---
title: 'RAMEN SCHOOL #1 | How to Make Basic Ramen Broth  | Chintan Clear Soup'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=nscTA7QxryM'
video_id: 'nscTA7QxryM'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1175
---

# RAMEN SCHOOL #1 | How to Make Basic Ramen Broth  | Chintan Clear Soup

> Source: [RAMEN SCHOOL #1 | How to Make Basic Ramen Broth  | Chintan Clear Soup](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nscTA7QxryM)

## Summary

This video introduces a new series called 'Ramen School' which aims to teach the process of making ramen by breaking it down into its fundamental components. The focus of this first lesson is on making a basic chintan (clear soup) broth using a double stock method. The host explains the philosophy of ramen as a combination of technical skill and artistic expression.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Ramen School** [0:00] — The host introduces 'Ramen School', a new educational series focusing on the process of making ramen, starting with the broth.
- **Ramen's Complexity and Five Elements** [1:14] — Ramen is not a single recipe but a combination of five elements: broth, noodles, tare (seasoning), aromatic oil, and toppings.
- **Chintan Broth and Ingredient Selection** [2:44] — Focus on chintan (clear) broth. Ingredients include pork bones, chicken, chicken feet, trotters for gelatin, and dried seafood (kombu, katsuobushi) for umami.
- **Philosophy of Ramen** [6:12] — A ramen instructor described ramen as a combination of philosophy, humor, and art. The five elements are not added but multiplied—if one is missing, the result is zero.
- **Double Stock Method** [7:30] — The double stock method involves making two separate stocks (meat and seafood) and combining them. This gives better control over each component.
- **Importance of Documentation** [8:14] — Keeping a detailed ramen log (spreadsheet) with ingredient weights and cooking parameters is crucial for consistency and improvement.
- **Essential Equipment** [8:55] — Equipment includes a pot, metal ruler (to measure liquid levels and evaporation), scales, fine mesh skimmer, and timer.
- **Preparing Meat Stock** [10:40] — Prepare aromatics (onion with skin, garlic, ginger, carrot) and meat (trotters, chicken feet, cut chicken). Cut bones to extract marrow.
- **Making Seafood Stock (Dashi)** [11:48] — Start with cold water, add kombu, and heat slowly (to 60-85°C) to extract flavor. Remove kombu, bring to boil, add katsuobushi, then strain.
- **Low Heat for Clear Broth** [13:04] — Skim scum. Keep the meat stock at a very low simmer (one bubble every few seconds) to avoid fat emulsification and maintain clarity.
- **Combining and Measuring** [14:00] — After about four hours, combine the two strained stocks. Use the metal ruler to track evaporation and adjust future batches.
- **Straining and Yield** [17:02] — Strain the meat stock, pressing solids to extract flavor. Optionally strain through cheesecloth for clearer broth. Yields about 10 liters of clear chintan.
- **Looking Ahead** [18:55] — The broth is unseasoned; the tare will provide seasoning in future videos. The series will progress to noodles, toppings (chashu, ajitsuke tamago), and assembling the final bowl.

### Conclusion

The chintan clear soup broth is the foundation for many ramen bowls and is best made using a double stock method for control and clarity. Future videos in this series will cover other essential ramen elements like tare, noodles, and toppings.

