Ryuji Tries and Recreates SUSURU's Chilled Ramen That People Are Calling "Too Salty"

Ryuji starts by mentioning that people are calling the product "freaking salty." The listed salt content is 6.3 g. He explains that soupless ramen is generally around 3 to 4 g, so 6.3 g with no soup is why people are saying it's quite salty.

Ryuji himself has released a bento with FamilyMart, and people said its karaage was "so salty it was like eating salt." That's when he learned that the flavor can vary depending on the factory. Unevenness creeps in at the stage where powdered spices are mixed in. Since this product uses a liquid sauce, though, Ryuji thinks it probably doesn't vary that much.

On the choice of a chilled ramen, he jokes, "SUSURU doesn't usually do chilled stuff, so maybe he just forced one out." At one point he starts to say "because he's a money-grubber" and immediately takes it back, and at another he laughs, riffing on SUSURU's catchphrase, wondering whether "complaints will come in later."

The price is around 600 yen, which Ryuji considers cheap. The toppings are chashu, green onion, fried onion, back fat, and menma, and the noodles are extra-thick. His staff had watched SUSURU's video beforehand and tell him SUSURU said to mix it well. Ryuji replies, "So it tastes bad if you don't mix it well?" and "I hear it's salty."

The soup is thick and gloopy, closer to a sauce than a broth. Rather than the noodles sitting soaked in it, it clings to them. Ryuji notes that cold dishes are said to need more salt than hot ones, but he's curious how it will play out given that this product has no soup and nearly all the salt is concentrated in the sauce. The smell of soy sauce is quite strong as soon as it's opened.

Back fat normally solidifies when chilled, but the back fat in this product hasn't. The staff say SUSURU's video explained it was due to a special technique. Ryuji eats some of the back fat on its own and finds it "not greasy," "like a manufactured fat," and in the recreation segment later he speculates that it may be something closer to shortening (in the margarine family) than actual pork back fat.

Saying he "can't handle fat lately," Ryuji has his staff try it first. One staff member says it's "not salty." Another says it's "a flavor I've never had before," and that if forced to choose between liking and disliking it, it's not a flavor they like, but it isn't bad, just unfamiliar. Ryuji laughs and says, "Tell me clearly whether it's good or not."

Ryuji's own verdict was "salty." But he also says the back fat seems to mask the saltiness, and that in his experience it isn't as bad as people say. When they check where they ate from, it turns out the sauce had pooled on one side of the container. The staff member had eaten from the top part, where there was a lot of back fat, and after trying again from a spot thick with sauce, they admitted, "This part is salty." So this is a product where the perceived saltiness changes quite a bit depending on how you mix it and where you eat from.

Ryuji says people who eat ramen often will probably be fine, and rates it as having ramen-shop-level seasoning. On the other hand, he also says it's definitely saltier than other convenience store products, that he thinks many people will call it salty, and that he finds it a bit salty himself. Water is a must, and someone suggested it might be good to eat when you've been sweating. The flavor isn't sour; it's close to a chilled mazesoba. He says the extra-thick noodles aren't bad either.

Ryuji sees it as a pretty bold product for a convenience store shelf. He has released products at FamiMa himself but has never gone to this salt level. The one exception, he says, is the karaage bento he made to go with drinks, adding, "I'm not one to talk."

On a rating board mimicking SUSURU's show, Ryuji gives it a "B+." An A would mean "delicious," but he wanted a little more for that. Overall, his reasoning is that it was "hard to pin down." He can't flatly call it "delicious," but it's still "not out of the question at all." He also mentions that because the soup comes in a packet, he has no idea at all what's in it. He jokes that after saying all this, SUSURU will probably eat every ramen recipe he puts out from now on.

Reasoning that if this video won't benefit either him or SUSURU, the only option is to recreate it, Ryuji gets to work. The challenge is how to achieve the thickness of the paste-like sauce. After tasting it, Ryuji realizes it "tastes like dressing," and figures the direction is something like a dressing with the acidity removed.

