Ryuji Tries Seven-Eleven's Chilled Version of Sumire's Shio Ramen, Praised by Egashira 2:50, and Recreates It

To Ryuji, Hokkaido ramen means miso, and miso means Sumire. Ryuji says they "really love" the Sumire cup ramen sold at Seven-Eleven. Sumire's shio ramen, however, didn't ring a bell, and Ryuji asked, "Is the shio good too?"

According to the staff member, Egashira 2:50 once went to eat at Sumire for a YouTube video and raved about the shio ramen. This staff member has made a rule of eating everything Egashira has praised, and has previously tried the Bus Center curry as well. The product was popular and hard to find; the staff member finally found a single one at the fifth convenience store they checked.

The staff member had one more reason for wanting to try it. Most shio ramen uses seafood broth, but judging from the package, this one seemed to be chicken-based, and chicken shio ramen isn't very common, they said. Ryuji laughed and replied, "Could you please stop using the channel for your personal interests?"

The toppings are chashu pork, green onion, sautéed onions, bean sprouts, and the noodles. You heat it in the microwave at 500W for 6 minutes. The package describes the soup as rich, with the umami of chicken bones, the richness of lard, and a garlic aroma. It costs 626 yen, a little cheaper than the SUSURU-supervised ramen featured previously. It has 567 kcal and 6.7 g of salt equivalent, which Ryuji judged "isn't all that salty."

Ryuji says they were never especially fond of chilled ramen. The SUSURU one, though, was delicious. With the ramen boom, new shops and new products keep appearing and customers jump on them, so the standard across the industry has risen and convenience store products have gotten better too, in Ryuji's view.

When opened, the noodles are yellow. Hokkaido noodles are often yellow, and the SUSURU ones were too, Ryuji says. However, Ryuji explains that this yellow is from coloring. The container separates the noodles from the soup, so you take the soup out and then pour it over the noodles. Ryuji praised whoever thought of this as "a real inventor," impressed that the noodles absolutely won't get soggy. The soup is slightly thick, with quite a lot of lard floating on top.

After one sip of the soup, Ryuji immediately said, "This is good," and the staff member was happy it was a hit. That was followed by: "Wait a sec. I might not be able to recreate this."

As for the flavor, Ryuji said the base is animal-based but there seems to be a bit of seafood too, and it's clean yet punchy. Ryuji also asked, "Isn't this roasted?", pointing out an aroma like something sautéed. The choice of toppings like bean sprouts was good as well, and it's "a flavor I haven't really had before," Ryuji said.

Asked why it seemed hard to recreate, Ryuji listed the following:

• It has a sautéed aroma
• The soup is rich, and you can feel the gelatin
• It has quite a lot of MSG
• It has a depth like charred green onion or charred garlic

The rating was S-plus. The staff member reacted, "You don't give out S very often." Ryuji even said, "Even if it sells out, they should bring it back," and decided to take time for research and recreate it.

When filming resumed, Ryuji reported that the trial "worked on the first try." Ryuji said, "It honestly came out about as good as that," and confidently added, "To be honest, I think I can pretty much replicate anything sold at a convenience store." When the staff member pointed out that Ryuji had just been grumbling "I can't make it," Ryuji replied that once they can make it, they get cocky.

The ingredients are Chinese-style noodles, bean sprouts, scallions, garlic, ginger, onion, pork loin for yakiniku in place of chashu, and menma (bamboo shoots). Of these, Ryuji stresses that the onion is "the most important." About 40 g is charred, and its toasty aroma is transferred into the soup. The fact that the chilled version had sautéed onions among its toppings led to this idea.

The chashu is a simplified version. Put about 2 slices of yakiniku pork in a heatproof container, add soy sauce and about one shake of MSG, and microwave for 1 and a half minutes. Since the meat is thin, a short time is enough, Ryuji says.

Put 1 tablespoon of lard in a pot and sauté the thinly sliced onion. Add the garlic here too. Grating the garlic brings out more aroma, Ryuji says. Since the chilled version didn't have the smell of raw garlic, Ryuji thinks sautéing it to make it toasty is a better fit. The amount is 8–10 g. You only need a little ginger, about 3 g. It's added because it was listed among the soup's ingredients.