## Transcript

okay so on this YouTube channel so far
we've done quite a few of these kind of
short series we did the versatility of
teriyaki sauce first we did fried rice
Fridays we've done dumpling school and I
like them you know I think they're
really useful because they allow us to
do a bit more of a deep dive into things
that I think are more around process
than they are about a recipe you know
recipe is just adding ingredients
together in a method to get to a certain
point but I think once you understand
the process you learn a lot more about
how to actually cook and if you've read
the title of this video which you have
because I know and you're watching it
already you know what we're here for
welcome to ramen school okay before you
complain let me just reassure you don't
worry those previous short series have
not gone away we're just sort of mixing
up between the two so we will be back
with more dumpling school we will be
back with more fried rice Friday's and
more teriyaki recipes so if you have any
suggestions of what you might want to
see in those leave it in the comments
below and get around to it but they are
coming back but for now this is ramen
ramen has got to be one of the most
interesting foods not originally from
China but it's become sort of an Addison
movement in Japan there is no recipe for
ramen so I'm gonna give you some recipes
here but they're not definitive you know
if you go to a hundred different ramen
shops you'll find 100 different ways of
make it round you go to a thousand
different round the shops you'll find a
thousand different ways so ramen of all
things I think will benefit from us
giving it a bit more of a deep dive into
it explaining why we're doing things
there are a lot of different ways to try
to classify ramen and they're kind of
more instructive than anything else you
know there's no definitive way to say
that type of ramen is exactly
because all the different permutations
that go into it can create so many
different types of broth there's
essentially five elements to every bowl
of RAM and those are broth noodles
cutter oil and toppings the broth is
pretty straightforward it's the soup
that goes into the ramen the noodles
obviously straightforward as well the
alkaline noodles that go into the ramen
paddock is a word you might not have
heard before but today is essentially
what defines the type of rum and it's
the seasoning that goes into the broth
that takes it from assure you through a
shield for example after that today we
have our oil and that's an aromatic oil
to give ramen its fragrance we'll talk
about that in a future video as well and
then we've got our toppings things like
chashu or I just have a seasoned eggs
they go on top I know this all sounds
like a lot of information but don't let
it overwhelm me come back to this video
in a month or two and see how many more
of these terms I started to make
sensitive because it's a process we
gotta get through it we're gonna focus
today on rough now broth is obviously
what people consider to be the heart and
soul of the run a lot of effort goes
into our loss a lot of effort goes into
every aspect of ramen but broth is
obviously a great place to start you can
kind of separate your brought into two
varieties that you've done which is a
clear soup or a paper Python is a a
white super cloudy and they're made in
very very different ways we're gonna do
a very very simple teeth on broth today
but what I've got here is the kind of
ingredients that would go into any ramen
starting at this side we've got our
bones you know we've got chicken and
we've got pork a lot of ramen is made
from chicken or pork or a combination of
the two and obviously from different
parts of the animals as well this is
pork neck and backbone here very neatly
flavor that it gives to broths this is
hot leg burn another
slightly difference like a lighter porky
taste that goes into that we've got
trotters and I've asked my butcher to
cut these in half just to extract more
of the flavor and trotters are gonna
give a good mouthfeel to offer they're
very high and gelatinous that will help
us to get a good texture in that broth
really important for all kinds of bones
is to make sure that they're cut you
know a bone has Maryland things on the
inside that you really want to release
so make sure your butcher is cutting leg
bones or kind of trotters in half or
cutting these neck and back bones so you
can extract the marrow from means
chicken we've got whole chickens here
you can use chicken frames and carcasses
you can use wings use just chicken
breasts or or meat if you want but I've
got whole sugars your I prefer to use
whole chickens because I think they give
a much better flavor to a broth these
are actually old chicken those chickens
that are sort of older than 45 or 50
days and they're tough you know youyou
probably wouldn't want to eat these as a
roast chicken on a Sunday night but they
are really really flavorful when you're
making soups I've got chicken feet here
as well which just like the pork
trotters adds a lot of gelatin to this
now here are our basic aromatics we've
got garlic onion and ginger don't need
to go into that too much more we've got
some vegetables here as well carrots
