Noodles in Japan: Ramen and chopsticks
Noodle is familiar food to many people in the world. Noodle comes with variety, and there are different kinds of shapes, length, and are made from different flours and ingredients.
In Japan, there are 3 kinds of noodles: Udon, Soba,and Ramen.In previous entry titled "Noodles in Japan: Udon", I wrote about what Udon is and how you can make it yourself, and in another previous entry titled "Noodles in Japan: Soba", I wrote about what Soba is, how it is served.
Here, I like to write about Ramen.
You probably would be familiar with word "Ramen". I see Ramen noodles packages at local grocery store.
Ramen is made from wheat flour, egg, salt, water and kan sui (type of mineral water). In Japan, you can find restaurant that specialize in Ramen and you can get many different kinds of topping. Green onion is most common topping and you can also find one with Chashu (Roasted soy ginger based marinade BBQ pork).Other topping include raw egg, bean sprout, Menma (fermented bamboo shoot), Nori (seaweed), kamaboko (steamed cured fish paste) etc in either meat base broth or seafood base broth. Broth flavor for Ramen you would not find here unless you go purchase Ramen packages at Asian store is Ramen in soy sauce flavored broth or in Miso flavored broth, and Shio Ramen (salt ramen).
Ramen is, just like savory pancake "Okonomiyaki", there are different from region to region. In southern island "Kyu shu" area, you find Tonkotsu Ramen (Ramen in pork bone based broth) as popular Ramen broth flavor. If you visit northern island of Japan "Hokkaido", you find Miso Ramen as popular Ramen. I used to get Shio Ramen as staple when I feel like Ramen. Shio means salt, but shio Ramen is not salty broth.It is made from salt,vegetable, chicken, fish according to wikipedia.
When Ramen is served, usually, you get spoon specially made for Ramen called "Renge". The tip is wider than regular spoon you are familiar with, and more deeper than regular spoon and curvy.
Also, you get chopsticks to eat with. I find some restaurants over here in the states serve chopsticks with special dishes but, do you know how to hold them properly? Do you know there are different kinds of chopsticks in Japan?
In Japan, each family member has their own chopsticks just like tooth brush in your family. I remember we had several chopsticks with different color back home in Japan, so that it is easy to see which one belong to who.
Take a look at picture bellow.
Can you see the small ceramic bear thingy? It is called "Hashi Oki". "Hashi" means chopsticks and "oki" means to rest. So, it is chopstick rest/chopsticks stand if you understand. People use chopsticks to eat and when they would like to take a break,they would put the chopsticks just like in the picture. You can find different shapes and colors for Hashioki (chopsticks rest). Since the chopsticks in the picture above is new, you can see the sticker on the chopsticks.
Here is a little tip for you.If you talk to Japanese people,and say "hashi", depending on which letters you would put an accent on, they understand differently.
For example, lets say you say "HAshi" putting accent on "ha". Japanese would understand it as chopsticks. However, if you say "haSHI" putting accent on "shi", they understand you meant "bridge".
Also, "ame" can mean different things just like example above. "Ame" putting accent on "A", means "rain", and if you say "aME" putting accent on "me", it means "candy".
Take a look at picture bellow.
You can see this chopsticks are very long: 13" long to be exact. This chopsticks are not for the use to eat. This long chopsticks is called "Saibashi" and made for cooking. Regular adult size chopsticks for the use of chopsticks are 9" long so, you see that this chopsticks is really long chopsticks. If you look closer, tip of the chopsticks has texture and it is to avoid food that got picked up would not slip off. Long chopsticks are very good for the use of cooking because hand is away from hot air from the pan.
Take a look at picture bellow.
You probably be very familiar with this chopsticks. It is wooden chopsticks and it is disposable ones. This is called "Wari bashi". Take out places/ restaurants would give this type of chopsticks.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This is regular chopsticks with texture on tip. Its texture helps you to hold food without slipping off.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This chopsticks is regular chopsticks with Wajima nuri. Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture is famous for their lacquerware called "Wajima nuri". With this special coating on chopsticks, this chopsticks are not good for being tossed into dish washer. You must wash with warm soapy water by hand, and immediately wipe off the water to dry. This special coating method is used also for coating individual soup bowl.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This is a chopsticks with strange curves on it. The strange curving supposedly stimulate pressure points while using chopsticks. This is something my parents found it interesting and got us one.
