The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters 845: Homemade Ramen with Sho Spaeth
Mar 13, 2026
Sho Spaeth, ramen author and cookbook writer focused on homemade techniques. He traces ramen’s arrival in Japan and the invention of instant noodles. He breaks ramen into five key elements and explains kodawari, regional broths like tonkotsu versus clear chintan, and how to make approachable homemade ramen with mise-en-place, stocks, tare, fats, noodles, and toppings.
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Francis's First Transformative Bowl In Tokyo
- Francis recalls his first bowl of real ramen in Tokyo: gravy-like pork soup, springy noodles, and exceptional scallions.
- The experience changed his view of ramen beyond instant packets and started a lifelong fandom.
How Ramen Became Instant And Global
- Ramen is Japanese Chinese food that split into instant and scratch-made branches after postwar innovations.
- Momofuku Ando turned noodle soup into a mass instant product by frying noodles to dehydrate them and adding powdered seasoning.
Kodawari Made Ramen A Craftsman's Dish
- Kodawari is a 1990s refinement movement that treats each ramen element as a craft to perfect.
- Sho links this to Japan's shokunin tradition and to deconstructionist cooking, arguing ramen's DNA already separates components.
