Noodles ── Ramen
Rishiri Ramen
Rishiri Ramen — kelp country's ramen, kneaded with its own kelp
A ramen from Rishiri Island, home of the prized rishiri kelp. It's seasoned with salt so the kelp stock's flavor stays clear, and some shops even knead kelp into the noodles — a bowl built around the island's volcanic-grown kelp.
- Origin: Hokkaido Rishiri
- Shio — salt
- About 1060 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
Stock drawn from rishiri kelp is the whole point, seasoned with the barest amount of salt. Salt is chosen, by the logic that 'kelp's flavor comes through most clearly that way,' and some shops knead kelp straight into the noodles, tinting them kelp-brown. Both broth and noodles are built so nothing gets in the kelp's way.
How it's made
Rishiri kelp is steeped or simmered slowly into a concentrated stock, then seasoned with only as much salt as needed. Some shops work kelp into the noodle dough itself, carrying its color and aroma into the noodles as well as the broth. Toppings stay simple, arranged to let the kelp lead.
Why it took this shape
Rishiri is a volcanic island, and the kelp that grows in its waters carries a history said to stretch back a thousand years, once prized enough for court ceremony and the tea room. The local fishery cooperative is said to have built this ramen to carry that kelp's value into something as everyday as a bowl of noodles — stock and noodles alike built entirely around it.
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
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Hokkaido
- Asahikawa RamenSoy-sauce broth built on seafood and pork bones, topped with lard so it stays hot. A response to the region's severe winters.
- Asahikawa HorumenA local dish that crosses Asahikawa's two soul foods — soy-sauce ramen and grilled pork offal. Pork offal, cleaned and prepped to remove its odor, sits on a soy-based broth. It was devised in Asahikawa in the 2010s.
- Gatatan RamenAshibetsu's local dish gatatan, turned into ramen: a salt broth thickened with potato starch, loaded with vegetables, meat and seafood, and finished with a stream of beaten egg.
- Bibai no TorimeshiChicken and onion are cooked into rice with soy sauce, sugar, and sake — said to trace back to a Meiji-era landowner in Bibai's Nakamura district who had tenant farmers raise chickens, then served them to guests.
- Bibai YakitoriOne skewer carries the whole bird — offal, skin and all.
- Biratori WagyuJapanese Black raised in Biratori, Hidaka, founded on breeding cattle brought from Shimane in 1962 — finished slowly through harsh winters, said to give the meat a notably deep flavor.