A stainless steel pot, which conducts heat well, chars more easily and is better suited, Ryuji says. You can do it in a frying pan, but thick Teflon-coated ones don't char easily. That said, stainless steel chars quickly, so you need to be careful. As for how charred it should be, the whole thing doesn't need to be blackened; a mix of charred and uncharred bits is enough. You have to be patient and keep sautéing until you get there, Ryuji explains.

Ryuji used as a reference the ingredient list of the fresh-noodle version of the product, sold at the same time. That one listed its ingredients in considerable detail, and included bonito flakes, Ryuji says.

The staff member has seen the ramen at Sumire's actual shop and says the soup was quite brown. Their theory is that this isn't the color of soy sauce but the brown of sautéed onions. Ryuji agreed that Sumire should be using sautéed onions. When the staff member said that making consommé soup with sautéed onions gives you that color, Ryuji compared it to "consommé soup where chicken stock got added somewhere along the way."

When 350 cc of water was actually poured in, the soup already had color before any soy sauce or salt had been added. "This is the color," Ryuji said, confirming that the color came from the sautéed onions.

After adding the water, add grated ginger, then the seasonings in turn. The amounts and the purposes Ryuji explained are as follows.

• Chicken bouillon powder: 1 and 1/3 teaspoons
• Chukaaji (Chinese-style seasoning): half a teaspoon
• Gelatin: about 1 and 1/3 teaspoons. The chilled version had some thickness, which helped it cling to the noodles. It gives a deep body like simmered chicken bones
• Sugar: half a teaspoon. A little sweetness deepens the richness
• Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
• Hondashi: 1/3 teaspoon. The aroma of bonito flakes and that of charred onions are similar, adding depth
• Soy sauce: 1 teaspoon

There's soy sauce in it, but far more salt, which gives it the Sumire-like flavor of "looks like soy sauce, but it's salt," Ryuji says. Some parts got a little too charred along the way, but Ryuji says this doesn't affect the flavor.

Then a generous amount of Hi-Me, an MSG seasoning, is shaken in. Watching Ryuji shake it 7–8 times, the staff member was surprised: "You're putting in quite a lot." Ryuji declared, "This is important." Asked what it would taste like without it, Ryuji answered, "Damn awful." Once the soup comes to a boil, you can turn off the heat and set it aside.

The noodles are Kikusui's yellow Chinese-style noodles. They sell for about 100 yen, and Ryuji uses them often. Boil them firm, for about 2 minutes.

In a separate pot, put 1 tablespoon of lard and stir-fry 100 g of bean sprouts seasoned with salt and pepper and table pepper. Sumire stir-fries its bean sprouts, apparently. Once they're cooked, add the soup to the pot, bring it to a rolling boil, and pour it over the noodles. Ryuji explains this is a Sapporo-like way of doing it. Finally, top with chashu, scallions, and menma, and it's done.

This process uses three pots, and Ryuji laughed, "If you're going to do all this, you'll think you might as well just buy it." Still, making ramen at home is "a man's romance," Ryuji said, encouraging anyone who wants to make it to give it a try.

Tasting the finished bowl, the staff member said, "It's really similar," and Ryuji responded, "Blindfolded, I might not be able to tell." Both said the sautéed onions create the depth of flavor, and rated the recreation as highly accurate.

According to Ryuji, at first glance it has a richness you wouldn't expect from shio ramen. Even so, with the "charred flavor" of the charred onions, in other words the Maillard reaction flavor, added in, it's firmly a salt ramen. The crunch of the bean sprouts goes well with the noodles too. It takes some effort, but since you're not making a separate stock, it isn't that hard, Ryuji says. Ryuji also judged that the amount of MSG was about right.

The staff member's verdict was "nearly a pass," docking a few points. What fell short was the noodles; the chilled version's were a bit thicker, they said. If you can get Kikusui's thick noodles, it might come even closer. Both rated the chashu as delicious. Ryuji called it "a total pass" but admitted the noodles might be better a little thicker, and urged viewers to use thick noodles made for Hokkaido ramen if they can get them.

With the caveat that this is a convenience store flavor, albeit one supervised by the original shop, Ryuji closed the video by encouraging viewers to try making it.