I. Soup
A.Chicken broth
~500g chicken carcass
~500g chicken thigh and leg bones
~500g chicken feet (make sure to remove talons) and wing tips
3000g water
250g garlic, smashed and peeled cloves
125g onions, peeled and quartered
125g leeks, just the white parts
1. Soak chicken bones in ice water. When ice melts, discard the water, then refill with ice water. Repeat until water comes out clear.
2. Rinse out chicken, especially removing the blood and guts stuck to the carcass. Place in a clean large pot and add the 3000g water.
3. Place over medium heat and wait for it to boil, skim off scum, then reduce heat to low. Add aromatics then simmer for 24hrs.
4. Strain by fishing out solids and then scooping out the soup. Do not tilt, nor pour out. This will minimize sediments from the solids mixing into the soup that will be used later. You can put this in separate containers for easier portioning later as well as quicker cooling. Let cool uncovered then chill what you won't be using immediately.
B. Seafood stock
120g katsuobushi
1 sheet kombu
30g shiitake mushrooms
500g water
1. Combine in a small saucepan and let sit overnight.
2. Place over low-medium heat. Just before it starts to boil, remove the kombu. When it boils, shut off heat, strain, let cool and set aside.
II. Tare
45g katsuobushi
15g dried niboshi (pull off heads and guts)
125mg usukuchi shoyu
125mg tamari shoyu
50g dashi
50g mirin
1. Combine all ingredients in a small pot and allow to soak overnight.
2. Bring to a boil over low heat, then allow to cool before straining. Set aside.
III. Oil
150g schmaltz (rendered chicken fat)
50g garlic, peeled, thin slices
25g niboshi, heads and guts pulled off
25g leeks, white parts only, chopped
1. Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and allow to sit overnight.
2. Place over low heat. When garlic etc start to fry (you'll see bubbling around them), turn off heat. Allow to cool before straining.
IV. Toppings
A. Chashu
~500g pork belly, skin trimmed, trim to shape depending on what you're cooking in; rolled and trussed
50g garlic, peeled and sliced thin
25g ginger, sliced thin (do not peel)
25g leeks, chopped
25g shiitake mushroom
Dark soy sauce
Mirin
1.Heat a skillet with oil and sear pork belly on all sides.
2. Place pork belly in as small a stockpot as possible. Place garlic, ginger, leeks, and mushrooms all around, then pour in pre-mixed cooking liquid - 3 parts soy sauce, 1 part mirin - until covered.
3. Place over medium heat. When it boils, drop the heat down to low, then simmer for 30mins to 2hrs depending on how tender the pork is where you are.
4. Turn off heat and allow to cool before fishing out the pork. Let it cool separately on a plate, then chill in the fridge before removing the twine and slicing. Chill the liquid then skim off fat later.
B. Tamago
1. Pierce room temp eggs at the narrow end using a thumb tack and place room temp eggs into boiling water (if you have an egg stand, use that).
2. Boil for 6mins (this may vary depending on how many eggs you do at a time), then fish out and dunk into ice water. Let cool before peeling.
3.(Forgot this step for the bowl in the photo because I was too hungry) Marinade eggs in cooled chashu cooking liquid.
V. Noodles
I just buy premade fresh noodles but buy the ones that are roughly the strand size of somen or soba; or Spaghetti No.4.
VI. Bowl Assembly
Tamago
Chashu slices
Scallions
400ml chicken broth
100ml tare
50ml oil
~150g noodles (these are typically packed per serving if you buy premade)
1. Take egg and chashu out of the fridge. Slice chashu into 3mm slices, chop scallions. Set aside and allow egg to come up to room temp before proceeding.
2. In one slightly oversized pot, boil water for the noodles, in another boil the chicken broth.If the broth starts boiling first, lower the heat.
Note: You can use less liquid per bowl, but keep the ratios. I just like soup as well as simplifying the measurements.
3. Just before dunking in the noodles, scoop boiling water into the bowl to fill. Then cook the noodles either into the water or in a noodle basket, either way shake water off well.
4. When noodles are almost done (typically 2mins for fresh ramen noodles but check packaging), throw out water in bowl and add the tare and oil. Take noodles out of the water and shake off the water (I use a noodle basket so I can hang it outside of the pot), pour broth into the bowl pulling up the saucepan as you pour (so it swirls and stirs the tare and oil), stir with chopsticks, then put in the noodles. Add the other toppings. Eat immediately while still hot.
