Zenduri's Ramen From Scratch - 1st Attempt

[Zenduri]

EDIT: Finished product with whole process in posts 1 and 2







So I decided to grab a few bits and bobs for my kitchen this week and finally got around to buy some Ramen bowls, which then gave me the bright idea to have a go at making Ramen from scratch which is all uncharted territory for me. I intend to make everything from scratch with exception to making my own noodles as to be frank I cant be bothered at the moment and i think the whole process is going to be massively time consuming and challenging for me but I'll tackle my own noodles another day.

Sooooo..... here we go, I hope I can make something that is even remotely comparable to the amazing Ramen @Raymond Lin posts!

I've decided to make a Shio Ramen which is a clearer, thinner and lighter Ramen. Shio Ramen is made with a salt based Tare and usually served with a chicken stock/soup.


Step 1 - Making Shio Tare

Placed Kombu, KatsuoBushi (Bonito Flakes), Dried Shiitake Mushrooms and Salt in a pan overnight and let everything hydrate and steep for 12 hours. Then placed this on the hob and brought to a simmer for 10 mins before straining.



Let this cool completely and allow and sediment to sink to the bottom and then carefully poured as much of the Tare off leaving any sediment behind



Tare now complete and relatively clear. I'm considering straining it through some fine cloth but to be honest it looks pretty clear to me.


Step 2 - Making Aji Tamago

Using Clarence Court Burford Brown Eggs as they have a rich and dark yolk. Pierced the bottom of the eggs where the air sack is to stop them cracking and to allow water under the membrane in the eggs so they are easier to peel. Tried 1 egg first for 6 mins, but it broke apart when peeling and needed maybe another 30 seconds... I wolfed the test egg down because why not

Placed 3 eggs in a pan and boiled for 6:30 mins then placed them straight in ice cold water to rapidly cool. Allowed them to cool down then carefully peeled 2 with no issues.
The 3rd one broke in half but weirdly the yolk remained whole and was cooked just enough to hold its shape. I managed to very carefully remove just the yolk sack from the egg and decided i would try curing this on it's own to see what happens so its turned into a little experiment!



Placed the 2 whole eggs in a cure of Soy Sauce, Mirin and Sake and placed a piece of paper towel on top to keep them submerged. Just leaving to cure for a day but these are complete




Step 3 - Chasu pork

This i'm not happy with. I ordered a whole piece of pork belly but Sainsburys apparently ran out and substituted this with pork belly slices. Butchers were closed by the time i got the delivery so i wasn't able to source a proper cut from somewhere else so decided to try and make this work.

Took the pork belly pieces, scored the fat on the top to make them easier to roll and rolled them and tied the best I could with string. I tried to pick the thickest pieces so hopefully when cooked and chilled I can cut them in half and place them under the grill. One piece didn't have a lot of fat (bottom one) so this is an experiment too i guess.



Lightly seered them in a pan with minimal rapeseed oil then taken out the pan, placed in simmering water for 4-5 mins so any scum can come off the pork. Removed the pork again, rinsed it with cold water and cleaned the pan then put the pork back in the pan with soy sauce, cold water, fresh ginger pieces and garlic cloves then brought back to the simmer for 10-12 mins



Removed the pork belly from the pan and placed on a plate to cool and have placed a heavy pan with some heavy object on top of the pork to press it flat. It will then be placed in the fridge to chill until tomorrow

Due to using pieces rather than a whole pork belly the shaping isn't great. The best piece in my opinion looks wise is the right one, followed by the top piece as these were the fattier pieces, the more meaty one which is at the bottom doesnt want to hold together so i may cut and treat this differently when it comes to serving.

So thats day 1 done and i think a lot of the prep for tomorrow.

Part 2 - Tomorrow

1. Make soup/stock base
I have a whole chicken im going to butcher then used the bones and wings to make the soup base with leek tops, shitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, onion (any other suggestions welcome)

2. Obtain chicken fat
When butching the chicken the plan is to remove the skin in 1 large piece if possible and then carefully render the fat from it in a pan at a low heat, save the fat to use in the ramen as a flavoured oil but then crisp up the chicken skin as a topping

3. Prep toppings
Intending to use the Aji Tamago cut in half, spring onions cut 2 different ways (the white parts cut into thin ribbons (Shiraga Negi) and the green tops into rings (Negi) for some visual interest), Crispy chicken skin pieces, a Nori sheet and the Chasu pork cut into slices and grilled. Any suggestions for other toppings welcome.

4. Make the Ramen!
Add the Tare, add the chicken fat, add the soup base, cook the noodles, grill the Chasu, add the toppings and then NOM NOM!

 

[Zenduri]

Cracking into day 2 of my ramen journey

Step 4 - Making the ramen/soup base

I butchered a large chicken removing the legs, thighs and breasts to use for other meals. I also removed the skin to use as a ramen topping and to create a flavoured oil. I then chopped the carcass and wings into pieces and to the stock pot with cold water and then brought it to a simmer to get rid of the scum.

Allowed it to simmer for 5 minutes and then removed the chicken carcass from the pot and poured the water away before cleaning the pot and washing the chicken carcass.



