2023-04-22 22:37:00
In favor: Much more than a soup
Micaela Faith Lucero
The massive popularity of ramen has been growing in recent years hand in hand with the expansion of anime and the fascination for certain products of Japanese culture, which gradually detaches itself from the negative vision that had been imposed on it and opens the doors to immerse yourself in another country in different ways, without the need to travel.
In Córdoba it is not so easy to access ramen. There are not dozens of places that offer it like there are in Buenos Aires. That speaks of a road that still has to be traveled and of an unexpected advantage of exclusivity: where they prepare it, they prepare it as it should be.
Fortunately, there hasn’t been time yet for a fast chain version to come close to a ramen prepared in minutes and at a lower price. It may not be eaten exactly like it is in Japan, but unlike sushi, we didn’t experience an overly American version of it.
Ramen is much more than a soup, much more than buying a packet of maruchan noodles in the supermarket, boiling water, and dissolving the flavor packet.
A video by chef Adrian Pablo Asato, from Nakama Ramen Corner, gives a brief idea of why ramen is so much more than a soup and what makes this product a unique experience in the mouth.
I mean the times, as well as more invisible but different and exotic ingredients that make its flavor unique. Asato shows how noodles, for example, can take six hours to prepare. And it continues: the chashu (pork for ramen), it takes about three and a half hours. The broth, only the broth, already needs approximately eight hours, depending on the type. But not everything is measured in hours: marinated eggs he strives They ask for at least two days.
That’s just a sample of what makes ramen special. More if we accompany it with the aesthetic experience offered by places like Tokin and Nakama.
As if that were not enough, many times there is the possibility of customizing it. For example: in Nakama I always ask for the veggie (I love the quantity and variety of vegetables it brings), but I don’t deprive myself of adding a tasty chashu.
Finally, the argument that another colleague, a ramen fan, gave in the heated discussion about whether this dish is worth it: if a ramen costs me $2,500 (to put an approximate price) and a hamburger costs me the same, I prefer a ramen. Controversial but wise decision.
Against: Soup again!
Noelia Maldonado
For several years now, ethnic food has landed in Córdoba with great force and professionalism. The oriental, with sushi at the forefront, was one of the ones that generated the most interest, added to the dishes of Arab origin.
Being able to travel with your palate is undoubtedly an affordable luxury, especially in times when the dollar reaches astronomical values. On the other hand, what more than taking advantage of the enormous gastronomic flow offered by a country cooked with the remnants of dozens of cultures that migrated to these lands bringing knowledge of all kinds with them.
Now, that the tree does not cover the forest and that fashions are not imposed on us without first being able to say “ni mu”. The rage for ramen started several years ago and I always thought that it would fade as diners got tired of the novelty and realized that no matter how exotic the dish looked, it was still a soup. A rich soup, but a soup nonetheless.
Surely with this last sentence I have just bought myself a problem and many readers will let me know but, honestly, I believe that the rage for this Japanese broth is built on the foundations of a fashion.
And I’m not saying that fashion is strictly eating the dish (in this case, eating the soup) but rather that the rage is unleashed by everything that is Japanese. A bookseller once told me: “Anything you put on Japan in the window sells no matter what it is.”
If not, it is hard to understand why on a day with more than 35 degrees it is very difficult (if not to say almost impossible) to find tables in a place that sells broths, broths in the middle of summer!
I insist, the dish can be tasty and require a lot of work, but it sounds almost exaggerated to pay what they cost for a soup. If the prices were consistent with those of a broth then there would be no possible complaint and I would understand that there would be queues and queues to access an hour and a half shift to have a very rich stew that is eaten far away.
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