Bre Garcia

Recipe for Ramen

Needed: One pot. Small. It might confuse everyone including myself if I call it a saucepan, but it's also called a saucepan.

Also needed: A packet of ramen. Throw away the broth mix. Substitute, chicken-tomato bouillon. Knorr brand, it will read as caldo de tomate con pollo. I had to look this up too, because I got the wording wrong. I don't speak Spanish. Lime juice. Garlic cloves. Tapatio. Tajin. Crema Mexicana table cream. This is your broth.

This recipe is straightforward. It's hard to fuck it up if you follow along. You'll see.

It's all about the broth you cook everything in. Things should be simmering but always ever gently. Boil too hard and something will happen, too fast, too wrong. It's hard to understand, though. It's a matter of taste. Boil not enough and nothing will happen, similarly undesirable. Good ramen simmers gently. Sear garlic cloves in benign oil. Let rest to get rid of the heat, add water according to bouillon instructions. Add several drops of tapatio. Make it risky. If you're like me (who isn't), you've bought a jar of lime juice instead of the actual lime. Don't tell your parents. Two circles squirting into the broth should do it. Tajin. Again, make it risky. If you add crushed red pepper no one will blame you. This is what you simmer gently for several minutes.

I always boil it too hard, not because of a lack of awareness. I very much well stare at pot as the broth roils and bubbles, and I do nothing. Somewhere out there someone would blame me for it.

It's acidic, this is good. You'll see.

I speak Japanese. It's essential if you're going to write a recipe on ramen. You have to be familiar with the culture. You got to be.

Temper the cream. It's too cold, it'll curdle, you want it to blend. Take the cream you need (not too much, enough to cover the bottom of the bowl) and drip some of the simmering broth into it. Mix well. Mix until it's a faintly peach color. That's all the difference you need. Enough to be noticeable, not enough to change it entirely. It's a beautiful color. That's what everyone says. Some days you tell yourself you believe them, but most days you just stare blankly because it's never really felt that special.

Put the noodles directly in the broth. This is not something they usually do in Japan, but no one has time for an extra pan when the color of the cream never looks as beautiful as they say it does. You can go by the package directions here, but by this point most people know what ramen looks like. By proxy, they know what ramen doesn't look like, and they'll be sure to point it out. This won't look like ramen, but trust me, you can't call it by any other name.

I don't speak Spanish. I'm familiar with this culture though, I think. People tell me I am, so I must be, I definitely am, it never feels like it, I never know enough, it's never going to be enough because it only goes halfway.