Make Ramen Noodles with Bamboos at Shinyokohama Raumen Museum 新横浜ラーメン博物館

You might think bamboos are elegant, understating, very-Japanese “trees.” Botanically speaking, they are grasses, not trees, as you may know. Anyway, yes, they could be “very-Japanese.” Bamboos are aggressive invaders. When they see an opening nearby, their underground stem relentlessly spread further and further. That’s why every spring we find bamboo shoots sprouting from totally unexpected places. If bamboos are left alone, they multiply and dominate the field by killing-off the other species which are there long before the bamboos come. We Lovers of Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森愛護会 are fighting to control their invasion. Our approach is CUT and DIG. Every spring we dig out bamboo shoots. It’s a fun activity, i.e. harvesting spring delicacy from the forest. (OK, OK.) We also thin bamboos all year around, literally. Traditionally, thinning bamboos is to be done in autumn. After summer, their speed to “drink” water becomes slower, and so the cut trunks and stems are drier. It is less likely for molds, viruses, etc. to enter them, and so people can treat them as materials to make household utensils. Though, these days in the City of Yokohama bamboo forests are literally out-of-control. We take thinning operation all year round, including summer. Tons, really tons of bamboo trunks and boughs are supplied after our forestry activities all year round. Here is THE problem: what to do with those trunks, stems, leaves of cut bamboos?

A scenery in Niiharu Citizen Forest.
 Believe it or not,
 this place was supposed to be a forest of cedars,
 some 50 years ago …
 But now, everybody calls the place as “bamboo forest.”
 Sigh*

Before, Japanese fully utilized cut bamboos for household utensils, like bamboo basket, cooking spoons, chopsticks, etc. The plant could provide good materials that require flexibility. Now almost all such tools are replaced by mass-produced merchandizes made of petrol, or imported cheaply from somewhere. The cut bamboos have lost the place to be useful after thinning. In Yokohama’s Citizen Forest, the City Office tells us to collect the cut-trunks et al as garbage. Some % of bamboo “garbage” are processed to be chips for mulch. The majority are incinerated emitting CO2. Frankly, it’s a waste of resources … But what else can we do when a Chinese-made cooking mesh is $1, and a Japanese traditional bamboo basket is $30? So, when I heard there is a cooking event to use bamboos trunks, yes! TRUNKS, I was curious. I know Korean tradition has a way to process salt using bamboo trunks. They pack salt inside the bamboo and bake charcoal. The salt “cooked” in this way is expected to absorb extract of bamboo which is thought to be good for health. Koreans use it as an ingredient for traditional medicine … not exactly for cooking. But this one I’ve encountered was to “Make Ramen Noodles with Bamboos” at Shinyokohama Raumen Museum. ?????

Shinyokohama Raumen Museum. It’s located almost next to the Nissan Stadium

where on November 2^nd the Championship Match
 will be held for 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Do you know Ramen? It’s that noodle soup we can find in supermarket as staple for college freshmen. We Japanese have thought it was imported from China 100 or so years ago. These days many Chinese visitors to Japanese ramen restaurants say like “Oh, this TRADITIONAL Japanese ramen is certainly different from supermarket version!” … We’re gradually changing our perception of “Ramen = foreign but familiar food” to “Ramen = maybe we contributed quite a lot to be like that.” Perhaps making ramen noodles with bamboo is a very-Japanese thing ... Supermarket ramen noodle is dried, but of course there is fresh versions just like fresh pasta. Recently, Raumen Museum had a demonstration to make fresh ramen noodles using bamboo trunks. First, they explained us the way to use bamboo trunks to make noodles would be invented by Chinese some 1500 or so years ago. (So, in the end the methodology was imported!) In Japan, the way started to be used during the last days of the 19^th century for ramen noodles. (Hmmmmmmm, this “imported-technology-modified-in-Japan” process is VERY-Japanese.) Especially in Sano City 佐野市 of Tochigui Prefecture 栃木県, it is common to make ramen noodles using bamboo trunks for at least last 100 years. (Well, it becomes Japanese tradition, then.) Raumen Museum’s event was by ramen artisans studied in Sano City making ramen noodles. They let us try their way. The bamboos we used were harvested from a nearby bamboo forest in Kohoku Ward 港北区 of Yokohama. (That could be a new way to utilize thinned bamboos!) It was fun to make ramen noodles with bamboo, I tell you. In the below photos, I explained what we did.

