When most people think of ramen in the US, they probably think of the $0.15 food that we all eat in college.  That’s actually pretty sad because ramen is one of the tastiest Asian noodles around.  Here is a great clip from a famous Japanese film that touches on how seriously people can take ramen in Japan (ok, so I’m pretty sure this scene is done tongue-in-cheek).

With this being my first attempt at ramen, I definitely can’t claim mastery, but it did turn out very tasty.  I borrowed heavily from David Chang’s Momofuku recipe (as far as I can tell, I don’t have the cookbook but I gleaned the internet for others who have tried it).  We even had some Japanese friends over and they gave me the thumbs up!  The fun thing about ramen is that it ends up being a mixture of a bunch of different components and you can choose how much you want to make from scratch or not.  For example, I made the ramen themselves but you could always use a ramen pack (just chuck the flavor packet!).

 

Pork Belly

8 oz – Pork Belly

1/8 cup – sugar

1/8 cup – kosher salt

Mix the sugar and salt and spread it all over the pork belly (if it comes with skin, remove it first).  Let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.  Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Rinse well, pat dry, place in a roasting dish.  Roast for 1 hour, basting several times.  Drop oven temp to 250 degrees and roast for 1 more hour, basting as needed.  Let cool then wrap in plastic and refrigerate.  When the belly is totally cool, slice in thin slices.

Pork Shoulder

8 oz – Pork Shoulder

1/8 cup – sugar

1/8 cup – kosher salt

Mix the sugar and salt and spread it all over the shoulder.  Let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.  Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Rinse well, pat dry, place in a roasting dish.  Roast for 1 hour, basting several times.  Drop oven temp to 250 degrees and roast for several more hours, basting as needed until the shoulder is falling apart.  Let rest then shred into pieces using two forks.  Reserve until needed.

Pork Broth

2 lbs – Meaty pork neck bones

2 lbs – Chicken legs (or turkey legs)

9 sq inches – kombu

8 oz – smoked bacon

3 – large scallions

1 – knob ginger

1 – tsp fresh ground white pepper

Dark soy sauce/Kosher Salt

Place neck bones in large stock pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 3 minutes then dump the water, rinse bones and pot and re-cover with fresh water.  Bring to a simmer.  For a good clear broth, never let the broth simmer higher than a few bubbles at a time.  Add the chicken legs and kombu.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Remove kombu.  Simmer for 4-6 hours.  Skim scum often (every half hour or so).  After is has simmered for 5-6 hours, remove the chicken legs and add bacon, scallions, and ginger.  Simmer 1 hour more, skimming often.   Filter out all broth.  I do this by passing all broth into a different container through a fine mesh or cheese cloth.  I then clean out my stock pot, place the broth back inside, and return the broth to a simmer.  Add soy and salt to taste.  I found that the broth was better the second day.

Ramen Noodles

3 1/2 cups – Semolina flour

5 – eggs

1 tsp – kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together and let rest 1-2 hours.  Knead by hand or using the roller attachment.  Roll out very thin (a 5 on our roller attachment).  Cut using a spaghetti cutter.  Boil in salt water until al dente.

Assembly

3 – green onions, thinly sliced

4-5 – slow poached eggs

4-5 – slices narutomaki

3 – baby bok choy

5 oz – shitake or tree mushrooms

4-5 – 3×3 inch nori sheets

Steam bok choy and mushrooms.  Place noodles into the bottom of the bowl, arrange pork shoulder, 3 slices pork belly, green onions, 1 egg, 1 slice narutomaki, mushrooms and bok choy on top of noodles.  Ladle in enough hot broth to cover noodles.  Garnish with nori.

Recently I’ve been working on getting rid of some of that pesky winter weight.  I’m prepping for a marathon and eating what I consider really boring diet food (1600 calories a day, lots of broiled chicken breast and quinoa).  This weekend I did a ten miler then didn’t have much time to eat so I figured it was time for a bit of a cheat…and boy did I! 

These hamburgers were extra tasty (and worth every bit of calories that I’ll need to run off tomorrow!).  First I started with homemade hamburger buns.  I used a basic enriched bread recipe (based on one by Peter Reinhart in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice).  I ended up changing it a bit, mainly because I had run out of bread flour!  It’s a pretty rare thing for me since I normally have at least one extra 50 lb. bag in the basement.  I ended up using half semolina flour and half bread flour.  I also doubled the butter (hey, when you’re going to cheat…).

