Book excerpt: This isn't your traditional noodle soup cookbook. It's a mix-and-match guide to building the dish you want to eat. First, you'll choose your noodle. Next, pick your soup, whether it's a broth from scratch or one that starts from a box or can. Finally, decide on the proteins, vegetables, and flourishes that will give your bowl color and character-the Oracle will show you the best way to prep nearly any topping you can dream up. Within these pages, you'll find tried-and-true flavor combinations and start-to-finish bowl recipes, but they're here to entice and inspire, not constrain. Add to them, subtract from them, and shatter the boundaries between ramen, saimin, and pho.