Maybe stick to the two minute noodles there sensei
This is the ramen that turns sane people into broth-watching insomniacs. You'll boil pork bones harder and longer than feels reasonable until the pot turns creamy white, then crown it with homemade noodles, rolled chashu and jammy eggs. Clear your weekend and warn the neighbours.
The challenge
- Rolling boil for 12+ hours
- Emulsifying pork fat into broth
- Making alkaline ramen noodles
- Chashu pork preparation
- Balancing tare seasoning
Japanese ramen that requires commitment bordering on obsession. Pork bones get blanched, then boiled at a vigorous rolling boil for 12-18 hours until they literally disintegrate and the collagen emulsifies into a thick, milky-white broth that coats your lips.
Then, make alkaline noodles from scratch with lye water, cutting them to precise thickness. Assembly means juggling boiling noodles, piping-hot broth, precisely sliced chashu, jammy eggs, and aromatics all hitting the bowl simultaneously. Miss one element and 20 hours of work tastes incomplete.
Prep: 1 hour (plus overnight egg marinade) Β Β·Β Cook: 14 hours
Ingredients
For the broth
- 2 kg (4.4 lb) pork trotters, split
- 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) pork neck or femur bones
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 whole garlic bulb, halved
- 5 cm (2 in) piece ginger, sliced
- 2 spring onions (scallions), green parts
For the chashu and eggs
- 800 g (1.75 lb) skinless pork belly, in one slab
- 120 ml (Β½ cup) soy sauce
- 120 ml (Β½ cup) mirin
- 60 ml (ΒΌ cup) sake
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 eggs
For the shio-shoyu tare
- 60 ml (ΒΌ cup) of the chashu braising liquid
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp dashi powder or a pinch of MSG
For the noodles
- 400 g (14 oz) bread flour
- 170 ml (ΒΎ cup) water
- 4 g (1 tsp) kansui (lye water) or 2 tsp baked baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- Cornflour (cornstarch) for dusting
To serve
- Thinly sliced spring onions
- Pickled ginger (beni shoga)
- Black garlic oil or toasted sesame oil
- Nori sheets
Method
- Blanch the bonesPut the trotters and bones in your biggest stockpot, cover with cold water and bring to a hard boil. Boil 10 minutes, then drain and scrub every bone under running water, pulling off dark bits and blood. Scrub the pot too. This is what keeps your broth white instead of grey.
- Start the rolling boilReturn the clean bones to the pot, cover with about 5 litres (5.3 qt) of fresh cold water and bring to a fierce rolling boil. Keep it there, lid slightly ajar, for 12 hours. Top up with boiling water every hour or so to keep the bones covered. Yes, a rolling boil, not a simmer: the agitation is what emulsifies fat and collagen into that milky body.
- Make the chashuWhile the broth roars, roll the pork belly into a tight log and tie with kitchen string every 2 cm (ΒΎ in). Sear it all over in a hot pan. Put it in a small pot with the soy, mirin, sake, sugar and 250 ml (1 cup) water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook very gently for 2.5β3 hours, turning every 30 minutes, until a skewer slides in easily. Cool in the liquid and chill.
- Marinate the eggsLower the eggs into boiling water and cook exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds, then plunge into iced water. Peel and submerge in 250 ml (1 cup) of the cooled chashu liquid (topped up with a little water) for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Mix and rest the noodle doughDissolve the kansui and salt in the water. Rub it into the flour with your fingers until it looks like damp crumbs, then press into a ball and knead hard for 5 minutes (it will be stiff). Wrap and rest 1 hour, then knead again briefly and rest another 30 minutes.
- Roll and cut the noodlesDivide the dough into 4. Pass each piece through a pasta machine, folding and re-rolling on the widest setting a few times, then thin down to about 1.2 mm. Dust generously with cornflour and cut into thin noodles. Toss into loose nests and keep covered.
- Finish the brothIn the last 2 hours add the onion, garlic, ginger and spring onion greens. When the broth is opaque, creamy and coats a spoon, strain through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids. You want about 2 litres (2 qt). If it's thin, boil it down hard; if too thick, loosen with water.
- Mix the tareStir the braising liquid, soy, salt and dashi powder together. Taste a spoonful of broth with a little tare: it should be properly seasoned, not salty. Adjust now, not in the bowl.
- Prep for assemblySlice the cold chashu into 5 mm (ΒΌ in) rounds and briefly torch or pan-sear them. Halve the eggs. Warm 4 deep bowls with boiling water. Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil and keep the broth at a bare boil.
- Assemble fastEmpty the bowls and add 2 tbsp tare to each. Drop the noodles in the boiling water for 60β90 seconds. While they cook, ladle about 450 ml (2 cups) piping-hot broth into each bowl and whisk. Drain the noodles well, fold them into the broth, top with chashu, eggs, spring onion, pickled ginger, nori and a few drops of garlic oil. Serve immediately.
- Retire the two-minute noodlesBow your head over the bowl and slurp loudly, which is good manners in Japan. Then ceremonially throw out your packet noodles. You are a sensei now. Act like it.
Tips from the trenches
- If the boil drops to a simmer for long, you'll get a clear broth, not tonkotsu. Keep the bubbles big and top up with boiling water, never cold.
- Kansui is what makes noodles springy and yellow. No kansui? Bake baking soda at 120Β°C (250Β°F) for 1 hour to make a stronger alkali, and handle it with care.
- Cook noodles slightly firmer than you think. They keep cooking in the hot broth.
- Season with tare in the bowl, not in the pot, so leftover broth stays flexible.
βYou can't cook if you don't like people.ββ JoΓ«l Robuchon