I also made something of a “secret sauce” to eat on the hamburger and with the fries.  In Utah, where I’m originally from, “fry sauce” is a big deal, served in most hamburger joints.  In it’s simplest form it’s just mayonnaise mixed with ketchup.  More often than not, it’s closer to a thicker thousand island dressing.  I made it more than anything to play with my new Blendtec blender but it ended up really very nice.

I also spread a little bacon jam on the bun, it was wonderful.  For those uninitiated in this odd new fad…bacon jam is a sweet, smoky, bacony paste.  I bought mine from a fun little mobile restaurant in the Seattle area called Skillet.

All of this was then eaten with some sweet potato fries…now, enough telling you how wonderful it was…on to the recipes!

Buttermilk Hamburger Buns (based on a recipe by Peter Reinhart)

10 ounces – unbleached bread flour

10 ounces – fine semolina flour

1 TBSP – kosher salt (note, if using table salt, always halve the amount!)

1 1/2 tsp – sugar

2 tsp – instant yeast

1 – large egg (room temp, slightly beaten)

1/4 cup – unsalted butter (room temp)

1/4 cup – lard/vegetable shortening (room temp)

12 ounces – buttermilk (room temp)

Mix dry ingredients then add the remaining ingredients in the bowl of a large stand mixer.  Mix on medium low speed using the paddle attachment until well incorporated.  Let rest 20 minutes. Change to the dough hook and knead on medium low speed for 3-7 minutes or until a window pane can be achieved.  Ball the dough up and place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and leave to proof until doubled (around 2 hrs).  I placed mine in my cold oven and I left the oven light on, this leaves my oven at about 85 degrees.

Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment (or silpats). After the dough has doubled, place on a lightly oiled counter top, stretch it into a smooth even sheet, about 1 inch thick.  If possible, do this by gently stretching and smoothing, trying to avoid releasing all of the air out of the dough.  If you have trouble, go ahead and lightly smooth with a rolling pin (but don’t overwork at this stage).  Once you have a good even sheet of dough, cut out bun shapes using a large biscuit cutter or other round cutter.  If you don’t have anything that works, cut off a piece of dough and shape the dough like you would a roll, then press the roll a little flat.  Place these on the baking sheets, cover, and let rise 1 1/2 – 2 hours until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Make a simple egg wash by adding 1 tsp of water to one egg and whisking until frothy.  With a pasty brush, gently brush the tops of the buns then sprinkle with sesame seeds (optionally add poppy seeds as well).

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the top.

“Secret” Hamburger Sauce (and fry sauce)

1 – large egg yolk (beware the use of raw eggs!)

1 tsp – mustard

1 tsp – vinegar

1 tsp – lemon juice

1/2 tsp – paprika

1/2 tsp – tarragon

1 1/2 tsp – sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 – 1 cup – canola oil, grape seed oil, light olive oil, etc.

1/4 cup – ketchup

salt and pepper to taste

Blend yolk, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, paprika, tarragon, sweet pickles, and buttermilk until smooth.  While the blender is going begin to add the oil in a thin stream until it emulsifies into a thick aioli.  Once it is emulsified you don’t need any more oil.  Add the ketchup, salt, and pepper, and pulse until well mixed.

 

Sweet Potato Fries

Peel and slice one yam or sweet potato of your choice into French fry sized pieces (a mandolin or fry slicer is nice for making consistent sizes).  Soak in ice cold water for several hours.  Remove and dry thoroughly. 

Par-fry the yams in batches in 250 degree (F) oil.  Fry until soft and cooked through remove before they begin to brown.  Place in a cold place until they are thoroughly chilled.  Heat oil to 375 degree (F) and fry in batches until nicely browned and crispy (they should float on the top of the oil).  Salt to taste and enjoy with the fry sauce!

 

Hamburgers

1 lb – freshly ground beef (at least 20% fat, none of that lean stuff!)

1 tsp – kosher salt

1 tsp – black pepper

2 tsp – Worcestershire sauce

 

Toppings:

2-4 strips – thick cut bacon, halved and fried crispy

1/2 avocado – sliced in 1/4 inch slices

Leaf lettuce – washed and torn to appropriate size

1 – Tomato, sliced

4 slices – Gouda cheese

Red onion – thinly sliced

Bacon Jam

Hamburger sauce

Hamburger buns

 

Mix seasoning into meat, be careful not to overwork the meat.  Form into quarter lb patties and grill to your choice of doneness (about 6 minutes on my grill).  Split hamburger bun in half and spread hamburger sauce on one side and bacon jam on the other.  Place the remaining ingredients into the hamburger per taste (burger, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado).

Enjoy!