Now, here is how to hold chopsticks properly.
1. First, hold just one chopstick just like you hold your pen using 1st,2nd, and 3rd fingers.
2. Then, slide the second stick in on top of 4th finger, under 1st finger.
3. Now, move the top stick with 1st,2nd,3rd finger still holding like you hold pens, and do not move the second stick that rest on your 4th finger. To use the chopsticks to hold foods, move just top one. You can practice with picking up the small beans with chopsticks. If you became good at holding food with chopsticks, you can hold beans with no problems.
Lastly, these are some of "Don't" in chopstick manners.
** Tsuki bashi: Piercing food with chopsticks
** Saguri bashi: Picking through/examining the food in the dish with chopsticks
** Mayoi bashi: Twirling around the chopsticks over the food wondering what to pick
** Neburi bashi: Licking food off the chopsticks
** Hashi watashi : Passing food directly from one person's chopsticks to the other person's chopsticks without putting the food down.
- When people pass away, we use long chopsticks-like thing to pick one bone and pass to the other person's chopsticks after cremation. Therefore, it is thought not good manner doing the similar thing on meal time.
Learning how to use chopsticks with whole family is fun. You can play game with chopsticks. When my mother in law visited our family for wedding, my grandmother taught her how to hold chopsticks and used azuki beans to pick with chopsticks and had competition to compete against each other on how many beans each can pick in certain time limit. It was fun. You can do the same and can have fun at family gathering
In Japan, there are 3 kinds of noodles: Udon, Soba,and Ramen.In previous entry titled "Noodles in Japan: Udon", I wrote about what Udon is and how you can make it yourself, and in another previous entry titled "Noodles in Japan: Soba", I wrote about what Soba is, how it is served.
Here, I like to write about Ramen.
You probably would be familiar with word "Ramen". I see Ramen noodles packages at local grocery store.
Ramen is made from wheat flour, egg, salt, water and kan sui (type of mineral water). In Japan, you can find restaurant that specialize in Ramen and you can get many different kinds of topping. Green onion is most common topping and you can also find one with Chashu (Roasted soy ginger based marinade BBQ pork).Other topping include raw egg, bean sprout, Menma (fermented bamboo shoot), Nori (seaweed), kamaboko (steamed cured fish paste) etc in either meat base broth or seafood base broth. Broth flavor for Ramen you would not find here unless you go purchase Ramen packages at Asian store is Ramen in soy sauce flavored broth or in Miso flavored broth, and Shio Ramen (salt ramen).
Ramen is, just like savory pancake "Okonomiyaki", there are different from region to region. In southern island "Kyu shu" area, you find Tonkotsu Ramen (Ramen in pork bone based broth) as popular Ramen broth flavor. If you visit northern island of Japan "Hokkaido", you find Miso Ramen as popular Ramen. I used to get Shio Ramen as staple when I feel like Ramen. Shio means salt, but shio Ramen is not salty broth.It is made from salt,vegetable, chicken, fish according to wikipedia.
When Ramen is served, usually, you get spoon specially made for Ramen called "Renge". The tip is wider than regular spoon you are familiar with, and more deeper than regular spoon and curvy.
Also, you get chopsticks to eat with. I find some restaurants over here in the states serve chopsticks with special dishes but, do you know how to hold them properly? Do you know there are different kinds of chopsticks in Japan?
In Japan, each family member has their own chopsticks just like tooth brush in your family. I remember we had several chopsticks with different color back home in Japan, so that it is easy to see which one belong to who.
Take a look at picture bellow.
