Ryuji's "Supreme Shoyu Ramen" and "Supreme Miso Ramen" with Maruni Foods: Development and How to Eat Them

Ryuji regularly eats store-bought ramen and gives frank verdicts on whether it's good or not. So if his own product wasn't good, he says, he "probably could never do a review again," and he approached the project with that level of commitment.

He chose chilled and frozen for technical reasons. According to Ryuji, chilled and frozen technology has advanced to the point where you can make something that holds its own against a restaurant. Yet many people eat cup ramen but never chilled ramen. Chilled noodles are basically good, so if people tried them, "the baseline would go way up." That, he said during development, is why it's worth his while to take on this category.

In footage from the development stage, the team first compares popular store-bought ramen. The product said to be the No. 1 seller was rated "ordinary," with an affordable price. Compared to that, Company B's product was tastier, and the conversation turned to how big a difference the noodles made.

Next, they tasted Maruni Foods' original shoyu ramen. When someone present said, "I might like Company B's a bit more," Ryuji agreed: "Me too." The noodles, however, were judged to be possibly the best of the bunch, and he said, "The noodles are really good," and "I could tell they're capable of making something delicious."

The original miso was the opposite. The soup was good, but some said they didn't like the noodles. A richer prototype then earned high praise for its soup: "super good," "you'd never think it was frozen." The remaining issue was the texture of the noodles, and the only request was whether the finish could be improved a little. Ryuji told them, "Don't change the soup at all," and says he became quite enthusiastic at this stage.

The shoyu ramen comes in a two-serving pack priced at 398 yen. The bag contains only noodles and shoyu soup, with no toppings. Ryuji explains that this makes it easy to customize. In his view, Maruni Foods' strength lies in its noodles.

The flavor leans toward a dark-soy profile with a strong dashi presence. According to Ryuji, even when he creates copycat recipes, it's hard to put in this many kinds of dashi. The ingredients he listed were soy sauce, a dashi blend (bonito, mackerel, dried sardines), extracts, flying fish, vegetable extract, dried squid powder, mackerel flake powder, and umami seasoning. Ryuji described it as "an insane amount of dashi." Maruni Foods also said it's unusual to use this much dashi, and that it's among the most they've ever used.

During development, they also tasted an existing chilled shoyu ramen. Ryuji rated it as one of the ultimate forms of shoyu ramen, citing the refinement of its dashi made with dried squid powder. He said he wouldn't want to release theirs unless it surpassed that one. His assessment was that the winning factor would be the dashi rather than the soy sauce. Ryuji thought, "If I can recreate it, there's no point," and says they packed in dashi to the point where he felt it would be impossible at home.

The noodles boil for a short 1 minute 30 seconds. Separately heat 250cc of water for the soup and combine it with the concentrate in the bowl. Ryuji advises against using the noodle-cooking water for the soup, because wheat comes off the noodles. He personally prefers his noodles boiled a little firm. The finished soup is clear.

When the staff tasted it, reactions centered on the strength of the dashi, the presence of the dried sardines, and the complex flavor. Comments included "You can't do this with home seasonings" and "Cup ramen can't give you noodles with this chewiness." Topics that came up about the noodles during development included a plan involving domestic wheat and preferences about the color produced by kansui. Comparing them with the prototype noodles, the staff were surprised—"totally different"—and it was explained that although the cost differs, they decided to go with these.

Nutrition facts: 350 kcal for 100g of noodles and 45g of soup, with 6.7g salt equivalent. Ryuji says he made it a bit on the salty side, seasoned to ramen-shop level. If it tastes too strong, you can dilute it with hot water to your liking, which he says is an advantage of chilled ramen. Ryuji contrasts this with cup ramen, where such adjustment is difficult.

The miso ramen is frozen, one serving per bag, priced at 398 yen. The soup, noodles, and toppings (chashu, menma, green onion) are frozen together as a single block. Just open the bag and put it in a pot—don't add water, as it would dilute it. Keep the heat low until the soup starts to melt, then turn it up to high once it's melting. There's no need to flip it. He recommends a small pot that just fits the block; if it's too large, too much liquid evaporates.

It costs more per serving than the shoyu, but it includes toppings. The feature Ryuji highlights is the richness of the soup. With chilled ramen, the entire soup's flavor has to fit into a small packet of concentrate, which makes it hard to make it rich. Ryuji believes "miso has no point unless it's rich," so he deliberately went with frozen for the miso. He also says he himself couldn't make this miso soup.

For the miso ramen, he gave detailed requests about noodle thickness. Specific figures came up, and because noodles swell when boiled, even a tiny difference greatly changes their appearance and texture. In a scene comparing thick noodles with the original thinner ones, the thick noodles had a stronger impact at the start. But they concluded that the original noodles had better balance by the time you finished eating. "Thicker isn't always better," he reflected. The soup had already been approved in the previous round, and they swapped only the noodles, settling it on the second try, he says.

