This episode of the podcast is the follow up to last weeks episode with Mike Satinover aka Ramen Lord. In this episode, Mike does an hour of Q&A, answering questions submitted by you guys. There are some great tips in here and some really interesting discussions that come out of the questions so I think this one is a really good listen.
If you would like to ask questions of future guests on the podcast, please give me a follow on instagram @wayoframen and please give Mike a follow as well @ramenover.
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Concerning the last question to the audience about creating an American Ramen – except that David Chang possibly did this with his smoked ham ramen or Ivan with his tomato incorporated ramen – I think it’s difficult, but not impossible, to create an American version of ramen, because, the general thing with fusion cooking is, is that you try to synergize things that people at places all over the world traditionally are trying to harmonize for centuries. You can’t beat that so easily, the science has to work. Like Mike said, it’s finding out the connection with umami rich foods – which America (note the sharp contrast with Italian inspired Ramen or even french cuisine for that matter) generally doesn’t have in abundance, by way oversimplifying ramen easily (adjusting to the local taste pallets from a commercial perspective is understandable). So the Japanese, and perhaps even more likely (than american) other more umami rich cuisines, will continue to have the advantage with their abundance of glutamic rich foods, which were their canvas for originating Japanese ramen. But then again, ramen also in origin wasn’t a solely Japanese thing, now was it? Not particularly an answer but some food for thought!