Ramen Type
Shio Ramen
What is Shio Ramen?
Shio ramen may be the oldest style of all. Hakodate, a port city in southern Hokkaido, holds the strongest historical claim: an 1884 newspaper advertisement for "Nankin soba" (noodles from Nanjing) is one of the earliest records of ramen in Japan, and some accounts trace Chinese-influenced clear noodle soups in the city to 1877 via Cantonese immigrants. Hakodate was one of the first Japanese cities opened to international commerce in 1859, which brought Chinese culinary influence early and directly. The bowl that developed stayed close to those roots: a clear salt-seasoned soup, the closest of the four styles to the original Chinese noodle soups that arrived by trade.
Shio means "salt" in Japanese. The tare is made from high-quality sea salt dissolved with sake and mirin, sometimes with a small amount of light soy sauce (usukuchi) — at low enough concentration that it never colors the broth. The stock base is most commonly chicken, seafood (kombu, dried scallops, niboshi, katsuobushi), or a combination of both. Temperature discipline matters: the stock must stay below a rolling boil — around 176°F — to prevent fat emulsification and keep the liquid transparent. That clarity is not aesthetic preference; it is a direct readout of technique. Every flaw in the stock — improperly blanched bones, thin dashi, off salt balance — is visible and tastes unmediated in the bowl. There is no miso paste to soften the edges, no caramelized soy to add depth. The broth is the broth.
Hakodate shio ramen uses medium-thin straight noodles and spare toppings: chashu or poached chicken, menma, green onion, nori, and sometimes narutomaki or spinach. The pale golden surface of the bowl is a consequence of technique, not a decorative choice. Heavy toppings would bury both the color and the flavor. In the US, shio draws cooks who want a benchmark — the style where you find out exactly how good your fundamentals are.
Flavor Profile
How to Make Shio Ramen
- 1
Build a Double Stock (Chicken + Dashi)
Blanch chicken backs or carcasses in boiling water for 5 minutes; rinse clean. Separately, cold-steep kombu, dried scallops, niboshi (dried anchovies), and dried shiitake in cold water for at least 12 hours to make dashi. Simmer the chicken stock gently at around 176°F for 3 hours, skimming constantly — never let it boil. Combine the strained chicken stock and strained dashi in a 1:1 ratio. Animal-fat richness from the chicken stock and seafood umami from the dashi work differently and layer better than either alone.
- 2
Make Shio Tare
Combine 75g high-quality sea salt, 75 ml mirin, and 75 ml sake in a small saucepan. Add a piece of kombu and heat gently to 140°F — pull the kombu before the liquid boils or it turns bitter. Let cool. Stir in 5 ml rice vinegar for brightness and a small amount of usukuchi (light) soy sauce for body without color. The tare should be intensely salty on its own; 20 ml tare per 250 ml stock is the starting ratio.
- 3
Make an Aromatic Oil
Render chicken skin (from your chashu chicken breast) in a small saucepan with sliced Tokyo negi (long green onion) over low heat for 20 minutes. Strain. One tablespoon per bowl adds a round fat layer and fragrance that the broth itself cannot carry.
- 4
Assemble Precisely
Add 20 ml shio tare and 1 tablespoon aromatic oil to a pre-warmed bowl. Ladle 300 ml hot double stock over both. Add thin straight noodles cooked al dente (about 90 seconds). Top with thinly sliced chashu or poached chicken, menma, chopped green onion, and nori. Taste before serving — there is no way to confirm salt balance in shio except by tasting the assembled bowl.
Where to Buy in the US
- Asian Grocery Stores
- H Mart and Mitsuwa stock kombu, niboshi, dried scallops, and katsuobushi for building dashi. Marukai carries Hakodate-style shio ramen kits and thin straight noodles.
- Online Retailers
- Nissin Raoh Shio instant ramen (air-dried, not fried) is the closest mass-market version of the style, available on Amazon. Sun Noodle thin straight noodles ship to select US zip codes.
- Whole Foods / Specialty
- Maine Coast Sea Vegetables kombu, Maldon sea salt flakes, and Eden Foods kombu are available nationally for scratch shio tare. Cheap iodized salt reads harsh in a broth this transparent.
- Restaurant Supply / Specialty
- Korin NYC and JapanCentre.com stock usukuchi (light) soy sauce, dried hotate (scallops), and prepared shio tare concentrate for home use.