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Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

February 10, 2015/1 Comment/in Beets Dulse and Kale, Dinner, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations, Kale & Collards Kim Chi, kimchi, Lunch /by Ozuke

As you know, ramen is all the rage. It has been for a while now. Ask anyone where to get the best ramen and they will likely have a very passionate response. In fact, finding the best ramen has almost become an urban sport, the winner gaining social status, emphatic pride, and maybe even a […]

Good Food Awards 2015

January 24, 2015/1 Comment/in Fall, Fermentation, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations /by Willow

Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

February 10, 2015/1 Comment/in Beets Dulse and Kale, Dinner, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations, Kale & Collards Kim Chi, kimchi, Lunch /by Ozuke

Good Food Awards 2015

January 24, 2015/1 Comment/in Fall, Fermentation, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations /by Willow

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Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

February 10, 2015/1 Comment/in Beets Dulse and Kale, Dinner, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations, Kale & Collards Kim Chi, kimchi, Lunch /by Ozuke

Unfortunately, when something becomes insanely popular, it can also become insanely expensive. Not all ramen spots are pricey, but there are certainly a lot of pricey options out there. What if you are just as obsessed with ramen as everybody else, but are shackled by your budget?

We are here to tell you that making ramen does not require alchemy—especially with the super power of delicious kimchi. So why not make your own?

Like an embedded reporter, I photographed as a friend made ramen for dinner. I pretended to be experimenting with a new camera as I lined up the ingredients and snapped away. Herein these photos lies the secret to making delicious, easy and inexpensive ramen that doesn’t come in a microwavable cup.

When I walked in the house I noticed two things immediately: An amazing aroma and my growling stomach. The broth had been simmering for some time before my arrival.

This particular cook was rather secretive about his broth, I think because his strategy was to add a little of this, and add a little of that, until the flavor reached its zenith. He did however excitedly use some juice from Ozuke’s Kale & Collards Kim Chi. He poured it right into the broth, right in front of my camera.

Not pictured: How incredible the house smelled as the broth was simmering.

As I arranged the ingredients that were set out for the meal to “try out my new camera,” there were hints of what the broth contained. Beside the kimchi you’ll notice Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, Sriracha, natural rice vinegar, white pepper, turmeric, black sesame oil, and even Jamaican Jerk seasoning.

We can also see almost everything else that the ramen will include once it is plated: ramen noodles, ginger root, garlic cloves, shallots, carrots, radishes, a lime, a jalapeno, green opinions, cilantro, and shitake mushrooms. Not pictured: four eggs and one cucumber.

Isn’t there something so dangerously fun about jalapenos?

I confess I didn’t see what role the ginger played in the meal, but I suspect it was used in the amazing broth.

While the broth continued to simmer, our chef of the evening grabbed a knife. He cut up the green onions, the carrots, the radishes, the mushrooms, the cucumber, the jalapeno, the shallots, and pulled the leaves from the cilantro.

After that, there was some cooking to do. Four eggs were cracked and scrambled with black pepper.

After all the prep was done, the stage was set like this. Everything is fresh and simple, the signature of a good, healthy meal.

As our chef for the evening began to plate the food, it was confirmed that he was an artist. He took his time laying each ingredient on each plate at a time so that the patterns matched from plate to plate.

And after everything was arranged just so, he poured in the broth we’d been salivating over, making each dish almost complete. The cherry-on-top to this ramen dish was our Kale & Collards Kim Chi—a grand finale indeed.

Yes, it was delicious.

Now let’s review. Making a delicious ramen meal at home is something all of us can do. There is very little cooking involved, there is ample room for creativity, the ingredients are simple and few, and as long as kimchi is involved, you’re going to love it

Good Food Awards 2015

January 24, 2015/1 Comment/in Fall, Fermentation, Food Concepts, Food Traditions, inspirations /by Willow

When Mara told me last January that she was buying the entire plum and cherry harvest from a young farmer she had met through the Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union, I must admit, I was a tad unsure about buying all that fruit. We mostly make kraut, kimchi and various other pickled delights but the fermented fruits, popular throughout Asia as well as parts of Latin America, were a new exploration for us. In the very early days of our business (before we actually even knew it was a business) we had harvested wild plums from my family’s land in Lyons and made a batch of umeboshi to share with friends but this was a great deal more fruit, with more on the line. Flash forward to harvest and our crew stemming a zillion cherries, elephant heart plums arriving plump and sweet- such elegance and flavor, a process of balancing sweet, salty and tart coupled with adding the zing of live food. They were on their way to becoming something very tasty.

In September, we submitted to the Good Food Awards with these new products and heard back in November that we were finalists. The news had the wonderful rush of risk paying off but also of the tendril of our process, our creativity and our care out in the world.

This month we went to San Francisco to accept our award and to meet many other excellent food crafters from all over the country. We wore lipstick, we were humbled in the presence of gustatorial greats like Mark Bittman, Alice Waters and Ruth Reichl. We ate many wonderful things and drank our fair share too. We made new friends, worked a souk style Farmer’s Market on Saturday at the Ferry Building (which was so outrageously busy we had to hide in bed and watched Girls for a few hours to recover) and took in the foggy goodness of the city. Thank you to Sarah Weiner and the rest of the GFA crew for putting together such an cool gathering of food nerds, hats off to all the other winners and if you are local and want to taste the goods- Umeboshi: Salted Paonia Plums and Cheriboshi: Salted Paonia Cherries are now available at a Whole Foods and other independent grocers near you.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

Good Food Awards 2015

Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

Good Food Awards 2015

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Where to get the best Ramen and the not so secret Ozuké ingredient

Good Food Awards 2015

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