.

A Christmas party, 2019.
I was given a pasta machine.

I don’t have an Italian childhood, so my first impression of Spaghetti is introduced by corporations. I really prefer dry pasta for its durum wheat, the bite, which matches my mental image of the 90s glowing light of Pizza Hut, Shakeys, even Saizeriya in Japan.

All those nonnas Jamie visited on a Vespa?
Means nothing to me.

I wonder if it’s the same for non-Asians?
Do you feel like pasta every time you eat a bowl of Chinese noodles?
Like, hey, this dish could use some parmesan or olive oil?

I don’t blame you.
Food is inherently tied to our (happy) memories.

So every time I taste handmade pasta, after wishing it was DeCecco no.12, I wish it was Chinese noodles, specifically ban mian.

If I bring you to my hometown one day, I’ll make you try ban mian.
Anchovy broth with flat noodles made with, a Marcato Atlas pasta machine.

And that’s how I started making ramen noodles with the machine.

U/Ramen_Lord

I was stopping over in Chicago for a wedding in 2017 and while researching places to eat I read an article claiming the best ramen in Chicago is not from a restaurant, but a man’s apartment.

That’s how I stumbled across the /r/ramen subreddit on Reddit.
And when I say a subreddit, it’s basically just Ramen Lord aka Mark Satinover’s personal fan page.

This was 2 years before the pasta machine, I remember just laughing it off as another gaijin who dedicated his life on the path to become a samurai/yakuza.

(Remember Ramen Rater, the guy who reviews instant noodles? Is he still alive? Ok, Google says he is. Why??)

The thing about Mark, I have to say, is his ability to make everything sound so scientific, leaving no room for error. Imagine Kenji Lopez, but white and Vulcan-like, and only makes ramen, and you get the gist of him.

By 2019 Mark has become the western authority of ramen making, edging Ivan Orkin. He’s helping out with pop-up shops, being hailed literally as god on all ramen youtube channels. The best thing about Mark is his willingness to share and be open-source. At the same time I received the Atlas 150, he published a free e-book with all his recipes. (Warning: very long read.)

The reason I referred to his book, is due to the illusion of choice.
Compared to Ivan’s book with his one version of ramen, Mark has like 200 recipes in there. It’s like ordering in a family restaurant right, there’s bound to be one that fits me. And it’s not that difficult to source his ingredients because 1. it’s written in English and 2. it’s written for people not in Japan.

It’s a very good starting point. And I think if you have the patience to follow through with his instructions, your ramen will be amazing.

This is also a time for me to plug Harold McGee for his ingenious way of making Kansui powder - a tray of baking soda into the oven until it sheds 30% of its weight. The heat evaporates the water from the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), turning it into kansui powder (sodium carbonate). Serious Eats (or shall I say the comments section) has a refined version.

If you can’t be bothered making ramen, at least make ramen noodles.
It’s really, really good.

Learn a Second Language.

”How do you learn to cook? Who is your inspiration?”
Every time I jump on a video chat/interview, the other person will ask me.

One unfair advantage I have, is my wife and daughter.

Without them, I’m just a sad Asian/Japanophile.
Next to them, I’m a great dad who is trying to embrace his family’s other culture.

My Chinese high school education / bilingual superpower probably plays a big role too.

Every time I see someone asking about certain recipes on SAC, I ask in my mind why can’t they just search google in Japanese, then search in Chinese. Why can’t they search Japanese YouTube videos, then Chinese YouTube videos?

And that’s only online.

Offline, I have magazines from the 2010s on ramen, sauces, curry, dumplings, fried rice.

I don’t necessarily have more cookbooks than you, but I definitely have a weirder/broader collection.

So while I refer to English recipes, I also cross-reference with my ‘alternative’ library.

Each language I know opens up another dimension.

I used to think I’m cheating, but not anymore.

I now feel sad whenever the answer on SAC is either just one cook book or mangchi, or cooking with dog, or the other usual suspects.

The internet is supposed to make us free; not end up in the same place.

Ask yourself: are you really cooking real recipes, or what publishers think you should be cooking?

Eat A Second Language.

I think my palette is also important to my cooking.

Malaysians generally have a wider palette because we grow up with food from three distinct cultures. I bet my balls an average Malaysian can name so many more dishes from childhood than an Australian. Our handicap is that we’re also very susceptible to processed food / MSG due to most of us growing up in the lower-middle class. I honestly believe we are more open to trying different food, and our palette grows with that.

I remember befriending a chef from one of Melbourne’s best restaurants, and he told me his favorite lunch spot was Chili India in Melbourne Central for its Biryani. (Really, you’ve never tried Biryani before Melbourne??)

He also told me when he made okonomiyaki for staff lunch everyone was blown away (Really? They’ve never tried okonomiyaki before Melbourne??)

That really made me stop and process how much does a modern chef knows when all they do nowadays is molecular gastronomy? There’s one season of Masterchef Professional where the Aussie chef thought fishballs were scallops that were ‘off’.