spring onions in Japan they use what's
called niggy or welsh onion which is a
much sort of larger version of this but
spring onion or leek is totally fine now
let's move along to these dried seafood
is such an important part of ramen and
it can be whatever you like you know
whatever you can get your hands on these
are some dried sardines dried prawns
dried scallops
this is fish more the swim bladder of a
fish something that I like to add to
Rama quite often don't worry if you
can't get all of these ingredients we're
not going to use all of them just use
what is available to you make the rum
and your own essentially this is
Katsuobushi dried bonito flakes you've
probably seen them on okonomiyaki or
takoyaki but they're also a really great
way of making stock I've got dried
shiitake mushrooms as well and it's
important to use the dried ones because
all of these ingredients essentially
were using for their umami they're
really strong savory nature and dried
shiitake mushrooms have a much stronger
savory expression than fresh mushrooms
so always dried mushrooms
and lastly we've got combo combo is
essentially kelp from Hokkaido in Japan
usually but you can get different kinds
of company from different places and
this adds a really rich savoriness a bit
of mouthfeel to it slightly slimy
texture to it once it's reconstituted
but we use it for that really strong
savory room a meanness
there are lots and lots and lots of
different varieties of kombu some
browsers of kombu more favored in Tokyo
style cuisine or a shitty kombu for the
Cure to don't worry about it just get
some conversely kelp that you have
available you can use whatever you like
there are a lot of ingredients that can
going to rum and ramen is essentially
this kind of permutation of how all of
these ingredients are put together one
ramen instructor once told me that ramen
was not just about the technicality of
making the soup but it was also a
combination of philosophy and humor and
art and all of these things together the
process of those five elements of the
soup the broth the noodles the cutter
the oil and of course the toppings as
well then together with these more
philosophical aspects to the ramen were
not additions they were multiplication
so if any one of those elements was
lacking if it didn't have the right
broth if it didn't have the right
philosophy or the right sense of humor
the end result of the ramen would be
zero we'll get to the philosophy about
it later but let's talk about the nuts
and bolts of making stop so this is all
the stuff that can go into stock in
different combinations but let's go for
our basic chinked on our clear broth
that is gonna be a lot more simple than
what you see here so let's get rid of
everything we don't need and start again
from the top okay here we go it's a lot
less intimidating than this fewer
ingredients sitting on the bench but
these are our ingredients for our very
basic cinta and I'm going to show you
what's called a double stock method a
double stock method is something that is
so popular in Japan now it just means
you make two different stocks and
combine it together and I think it's the
best way to make ramen so that's how
much a single stock is just throw
everything into a pot boil
together but when you do a double stop
it allows you a lot more variation it
allows you to control things a lot more
you know things like seafood and meat
cook at very different rates extract at
very different rates so very very much
prefer to do a double stock a single
stock is also fun for just throttle into
a pot bringing up to very very low
simmer just let that go but I'll show
you the double stock method of this very
basic chinta a little bit of theory
first before we get into it when you're
making ramen you want to be in total
control and I would recommend writing
your own recipes why are you going
through this and I always keep a
spreadsheet or a log of all the
different rums that I've made you can
see here on my own spreadsheet I list
the ingredients by weight I list the
process that goes into it you can see
here that we've got today's date the
fact that this is their 37 growth that
I've made of this particular variety and
that allows me to know from the end
result what I've done to get there
because there are so many steps in ramen
it's not something that you can just do
by gut feel and expect to get it right
every single time so keep a running log
if you want more information on this let
me know and I'll talk a little bit more
in a future video about how I prepare
the ramen log and the journal but in
terms of the equipment we need a pot
obviously metal ruler which i think is
really important so you can know the
dimensions of your pot you know this is
the pot that I always used for um and so
I know that it's 15 liters 28
centimeters across the bottom 25
centimeters up the side and that allows
me to control how things are cooking
with a metal ruler when you're in school
you probably learn how to measure the
cylinder and you thought you'd never use
it again but here we are knowing that
this is 25 centimeters up to a top by
measuring inside here to where the top
of the water might go or the stock might
