Noodles ── Ramen
Tamagotoji Ramen
Tamagotoji Ramen — a Nagoya bowl finished with egg poured in at the last moment
A ramen said to trace back to a food stall in Nakamura, Nagoya, finished with egg poured in and set to a soft, custardy texture by the broth's own heat alone. Long-simmered Mikawa chicken and pork bone broth gains a mellow, silky edge from it.
- Origin: Aichi Nagoya (Nakamura Ward)
- Besides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsu
- About 270 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A thin, glossy film of beaten egg spreads across the surface of a clear broth. Cooked to just the right softness by the broth's own heat alone, the egg still wobbles gently when lifted with chopsticks and clings to the noodles. Underneath the mellowness, the depth of a long-simmered stock is said to remain firmly intact, and the waft of steam released the moment the egg film breaks is its own small pleasure.
How it's made
Mikawa chicken bone and pork bone are simmered for stock over ten hours daily, then beaten egg is poured in to finish. Rather than cooking the egg separately, it's set to a soft curd by the broth's heat alone, so silkiness and softness coexist. Pairing it with custom-cut, extra-thin noodles lets the egg-laced broth reach every strand, and judging exactly how much egg to add, and when, is said to be where a cook's skill shows.
Why it took this shape
A shop that began as a food stall in Nakamura, Nagoya, is said to have arrived at this egg-finished style through trial and error after moving into a proper storefront. Nakamura sits close to Nagoya Station, a busy crossing point for travelers, and the trick of softening the bowl with egg seems to have taken root there as a meal that warms you quickly, the stall days' speed and the storefront's care meeting in this one dish.
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
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Betokon RamenA garlic-and-chili stamina ramen said to have originated in Ichinomiya, Aichi, devised from a repatriate's memories of Manchurian cooking. Its name is said to come directly from what customers started calling it.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Aichi
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
- Aichi HakozushiVinegared rice is packed into a wooden frame, topped with shrimp, eel, shiitake, and egg arranged diagonally, and pressed. Placing toppings on the diagonal so everyone gets a fair share of each is said to be a feature of the Owari and western Mikawa style, made for celebrations.
- Hebo MeshiAdult and larval giant hornets are simmered sweet and savory, then folded into freshly cooked rice. Said to have served as a prized protein source across the mountains from Shinshu to Okumikawa, it's now more often served as a treat for guests.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.