Ramen burger: Is the ramen patty or bun? Explained.
Ramen burger has been taking New York by storm, selling out during the weekends at a Brooklyn flea market. So what is a ramen burger and how can you get one?
A bowl of noodles is pictured near women buying noodles for lunch from a street food stall in Jakarta last month. Ramen noodles aren't just for bowls anymore; a Brooklyn chef has created a ramen burger that uses pan-fried ramen noodles as the buns.
Enny Nuraheni /Reuters/File
As we鈥檝e mentioned in earlier posts, the sandwich world鈥檚 interpretation of what constitutes bread has gotten wildly liberal in recent years. We鈥檝e had taco shells made of waffles, buns made of doughnuts and chicken breasts, and now, out of Brooklyn鈥檚 Williamsburg, comes the ramen burger, a hamburger with a bun made of ramen noodles.
How does one make ramen, seen primarily in soup form, into an acceptable sandwich holder? You鈥檇 have to ask Keizo Shimamoto, who created the ramen burger in the US and is currently selling it on Saturdays from Smorgasbord, a seasonal Brooklyn flea market. Thanks to social media and local news coverage, Mr. Shimamoto鈥檚 concoction created a stir before a single ramen bun hit the griddle. When the ramen burgers debuted at the flea market earlier this month, the line to sample one was already between 150 and 600 people deep, depending on which news outlet you ask.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like half burger, half bowl of ramen, but put into one,鈥� Shimamoto told ABC News. 鈥淵ou might think that it鈥檚 crispy because I pan fry it. But when you bite into it, the inside is chewy like Ramen noodles.鈥�
Let鈥檚 get down to ingredients. The Ramen Burger, , consists of a beef patty sandwiched between two pan-fried discs of ramen noodles, then topped with an arugula, green onions, and a 鈥渟ecret鈥� Shoyu sauce (a type of soy sauce). Shimamoto got the idea while traveling abroad in Japan, where ramen bun sandwiches are common but not with beef, which is prohibitively expensive there.
Coming hot on the heels of the Cronut (croissant + doughnut = cronut), the ramen burger is already being touted as the Big Apple鈥檚 next big food craze. And unlike many of its unconventional bread counterparts, reactions to the burger鈥檚 taste have been largely positive. Vice magazine called it 鈥渦nattractive sounding but surprisingly delicious,鈥� and model Chrissy Teigan tweeted, 鈥漅amen burger just happened. Completely lived up to the hype! 鈥�
No word yet on whether Shimamoto plans to take the ramen burger national, but even if he doesn鈥檛, a sampling isn鈥檛 out of reach for the non-New Yorker. Copycat versions and online recipes, including one on the Huffington Post food section, are starting to show up.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, a reminder that even hipster food preparation should still be taken seriously: At least a dozen people were sickened with food poisoning Tuesday after eating a 鈥渃ronut burger鈥澛� from a food vendor at the Canadian National Exhibition, an area fair. 聽