The meticulous assembly of a bowl of ramen is a near-ritualistic process, where precision in small details is paramount. First, an exact quantity of tare – a concentrated seasoning – is added to the bowl. This base, crucial to the ramen’s flavor profile, is formulated around soy sauce (shoyu), salt (shio), or miso, and typically incorporates around a dozen additional ingredients.
Oils, often derived from chicken fat or porcini mushrooms, are then used to further season the bowl. Next comes the broth, followed by noodles cooked à la minute – to order – and briefly swirled within the liquid. A soy-marinated egg, with a still-liquid yolk, is halved with a thread suspended above the counter. Two thin slices of pork shoulder complete the foundational elements, alongside additions like crisp nori seaweed sheets, pickled bamboo shoots, paper-thin onion rings, or shrimp-filled wontons, depending on the specific ramen style.
Tare, translating literally to “sauce” in Japanese, is a soy sauce-based seasoning used to flavor ramen, and is particularly common in Tonkotsu ramen from Yokohama, Japan. According to ramen experts, approximately 30 milliliters (2.5 teaspoons) of tare are mixed with an unsalted ramen broth. The creation of tare from scratch is a complex undertaking, requiring careful balance, and technique.
The importance of tare extends beyond simply flavoring the broth; it’s considered one of the five essential components of ramen, alongside the broth itself, oils or fats, the noodles, and the toppings. Chefs often add each component separately to ensure consistency and allow for fine-tuning of the flavor in each bowl. Some chefs use 1 1/4 cups of broth, two tablespoons of shoyu tare, and one tablespoon of oil or fat as a starting point, adjusting to taste.
The process of making shoyu tare often begins with grinding dried fish – anchovy, bonito, or sardine are recommended – and dried shiitake mushrooms into a powder. This powder is then simmered with water and konbu (kelp), before being strained through a filter. The resulting liquid is the foundation of the tare, to which other seasonings are added.
While traditionally made from scratch, the precise recipes and techniques for tare are often closely guarded secrets, passed down through generations of ramen chefs. The quality of the tare is widely regarded as a defining factor in the overall quality of the ramen, with many ramen shops categorized by the type of tare they use – shoyu, shio (salt), or miso.
