AUTHENTIC RAMEN is a complicated dish, not that dried crap we American buys buy at 88 cents a packet to survive college/dorm life. Ramen in Japan is an experience, a revelation really. I spoke to my Japanese coworker, Nagi, about it yesterday and I had to stop because it was making her homesick. She gave me an overview on the regional differences in Ramen style and how a broth is never dumped out at the end of the day but kept on a low fire constantly, hence why the shopkeep lives above his shop. That was not show in the film and would've help a lot. It uses fresh ingredients and is a balances of amazing depth and flavor specific to that region- I won't spoil the movie- watch and see what they put in the broth- it's cool.
The shop owner is simply a drunken, sad man who's upset his son left for Europe five years before and never came back to take over the family business and learn Ramen. Here comes a, sad American girl one rainy night whom he and his mousy wife feed and they become their own dysfunctional family for the next year.
She decides she wants to learn Ramen and begs him to be her sensei.
The shop owner slowly teaches the American girl how to cook with her heart, not with your brain. I made that mistake the other day when I wasn't watching myself make cookies and they came up all burned and tasteless instead of golden and delectable.
Watch the movie, be amused and have your heart warmed. Don't blame me if you need REAL Ramen afterward. But please don't buy that terrible stuff in the store. I'll track down a good recipe and some restaurant recommendations from our groomsmen, my Asian connection, Wei-San. And save the broth after, maybe don't keep a fire going but keep it in saved in a tupperware in your fridge.
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