In 2013, the Ramen Burger crazy swept over America by Keizo Shimamoto and it was one of those "Why didn't I think of that..." creations. Immediately there were hundreds of recipes for the Ramen Burger and none of them felt right in my mind. I was able to try the Official Ramen Burger at a San Francisco Tofu Festival last year, and I have to admit, it was pretty damn good. I have never attempted making a Ramen Burger as I was always more interested in making the conventional soup and noodle ramen, but seeing bloggers and imitators making mediocre Ramen Burgers, I decided to see how I could fare.

First Things First - The Ramen Bun

In the words of Sir Mix-a-Lot, My Mouth don't want none, unless you got buns, hun.

The ramen bun is what makes the burger what it is. It has to (1) hold its shape, and (2) have the texture of ramen noodles. To do this right, you need to know the Ramen Burger does not contain eggs.

Almost all recipes include egg, which is understandable as the egg act as a binder and satisfies condition (1). However, where the inclusion of the egg fails is in its texture. As the egg cooks it crisps up nicely on the outside (which is a plus), but on the inside it solidifies into a custardy quiche like egg. Some actually resemble tamago. In its own right, a custardy texture is nice, but it clashes with the chewy al dente tooth feel you get with fresh ramen noodles. This was originally all speculation, but I decided run some tests because if you never try, you will never know.

The first things you need to start with are good quality noodles. I choose Sun Noodles as they are practically their American Standard for authentic ramen noodles. They make over 90,000 servings of noodles a day for restaurants all over the country, and most importantly they are the source for Keizo's Ramen Burger.