Noodles ── Ramen
Nyuzen Brown Ramen
Nyuzen Brown Ramen — a secret miso built from local rice, soybeans, and Kurobe fan-water
A rich broth of secret miso brewed from prefecture-grown rice and soybeans, shrimp extract layered in — devised in 2010 by Nyuzen's chamber of commerce youth division to counter the nationally famous Toyama Black.
- Origin: Toyama Nyuzen
- Miso
- About 250 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
The broth runs a cloudy brown, and the first sip carries the depth of a miso brewed from prefecture-grown rice and soybeans, shrimp extract layered on top. The noodles are worked with deep-sea water drawn from Toyama Bay, giving them a springy, resistant bite. For its dark color the flavor stays gentle enough to drink to the end.
How it's made
A secret miso, brewed with famed spring water from the Kurobe River's alluvial fan, forms the base, with shrimp extract added for a richer broth. The noodles are kneaded with deep-sea water from Toyama Bay — the town's water resources gathered whole into one bowl.
Why it took this shape
Volunteers from the local chamber of commerce's youth division are said to have created the dish in 2010 to counter the nationally famous Toyama Black and spread Nyuzen's own name. Brown set against black makes the contrast plain, while building the bowl from the fan's spring water and the bay's deep water keeps the ingredients distinctly Nyuzen's own.
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
- Sakekasu Miso RamenA winter-only ramen from Ageo City, where sake lees from a long-running local brewery are worked into a Chinese restaurant's miso broth. The lees' depth and aroma layer over the miso's savoriness, leaving a mellow finish that warms the body in the cold months.
- Akayu Karamiso RamenMiso ramen with a knob of chili miso in the center, dissolved gradually to shift the flavor.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
Also from Toyama
- Bai no NimonoWhelks from the deep waters of Toyama Bay are simmered whole in their shells — said to appear at celebrations thanks to a play on words suggesting doubled good fortune, with smaller whelks simmered and larger ones eaten raw.
- BekkoMelted agar is seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, then set with egg trailed in like threads — its amber color flecked with egg said to resemble a tortoiseshell hair ornament, giving the dish its name; in the west of the prefecture it goes by "yubeshi" instead.
- BurishabuThin slices of yellowtail are swished briefly through kelp broth, said to cook only the surface while leaving the center rare — versions using Himi's branded winter yellowtail are considered a particularly luxurious cold-weather treat.
- Genge no MisoshiruEelpout, a deep-sea fish covered in a gelatinous layer, is cut into chunks and simmered into a miso soup — long treated as an unwanted bycatch of sweet shrimp fishing, its flavor has since been reappraised and spread beyond the fishing villages that first ate it.
- Himi UdonA hand-stretched udon developed in Himi, Toyama, in the mid-Edo period by adapting somen-making techniques from Wajima. It was once presented to the Kaga domain as tribute.
- Hoonko RyoriA catch-all term for the dishes served at houonko, the memorial gathering held on the death anniversary of Jodo Shinshu's founder — the season's better vegetables and wild greens are said to be set aside for it apart from everyday use, with the devout Gokayama area of Nanto known for hearty stews of dried greens and local tofu.