Kombu

Clear, amber broth — chicken and dashi base with a shoyu tare made from three soy sauces. The working person's ramen. Doable in 4 hours.

18-hour pork bone broth. Creamy, rich, cloudy white. This is a weekend project, not a weeknight dinner. Worth every hour.

Kombu-shiitake broth only — no chicken. Soy tare adjusted for the lighter base. Tofu, roasted king oyster mushrooms on top.

2-hour version using chicken backs instead of pork trotters. Still rich, still real. For when you can't do the full 18-hour odyssey.

A teaspoon of yuzu juice in each bowl transforms the whole thing. Bright, citrusy, complex. Tokyo ramen shops do this in winter.