When you think about it, most chefs don’t get to travel because of hard work, long hours, low pay.

For the longest time, we have that image of French chefs coming out with a knife when you ask for salt. I don’t think that’s the case anymore.

Geographically, Melbourne is also an amazing place for food.

We have food around the world that is 90% authentic.

We’re getting pizzas made by Italians, baklavas from Sydney Road, croissants from French bakers, Taiwanese egg rolls from Taiwan, fried kuey teow from Penang, roasted cauliflowers from Miznon, Springvale pho from Vietnamese, Ying Thai 2 from Thai, sashimi flown in from Tsukiji.

The reason we have such good food is that all migrants are so unwilling to culturally assimilate.

Dave Chang, in one of the podcasts, claims Dainty Sichuan Melbourne’s eggplant to be the best in the world. I mean, it’s pretty good. But for a Michelin chef/owner to claim that, I just have to ask, man, what food have you been eating?

If you’ve ever met an unhappy Melburnian foodie, that’s really because he/she is a culinary bigot.

But Why Chicken?

Oh man, we’ve wandered too far, let’s go back to ramen.

Some of you might remember my Facebook post about how pork stinks in Australia. It’s just never my first choice.

I guess it’s also ‘trendy’ to move away from pork.

Tonkotsu ramen is very old school, like a doppio espresso in the 90s. Nothing wrong, but it’s also kinda dated.
Ramen is all third wave now.
We want floral notes, stone fruits, and whatnot.

I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from the confusion of that white creamy chicken broth I tasted at Kagari in Ginza. Now that they’re no longer there it’s just this golden standard of nostalgia.

The only place I always make a trip to when I’m in Fukuoka also sells Tori Paitan ramen.

If I really hold up a mirror though, it’s because chicken ramen is cheaper, easier, faster to make.

The Best? Really?

Ok Narcissus, you read some recipes, buy some foreign books, watch some YouTube videos on the internet and now you think you make the best ramen? Reality-check much?

My definition of good food always ties down to ‘fresh is best’.

Having seen and shot many restaurants, I can assure you, the main focus of every restaurant, no matter what they say on their cookbooks, websites, interviews, documentaries, will always be about turning a profit.

Because running a restaurant is running a business.

And thanks to my food photography career, I’ve eaten and visited many kitchens.

Perhaps the biggest advantage I have over many, is that I managed to peek behind the curtains.

At least in Melbourne, my observation is that restaurant owners are constantly battling between 2 things: rent and wages. Both are probably the highest in the world, and the law protects landlords and (sometimes) minimum wages.

How many bowls of ramen do they need to move to break even? Taking into account rent in the middle of Chinatown is 20+k per month.

Which variable can they slide to increase profit margin?

That’s right, the ingredients.

I’m saving the juicy bits for another newsletter (or maybe a drunken catch-up one day), let’s just say from a restaurant owner’s point of view, I’m the idiot who buys everything retail.

Free-range chicken, eggs, onions, carrots, tomatoes, sesame oil, Japanese soy sauce, mirin, sake, konbu, bonito flakes, seaweed.

I’m the idiot who makes ramen enough for only 6 people in one seating because that’s the size of my pressure cooker.

Maybe ‘the best’ is an exaggeration, but it is definitely the freshest, and hence in my own dictionary - the best.

Chika then can put however many spring onions, sauce, sesame seeds she wants. Hana can take away

This is not an ego trip.

I’m telling you, everything you make from home, is the best.

Because you know what you put in your food.

And home cooks, if they’re cooking for love, don’t calculate food cost.

So the next time your parent/spouse /children make you something,
even if you don’t like it,
finish your plate.

Epilogue

Click here for Ramen_Lord’s book of ramen.

SeriousEat’s recipe on making kansui powder.

If you fancy some ramen journey, may I suggest subscribing to Ramen Beast’s newsletter? His post on Rairai is my favourite ramen story this year. The amount his team put into the pursuit of ramen just makes me feel so jealous to be white. Or to be young again.

This Japanese guy makes a ramen video every Friday. No voiceover or fancy video editing, just the work. I watch it to sleep sometimes, just to train my visual memory.

This newsletter should’ve been two posts, but I’ve sat on this for two weeks and with the restrictions lifting I’m not sure if I have time to sit down and write for a long time.

I have five people suggesting I move this newsletter to substack and I’m honestly considering it. I can’t believe people pay for newsletter subscriptions. And some Australian influencers even charge money, then only post once a month, while I give out quality content for free??
Oh, the injustice.

Then again, we’ve come back to a full circle, haven’t we?

Like cooking, I’m not writing this newsletter to make money.

Yet.

Maybe in another 6 months or so?
Drug dealers always give out the first few blows for free.
<cue evil laughter>

Hi there! If you’re new here, thanks for buying my book.
You can access all the previous newsletters here.
In the meantime, happy to answer any questions you have regarding restaurants, food, recipes.