Can you see the small ceramic bear thingy? It is called "Hashi Oki". "Hashi" means chopsticks and "oki" means to rest. So, it is chopstick rest/chopsticks stand if you understand. People use chopsticks to eat and when they would like to take a break,they would put the chopsticks just like in the picture. You can find different shapes and colors for Hashioki (chopsticks rest). Since the chopsticks in the picture above is new, you can see the sticker on the chopsticks.
Here is a little tip for you.If you talk to Japanese people,and say "hashi", depending on which letters you would put an accent on, they understand differently.
For example, lets say you say "HAshi" putting accent on "ha". Japanese would understand it as chopsticks. However, if you say "haSHI" putting accent on "shi", they understand you meant "bridge".
Also, "ame" can mean different things just like example above. "Ame" putting accent on "A", means "rain", and if you say "aME" putting accent on "me", it means "candy".
Take a look at picture bellow.
You can see this chopsticks are very long: 13" long to be exact. This chopsticks are not for the use to eat. This long chopsticks is called "Saibashi" and made for cooking. Regular adult size chopsticks for the use of chopsticks are 9" long so, you see that this chopsticks is really long chopsticks. If you look closer, tip of the chopsticks has texture and it is to avoid food that got picked up would not slip off. Long chopsticks are very good for the use of cooking because hand is away from hot air from the pan.
Take a look at picture bellow.
You probably be very familiar with this chopsticks. It is wooden chopsticks and it is disposable ones. This is called "Wari bashi". Take out places/ restaurants would give this type of chopsticks.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This is regular chopsticks with texture on tip. Its texture helps you to hold food without slipping off.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This chopsticks is regular chopsticks with Wajima nuri. Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture is famous for their lacquerware called "Wajima nuri". With this special coating on chopsticks, this chopsticks are not good for being tossed into dish washer. You must wash with warm soapy water by hand, and immediately wipe off the water to dry. This special coating method is used also for coating individual soup bowl.
Take a look at picture bellow.
This is a chopsticks with strange curves on it. The strange curving supposedly stimulate pressure points while using chopsticks. This is something my parents found it interesting and got us one.
Now, here is how to hold chopsticks properly.
1. First, hold just one chopstick just like you hold your pen using 1st,2nd, and 3rd fingers.
2. Then, slide the second stick in on top of 4th finger, under 1st finger.
3. Now, move the top stick with 1st,2nd,3rd finger still holding like you hold pens, and do not move the second stick that rest on your 4th finger. To use the chopsticks to hold foods, move just top one. You can practice with picking up the small beans with chopsticks. If you became good at holding food with chopsticks, you can hold beans with no problems.
Lastly, these are some of "Don't" in chopstick manners.
** Tsuki bashi: Piercing food with chopsticks
** Saguri bashi: Picking through/examining the food in the dish with chopsticks
** Mayoi bashi: Twirling around the chopsticks over the food wondering what to pick
** Neburi bashi: Licking food off the chopsticks
** Hashi watashi : Passing food directly from one person's chopsticks to the other person's chopsticks without putting the food down.
- When people pass away, we use long chopsticks-like thing to pick one bone and pass to the other person's chopsticks after cremation. Therefore, it is thought not good manner doing the similar thing on meal time.
Learning how to use chopsticks with whole family is fun. You can play game with chopsticks. When my mother in law visited our family for wedding, my grandmother taught her how to hold chopsticks and used azuki beans to pick with chopsticks and had competition to compete against each other on how many beans each can pick in certain time limit. It was fun. You can do the same and can have fun at family gathering
Thanks for more good info. I always find your posts to be so interesting and informative. I was lucky and had a relative that learned how to use chopsticks the proper way, and he showed me and later, my sons. They love to use them when we go out to eat.
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You are lucky to have someone that can teach you how to use the chopsticks.Did your relatives visit Japan before? I find that many people who are not familiar with chopsticks have hard time moving just top stick to pick/hold food.
Did you notice that Chinese chopstick and Japanese chopstick are different shapes? I find that Chinese ones seem not going to get taper down and keep the same thickness from bottom to top while ours (Japanese chopsticks) taper down towards ends?
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