What are standard types of ramen?

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There can literally be infinite types of ramen, and every year, we are seeing new types of ramen created by a group of innovating ramen shops. But there are basic genres of ramen that these new types of ramen are based on.
Of course, the standard type is noodle soup type. With hot and cold soup soaking cooked noodles, you enjoy the matching of soup and noodles. It is the balance between the noodles and soup that will bring the joy to the whole experiences. This is the oldest type of ramen, which dates back to over 110 years ago.
Then, there is tsukemen or dipping noodles. This dish borrows the idea of dipping noodles from older Japanese noodle cuisines, udon and soba. The noodles tend to be thicker and chewer. The dipping soup tends to be very intense in taste and flavor to match the noodle size. Because of its unique taste and flavor, tsukemen has been established as one genre of ramen. And there are a number of tsukemen specialty shops that are popular in Japan.
The last type that we mention here is soup-less ramen, called mazemen, meaning mixed noodles or tossed-up-noodles. There is no soup added as what goes with the noodles are only motodare, flavor oil and some condiments. (no base stock added) Mazemen is especially great for takeaway because there's no hot soup cooking and softening noodles during delivery. We call these types of ramen, evolution of ramen with the amount of soup reduced over time.

Ramen types by seasoning type

Other categorization of ramen is made by seasoning type used to make ramen soup. Because ramen soup consists of base stocks, motodare (seasoning), and flavored oils, what majority of people refer to as "miso ramen" or "shoyu ramen" comes from the type of seasoning used in ramen soup. Whatever the base stocks used in the ramen soup, if the primary motodare used is shio or salt, it may be called "shio ramen", for example.
There are certain ramen dishes that are listed as this type categorization, but they may get perceived as other types. It looks like shio ramen, but it is actually called "shoyu ramen". This is often common. The amount of motodare used or even the color of soup may decide if it is a "tonkotsu ramen", which may often be really a "shio ramen" or "shoyu ramen".
Because shio ramen does not mean that there's no shoyu motodare contained in it, we should be careful how to categorize it. Because customers tend to care if it is miso, shio, shoyu or tonkotsu, we should name it with one of these words just to avoid confusion.

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Almost 60% of the Complete Basic Course is available online for you to start studying. This course is aimed at anyone who's planning to start a business with ramen, engaged in a ramen business, or professionals who want to up their ramen skills. Because the speed at which ramen evolves is fast, one especially in the ramen industry needs to keep polishing his or her skills to stay strong in the ramen business. In this Complete Basic Course, we cover every aspect of ramen business, including practical production skills of each component of ramen dishes. Because there are many types of base stocks, motodare, flavored oils, noodles, and toppings (even basic ones), combining a few types of these parts help you create your own unique ramen dishes. The good thing is that this course keeps evolving with new contents over time. And the best of all, you can start taking it now.

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