go I know the volume you see here that
allows me to control the rate of
evaporation etcetera etcetera
we'll get there aside from the pot we've
got some scales so you know the weights
of our ingredients there God fine mesh
the skins come off the top of a soup a
timer for obvious reasons let's get into
it so ramen is sometimes called the
universe in a bowl and they call it that
because it's got elements of every
aspect of the world going to with God
meat we've got seafood the land and the
sea we've got vegetables we've got birds
we've got land dwelling animals and this
is kind of what makes Rome and so
interesting the ways you can combine all
of this we're combining it in broth now
but don't forget any of these
ingredients can also go into your career
or into your aromatic oil the other
elements of making a bowl of ramen
together with the toppings and your
noodles of course so let me prepare
these vegetables and aromatics first
just some brown onion I'm gonna cut that
in half and leaving the skin on just
gives a very mild light brown color of
the stock which is what I want of course
if you want it to be completely white
you take the skin off a whole head of
garlic in half way they have to release
the aroma some ginger thick slices
that's the carrot as well no need to
peel it and the only thing we really
need to take off is the in fair so now
for our meats the Trotters already cut I
just measured the weight of that 700
grams product
you have my chicken feet what I need to
do here is just take it sounds a bit
gross for the toenails off the end of
each toe of the chicken now for our
chicken I just want to cut this up into
smaller pieces we don't have to join it
or anything I mean I will just because
that's the easiest way to do it but
cutting into the bones of all of these
is gonna help us to extract the flavor a
lot so now just get about nine liters of
water into this and get on with the
stove but this is where your metal ruler
comes in handy I know the weights of
every ingredient that I put into this
pot and I know the size of the pot and
so if I just measure here I can see that
it is now six and a half centimeters
from the top so the next time I do this
rather than measuring out every volume
of water you can just put the water in
six and a half centimeters from the top
and that's also going to allow me to
work out how much evaporation has gone
through the cooking process so I'll just
bring this up to a very very low simmer
let it go the meat stock is going so now
for the seafood stock because we're
gonna mix the meat and the seafood stock
together which is why this is called a
basic double stock I'm going as simple
as possible just kombu and cuts
obviously these are the two basic
ingredients for your classic Japanese
Japan version you could obviously use a
lot of other dried seafood in there as
well but we'll cross that bridge one
counselor I want to keep things really
simple today because this is our very
very first ever ramen broth so just
chicken and pork for the meat stock come
to cuts obviously for the seafood stock
I've got about three liters of cold
water in here I'm just gonna put my
kombu straight into the cold water cuts
of course you're going later but the
thing with kombu is you don't want to
boil it and actually you want to keep it
at a lower temperature for as long as
possible
you know kombu extracts fully its flavor
at around 60
eighty-five degrees so you can actually
put the konbu in the cold water
just leave it in the fridge overnight
but I figured while you've got a slow
cooking meat broth going already you may
as well do the slow cooking method by
heating the kombu so I just put the
kombu into the cold water and then put
it onto a very very low heat and slowly
bring that up to temperature over the
course of about an hour hour and a half
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so after about an hour over medium-high
heat this is almost coming to the boil
now and you can see this scum of protein
and blood that's forming on top of our
stock just skim that off with a fine
strainer once I've removed the scum and
not too much more as being produced I
turn that down to a really low
temperature and that's the secret to a
cheatin or a clear ramen broth high
temperature and vigorous boiling is
gonna cause fat molecules to emulsify
into the soup and give you a cloudy soup
a lower temperature underneath hundred
degrees so one bubble kind of barely
breaking the surface every couple of
seconds or so is gonna keep the broth
very very clear after about the same
time you can see that our kombu the
water's starting to get warm a little
bit of steam is coming off there can you
test your combo just to hear your
thumbnail into the kombu when that is
leaving its imprint as you can see it's
time to take the kombu out and you can
bring this kombu stock to the boil once
the combi comes to the boil dump in the
cuts or bushi or just for two more
seconds then turn the heat off and let
it sit for about half now if that can be
strained out and that is that clear -
the meat stocks been going now for a
total of about two hours and it's
looking clear as to be flavorful now
it's time to add in the vegetables but I
want to take a progress measurement here
