Corn Miso Butter Ramen
Corn butter ramen is a Sapporo invention, one of the most beloved regional ramen styles in Japan, and it's a masterclass in how a few ingredients arranged correctly produce something far greater than their sum. White miso as the base, sweet summer corn kernels, and a pat of butter that melts across the surface at serving and pulls everything into a golden, silky broth that you'd drink from the bowl when the noodles are gone, which you will. Sapporo ramen is built for the Hokkaido climate, which is cold and demands food that fights back against the weather. This bowl works in any climate and any month, but it is particularly good in the kind of late spring weather that can't decide if it's still winter or has finally committed to summer.
Butter pats the corn—miso pulls the broth to gold—Sapporo in a bowl
Let Me Tell You...
My understanding of corn ramen went through two phases.
First I thought it was a novelty, corn on top of ramen like a garnish.
Then I understood that in Sapporo the corn is in the broth, that the sweet starch of the corn dissolves into the miso and creates a body and a sweetness that no other vegetable achieves in a ramen broth.
The butter on top is the other misunderstood element.
It's not decoration.
It melts into the broth and creates an emulsification that makes the liquid silky in a specific way.
The fat coats your lips when you drink from the bowl.
That's the point.
The pureed corn adds a natural sweetness and a thickness that thickens the miso without needing any starch.
White miso, shiro miso, is the right miso for corn ramen.
It's the lightest and sweetest of the miso varieties, with a delicate fermented flavor that doesn't compete with the corn's natural sweetness the way red or hatcho miso would.
It also blends more smoothly into the broth without the grainy texture that darker, longer-fermented pastes sometimes carry.
Add the miso off the heat and whisk it in, because boiling miso destroys the beneficial organisms and mutes the flavor significantly.
Boiling miso flattens the fermented flavor and wastes what makes miso miso.
The corn needs to be good.
Summer corn is the obvious choice if you can get it, sweet and milky and full of natural sugars that caramelize slightly when you roast it.
Frozen corn works in winter and the bowl is still excellent, just slightly less transcendent.
The roasting step, a few minutes under the broiler or in a dry cast iron pan, develops color and intensifies the sweetness before the kernels go into the broth.
Raw corn in broth tastes pale.
Roasted corn tastes like it means something.
The butter goes on last, right at the table, a cold pat dropped into the hot broth where it begins to melt at the edges almost immediately.
Watching it melt is one of the quieter pleasures this bowl offers.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried ramen noodles (2 bricks, seasoning packets discarded)
- 2 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from cob (about 2 cups, divided)
- 3 tablespoons white miso paste (shiro miso)
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (for finishing, cold)
- Kosher salt and white pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Roast the corn: Heat a dry cast iron skillet over high heat. Add 1.5 cups of the corn kernels in a single layer and cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes until some edges are golden. Set aside. Reserve remaining 1/2 cup raw corn for blending.
- Make the corn cream: Blend reserved raw corn kernels with 1 cup of the broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pressing to extract all liquid. Set aside.
- Heat neutral oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and garlic and cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add remaining broth, milk, soy sauce, and corn cream. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove broth from heat. Whisk in miso paste until completely dissolved. Stir in sesame oil. Add roasted corn kernels. Taste and adjust salt and white pepper.
- Bring a separate pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ramen noodles for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain and divide between serving bowls.
- Ladle corn miso broth generously over noodles, making sure to include plenty of roasted corn kernels. Place a cold pat of butter directly on top of the broth in each bowl. Add optional toppings and serve immediately, while the butter is still melting.