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Broth Base
Introduction
I have always wanted to cook a legitimate bowl of ramen and here it is! My full writeup is presented in a vaporwave-wrapped form.
Ramen is made of four parts: a broth that constitutes the main liquid body of the dish, the tare which seasons that broth with intense umami, aromatic oils to complement the stock's flavor, and finally the toppings including noodles, meats, eggs, and veggies. My final result was what appears in Figure 1. Total cooking time: probably around 15-20 hours.
Tonkotsu Pork Bone Broth
I bought 5 lbs of frozen pork bones from the local asian grocer for about ~$1/lb. A more gelatinous soup stock can be obtained by adding pig's feet, but I totally forgot to get those those. Begin to clean the bones by blanching them on high heat. Then skim away the scum that rises over ten minutes. The essense of the bone marrow is not lost over these ten minutes - this step is to reduce the amount of skimming work you'll need to do later during the long boil. After sufficient scum has risen and been skimmed, pour the entire pot into a strainer. Then rinse, scrub off the scum, and return the cleaned bones to the large stock pot (12+ cups).
Bring the bones a boil and then a low simmer. A halved onion, unburned, is added to the pot and simmmered over 8 hours. Occasionally mix and skim off the top every half hour. I used a long set of tongs to agitate the mix. The broth is shockingly dull after even 3 hours, and a little less dull after 8. Like in pho, the broth should be brought to a refrigerator (I put the pot in a water-filled sink to accelerate the convective cooling process) so that the fat atop can coagulate. This rendered pork fat can be used to flavor individual bowls of ramen. Generally applicable details on the broth-making process, imprecision, and equipment can be found on my pho's preparation page.
Figure 1. Finished bowl of Tonkotsu ramen toppings!
Figures - Broth Base
Figure 2. Frozen pork bones from the market - I went for the bag with the most femur and then knuckle.
Figure 3. Scum rises during the parboil.
Figure 4. Rinsed, scrubbed, and cleaned bones.
Figure 5. Returned to a larger stock pot with one whole halved onion.
Figure 6. Scum still rising over several hours of simmering.
Figure 7. I cooled the entire pot in the sink to coagulate and render some of the fat in the topping.
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Tare & Oils
Shio Tare
The tare is where the familiar umami in ramen comes from. We add a small amount of this seasoning (1-2 tbsp) to the seemingly weak tonkotsu broth to create the signature flavor we have been looking for. Shio tare is a salty seasoning made from reduced kombu (seawood), shiitake mushrooms, and salt.
I added 1 cup of Takra mirin (seasoned sake with ~14% alcohol content), 1 oz of shiitake mushrooms (pictured), and a cut up piece of kombu. Kombu is an edible kelp full of glumatic acid (an amino acid) that is full of umami. Shiitake mushroom's are Japan's most popular mushroom and also have a ton of glutamate. Together with 1/3 cup of salt and 2 cups of water, I reduced the mixture over an hour on medium heat. At the end, I tried a small quarter teaspoon and immediately spat it out because it was so salty. Knowing that the broth was so bland and the tare was so intense, I had no idea it would actually turn out okay!Black Garlic Oil
The next aromatic oil is black garlic oil. I added 1/2 cup of garlic and 1/2 cup of olive oil and put it on high heat in the skillet. The ideal is to blacken the garlic (hence, black garlic oil), but my apartment's smoke alarm is annoyingly sensitive so a settled for a 'dark brown garlic oil'. When a sufficient browning was achieved, I removed from heat and diced the crushed garlic cloves with my knife. Ideally, you would also use a blender, but alas, the perenially destitute graduate student in me had no such equipment. Finally, I added 1/2 cup of sesame oil back to the mix in a tupper container to obtain the asian-smelling oil. The reason why the sesame oil is added only at the end is because sesame oil has a relatively low smoke point.
Figures - Tare & Oils
Figure 8. Single board of all the ingredients for our tare - shiitake mushrooms, generous amounts of seaweed, mirin, water, and salt.
Figure 9. What the tare looks like while reducing to its intense liquid form.
Figure 10. Straining the shio tare. The mushroom can apparently be used later in the ramen, but I felt they were WAY too salty already.
Figure 11. Small amount of shio tare available after the boil - I had enough for 8 bowls.
Figure 12. Single board of ingredients for black garlic oil.
Figure 13. Cooking the crushed garlic on high heat - heat until browned or blackened.
Figure 14. Removed and diced because I didn't have a blender.
Figure 15. Replaced into the oil bath and with sesame oil added.
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Toppings
Chashu Pork Belly
Chashu Pork Belly requires rolling the pork into its classic cylindrical form, searing its sides on high heat, braising it on low heat, and then letting it marinate in the refrigerator. Pork Belly or pork shoulder can be used, but apparently pork belly is the only form that possesses the 'melty' softness that can sometimes be found in ramen shop Chashu. Mirin is especially critical here so that meat can become tender.
Begin by thawing the pork belly if necessary and then using a paring knife to remove the rind. Butcher's twine (which can withstand up to 600F) is double knotted about one end of the roll (roll it as tight as you can, maybe like a camping sleeping bag) and then helically wound to the end. Return the wind to the original double knot and double tie again before cutting the twine from the twine core. On high heat and with generous olive oil to increase heat transfer surface area, the roll was seared for about 10 minutes over several rotations.
