Could do with a good Ramen recipe...

[DrToffnar]

So I've a hot date on Saturday and am looking for a good Ramen recipe to impress with.

I've made it a ton of times before but the stock is always fairly basic and I never really go all out as it's just for myself.

Can't have anything that uses nuts or sesame oil I'm afraid as she's allergic and preferably needs to involve chicken as apposed to pork or beef.

Cheers guys and gals

 

[Cleisthenes]

No idea on the ramen, but good luck on the date!

I always get in a stress when I'm cooking for my girlfriend (and whilst we were dating), she takes the mick that I look at the recipe every 5 seconds

 

[DrToffnar]

No idea on the ramen, but good luck on the date!

I always get in a stress when I'm cooking for my girlfriend (and whilst we were dating), she takes the mick that I look at the recipe every 5 seconds

Aha cheers my man!

I feel you there... gone so far as to spend hours memorizing it so I can pass it off as 'an old family favourite' in the past xD

Hoping @Raymond Lin will be along soon to give me a helping hand

 

[Mr.E.]

There's a Ramen thread down below somewhere, have a search.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Go for Miso or shoyu (soy sauce) base for the broth if you don’t have the time to do meat base as these are quite time intensive. Plus chicken stock broth is actually one of the hardest to do in the ramen world. The best chicken broth is clean tasting with lots of chicken flavour, it is complex yet simple, compared to the others, chicken broth ramen are much harder to find in Japan.

As for the recipe, there are plenty online, Miso broth are pretty bombproof, most of the flavour comes from the miso so just get good quality ones and you should be fine, you can even make that in advance to taste then heat up on the day.

In terms of the toppings, keep it simply yet varied. One of the best thing about ramen is like eating a roast dinner, have a bit of meat one bite, a roast potato the next, some carrots, back to some meat then a bit of cabbage etc. Same idea as Ramen, noodles one bite, meat, then some greens.

I would pick at least 4 items out of the list below, the Top 3 a must-have.

1 - Meat - Pork Belly (sous vid)
Sliced medium rare steak
Sliced Roast Chicken Breast (quick flash fry on a pan before serving)

2 - Spring onions - must have, generous serving

3 - Marinated boiled egg - must-have. egg into boiling water for exact 6:30 seconds for the perfect yoke consistency. For best egg you have to go expensive, those £2.50 free range one, like Clarence Court have really nice red yoke.

4 - Mushrooms - Lots to choose from but I'd go exotic.

Enoki Mushrooms are great for fresh.
Dried Shiitake Mushrooms are fantastic too (soak in water for an hour first, then boil for a few minutes, sliced and serve)
Dried wood ear mushrooms, same as Shiitake to prepare

Stay away from your typical button mushrooms

5 - Beansprouts, either lightly fried or raw straight into the bowl
6 - Bamboo shoots
7 - Nori - a sheet of dried seaweed
8 - Sweetcorn
9 - Japanese fishcake (hard to find)

When it comes to serving, the order is

Bowl - Tare - Broth - Noodle - Meat - rest of the toppings and Nori sheet at the edge in the end

Place each one down gently, with purpose like a design. Presentation plays a big part.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Try this recipe, skip the sesame oil.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/homemade-chashu-miso-ramen/

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Thank you for the above. Very good post.

 

[DrToffnar]

Absolute legend @Raymond Lin! Really appreciate you taking the time out to write up the post

 

[Raymond Lin]

Absolute legend @Raymond Lin! Really appreciate you taking the time out to write up the post

If your date is tomorrow then I would not do the sous vid because after cooking it needs time to rest in the fridge for it to firm up so that you can cut it. You would have to start now for 10 hour so it can rest overnight.

I would then move to a nice piece of Ribeye steak as the meat topping. Not the prettiest as it was only for me, and I kinda over stuffed the top with stoppings.

Sliced everything up before hand, when you start, cook the meat. Once the meat is done, rest it and then start boiling your noodles. When the noodles is boiling, you can start putting the broth into the bowl.

Also, slicing the spring onions length ways at about 4 inches strips gives the best presentation (previous bowl), its the little things.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Just call him Ramen Lin.

I'll see myself out.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Just call him Ramen Lin.

I'll see myself out.

You were beaten to it

 

[Raymond Lin]

Forgot to say, you need to make your eggs at least 24hrs in advance or it won't stain through.

 

[Martynt74]

God thats a millennial coffee if ever i've seen one. Look at all those markings!

 

[Raymond Lin]

God thats a millennial coffee if ever i've seen one. Look at all those markings!

Bonus point if you can decipher that.

 

[manic111]

Snip

This is incredible and I'm going to be pinching it. One question - what's "tare"?

 

[Raymond Lin]

This is incredible and I'm going to be pinching it. One question - what's "tare"?

It’s like a concentrated broth/sauce. It’s can be completely different flavour to the broth, like it can be a very concentrated fish stock. The idea is add to the depth of flavour. If you don’t have any, sometimes a dash of soy mixed with sirracha works. You only need about a table spoon full of it.

 

[the_r_sole]

Am I the only one who's spent a long time trying to think of some kind of poor dad joke about "ramen" the lady in question?

 

[d_brennen]

Going to try making those eggs for sure. Been making noodle soups as a quick snack for ages.

Wouldn't dare call them ramen to people in the know because it's just what I've got to hand I.E. soy sauce, chilli flakes, thawed frozen prawns, spring onion, pak choi etc chucked on top of whatever plain noodles I have in the cupboard