"tonkotsu ramen

By RoketJSquerl

Tonkotsu ramen is an excellent introduction to Japanese noodle soups. Deeply flavoured tonkotsu pork broth, ramen noodles and chashu pork belly come together to create comfort in a bowl.

Ingredients

• Tonkotsu ramen
• 8 8 8 cups tonkotsu pork broth - recipe link below
• 12 12 12 oz good quality dried ramen noodles
• 4 4 4 large or extra large eggs
• 2-3 2-3 2-3 oz enoki or other mushrooms
• thinly sliced green onions
• Chashu pork belly
• 2 2 2 lb pork belly - rolled and tied
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup sake
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup mirin - sweet Japanese wine
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup sugar
• 2-3 2-3 2-3 cloves garlic - left whole
• 2 2 2 green onions - coarsely chopped
• Soy bacon tare
• 2 2 2 slices bacon - use good quality bacon here
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup soy
• 2 2 2 Tbsp mirin
• 2 2 2 Tbsp sake
• 4 4 4 Tbsp shiro miso
• Miso Tare
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup shiro miso
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup sake
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup mirin
• pinch pinch shichimi togarashi (optional)
• 1-2 1-2 1-2 tsp kosher salt - depending on how salty you like your ramen.

Details

Adapted from glebekitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions
Chashu pork belly
Combine the soy, sake, mirin, sugar, garlic and green onions in a ziploc bag large enough to hold the pork belly. Stick a straw in the bag and seal the ziploc bag up against it (so the straw is the only opening). Suck as much of the air out as you can and seal.
Sous vide the pork for 10-11 hours at 170F.
Remove pork from the ziploc bag. Discard the bag and marinade.
Let the chashu pork belly cool completely.
Slice across the chashu pork (so you get bacon like slices) - into 8-12 slices about 1/8 to 3/16 inches thick. Reserve. You won't need all the pork for 4 servings.
Soy bacon tare
Combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan. Simmer at the lowest setting for about an hour. Top up with a bit of chicken stock if needed.
Remove the bacon.
Miso tare
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and simmer at the lowest setting for about 5 minutes.
Medium boiled eggs
Boil large eggs for 6 minutes 30 seconds. If using extra large eggs boil them for 7 minutes 30 seconds. You may have to adjust your times slightly depending on the exact size of your eggs but this should get you pretty close.
Submerge the eggs in cold or ice water to chill. This stops the egg yolks from continuing to set up. Peel. Cut in half.
Assemble the tonkotsu ramen
Boil the ramen noodles in plenty of water as directed by the packaging. If there's no translation on the packaging usually its 4 minutes. You don't need to salt the water.
Cook the mushrooms along side the noodles - you just want them softened.
Gently fry the chashu pork in a non-stick skillet until lightly browned.
Place 1/4 of whichever tare you are using in the bottom of four bowls.
Ladle in about 1/2 cup of the tonkotsu broth into each of the bowls and stir to mix.
Add the noodles. Pour in another 1 1/2 cups of the tonkotsu broth per bowl.
Top with the egg, mushrooms, pork and green onions.
Recipe Notes
I've provided 2 different tare recipes. Use one or the other or come up with your own.

If you use the miso tare, you can salt your broth directly. That is easier than guessing how salty you want your tare.

If you aren't up for making chashu pork you can substitute roasted pork shoulder. It would be an awesome use of leftover pork roast...