Ramen noodle soup is a delicious treat, think gourmet
Ichiban.
It is a Japanese noodle dish, featuring Chinese-style wheat noodles;
ramen. The styles of ramen greatly vary, as some favor fish broth, while
others prefer the salty Umami flavors that pork delivers. I recently
acquired
David Chang's cookbook "Momofuku" and was seriously
tempted to try out his famous Ramen recipe. I succumbed to temptation...
I made the broth and the seasoning,
Taré,
but chose to purchase fresh Ramen (David Chang recommends doing this
also instead of making your own, the noodle recipe is for another day).
With good friend Anna in tow, we headed off to T&T to pick up what
was required...
Some
of the ingredients needed definitely called for a trip to the fantastic
T&T market, with 2 locations around Calgary. It is a kaleidoscope
of sights, smells, and sounds. Languages you can't understand all
around, ingredients you have never heard and forfeit trying to
pronounce, and unfamiliar smells that make your stomach rumble in
anticipation. Going here reminds me of just how multicultural this city
truly is. Our first items to locate (with the help of the staff) were
konbu
(a necessary dried kelp), dried shitake mushrooms, fresh ramen noodles,
mirin, and sake. We also picked up our meat and veg here, as their
prices and selection is very impressive. Venturing through the seafood
and frozen sections alone are very interesting! Frozen Soft Shell Turtle
anyone? A huge variety of seafood is offered live, from Tilapia to Spot
Prawns, and of course Crabs and Lobster. I will admit I do feel sorry
for the crustaceans as children enjoy stabbing them with the provided
tongs... But nonetheless, T&T's seafood cases are bursting with
exotic and fresh products, and all at reasonable prices. Once loading up
our cart with a variety of mysterious Asian candies, too many boxes of
Pocky to count, and the odd frozen coconut treat, we grabbed two BBQ
pork buns to go and headed home to make our soup!
Momofuku's Ramen Broth (adapted from
David Chang's "Momofuku")
(I made half of this recipe as it makes a lot!)
Two 3x6 inch pieces
konbu (kelp)
6 quarts water
2 cups dried shitakes
4 lbs. chicken (whole bird or legs)
5 lbs. meaty pork bones
1 lbs. smoky bacon
1 bunch scallions
1 medium onion
2 large carrots
Taré (recipe follows, I suggest making it while making the broth)
Ramen noodles
Accompaniments
1. Rinse the
konbu
under running water, then combine it with the water in an large stock
pot. Bring the water to a simmer on high and turn off the heat; let
steep for 10 minutes.
2. Remove
konbu from pot and add
shitakes. Turn heat back to high and bring to a boil, then turn heat
down so it comes to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 400
°F.
4.
Remove the mushrooms from the pot and add the chicken. Keep at a gentle
simmer, and skim off and discard any foam, froth, or fat. Replenish the
water as necessary to keep the chicken covered. After 1 hour, test the
chicken; the meat should pull away from the bones easily. If it doesn't,
simmer until it does and then remove the chicken from the pot.
5.
While the chicken is simmering, put the pork bones on a baking sheet
and brown them in the oven for up to an hour (turn them over half way
through).
6. After removing the chicken, add the pork bones and
bacon to the broth. Adjust the heat to keep the broth at a steady
simmer; skim the surface and replenish the water as needed. After 45
minutes, fish out the bacon an discard it. Now simmer the pork for as
long as possible (recipe suggests 6-7 hours but
Chang says as long as your schedule allows; for me it was 2 hours). Stop replenishing water after hour 5.
7. Add scallions, onions, and carrots to the pot and simmer for the final 45 minutes.
8. Remove and discard the bones and vegetables. Pass the brother from a strainer lined with cheese cloth.
Chang
says at this point you can use as is or reduce by half to freeze and
then reconstitute with an equal portion of water. Broth keeps in the
fridge for a couple of days or a few months in the freezer.
9. Finish the broth by seasoning with
Taré.
Now
it is time to start putting everything together! Cook the ramen noodles
to the packages directions and add these to your wonderful broth along
with whatever accompaniments you choose. This time around I used straw
mushrooms, baby bok choy, carrots, and some kale. You can really use
whatever you like!
Chang makes beautiful pork belly for his and also recommends bamboo shoots, nori (seaweed), and whatever vegetables are in season.
Taré (adapted from
David Chang's "Momofuku")
This recipe also makes quite a lot, so consider halving it.
2 to 3 chicken backs or the bones and their immediate flesh and skin (reserved from butchering 1 chicken)
1 cup
sake
1 cup
mirin
2 cups
usukuchi (light soy sauce)
Pepper to taste
1. Heat oven to 450
°F.
2. Break chicken down into manageable pieces (more surface area= more browning area= deeper better flavor).
3.
Spread the bones out in a wide oven proof saute pan or skillet and put
in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check often to make sure you are
not burning them. You want deeply browned but not burnt!
4. When properly browned, remove from the oven and put on the stove top. De-glaze the pan with a splash of
sake and turn the burner to medium high. Once the sake starts to bubble, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all of the good bits.
5. Add the remaining
sake, mirin,
and soy to the pan and turn the heat up to high. Bring to a boil and
reduce so liquid barely simmers. Cook for 1 hour, it will start to
thicken slightly.
6. Strain the bones out of the
Taré and season with pepper. Use right away or store and refrigerator for 3-4 days.
All
said and done, it was a long day but ended with some great results.
Give it a try for yourself, I promise you will never think of
Ichiban the same way again...
