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.
