Shoyu Ramen

An authentic recipe for a homemade Shoyu Ramen. A big thank you to /u/ramen_lord on reddit for the recipe inspiration. Its a great one. However long this may take, I can say that it is without a doubt 100% worth it. You can't beat a homemade broth, tare and noodles. Recipe below...

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

Broth:

1.8kg chicken wings

1 leek (cut in half)

5 garlic cloves (peeled but left whole)

50g fresh ginger (chopped into 3 pieces)

2.5 kombu squares (3x3 inch)

3/4 cup bonito flakes

1/2 cup dried sardines (niboshi)

Tare:

5 kombu squares (3x3 inch)

2 cups soy sauce (dark, full salt)

3/4 cup dried sardines (niboshi)

1 cup shittake mushrooms

1 cup bonito flakes

1/4 cup sake

3 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp brown sugar

Chashu:

500g belly of pork, rolled

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup mirin

1 cup sake

1 leek

25g fresh ginger (halfed)

Pinch of sugar

Noodles:

400g bread flour

4g vital wheat gluten

4g fine sea salt

160 ml water

6g sodium carbonate (baked 15g of sodium bicarbonate at 170°C for 2 hours)

Eggs:

4 eggs (room temperature)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin

1/2 cup sake

Method:

Broth:

1. Roast all of the chicken wings in a large roasting tin at 200°C until lightly golden brown, then place into a large pot and cover with water. Add the leek, garlic cloves and ginger into the pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Skim off any scum that comes to the top, cover with a lid and cook in an oven of 95°C for 5 hours.

2. 30 minutes before finishing, add the kombu to the pot.

3. 10 minutes before finishing, add the dried sardines and bonito flakes to the pot.

4. Once the broth has cooked, remove from the oven and strain through a cheesecloth and set aside until ready to eat. This can simply be heated up when ready to serve.

Tare:

1. Soak the kombu squares in the soy sauce overnight.

2. Fry the sardines in some oil until lightly golden brown. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 3 minutes. Add the soaked kombu with all of the soy sauce to the pan. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add the bonito flakes to the sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes, then strain and reserve the soy sauce base.

4. In a new pan, add the sake, mirin and sugar and cook on a medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Add the soy sauce base to the pan and cook on a low heat until reduced. Set aside until ready to use.

5. To serve, use 2-3 tbsp of Tare per bowl.

Chashu:

1. Bring a lightly oiled pan to a high heat. Sear the pork until completely browned.

2. In a dutch oven mix together the rest of the ingredients and place the belly of pork on top. Cover with a lid and cook in an oven of 160°C for roughly 2.5 hours.

3. Once cooked, remove the pork from the oven and place in a separate dish and refrigerate overnight. Chilling the meat helps when cutting it into thin pieces.

4. Once chilled and ready to serve, remove the pork form the fridge. Cut thin slices of the pork and brown each side with a blowtorch. Alternatively, place under a grill and brown each side.

5. Serve 2-3 slices per person.

Noodles:

1. Using a stand mixer, mix together the flour, vital wheat gluten and salt.

2. Separately, mix the sodium carbonate with the water until dissolved. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until roughly combined (10-15 minutes). Rest for 30 minutes. The dough may seem dry and crumbly but this is what it should be like - don’t be tempted to add any more water.

3. Using a pasta roller, roll the dough out to the thinnest settings. Fold in half then restart the rolling process, working your way down the settings until you reach the thinnest. Repeat this process a total of 3 times.

4. Using a spaghetti / noodle attachment, cut the sheets of dough into noodles.

5. To cook the noodles, bring a salted pot of water to a boil and cook for2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Eggs:

1. In a pan of boiling water, add the eggs and cook for 6 minutes and 30 seconds for a soft boil.

2. Once cooked, immediately remove from the boiling water and place into ice water to prevent further cooking. Once cooled, peel the eggs.

3. In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, mirin and sake. Add the peeled eggs to the bowl and marinate for at least 4 hours.

4. To serve, remove the eggs from the marinade and slice in half.

To Serve:

Once all of the components are ready, serve by placing 2-3 tbsps of tare into a bowl and add a couple of ladles of the broth. Add the freshly cooked noodles to the broth. Top with the Chashu, marinated eggs, some finely sliced spring onions, thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms and some Nori strips. Enjoy!