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Tonkotsu Ramen

Traditional tonkotsu ramen (or paitan) is a Japanese dish of noodles served in a very white broth, made from pork.

Prep Time
1 hr 30 mins
Cook Time
11 hrs
Resting Time
1 d
Total Time
12 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 2 people
Calories: 3088 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients

For the chashu pork
  • 14 oz. pork belly with rind unsliced
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup mirin
  • ½ cup sake
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • ⅔ cup water
  • 2 stalks scallion , chopped
  • 1 scallion , grated
  • 2 cloves garlic , crushed
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
For the ramen
  • 20 oz. pork paitan broth , recipe below
  • 8 oz. dry ramen noodles (or 12 oz. fresh ramen noodles)
  • 4 slices chashu pork , recipe below
  • 2 cold ajitama eggs + 1 tablespoon of white vinegar , recipe below
  • ½ sheet grilled nori seaweed , cut into 3 x 2 inches (7 x 5 cm) rectangles
  • 2 scallions , chopped
  • 3 dried and rehydrated black mushrooms , cut into thin strips
  • 1 red hot pepper , chopped (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons gomasio , mixture of toasted sesame and salt
For the flavored oil
  • 14 oz. pork fat , cut into small cubes
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 scallions , chopped
  • 7 cloves of garlic , cut into thin strips
  • 12 g katsuobushi , dried bonito flakes
For the motodare
  • 1 oz. dried shrimp
  • ⅔ oz. dried fry (or dried anchovies)
  • 1 tablespoon dried bonito
  • 2 tablespoons kombu seaweed cut into small pieces
  • ½ cup water
  • 4 tablespoons fine salt
  • ¼ cup white rice vinegar
Equipment
  • Slicing knife
  • Cutting board
  • Fine cheesecloth
  • Blowtorch
  • Ramen bowl

Instructions

Chashu pork
    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat the oven to 130°C.
  2. In a frying pan that can go into the oven with its cover, brown the pork belly on all sides over high heat.
  3. Mix soy sauce, mirin, sake and water. Add this mixture to the frying pan.
  4. Add remaining ingredients.
  5. Cover and bake for at least 4 hours.
  6. After 2.5 to 3 hours of cooking, lower the temperature to 100°C.
  7. Turn the meat every hour, remembering to cover again.
  8. Reserve the meat in its juice without slicing it until ready to serve.
Paitan tonkotsu broth
  1. In a large pot, make a broth made from pork bones, trotters and rinds.
  2. Cooking takes a total of 6 to 8 hours. Plan to start the day before, or even the day before.
Flavored oil
  1. Melt the pork fat over very low heat in a saucepan until you obtain an oil.
  2. Melting begins quickly, but the operation is long enough to extract as much oil as possible.
  3. At the end, the cubes of fat shrink a lot and take on a slightly golden color. Filter through cheesecloth.
  4. Pour the melted fat into a small saucepan, add the neutral vegetable oil, the chopped onion, the garlic slices and the katsuobushi flakes (dried bonito flakes).
  5. Heat over medium heat until the aromatics brown.
  6. Turn off the heat and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain and set aside.
Motodare
  1. Place the dried shrimp, fry, bonito and seaweed in an airtight 1 liter container. Add mineral water.
  2. Close the lid and set aside to infuse in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
  3. After 24 hours of infusion, pour the contents of the can into a saucepan.
  4. Place the saucepan over a very low heat and raise the temperature without ever reaching a boil, ideally around 140 F (60°C), for around 30 minutes.
  5. Filter the water using very fine cheesecloth.
  6. Add the salt to the warm flavored water and stir until the salt is dissolved. Finish by adding the rice vinegar when the liquid is cold.
Ajitama eggs
  1. Boil a pot of water with a tablespoon of white vinegar.
  2. Add the eggs (from the fridge) and cook for 6 minutes and 30 seconds.
  3. Then immediately place the eggs in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let them cool then peel them.
  4. Marinate them for 24 hours in a mixture of water, soy sauce, sake and mirin.
Tonkotsu ramen toppings
  1. Cut the ajitama eggs in half.
  2. Slice the chashu pork, place it on a rack and brown it using a blowtorch.
  3. Pour 1 cup (250 ml) of tonkotsu broth into a saucepan to heat it. Bring quickly to a boil and whisk to stabilize the emulsion.
Cooking of the ramen
  1. Bring a pot of unsalted water to a boil. Cook the ramen noodles according to the exact cooking time indicated on their packaging. Typically about 4 minutes for dried ramen noodles or 2 minutes for fresh ramen noodles.
  2. Ramen noodles are generally served relatively firm (kata, the equivalent of Italian al dente). They will finish softening in the hot broth while tasting.
Dressing the tonkotsu ramen
  1. Pour a little flavored oil and motodare into the bottom of a ramen bowl. Drizzle with paitan broth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  2. Then place the ramen noodles in the center of the broth, lift them with chopsticks and roll them up on themselves.
  3. Harmoniously arrange the grilled chashu slices, the ajitama egg cut in half, a few sliced black mushrooms, onion, chopped red pepper, and rectangles of nori seaweed.
  4. Sprinkle with a little gomasio to finish.
  5. Serve the tonkotsu ramen, very hot, immediately.