Ramen tips

The Hill Billy

For the past while I've been making ramen noodle soup. I'd love to hear of any recipes from others.

I make my dashi with Kombu (seaweed from a local fishmonger), bonito flakes, a splash of saki & Mirin, & a chicken OXO cube (oh, the shame!). I chuck in slices of fresh ginger & chilli too.

To top it off I have noodles, ****ake mushrooms, green veg (varies), beef or pork & a good squeeze of lemon juice & finely sliced scallions.

What am I missing or could I be doing better?

johnnyskeleton

Have you tried different kinds of noodles like the thick udon noodles? I prefer them cos theyre easier to eat and seem to absorb more of the broth

RasTa

It's a lot of work but this is the only way to make Ramen. Going to JApan has semi ruined Ramen for me

IVAN ORKIN’S MISO AND PORK RAMEN RECIPE
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

Miso base

100 g red miso
100 g white miso
40 g sake
30 g oil
20 g honey
30 ml pork fat (or oil)
Meat mix

25 g chopped onions
10 g chopped garlic,
10 g chopped ginger
50 ml oil
200g ground pork
20 g miso mix
Soup

4 liters chicken stock (store bought low sodium OK)
1 lb pork neck bones
1 lb ground pork
Method:

For the miso base:

Combine the miso, sake, oil, honey and cook together in a pan for 10 minutes in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Reserve. (This can be done up to 5 days ahead of time)
For the meat mix:

Saute the ginger, garlic, and onion in the oil for 5 minutes until softened. Add the ground pork and cook over medium heat until fully cooked. (about 5 min more)
Add 20 g of the prepared miso base, cook for 5 more minutes. Reserve. (This can be made up to 3 days in advance)
For the pork soup:

Combine the pork bones, ground pork and the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface.
Boil very hard until you have about 700 ml of soup left. If it is low, top off with more chicken both.
Strain, reserve. (This can be done 3 days in advance)
Burnt garlic oil This is an incredible condiment and is great on anything!

1 C canola oil
1 C sesame oil
3 T Sambal chili paste
100 g whole peeled garlic cloves
Method:

Combine garlic and canola oil and cook slowly over medium high heat until it starts to burn. This will take about 30 min, stir occasionally until the garlic is evenly black and when tapped with a spoon, sounds hard and hollow.
Cool mixture, and blend very well in a blender.
Add sesame oil and chili paste
(This can be made a week in advance)
To assemble the dish:

Add the remaining miso base to a pot and add the soup. Boil together very hard for 5 minutes. Keep HOT!
In a separate pot, bring 4 liters of water to a boil for the ramen noodles. (You can use dry noodles from instant ramen, or better yet, find thick ramen noodles in an Asian market)
Warm the meat mixture gently in a small pan.
Have 2 warm bowls ready.
Boil the noodles until just done. Shake off all excess water and drop noodles in the 2 bowls.
Add 270 ml of piping hot soup to each bowl of noodles. Gently stir together with chopsticks.
Divide the warm pork mixture on top of the two bowls of ramen.
Top with a drizzle of the garlic oil, some chopped scallions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsk12Qqtw0s

His classic Shio Ramen recipe is also here

http://foodthinkers.com/shio-ramen-the-complete-bowl/

It should be taking about 3-4 days to make your first Ramen.

surball

I would sugges the following simple alterations although purists might disagree:

Make your own stock. Collect pork and chicken bones for this. Well worth it. Freeze for later use.

Nice ramen noodles from Asian market, they sell a brand of organic ones that are very nice.

A little slice of lime brings a nice flavour

I always enjoy a half a slightly soft hard boiled egg

Another thing I like to try is to use a chicken stock base and add a mixture of sweet chilli sauce, malt vinegar, soy or fish sauce. It brings a slightly sweet and sour flavour to the ramen.

Slow cooked pork belly

the beer revolu

Ok not ramen, more of a bastard Asian chicken broth that I serve with steamed chicken thighs, rice and greens but would work equally well with noodles.

I actually have a pot on the go for later. It's really, really tasty and not difficult at all.

So, first of all I make a dashi just like in the OP.

Then, into a pot goes an onion, a small carrot and a stick of celery (all chopped pretty small), a dried ****ake mushroom, (most of) a star anise, a couple of cloves, an inch long piece of cinnamon, a few schezwan peppercorns, a few black peppercorns, a smashed knob of ginger and a couple of smashed cloves of garlic.

I use the bones from six chicken thighs that I debone and a (raw) chicken carcass that I chop up small. You can use any chicken bones or a mix of pork and chicken. The bones go into the pot, I strain in the dashi and simmer for around 2 or 3 hours. I put in any chicken fat and skin and I don't bother with skimming. I'm not really looking for a crystal clear broth here.

Strain the broth, remove the fat (or leave some in, I use a gravy separator) and finish with some dark and light soy sauce, a dash of Shaoxing rice wine or sake or mirin, a few drops of sesame oil and some salt if needed. I always add chopped fresh chives too (spring onion would also be good but I love the flavour that chives give).

I serve it just as a bowl of broth alongside the chicken, rice and greens (and chilli sauce, of course) but it would also be a good soup base for noodles.

I steam the chicken with garlic and ginger over the broth before serving so it might need a little fresh ginger and garlic at the end to give it a lift if you are't doing this.

I guess it's more Chinese in style than Japanese but what ever it is, it's damn tasty.

Ditch the stock cube;) (for this, not everything)

John_Rambo

Slices of slow roasted beef brisket in a ramen is unbelievable. For those of you that are familiar with the texture, nature and dryness of beef brisket you'll instantly understand.

I can actually see you all slowly nodding your heads and smiling now.


I know.


Do it.