Noodles ── Ramen
Katsu Ramen
Katsu Ramen — a whole pork cutlet set on soy ramen
A whole pork cutlet, often bound with egg, set right on top of a soy ramen. Said to have started from wanting katsudon and ramen at once — a hearty bowl from Kosaka, Akita.
- Origin: Akita Kosaka
- Shoyu — soy sauce
- About 520 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
The star of the bowl is a whole pork cutlet, set right on top of a soy ramen. Many shops serve it freshly fried and bound softly with egg, whole; the ramen underneath is kept light and plain in soy broth so it doesn't turn heavy. You slurp the noodles, then bite into the cutlet, taking in the egg's sweetness and the batter's texture — a bowl that grabs the best of both ramen and katsudon at once.
How it's made
The base is an ordinary soy ramen served at the town's diners, onto which a whole separate process of breading and frying a cutlet is added. Some shops set the cutlet on as is; others bind it first with beaten egg — the recipe varies household to household, shop to shop. Getting two separate dishes, ramen and katsudon, to work together in one bowl means balancing the broth's saltiness and the noodle portion against the cutlet, and that balance is said to be where this bowl's craft lies.
Why it took this shape
About 40 years ago, the story goes, people building floats for Kosaka's annual Tanabata festival said they wanted both ramen and katsudon at once, and that's said to be how this began. What started as an off-menu item at one shop spread by word of mouth and settled in as the town's specialty. Rather than reaching for anything special, the idea of folding two familiar dishes — katsudon and ramen — into a single bowl is itself what this bowl is built on.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Cash-only shops are commonEspecially at ramen shops, it's common to find places that only accept cash — often through a ticket machine.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Aizu RamenFlat, thick hand-made noodles in a clear soy broth. Said to trace back to a Aizuwakamatsu diner owner bringing home a taste learned in Yokohama — a second soy ramen lineage that grew up apart from Kitakata's, in the same Aizu region.
- Edokei RamenA soy ramen topped with a knob of bright red chili miso built on garlic and garlic chives. Stirred in gradually as you eat, it turns a mild bowl steadily richer and spicier — a specialty of Akita City.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Akita
- Akazushi (Akazuke)Cooked glutinous rice cured briefly in red shiso and vinegar — an Akita sushi with no fish in it at all, a plant-based cousin of narezushi also offered at Obon altars.
- AsazukeBroken rice grains are pureed, simmered, and seasoned sweet-and-sour with sugar and vinegar, then mixed with cucumber, turnip, and seasonal fruit — a summer dessert unrelated to the pickle of the same name, said to refresh women after a day planting rice.
- Edokei RamenA soy ramen topped with a knob of bright red chili miso built on garlic and garlic chives. Stirred in gradually as you eat, it turns a mild bowl steadily richer and spicier — a specialty of Akita City.
- Akita HoshimochiSliced mochi is strung up, soaked in water, then left to freeze and thaw through the winter cold in a process called 'kanjime' — the result crisp and filling, said to have fueled breaks during rice-planting season.
- Imonoko JiruBaby taro corms called 'imonoko' simmer with chicken, mushrooms, and wild greens in miso or soy — an autumn soup said to use taro grown in Yokote's Sannai district, prized for its soft bite, and set alongside kiritanpo nabe as the region's autumn counterpart.
- Akita no SakeAkita sake, brewed with soft water in deliberate contrast to Nada's hard water, aiming for a mellow, delicate character. Breweries buried in snow are said to gain a natural insulating effect from it, a tradition of slow, low-temperature fermentation built around that climate.