What is tsukemen?
The name combines tsukeru (to dip) and men (noodles). Kazuo Yamagishi is considered the inventor, who offered the dish in the 1950s at his Tokyo ramen shop Taishoken. Today in Japan you find dedicated tsukemen shops with thick, wavy noodles and a broth of pork bones and dried fish. You know the principle from zaru soba, where you dip cold soba in a cold sauce. The spelling "tsukumen" often shows up in searches and means the same dish.
The dipping broth has to be strong
The broth also seasons the cold noodles, so you salt it more than a ramen soup. The card uses 500 ml chicken broth to 4 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tbsp mirin. Let the broth simmer uncovered with garlic and ginger, so water evaporates and the flavor concentrates. Taste it plain at the end: it may taste almost too salty. You get more depth like this:
- Fish: Many tsukemen shops mix meat and fish broth. Stir a handful of bonito flakes into the hot broth and pour it through a sieve after 5 minutes.
- Tare: Instead of soy sauce and mirin separately, you can use 4 to 5 tbsp shoyu tare. The basics on seasoning bases are under ramen tare.
- Acidity and heat: 1 tsp rice vinegar and a few drops of chili oil make the broth fresher.
The right noodles
Tsukemen noodles are thicker than regular ramen noodles. They keep their bite after rinsing and hold more broth. At an Asian grocery store you can get fresh or frozen ramen noodles, so pick the thickest kind there. Dried ramen works too, but turns softer. Cook the noodles one minute longer than the package says, because the cold water firms them up again. Then rinse them under cold water and rub them with your hands until the starch is washed off. The card works with 100 g per person, and for a big appetite use 150 g. You knead your own noodles following the instructions for how to make ramen noodles.
Toppings
The noodles get pork belly, half a soft-boiled egg and scallions. Instead of fried pork belly, chashu works, which you braise the day before and slice cold. For the egg, use ramen eggs, which steep overnight in a soy-mirin marinade. With menma and half a sheet of nori, your bowl looks like one from a ramen shop.
How to eat tsukemen
Pick up a small portion of noodles with chopsticks, dip them halfway into the broth and eat them right away. If you leave too many cold noodles sitting in the bowl, the broth cools. So warm the bowls for the broth beforehand with hot water. If broth is left at the end, add hot chicken broth or dashi and drink it as a soup. In Japan this last step is called soup-wari, and many shops hand you a pot of broth for it.
Variations
- Atsumori: You rinse the noodles cold and briefly dip them in hot water before serving. The broth then stays hot longer, which is the nicer version in winter.
- Vegetarian: Cook vegetable broth with a piece of kombu and two soaked shiitake instead of chicken broth. Instead of pork belly, fry tofu slices in sesame oil. For a vegan bowl, leave out the egg and buy noodles without egg.
- Cold with sauce: For ramen noodles that you eat cold with sauce and vegetables, try hiyashi chuka.