Our working bench.
 Could you see the bamboo trunks set against the wall?
 Those are the main tool for today.
 Please take notice the bench has a tiny shelf at the end
 whose below is a strategically created space for this cooking method.

Also, sections of bamboo trunks are shaved to provide a flat surface.
 This is an important point.

First, the Museum already provided us 300g flour and 100g “Kansui” water.
 Kansui is a mixture of sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.
 When we dissolve it in H2O and use to knead dough for Chinese noodles,
 it could give that particular texture for the pasta.
 (Detailed amount of flour and Kansui Water for ramen noodles can be found here.)

Our instructor advised us to sprinkle the Kansui Water
 evenly to the flat-out flour in a large bowel.

Mix the flower and water by hand.
 The content of a bowel will soon become flakey,
 just like a pie dough. Then,

Start kneading the mixture until

it becomes exactly like a bread dough.

In order to prevent the dough from drying out,
 we place it in a plastic bag and rest it for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes waiting, take out the dough from the bag
 and place it on working bench sprinkled with flour.
 The fun begins from here!

We can allow generous usage of flour for kneading.
 All in all, the way to work with bamboo trunk is dynamic.
 Just be brave!

Flat out the dough ball ...

here.

Then, set the bamboo trunk above the dough, like this.
 Could you see the usage of the space below the shelf?
 It becomes the stopper of a bamboo lever.

Set the bamboo trunk as such and … 

put your thigh on the bamboo.
 It seems to me you should remain your dominant foot on the ground.
 Reason?
 From this point, it’s a jumping exercise!

Let’s flat out the dough by pressuring it
 with bamboo trunk by hopping on one foot.
 Caution: we need to be careful to secure
 the other end of the bamboo always nicely under the space below the shelf.
 Otherwise, serious injury could occur
 by falling on our backside with a flying large bamboo trunk!

Flatted dough is to be folded in half, and

We hop again.

2^nd flatted out dough is carefully opened,
 folded in half in 90° degree direction, and

pressed gently with the bamboo trunk.

When we open the 3^rd flatted dough,
 the dough is now a larger but slightly thinner circle
 than the beginning.

Fold the now flatter dough in half,
 then fold the edge again to the outer direction.
 The prepared dough should be looked like this. 

Then, we hop again.

We repeat this folding and hopping with the bamboo trunk
 until the dough has 2mm thickness.
 As the dough increases its acreage,
 folding becomes 3 or more times, as we can see here.

The 2mm thick dough I kneaded.
 The process was like an exercise in gym.
 The done dough is folded again neatly and placed in a plastic bag.
 We wait another 15 minutes before

we bring them to the cutter.
 The staff of Raumen Museum cut our dough to be noodles.
 From 300g flour, it became ramen noodle for 3 servings (360g).

They cook the fresh ramen noodle (120g) …

My ramen noodle will be ready in 2-2.5 minutes.

The point to cook fresh ramen noodles is,
 treating them gently but quickly.
 First, we drain water, and

shake the basket twice or so gently.

Cooked noodles are placed in a soup,
 then topped with minced leeks to

be a standard ramen noodle soup with soy-source base.
 Boiled pork, narutomaki, and Shungun (bamboo shoot cooked in Chinese way) are optional.

Thank you for the Ramen!

Raumen Museum of Shinyokohama is planning this “Making ramen noodle with bamboo” to be the next attraction for visitors (3000 yen or 1000 yen per 1-1.5 hr session). RSVP. They have started to take reservations from October 3^rd, and the first date of the event will be on October 17, 2019. Please go to their HP to make a reservation. They are mulling to provide English reservation site, but at this moment, the HP is in Japanese only. You can send an email, or call them for the enquiry. This is a very popular tourists’ spot for overseas visitors as well so that I believe they can answer your question at least in English. Please experience the smooth touch of bamboo for ramen!

Shinyokohama Raumen Museum

2-14-21 Shinyokohama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 222-0003

Phone: 045-471-0503

Email: eisen@raumen.co.jp