ラーメンRamen

The broth-first build: a deep bonito-and-kombu dashi carried over pork shoulder, seasoned with a tare of soy and miso, and served over thick wheat noodles with the toppings — the egg, the menma, the sliced chashu — each one cooked separately and set on top. The whole thing comes down to the order the pieces go in and the length of the braised bone.

Origin

Japan (a China-imported noodle soup, adapted with the deep dashi broth and sold at ramen stalls and homes alike)

Difficulty

4 / 5

Servings

2 bowls

Prep

30 min + 2 hr braise (chashu)

Cook

~45 min (broth) + 4 min (noodles)

Total

~3 hr (with the chashu resting) or ~1 hr (using pre-cut pork)

Equipment

• A heavy 3 litre pot for the broth and dashi pull
• A wide, shallow pot or wok for boiling the noodles (you want the water moving)
• A fine-mesh sieve for straining the first dashi and for the tare
• Two large ramen bowls

Ingredients

• For the chashu:
• 400 g pork shoulder (or a small piece of pork belly with the skin on), one joint, tied if needed so it holds shape
• 1 small piece of ginger (5 cm), sliced
• 2 scallions, white parts only, cut 3 cm lengths
• 30 ml mirin — the sweet and the gloss of the balance
• 40 ml light soy sauce — the salt-and-depth of the balance
• 5 ml sesame oil — the fat top note
• For the broth base (the dashi half):
• 30 g dried kombu
• 2 litres cold water
• 50 g katsuobushi (long, dark flakes for the strongest pull)
• For the tare (the seasoning half):
• 60 ml dark soy — the depth
• 30 ml light soy — the salt
• 15 g sweet miso (or a 15 g of white miso for a lighter tare) — the umami half
• 15 ml mirin — the sweet
• For the noodles and toppings (per bowl):
• 100 g fresh ramen noodles (or a good 80 g dry) — the thick, wheat, egg, noodle
• 1 egg, soft-boiled (6 min 30 s, into an ice bath) — the pan-heat-less version of the cooked egg
• 1 small piece fermented bamboo shoot (menma), sliced thin — the top note
• 3–4 slices of the chashu, cut 5 mm across the grain
• the trimmed green parts of the scallion, cut on the diagonal, 5 mm pieces
• 1–2 tsp sesame oil (or a good fried garlic oil) — the fat top note
• a dusting of dried bonito flakes, if you have them — the smoke note
• a few drops of chili crisp or a chili oil, for the people who want the heat

Method

1. The chashu, braised. Into a pot of cold water, the piece of pork, on a medium flame. Bring it to a gentle simmer for 10 min, to pull the surface blood and the fat off the cut. Tip it out, drain it, and return it to the same pot (or a clean one) with the ginger, the scallion white, 600 ml of the water, and the 40 ml of light soy. Cover and braise on the lowest heat that will hold a gentle simmer for 1½–2 hr. The pork is done when it takes a clean cut and a little pull, and it is not stringy or falling. Pull it out and let it rest for the full 30 min before the 5 mm cut across the grain — a cold, set chashu slices clean and the braise holds its shape.
2. The dashi base, pulled. Into a clean pot, the 30 g of kombu and the 2 litres of cold water, and a 30 min rest. Bring it to the just-before-boil on the edge of the pot, pull out the kombu (the kombu never sees a boil — this is the single most common dashi mistake), and back it to the same just-before-boil. With the heat off, add the katsuobushi, press it flat, and let it sit 2–3 min, then strain it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot. The base is now a clear, deep, 2 litres of dashi — the dashi article in full working order.
3. The tare, mixed and measured. In a small bowl, mix the 60 ml of dark soy, the 30 ml of light soy, the 15 g of the sweet miso, and the 15 ml of the mirin into a single, even, 120 ml tare. This is the salt-and-sweet half of the balance, and it is what the broth gets seasoned with — the classic tare of the soy-base family.
4. The bowl, assembled. Into each of the two bowls, 60 ml of the tare — half of the mixture in step 3, one serving of the salt-and-sweet balance per bowl. Into the same bowls, 200 ml of the cold dashi base each. Bring the pot of the remaining cold dashi base to the just-before-boil, and add the 200 ml of hot dashi to each bowl — the cold tare + the hot dashi = a single, hot, well-seasoned broth, the classic assembly of the ramen bowl.
5. The noodles, cooked. Into a pot of lightly salted, rolling-boil water, the 100 g of fresh ramen noodles, and 60–90 s (or 2–3 min for the dry kind) — until the noodle is an even, soft bite — not chewy, not raw in the middle. Tip the noodles out immediately, drain them well (a light cold-water rinse is optional and depends on the style of the noodle — a 30 s rinse for the thick, chewy kind), and set them in the bowl.
6. The toppings, set. Arrange the 5 mm slices of the rested chashu, the halved soft-boiled egg, the sliced 5 mm pieces of the scallion green, the sliced menma, the 1–2 tsp of the sesame oil (or the chili crisp, if you want the heat), and a dusting of the bonito flakes on top — the top note of the plate, and the one that sets the balance of the bowl against the noodle in the salt-and-sweet broth.

What to serve with it

This is the noodle of the section — the deep, dashi-based, braised chashu broth, and the one that sets the salt-and-sweet balance against the noodle. It pairs with a simple, clean, not saucy plate to set the edge against the deep broth: the katsudon (the braised cut pork-over-rice bowl of the same family) or the onigiri (the clean, rice plate that sets the edge against the salt). And a small, simple, not saucy plate of sashimi (the clean, top note) is the "cut" against the deep dashi broth.