The sauce ingredients are as follows:

• Chuka Aji (a seasoning containing extracts), 1/2 tsp
• Chicken paitan soup base, 1/2 tsp. He says adding this gives it a lot of body
• Water, 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce (about half a tablespoon to start; adjusted later)
• Vegetable oil, 1 tbsp
• Mayonnaise, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1/2 tsp

Ryuji says oil is "absolutely necessary," but it has to be vegetable oil because lard solidifies when chilled. According to the staff, SUSURU said the same thing. He explains that the mayonnaise is for thickness and also helps with emulsification. Once mixed, the color is almost identical to the product's sauce, and the staff were surprised at how "crazy similar" it was. He judged that sugar was in it too and added some, but no vinegar. Matching SUSURU's flavor would need a bit more soy sauce, so he decided to taste and adjust later.

For noodles, he uses some for pork ramen that he had on hand. Ryuji believes they're the same noodles as the product's: "100% these noodles." The boiling time for serving chilled is a long 10 to 11 minutes, and he actually boiled them for about 9 minutes and 45 seconds. He also says ideally you'd use a lot more water.

The chashu is just yakiniku-cut pork seared on both sides with soy sauce and finished with one shake of umami seasoning. The thickness is close to the product's chashu too, and he says this makes it taste like store-bought chashu. Both the sauce and the toppings are chilled, since it won't be a cold dish if they're warm.

While working, Ryuji says cooking is what he loves most, and it's fun like a science experiment. As a kid, he used to mix drinks at the drink bar. The staff also mention that the store-bought ramen recreation series has a surprising number of fans, with multiple comments asking them to keep it going. Viewers even made his previous recreation of "Curry Misokin," so he feels it's resonating.

When the staff ask "how far are you going to take this," he says he has time, so he stir-fries 25 g of onion over high heat to make fried onions as well. He wants that toasty aroma. But he tells viewers, "It's a hassle, so don't do it; store-bought is fine," and adds that it's more like a garnish and probably doesn't add much flavor, so you can skip it.

While stir-frying, Ryuji stresses that he knows SUSURU personally and has no intention of making fun of him, and that lying would be disrespectful. With that said, he recommends the shoyu ramen at SUSURU's restaurant, "Kita no Shoyu," saying it's genuinely delicious and so well done you'd never believe SUSURU made it, so you should definitely go. He also said he wants to try the abura soba from the same group.

When he tosses the noodles with the sauce and tastes it, the sauce's thickness is quite good, and the way it coats everything is similar too. Ryuji adds the following three things to finish:

• Umami seasoning, 2 shakes
• Soy sauce, 1/2 tsp
• Garlic powder, 4 shakes

He says he went easy on the garlic powder because he didn't taste much garlic in the product. Finally, he tops it with fried onions, scallions, chashu, menma, and thread-cut chili, and it's done. The staff say "it's starting to look like a restaurant" and "it looks the same," calling him a "recreation shop."

The verdict from Ryuji and the staff after eating it was "this one's better." The fried onions smell great, and everyone agrees it's better with them. The staff praised it for capturing the sharpness that SUSURU's product had. According to Ryuji, he deliberately left in the edge of the soy sauce.

As for why it's so good, Ryuji points to the chicken paitan. When chicken paitan mixes with oil, it emulsifies a bit and clings well to the noodles. He says you can make it without chicken paitan, but it would probably be far better with it. The staff also liked the noodles. At one point someone says "it's totally different," prompting the retort "if it's totally different, it's not a recreation," and they clarify they were talking about the noodles' texture.

Ryuji liked this recreation so much that he called it "my number one cold noodle of the year." On the other hand, he admits that, as with Curry Misokin, it's a little awkward when a recreation ends up better than the original product. He closes the video by saying there must be people who'll want to try SUSURU's next product because of this recreation, so if you see it, compare it side by side with the product, and that you absolutely should try Kita no Shoyu.