This is a two-part stock. It starts as an umami-heavy kombu/mushroom dashi and then adds a meaty backbone and a delicious soy-barbecue tare.
- Two sauce pans.
- One stock pot. I have a Royal Industries pot I got at Best Supply by Union Market, technically 413 Morse St NE Washington, DC 20002. It is about 10 inches wide and about 12 inches tall.
- A chinois or strainer.
Note these are estimates. You can vary by more than double without ruining anything.
- 1 medium package (3-4 oz) of dried mushrooms
- 3 sheets of kombu kelp
- 4 pounds of pork neck bones (from Harvey’s Market in DC).
- 2 pounds-ish of Benton’s bacon ends, whole (from Harvey’s Market in DC).
I get my soy and mirin at Hana Japanese Market at 17th-ish and U.
- 2 pounds of chicken backs.
- 1 cup of (cheap) sake.
- 1 cup of mirin.
- 2 cups of usukuchi (light soy).
The timestamp at the front is the elapsed time in hh:mm format.
- 00:00 Fill a very large stock pot with several gallons of cold water. I use between 1.5 and 2 gallons.
- 00:05 Put over high heat.
- 00:07 Add mushrooms and kombu while water is still cold.
- When the water reaches a light-light boil, turn it down to medium-low (or whatever will keep it at a consistent simmer).
- 00:10 Simmer for 2-ish hours.
- 00:15 While the Dashi is cooking, place the pork necks on a cookie sheet in the oven at 425 degrees. Put the chicken backs in a small pot and stuff that in the oven too. Roast them until they are brown-to-nearly-black. This takes about an hour and a half to two hours in my oven.
- 02:10 Remove the kombu and simmer the stock for another hour.
- 02:15 Remove the bones from the oven and let them cool on the stovetop next to your stockpot.
- 03:15 Remove the mushrooms from the stockpot and reserve for another use, like mushroom pickles.
- 03:20 Place the pork necks and the chunks of Benton’s bacon ends into your pot. Save the chicken backs for the tare.
- 03:25 Continue to simmer for 3-4 hours, skimming the whole time.
- 03:27 Start making the tare. Remove the chicken bones from their pan into a separate bowl.
- 03:30 Pour the cup of sake into the pan and heat it over medium heat.
- 03:40 Once quite warm, use a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan into the sake. This will get really, really brown.
- 03:50 Once you’ve scraped all the bits off the bottom and sides, add the chicken backs, usukuchi, soy and mirin to the pan.
- 04:00 Once it’s boiling, lower the heat to low and simmer basically forever. Eventually, you can remove the chicken bones and strip the meat. It is delicious. Strain the liquid into a second pan and leave over the low heat to simmer.
- 06:30 Your stock should now be quite brown and fragrant. If it is not brown, continue to simmer for another hour. It should also be reduced to about a half of the original volume of liquid. At this point, remove the bones and the bacon. Extra credit You can make a second stock (or remouillage) out of the already-roasted bones.
Building a bowl of ramen now involves your two stocks, noodles, and one of an infinite number of add-ins. You build the bowl by adding the cooked noodles to the bottom, then pouring 3-to-1 ramen stock to tare (or put 1.5 cups of stock in the bowl and add tare to taste). Finally, top with your add-ins before devouring.
I use the fried noodles from instant ramen (no flavor packet, please) cooked briefly (1.5 minutes max) in boiling water.
This is your ramen stock and your tare.
Your add-ins are where you show your flair. I like meat + pickled veggies + eggs + some greens. Truthfully, this is an opportunity to distinguish yourself.
- Ramen eggs.
- Chashu pork or (my favorite) tare chicken leftovers
- Sliced scallions
- Mushroom pickles
- Bean sprouts
- Miso corn
Skimming is using a fine mesh filter to remove the scum from the top of your stock. Your stock will benefit from your obsessiveness. Remove scum every 10 minutes or so.
Cool your stock and store. I let mine cool for a half-hour at room temperature before dishing out to 32oz or smaller containers.
- Refrigerate: Stock lasts about two weeks; tare will store practically indefinitely.
- Freeze: Lasts several months to a year, but just eat it already.
A.) Github should totally implement pull requests on gists come on now.
B.) Typo on line 53, see my fork