2021 February Ramen News Recap

In this monthly news recap, I am recapping all the noteworthy events, podcasts and posts about and around ramen. Besides my own trip to Aomori which resulted in the Aomori Ramen Tour Part 1 and Part 2, lots of interesting stuff happened and was published.

Blogs, Guides and Posts:

Even though already published in January, Cody from Ramenguidejapan.com released the second part of his Ultimate Gate to Tsukemen. The second part focuses on the rich and heavy nokou tonkotsu gyokai style, made famous by shops like Chuka Soba Tomita or Tsukemen Michi. The first part explores the birth of tsukemen and the following rise to fame of the Marucho and Taishoken brands.
The Ramen Beast aka Abram released two more posts on his substack ramen newsletter:
- Ramen Jiro: Japan's Most Infamous Food Cult
- A Meeting with Ramen Master Yamamoto
In case you are living in and around California and can make your way to Modesto, you should hop over and check out the newly opened Konfucious Eats by the ambitious ramen chef Ernie Watkins. Check out his Instagram for daily updates.

Videos:

Have you ever wondered what happens behind closed doors in ramen shops before the first customers arrive? This video by Ramen Rotas shows the prep process in detail. Must watch for everyone toying with the idea to open their own shop one day. Unfortunately in Japanese only, but it’s easy to understand what’s going on.
Looking a bit beyond classic ramen making, this porcini ramen made entirely with wild ingredients by Outdoor Chef Life is quite inspiring. It shows some techniques and ideas in regards of using local ingredients instead of relying on imported stuff from Japan.
Valentines day was in February, so naturally, there was some Valentine’s day special chocolate ramen offered in Japan. Not so sure if the world really needed this.
RamenWalker has been keeping up with their kitchen live streams from the Ramen Walker Kitchen. You can find all currently ongoing and past live streams there. February had the ramen chefs from Gamushara and Paimen in the kitchen.

Recipes:

Pork Coppa Chashu by Preston Landers. A great fusion recipe which combines Western flavors in the form of a rare chashu, prepared sous-vide. Honestly, his whole website Culinarycrush is worth checking out for great ideas and recipes.
Great Tori Paitan Recipe by Ramen Kaonashi which includes all parts of the bowl, noodles, tare, broth, toppings, everything from start to finish.