Meanwhile, I started heating a mix of 1.5 cup mirin, 1 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, some green onion, and a 4" piece of sliced ginger. I used as small a sauce pot as possible because the roll would have required way too much braising liquid to immerse outright. The alternate strategy is to roll the chashu every 15 minutes so its partitions have equal opportunity for cooking.
Over two hours, the chashu is braised and absorbs the sweet yet savory flavors. After cooling, it is put into a plastic bag with the sauce to further marinate and not dry out. The twine is removed and the chashu can be sliced into its canonical disk form.
Kaarage
Surprisingly, Karaage's crispy skin is not from an egg coating and cornstarch/flour exterior. Potato starch (made from crushed potatoes, rather than cooked, dried, and ground potato flour), gives the crispy texture that we like in popcorn chicken. Begin with cutting 1 lb chicken thighs into 1" pieces and mixing into a bowl of 2 tbsp mirin, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1/3 cup soy sauce, and 1 tsp sesame boil. Once all pieces are coated, you can toss them in another bowl with GENEROUS quantities of potato starch. The white powder will seem to fade over time because it has absorbed the liquid on the surface of the raw chicken. Simply dip the chicken into a small sauce pan full of vegetable oil for 3 minutes, remove, and replace for anothe 3 minutes for the 'double fry'. Once finished, plate atop fresh lettuce and with lemon to appear cultured.
Soft-Boiled Eggs
When I was practicing soft boiled eggs, the hardest part was simply peeling them. The general advice is to use a sewing needle pin to pierce the flatter base of each egg, and immediately transfer them from refrigerator to boiling pot. After boiling for 2 minutes, let simmer for 5 more minutes and quench in an ice bath. Because the proteins immediately denature and do not stick at eggshell walls in the first place (Thanks, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt), peeling is much easier. The eggs ideally are soft but not brittle in hard boiled eggs.
Narutomaki
This is a roll of fishcake that I straight up bought from the local grocer, Lee Lee's. Because it is so prominently featured in the ever popular shounen, I had to buy some and include it for visual flare in the final bowl of ramen.
Figures - Toppings
Figure 16. Single board of the ingredients for Chashu - green onion, sguar, ginger, soy sauce, mirin, water, and the pork belly itself.
Figure 17. Remove the pork rind, lest you get real weird chashu!
Figure 18. Wrap up the chashu in butcher's twine!
Figure 19. Bring the braising sauce mixture to boil before added the nascent seared Chashu roll.
Figure 20. Roll the Chashu at the frequency of ~15 minutes to get an even and consistent infusion of flavor.
Figure 21. First look into the roll.
Figure 22. Second look into the roll, after marinating in the braising sauce over 8 hours.
Figure 23. Kaarage single board ingredients.
Figure 24. First look at the liquid to coat the chicken thighs - I accidentally added potato starch to this, but this just made it crisper after the deep fry.
Figure 25. Coating the chickne thighs in potato starch.
Figure 26.Ready for deep frying in vegetable oil!
Figure 27.Plated and pretty.
Figure 28. Soft boiled eggs - I poked a hole through the bottom of each egg first. After 2 minutes of full boiling, I brought down the heat to medium-high.
Figure 29. Bubbles gone away while cooking on medium-high.
Figure 30. Eggs refrigerated after cooling in a water bath.
Figure 31.Beautiful narutomaki from the market.
Figure 32.Closeup of the anime food.
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Serving
Ramen Noodles
I am not yet on the level of making my own noodles, so purchased Hime ramen noodles. It was shockingly difficult to find legitimate ramen noodles to purchase, because online searches yielded top ramen and cup noodles. The local Korean grocer, Sandyi Market, had them though, and it is interesting that the noodles are so alkaline and have 68% sodium per serving!!! Following the instructions on the back, I dipped them in a large pot for exactly 4 minutes and strained them. Their sensitivity to temperature seems greater, as the classic al dente has a smaller time window to hit and even that is too late for your ramen - you want the noodles to remain slightly firm when it is placed into the serving bowls.
Preparing the Vegetables
I just chopped green onion, blanched the bean sprouts for 2 seconds (kills any potential salmonella without giving up the crispiness), and had fresh corn prepped and plated. Seawood from any general distributor is good too.
Serving
I placed a tablespoon of the shio tare at the bottom, added some broth, and then the noodles. We then placed toppings to our liking, and of course, let the camera eat first. Topping with the black garlic oil, some of the reduced pork fat, and some Zin Drew chili oil made really enhanced the final slurpiness of the ramen. Finally, the soft boiled egg, the chashu, and the Narutomaki made the whole thing feel complete! And it tasted great!
Acknowledgements
No conflicts of interests, such as 'Big Broth'; i.e. no big broth-er watched over the production of this soup. Thank you to my supportive friends for trying out my pho and giving constructive feedback for me to develop on this massive undertaking. I make this broth for you.
Figures - Garnish and Serve
Figure 33. Noodles, noodles, noodles.
Figure 34.Blurry noodles.
Figure 35. Final plates of prepared toppings.
Figure 36. Ramen Bowl #1
Figure 37. Ramen Bowl #2
Figure 38. Ramen Bowl #3
Figure 39. Ramen with friends! 03/05/21 (all of us were vaccinated with the second dose by this point.)