Tsukemen, also known as dipping noodles, is a popular Japanese dish that has been overshadowed globally by the insanely popular dish ramen. In a way, tsukemen is just a unique type of ramen, where the noodles are served cold and separate from the broth. You dip the noodles into the broth before eating them. It’s a simple yet delicious dish that is sure to tantalize your taste buds.
In this blog, we’ll explore the history and origins of tsukemen, how to eat it, what types of tsukemen are available, and finally, tips on how to make it. So let’s get started and explore the mouthwatering world of tsukemen!
What is Tsukemen?
Tsukemen is a type of ramen where the noodles and the broth are served separately. The noodles are usually thicker and chewier than traditional ramen noodles, and the broth is thicker and much more flavorful. The noodles are normally served either cold or at room temperature. It is a popular summer dish in Japan, whereas traditional ramen is preferred in the winter.
History and Origins of Tsukemen
Tsukemen is a relatively new dish. The most common story about who invented it says that the creator was ramen restaurant owner Kazuo Yamagishi sometime in the late 1950s to early 1960s. It’s said that the chef wanted to create a dish that was easy to eat and delicious. He came up with the idea of serving the noodles and broth separately, so that the noodles wouldn’t get too soggy and would rather stay nice and firm.
However, some stories suggest that Yamagishi may have gotten the idea from someone else. Another theory is that chefs at ramen shops would collect the leftover strands of noodles that stuck to the strainer after cooking. At break time they would take the collection of left over cold noodles and eat them with some broth by dipping them. This became a trend for many local ramen shops in Tokyo to have the workers eat this meal at their break time. Or at least that’s how the story goes.
To tie in Yamagishi, he used to apprentice at one of these shops. That may be where he learned of this dish and why he decided to sell it himself. While he was the first to officially put it on a menu, it is well known that before Yamagishi directly sold tsukemen, customers would and sometimes did request their ramen to be served this way.
The original name for the dish was Tsuke Soba. As other restaurants jumped into the ring to try to sell this new dipping noodle dish, they tried to distance themselves from other shops by changing the name. It wasn’t until 1973 that the name tsukemen first appeared in a shop called Chuka Tsukemen Daiou.
How to Eat Tsukemen
The best way to eat tsukemen is to simply dip the noodles into the broth, then slurp them up. This allows the noodles to absorb the flavor of the broth, creating a delicious and flavorful dish.
Before you start eating, it’s important to add any extra toppings you want to the broth. This can include things like bean sprouts, green onions, seaweed, and boiled eggs. Sometimes these topping are already in the bowl and sometimes they are served on the side. The toppings add an extra layer of flavor and texture to the dish.
Once you’ve added the toppings, it’s time to start eating. Take a few noodles and dip around 3/4 of the noodles length into the broth. Slurp them up and enjoy the flavor.
Once you’ve finished eating the noodles, it’s time to enjoy the broth. The broth is usually pretty thick and very flavorful. At some restaurants, you can ask the staff to bring you some extra dashi or lighter broth to help make the soup less thick and more drinkable.
What are the Different Types of Tsukemen?
There are many different types of tsukemen available. There are different flavor dipping broths, toppings, and even noodle types. Common broth types are similar to their ramen counterparts like shoyu, miso, gyokai tonkotsu, and even vegan broths.
Usually tsukemen has thick noodles, but many places in Japan like to add things to their dishes to make them unique. So it’s not impossible to find tsukemen with different styles of noodles, like flat ones, or even thicker udon noodles.
How to Make Tsukemen
Making tsukemen at home can be a challenge, but it can also be fun. There are lots recipes you can find online for tsukemen depending on what broth flavor you want. So instead of just adding a whole recipe here, I’ll leave you with some tips.
I recommend not making your own noodles from scratch unless you want an extra challenge or have a noodle-maker attachment on your kitchen aid. Even then, it’s probably worth it to go to an Asian grocery store and pick up some pre-made ramen noodles. To clarify, I don’t mean the instant ramen packs; however, if you can’t find anything else then you could probably just use those. If you do have an Asian grocery store, then look for noodles called chukamen (中華麺), i.e. chinese noodles.
Now for the hard part, the broth. The biggest tip for the broth is to remember that tsukemen broth is typically very flavor intensive compared to regular ramen broth. With that in mind you can either find a recipe online for tsukemen, or if you want to experiment, then you can try to adapt a ramen broth recipe you like by adding an a bit of extra flavor ingredients to water ratio.
Conclusion
Tsukemen is a unique and delicious Japanese dish that is sure to tantalize your taste buds. It is a unique type of ramen, where the noodles and the broth are served separately. The noodles are usually thicker and chewier than traditional ramen noodles and the broth is usually thicker and more flavorful.
There are many different types of tsukemen available, such as shio tsukemen, miso tsukemen, and vegan tsukemen. Eating tsukemen is also easy – just dip the noodles into the broth and slurp them up.
Finally, making tsukemen at home can be challening and fun. All you need to do is make the broth, cook the noodles, and assemble the dish. Easy right?! So what are you waiting for? Try making tsukemen or go out and find a restaurant that serves some today and experience the mouthwatering taste of this dish.
