Momofuku Ramen

This literally took all day in the kitchen.  It was delicious, though, and a lot of it can be made ahead of time -- I just figured I had to be around all day anyway so might as well do most of it while I watched the meat and broth.

It makes a lot more than you need for two bowls, esp the broth, which freezes.

Noodles
4 cups bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups lukewarm water 
4 tsp baking soda


I made these a day ahead of time but probably could have done it in the afternoon. Bake the baking soda in the oven at 250 for an hour.  Then stir it into the water until it's dissolved.  Put everything in a KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook and turn it on 2-3 for about 10 min.  Put in the fridge to rest for an hour.  Cut the dough into about 12 wedges and use a pasta  maker to turn it into noodles (I rolled it out to a 6 and then used a spaghetti thing.  I also tried cutting one batch by hand but I couldn't get the noodles thin enough).

Wrap each wedge in plastic wrap (each wedge is enough for one bowl) and store in the fridge or freezer, depending on how many you need to use immediately.

When you need to cook them, boil some salted water and cook for 5 min.


Broth, tare and meat
2 pieces konbu (dried kelp -- about 3x6)
6 quarts water
2 cups dried shiitakes
2 chickens
5 lbs meaty pork bones (I used about 4.5 lbs of shoulder bones and .75lbs of spare ribs)\
3-6 lb boneless skinless pork shoulder (if I had thought ahead, I would have asked the butcher for a bone-in shoulder and then had him cut the bone out, then supplemented that with whatever bones they had plus ribs for the broth)
3 lb skinless pork belly
1/2-1 cup sugar
1/2-1 cups kosher salt
1 lb smoky bacon
1 cup sake
1 cup mirin
2 cups light soy sauce
bunch of scallions
medium onion
2 lg carrots

The night before you cook, rub 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of kosher salt into both the belly and the shoulder per 3 lbs (so the belly you use 1/4 cup of each, I had a 6 lb shoulder so I used 1/2 cup of each for that).  Put it in an oven pan (belly should be fat-side up), cover and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Broth part 1
Throughout, skim the extra fat and foam off the top of the broth.  Also keep adding water to keep the level steady until the last hour of simmering.

Rinse the konbu and then put it into a stock pot with the water.  Bring it to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Remove the konbu and add the shiitakes, and bring the broth back to a boil.  Simmer for 30 min.  Meanwhile, turn on the oven to 400 and lay the bones out on foil.  They go in the oven for an hour to brown (turn them all over half way through) while the chicken is simmering.

Take out the shiitakes and add the chicken to the broth.  Put the bones in the oven.  Simmer the chicken for an hour, or until the meat pulls easily away from the bones.  Once the chicken is done, take it out and discard it, and add the bones and bacon to the broth.

Keep simmering for 45 min, then take the bacon out and save 2 pieces, discarding the rest.  Then simmer the pork bones for 6-7 hours (stop adding water after hour 5).

Tare and meat
While this is happening, you can start making the tare and meat.  Turn the oven up to 450.  I butchered the second chicken myself so that I could keep the breasts and leg meat to make something else later this week.  Then used all the bones, cut up, to make the tare.  Lay all the chicken parts you aren't saving out in a big, oven-proof skillet.

Take the pork belly out of the fridge and discard any juices that accumulated in the pan.  Put both the belly and the chicken into the oven -- they'll cook for an hour, but check the chicken to make sure the bones don't burn.  They come out when they are browned.  You can check when you baste the belly after 30 min.

After the belly is a golden brown and the chicken is done, take the chicken out and turn the oven down to 250 (I actually took the belly out for awhile because it was done before the chicken -- next time I'll put the chicken on the top rack instead).  Put the chicken on the stove--more on that in a minute.  Put the pork shoulder in (juices discarded) the oven.  This cooks for 6 hours -- baste it every hour.  When it's done, just take it out and shred it.  Store what you won't use in the fridge with the juices.

The belly cooks for another hour - hour and a half, until it's "pillow-like" when you poke it.  When you take the belly out, let it cool and reserve the juices.  Allegedly once the fat floats to the top you get some pork jelly that can add some flavor to other things you make, but mine was all fat so I will probably throw it out.  Put the belly in the fridge for now.

For the chicken that's now on the stove, use a splash of the sake to deglaze the pan.  Then add the rest of the sake plus the mirin and soy sauce.  Bring everything to a boil and then simmer for an hour.  Add a little bit of ground pepper then set this aside.  Go sit down for awhile.

Broth part 2
After the 6-7 hours, add the scallions, carrots (peeled and roughly chopped) and onion (cut in half) to the broth and simmer for 45 min, then remove all the bones and veggies and strain the broth through cheesecloth.

Anything you want to freeze you can keep boiling now until it reduces by half.  Then when you unfreeze just add water to it.

Toppings
2 eggs
8-oz can bamboo shoots
Splash of sesame oil
Splash of canola oil
Splash of light soy sauce
bunch of collard greens
the 2 pieces of bacon you reserved from the broth
1 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb sherry vinegar
1 Tb brown sugar
1 cup water
bunch of scallions, sliced
nori (eh not necessary unless you like it)

Eggs
I really don't think this was worth all the effort.  Just soft boil some eggs.

But what I actually did was "slow poach them" -- so you take as big a pot as you have and use some chopsticks or a steamer at the top that will support the eggs.  Fill the whole pot with hot tap water and heat the pot so that the water at the top is 140-145 deg.  Put the eggs in and cook them for 40 min, checking to make sure the water is between 140-145 (turn up the heat or add ice cubes if you need).  Then put them in the fridge and just run under hot water and crack them open when you need them later.

Bamboo shoots
Put the splashes of everything into a pan and add the shoots.  Simmer for 20-30 min.  Put in the fridge and reheat in the microwave when you need them.

Collard greens
Cook the bacon in a pan until it begins to render its fat.  Add the collards (chopped up) and cook for a minute until they start to shrink a little.  Add the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and water.  Put a lid on the pan and stew for 40 min.  Set aside for later.

Assembly
Put a serving of cooked noodles in a bowl.  Add 2 cups of broth.  Then add some belly, some shoulder, collards, bamboo shoots, scallions, an egg and a sheet of nori.  Eat!