Roughly chopped leek tops, a whole onion and a carrot, roughly cut some ginger and whole head of garlic and grabbed the remaining dried Shiitake mushrooms




Added all the aromatics/vegetables to the cleaned pot and rinsed chicken carcass before refilling the pot with cold water and bringing to the simmer for 3 hours.



Removed the chicken carcass and aromatics/vegetables then strained through a fine sieve with a fine cloth placed on the inside to double filter the soup base. Returned to the heat and simmered on low until needed



Step 5 - Chicken oil/fat

Patted the chicken skin dry and placed in a cold pan and slowly rendered the fat out the chicken skin while crisping the skin into golden crispy pieces. Drained the fat into a small glass for use later.




Step 6 - Cutting and grilling the Chasu pork.

Took the chilled Chasu and carefully with a warm knife cut the pieces in half, placed them on a baking tray and place under the grill to get some colour and reheat them



Step 7 - Prepping the toppings!

Going clockwise we have Aji Tamago (cured egg) from the previous day, sliced in half, a cured egg yolk, Crispy chicken skin pieces cut into 2, Shiraga Negi (finely cut spring onion bottoms into thin strips, Negi ( sliced spring onion tops into rings), Grilled Chasu pork belly



Step 8 - Building the Ramen

Added 1/2 cup off Tare from day 1 and then added 1/4 of the chicken oil/fat as the falvoured oil. I then added 4 cups of the soup/stock and then added the udon noodles which i had cooked and chilled in cold water.

Finally added all the toppings (Shiraga Negi, Negi, Aji Tamago, Chasu, Nori, Crispy Chicken Skin and lastly the cured Egg Yolk)



Step 9 - Itadakimasu!


Thoughts:

While its been a massive amount of effort to make this from scratch I have to say without any word of a lie this is the tastiest, most rounded and delicious thing I have ever eaten!

As mentioned before this is the first time I've made anything like this and I have to say it's been so worth it and so rewarding from a home cook confidence and achivement perspective.

I have enough Tare for maybe another 10-12 bowls of Ramen (i will freeze any left over) and enough soup/stock for maybe 5-6 more bowls. I also have enough toppings to basically make the same again for the next 2-3 bowls so recreating this later in the week should be pretty effortless.

 

[Zenduri]

Nice!

That’s a great start! Tip to stop the egg breaking when boiling, you can get an egg piercer, put a hole at the fat end where the air pocket is and it will stop it cracking on boiling.

Shame about not able to get a single piece of pork belly, although Sainsbury's pork belly all come with a massive knife score on the skin in an X pattern.

Cheers, i pierced the bottom of the eggs but i think i was just a bit rough when peeling with what was essentially a really soft egg. The Chasu is chilling now and i think i should be able to split 1 piece into 2 thinner slices and get the desired effect but its just a ball ache cutting and working with small slices. Will definitely have to visit the butchers next time.

I am curious as to how the cured egg yolk will turn out as its soft boiled and still runny inside so im wondering if it will cure to a firm semi cooked yolk. It's definitely a weird little expierment.

 

[Zenduri]

i peel the egg in a bowl of water, it makes peeling a lot easier. As for the egg, leave it for 24-48hrs, the salt in the marinade will “cook” it in a chemical way, and turn it into jelly like consistency.

This is what i ended up doing for the 2 that didnt fall apart. Plan is to leave the eggs for 1 day and start making the soup base midday tomorrow. Just checked on the eggs and they are DARK as hell now so im thinking im going to have some good colouring and pentration on the cure. I just chopped the scraggly piece of Chasu in half now it was chilled as i'm getting impatient and it cut really well leaving a nice clean cut so my expecations the 2 better formed pieces will cut well is a lot higher.

Genuinely excited to crack on with it tomorrow and my expectations are growing, it's literallly all im thinking about at the moment, planning what to do tomorrow and so far everything is looking great but i just hope it tastes good at the end of all this!

 

[Zenduri]

It is a lot of work for one meal, so I tend to make 2 pork belly rolls which is enough meal to lay 4-5 bowls. I cut them to meal size but not individual pieces then wrap them up and freeze them.

Broth too you can freeze, aromatic oils too keep for ages. That way you do the same amount of work, but enough ingredients to last a few meals.

The eggs, can’t really keep them so I would just do a soft boil egg for the last couple of meals from the meat from the freezer.

True, i've got enough Chasu for 3 meals and Aji Tamago for 2, Tare i have plenty for a dozen meals maybe and I intend to make enough soup base for about the same. My intention is to freeze the the Tare and soup base once ive had 2-3 meals worth and i still have 3 pieces of uncooked pork belly in the freezer.

 

[Zenduri]

Soup base simmering now, chicken skin scrisped up and chicken fat drained away as a flavoured oil. Chasu has cut like butter and a few pieces look pretty decent but will do a little trimming to make them more visually appealing.

Edit: removed pic of Chasu as included it in the 2nd post

 

[Zenduri]

I just sat down to eat the Ramen and its hands down the greatest thing ive ever eaten. Pics coming soon once ive tidied up

 

[Zenduri]

@Raymond Lin Pics uploaded and part 2 is up now