Ryuji also touched on his relationship with manufacturers. "I've earned enough for a lifetime, so I only want to make things that are delicious," and "I don't want to do it for the money," he said, adding that he takes a firm stance with every company. He told them he wouldn't release a product that was merely "good enough," and pushed ahead by applying pressure. Laughing, he admitted that if he were on the manufacturer's side, he probably wouldn't want to work with someone like him, but said that you can't make something good otherwise.

Staff who tasted it said things like "super good," "rich," "the noodles are great," and "you can tell it's restaurant level." Ryuji describes the soup as a "pork and miso" flavor that leans heavily toward pork. A staff member said, "I want to drink all the soup." Ryuji emphasized again that you can't get this depth with chilled, which is why it's frozen.

He also mentioned cost performance. Ryuji often eats mail-order miso ramen for research, and such products cost around 1,000 yen. Even compared to those, he rated this the tastiest and the best value. He then stated, "It's probably number one among store-bought miso."

Ryuji prefaces this by saying both taste best as they are. That said, as a cooking researcher, he proposed recipes for everyday use.

The shoyu variation is soupless. Since ramen alone is nutritionally unbalanced, stir-fry about 50g of ground pork with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat, then add garlic chives and warm them lightly with the residual heat—because many people don't like raw garlic chives, he says. If you don't want to stir-fry, you can skip this.

Separate an egg into white and yolk. Put the egg white in a bowl, add about 70% of the soup, and heat it in the microwave. Adding all of it makes the flavor too strong, so go light so you can add more later. In the video he heated it for 40 seconds, explaining that about a minute tends to make it soft-set. This step also warms the bowl so you can eat it piping hot. When you add the boiled noodles and mix, the egg white acts as a topping. Top with the ground pork and garlic chives, sprinkle with pepper and garlic powder, and place the yolk in the center.

Finish with a drizzle of rice bran oil. Ryuji stressed not to use sesame oil, because it masks the aroma of the dashi. Any vegetable works, such as komatsuna or spinach, and since it isn't spicy, kids can eat it too. The leftover soup can be diluted with hot water and enjoyed separately as a soup. Staff who tasted it said, "The amount of sauce is just right" and "You couldn't do this at home." Since it's a two-serving pack, the idea is that you can enjoy both a soupless version and regular ramen.

Saying the miso is "already complete," he explained that if you add anything, it should be vegetables—and that long green onion goes best—and introduced a variation topped with spicy leeks. Split about 60g of long green onion in half lengthwise and slice it diagonally. It's not the proper way to cut shiraga-negi, but it's easier at home, he says. Soak the leeks in water, ideally for about 5 minutes, though a few minutes is fine. If you don't mind the sharpness you can skip this step, but he recommends it because people usually find them too pungent otherwise. Squeezing them firmly removes the sharpness.

For seasoning: 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 2 shakes of Ajinomoto, and 2/3 teaspoon doubanjiang. The key is to coat with the sesame oil first. Coating the leeks in oil keeps them crisp; starting with the doubanjiang makes them wilt right away. Although he avoided sesame oil in the shoyu variation, Ryuji explains it's fine with miso. The miso is strong enough not to be overpowered, so they become a "golden tag team." Since the frozen miso ramen takes time to heat, you can make the spicy leeks in the meantime. At the tasting, it was well received: "The slightly spicy leeks are great." He says bean sprouts, ground pork and bean sprouts stir-fried with salt and pepper, natto, and butter corn also go well—because the miso itself is so powerful, it won't be overpowered no matter what you add.

Ryuji also shared his own thinking on variations. He says he fully understands the view that you shouldn't customize ramen, and analyzes that people who think this way see ramen not as a meal but as an "experience." People who go to ramen shops don't make it themselves, so they don't look for variations. On the other hand, people who cook every day want to add a little something.

Ryuji also gave a sales-related reason. If there are suggestions for adding vegetables or meat, people who feed families will buy it. People living alone don't want to go to that much trouble, but households eating as a family want to add vegetables. If you can't add anything, fewer people will eat it. He says the reason most packaged instant noodles include variation ideas is the desire for people to incorporate ramen into their everyday meals.

For that reason, Ryuji stated clearly that he'll keep suggesting variations even if people tell him to "just release ramen that's good as is." What he's aiming for is ramen you can keep stocked at home. He has about 10 other variation recipes prepared, but kept it to one each this time because the video would get too long.

At the end of the video, Ryuji repeated his request that people try them once to discover how good chilled and frozen ramen can be. The two products go on sale at supermarkets nationwide starting August 25.