The Difficult Ramen

I lifted the bowl and solemnly drank down every last drop of the soup.

After finishing, I slowly set the bowl back down… the savory flavor of the clams still lingered softly in my mouth.

Shio ramen was an exceptionally refined, almost artistic kind of ramen.

Beside me, Ouri, Brad, and Maria had finished as well, all wearing impressed expressions.

After a while, Ouri spoke with a low groan.

“This stuff… is one hell of a difficult ramen!”

Maria looked puzzled.

“Difficult…? What are you talking about, Dad!? It was delicious!”

Ouri shot Maria a sidelong look.

“That ain’t what I mean, Maria. Hey, Brad… you understand what I’m getting at, don’t you?”

Brad gave a small nod.

“Yes, Father. I understand perfectly! Even if I served this ramen at my restaurant, only a very small handful of people would truly appreciate its value.”

Maria tilted her head.

“Huh…? What does that mean?”

Ouri glared down at the empty bowl as he answered.

“Let’s say, for example… I brought a bunch of my dwarf buddies here and had them eat this. They probably wouldn’t call it bad. But I bet quite a few of ’em would complain that it was ‘not satisfying enough’ or that it ‘felt too thin.’ But if you gave those same dwarves the Jiro-style ramen we had the other day, I guarantee every last one out of a hundred would be shouting about how damn good it was.”

I nodded at his words as well.

“Indeed. It would likely be the same among the elves back home… They are not accustomed to the savory flavor of seafood. Even if they ate ramen this delicious, they would probably still come away thinking it was merely ‘so-so.’”

Brad explained further.

“In other words, Maria, the people who can appreciate this ramen are those who have experienced a wide range of flavors—people whose ‘palates have reached a certain level of experience’… You’ve been dragged along with my ramen making, Father’s gourmet pursuits, and Rinsir-san’s food adventures plenty of times too, haven’t you? That’s why you can appreciate how delicious this is.”

Maria let out a shrill cry of disbelief.

“Whaaat!? Even though it tastes this good!? There are really people who wouldn’t understand this flavor!?”

Ren gave a wry smile.

“Maria, I’m glad to hear you say that, but there’s no such thing as a flavor everybody thinks is delicious. Some customers like light flavors, some like rich ones. People who love tonkotsu, giant portions, or dipping noodles—they’re all customers just the same. There’s no higher or lower. So yeah, Ouri-san’s basically right… this is the kind of ramen with a slightly complicated flavor that only really clicks for people who get it.”

I asked Ren,

“Ren… is this ramen made with clams?”

Ren nodded.

“Exactly. The broth is a double soup made from clams and chicken. You have to watch the fat and scum carefully so it doesn’t turn cloudy, then gently and patiently draw out the umami.”

Brad leaned forward.

“But that alone couldn’t have produced such a deep flavor, could it?”

“Right. To finish a good shio ramen, you’ve gotta pay just as much attention to the salt seasoning sauce as you do to the broth… I’ll let you taste it specially.”

Ren poured some thick, ocher-colored liquid into a small dish and set it before us.

Brad immediately reached for it.

“So this would be what we call the Blended Sauce. Excuse me!”

After tasting a little, his expression changed.

“Th-This is…! What an incredibly complex flavor!”

Maria tasted it next and closed her eyes.

“W-Wow, that’s strange! It’s really salty, but so mellow at the same time!”

Ouri tasted it after her and repeatedly tilted his head.

“Huh? This flavor… I swear I’ve tasted something like it before… but I can’t place it.”

I picked up the dish and gave it a taste as well.

I see. This was…

“The special element is the ‘salt’… is it not? In this saltiness, I can faintly sense both the sea and the mountains.”

Ren’s face filled with astonishment.

“Exactly! Rinsir-san, I can’t believe you caught that. This salt sauce blends Himalayan rock salt with sea salt from Brittany in France!”

“Heh… I have not lived this long for nothing. When I once climbed the Neptu Mountain Range, the highest mountain range in the world, one of the local tribes there seasoned dragon steak with rock salt.”

Ouri slapped his knee.

“That’s it, rock salt! When I was young and working in coal mines, I used to lick that stuff all the time!”

Maria tilted her head.

“Himala…? And what was that other place, Fra-something?”

Ren answered.

“The Himalayas are a range of really high mountains in our world. Brittany is the name of a region with beautiful seas, and the salt comes from there. Both are rich in minerals, and even when you lick them straight, they don’t have that harsh bite. They’ve got a rounded, deep flavor instead.”

Brad peered wistfully into his bowl.

“…A ramen of the sea, with clams as the star… I never imagined shellfish could produce such a delicate, artistic broth. And that peel from the lemon-like fruit matched the ocean flavor perfectly with its refreshing aroma.”

“That was yuzu. It contains an aromatic compound called yuzunone. The fruit itself is sour, so I only use the peel. Just a tiny amount gives the whole bowl a nice fragrance, right?”

I raised my voice as well.

“The boiled egg topping was excellent too! That was not merely boiled, was it? You seasoned it by soaking it in a sauce, correct?”

Ren nodded.

“Yeah, that’s an ajitama. Good, wasn’t it?”

“Hm? So it is called an ‘ajitama’… Marinating a boiled egg in sauce is a splendid cooking method! Taisho’s boiled eggs were delicious too, but the ajitama unquestionably surpasses them. And the chicken breast surprised me as well. I had always thought ramen meat meant pork chashu… Ren! You truly are remarkable! You are always leading me into new worlds!”

Ren smiled happily.

“Heh heh… I knew you guys would understand what makes this ramen good!”

And so, yet another door to a new world of ramen opened that night… its name was “Shio Ramen”!

“Shio” meant salt, and this ramen was characterized by its beautifully clear broth and clean, refined flavor.

Ajitama, chicken chashu, shellfish broth… the evolution of ramen knew no bounds!

I trembled with emotion at the possibilities of ramen, and at the unknown new bowls Ren continued to create one after another.