Authentic Cooking Experiment: Tonkotsu Ramen

After a trip to NYC last week and eating at both Momofuku and Yakitori Taisho, I decided to take on the task of making ramen from scratch myself. After all 100 miles is a long way to travel every time I am craving good ramen. Luckily a quick search online provide many foodie with the same idea as me and in no time I was able to compile a few very

interesting recipes. One that showed to be the most promising came from

http://norecipes.com/blog/2009/12/30/tonkotsu-ramen-recipe/ which had a step by step instruction of how to make Tonkotsu ramen with all the fixings. As an appetizer I decided to tackle Momofuku's famous pork belly buns, which is so tender that the fat melts off the meat and is

absorbed by the soft warm bun. Considering how time consuming this project was I decided that Christmas would be the perfect time to try it. After all if it works this could just be a new tradition in the making.

So on Christmas at noon I began the process

and started with the parboiling of the pig trotters, pork leg and chicken bones.  That's right in order to make the yummy soup that's both creamy and lip sticking good all three types is required.  The process of parboiling is time consuming however it's essential to rid the soup of all the bloody scum that is released from the bones.  Hence after about 30mins when the water is boiling furiously and the scum has

floated to the top, I dumped the water and washed the bones of any scum before placing it back into a pressure cooker. Now the original version of this recipe called for adding water slightly above the bones and cooking for an hour and half. However I added enough water to fully

submerge the bones and after an hour and half took it out and continued to simmer it on low for another 3 hours. Since it's almost impossible to over simmer bones unless you run out of water, this is a good way to continue to bring out the flavor of the broth while preparing the other dishes.  In the mean time the pork belly was separated to be cooked two ways, one pound rubbed with sugar and salt and refrigerated to be roasted later the other half cooked down in a soy, mirin, sake miso mixture on medium heat until tender, to be laid on top of the ramen, otherwise known as chashu. After an hour when the pork in the pot is rendered down significantly, I turned the heat to low and continued to let it cook in its own fat until ready to use. As for the famous pork belly buns, those were stuck in the oven for 2.5hrs at 250 degrees to cook slowly and than 20mins on 400 to brown.

The final crucial ingredient to this dish is the noodles, a sometimes under appreciated aspect that brings the broth together.  No matter how well prepared the soup is if the noodles is too mushy or too firm when cooked it could single handedly ruin the entire dish. For my ramen I combined 3 simple ingredients, 2 cup of bread flour for its glutinous content, 3/4 cup of warm water and a little secret called kansui water, 1.5tsp.  As the original recipes explains, the kansui water is not ony what adds the
yellowish color to the dough but also provides the firmer texture required by this noodle. After combining  all the ingredients and kneading it in my blender I refrigerated it for about an hour to allow it to rest before running it through my spaghetti pasta maker.  For those that have ever made pasta before I can say this dough is nothing like that, instead the first few roll outs comes out rough and un-smooth where tearing is inevitable. However after a few roll the dough becomes much more manageable and produces the final results. As with all pasta I
sprinkled it with flour to prevent sticking and placed it aside for preparation of the boiling water. 

At this point all the main dishes are prepared leaving just the final touches
needed to truly perfect the meal. First off a sesame garlic oil is needed to add a hint of burntness to the broth.  This is accomplished by
simmering grated garlic in sesame oil until blackened and then puréed. Though this oil seems optional, especially at this point of
cooking, adding it opens up another dimension to the broth by providing it with a smoky, garlic flavor.  

The final assembly of the soup I did a little differently than the original blog instructed. Since the soup and garlic oil already contained a lot of garlic I decided to opt out of more of it directly in the soup. Instead I combined 2.5 cups of the broth with 1tbs of tahini sauce, 1tsp of
mirin, a splash of white pepper and salt to taste. The soup to quote my husband was extremely additive with an almost "crack like" in
quality, which I thought was pretty successful for a first timer. What was a little disappointing was the pork belly buns which was dry and
over roasted. Biting into it produced more of a crispy texture with the skin resembling roasted duck. Well it's back to the drawing board for
this one!