and this is kind of why we have the
middle ruler and the measurements so we
can see how much evaporation is going
through it may seem a little anal to be
taking measurements of the stock that
you're making but it's really important
there are so many moving parts to Rama's
kinda like playing a game of chess and
so just how I eat this rum at the end of
it tastes fantastic
know how to recreate that but even more
importantly mad if I taste this at the
end and go oh you know what that would
be better if it had a stronger chicken
flavor or if they had more seafood I
know what steps I can change what moves
to make on the chess board so I can
actually improve my rom and every time I
make an extra batch I care about eight
and a half centimeters so I've lost two
centimeters in evaporation make a note
in the ramen journal in with the
aromatics so my garlic ginger carrot
these onions as well so a meat stock is
looking fantastic the vegetables have
been in for about two hours now and the
whole thing's been going for a little
over four hours and I'll take a final
measurement to check how far I've
reduced so we're down to about seven
centimeters it was down to eight and a
half then we added some more stuff into
obviously the level comes back up and
it's come back down now at seven so it's
done it off about six and a half down to
eight and a half back up again to
actually they're five and now back down
to seven so we have had some reduction
some evaporation there which is good
helps intensify the flavor I'll take
this out pass it through a sieve I've
got two soups here which i think is
quite a useful thing to do I'll just
scoop out everything from the pot first
and pass it through these two sieve when
you've got the bones and things in the
sieve I push it through I like to give
it a good press to make sure we're
getting all the flavor out of it I kind
of prized the flavour over and above how
clear it is if you want to be really
really clear then pushing it obviously
is not gonna be the best way and of
course to feel more of the proteins
through you can line it with some extra
cheese cloth and muslin that kind of
thing and don't push it quite as firmly
but let's give it a good press because I
just think it's better to have a bit of
flavored ramen than ramen that just
looks more clear you can see from I
guess what I'm throwing away here that
this isn't a stock that is completely
completely broken down
Attie Tong is a clear stock so it tends
to be cooked for relatively short period
of time at a relatively low heat so it
doesn't break apart and break down as
much as say
or something else but I mean the carrots
here actually quite whole that you can't
even squish them too much and the bones
aren't falling apart for a longer cooked
stock and when we do some stops that
sort of eight hours plus they can really
really break down everything that's
inside I can't get tissue the muscles
the bones etc and that becomes almost
pasty there we'll see with some I guess
the longer cook stalks later on but for
now you can not throw this stuff away
you know there's still actually some
flavor in there we don't want to use it
here because it's gonna cloud let's talk
a little bit too much but you can use
this for a secondary stock you know can
cover that with water again boil it
again great first stir frying just
general service stock both our meat
stock and dashi have both been strained
I'm sorry there's a lot of pouring a lot
of liquid management that needs to
happen when you're making large volumes
of ramen now we just mix the two
together well this is what we spent the
last six hours of our life putting
together our tin tongue basic double
stock not just this about ten odd liters
of it and that's the great thing about
making stock like this I can freeze all
of this and use this whenever I want to
make rum it's not that I've got to
invite 40 of my closest friends around
and have the bowl of ramen for everyone
but it may look slightly cloudy here but
that's just as I've been pouring it
around it's got to set a little bit the
fat molecules and come to the top and
it'll be crystal clear by the time it
comes out of the fridge tomorrow or me
closer to baking our ramen you can't
just throw noodles into a stock like
this because as you mentioned before
there are five elements that are
essential to ramen we've got the broth
as this next we're talking about the
noodles and I'm gonna make our own
noodles at the beginning of ramen school
we'll get to that later down the track
but this hasn't been seasoned at all up
with no salt into it whatsoever that
comes from a pallet so when we get to
building our ramen pallet is the
important aspect that actually seasons
the ramen we'll talk about that more
when we get to that we're moving on from
this in ramen school we're gonna go into
toppings chashu add your time
some of the things that we put on top of
the ramen and I'm sorry how to have a
ball around to show you today could have
just made the stock but after a couple
of videos follow through on this
playlist and you will end up with the
secrets to making fantastic run
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you
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