Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen! (Ft. Ramen Lord)

I recently ran a poll on my IG where a bunch of you asked me to make ramen. Tbh, in the past I chose not to make a ramen video because there's already so much out there and it seemed "played out." Stupid, I know. Regardless of how many recipes/videos/ramen content there is on the internet, making ramen takes skill, patience and practice. I'm glad I went down the rabbit hole... and man... is it a deep hole. A chef friend of mine sent me over what was to be my (and many other peoples) ramen Bible, the Ramen Lord's "Book of Ramen."

I'm lucky enough to live in the same city as arguably one of the best ramen chefs in the western world - Mike Satinover aka the "Ramen_Lord" himself. Mike was nice enough to take a couple of my calls and let me pick his brain about the soup, noodles, toppings, and everything in between.

Ramen from scratch is no simple feat. It takes time, waiting and some know-how... but don't worry the last part comes with trial and error (I didn't know JACK before I started toying with the soup/noodle techniques.) What lays before you is my interpretation of a "shoyu tonkotsu ramen. I did my best to make it easier for the home cook - using common kitchen measurements (cups, tbsp, tsp, etc.) when possible and distilling down some complicated techniques into simple step processes. Big shoutout to Ramen_Lord and Way of Ramen for all the dope free information you guys provide to the masses, you two are doing the Ramen Gods work (go peep them on Instagram and YouTube.)

Almost all ramen includes 5 components. Below you'll find the recipe organized into categories - the noodles, soup, tare (flavor base), aromatic oil, and additional toppings. I hope this recipe inspires you to learn more about ramen, or at the very least builds more confidence in the kitchen. Let me know if you have any questions below and COOK ON! 🤘🏼 Adam

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Shoyu Tonkatsu Ramen! (ramen chef-approved)

IngredientsUSMetric

Noodles

• 500g Bread Flour
• 200g Water
• 2g Sodium Carbonate
• 5g Salt

Soup

• 4.5 pounds Pork Neck Bones
• 4.5 pounds Pork Femur Bones or Ham Hocks
• 25 Cups Water
• 1 Onion, halved
• 10 Garlic Cloves, peeled

Tare

• 2 cups Soy Sauce
• 2 (4x3 inch) strips Kombu
• 1/4 cup Mirin
• 1/4 cup Sake
• 7-8 medium Dried Anchovies ("Niboshi")
• 2 cups Katsuobushi, loosely packed
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Negi Oil

• One bunch scallion whites, trimmed to their ends
• 1/2 cup Neutral Oil

Chashu Pork

• 1/2 cup Shoyu
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 cup Sake
• 1 cup Mirin
• 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 onion, halved
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 3 inch knob ginger, sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• Black Pepper, to taste

Marinated Egg

• 1/3 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Mirin
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce

Additional Toppings

• Scallions, sliced thin
• Menma (Japanese pickled bamboo shoots)

InstructionsFahrenheitCelsius

Noodles

1. Stir salt and sodium carbonate into water until dissolved.
2. Add the flour to a large bowl and incrementally, slowly pour the salted water over the flour while mixing. The mix should resemble a shaggy, crumbly mess that holds together when squeezed but falls apart when lightly massaged again. Add the dough to a ziplock bag and rest for 30 minutes.
3. Put the ziplock bag filled with dough in another larger bag and step on the dough to create a flat sheet of dough about half an inch thick. Let the dough rest for 30 more minutes.
4. Remove the dough from the bag, I use scissors to cut the bag as to not break the dough sheet, but I'm clumsy so you might not have to. Roll the dough sheet out until it’s about 1/4 inch thick then slice it in half so it can be fed and rolled through the pasta machine.
5. Feed one dough sheet through the “0” setting on the pasta machine a couple times, then fold it in half and feed it through the “2” setting open-end-side first. This lamination step will help align the gluten in one direction through the entire noodles which helps with texture and makes the eating experience more pleasurable.
6. Roll the dough out one number at a time until you reach the “5” or "6" setting; 5 for thicker noodles, 6 for thinner. Once the dough is rolled out it will be long so cut the sheets into two sections. Attach the noodle cutter then feed in one sheet using your hand to keep the dough sheet flat and avoid any kinking. You may need to periodically hit the noodle sheets with a light dusting of corn or potato starch, but I've found it isn't always necessary with this dough.
7. Lightly massage a bit of corn or potato starch into the finished noodles, portion out (100g portions), and store in a lightly starch-dusted lidded container in the fridge for 1 day before using. They'll last a couple days in the fridge, or up to 6 months in the freezer if wrapped tightly.
8. Cook the noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes before immediately transferring to a bowl of piping hot ramen broth (see broth recipe below).

Soup

1. The night before, or at least 6 hours before cooking, soak your neck bones and femurs in water in a cold, non-reactive vessel. I use a big Tupperware container. (Technically this is optional, but I find the resulting tonkotsu is whiter in appearance).
2. When ready to cook, add your neck bones and femurs to a pot with fresh water. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer, and skim the scum that rises to the top of the pot. Do this for 15-20 minutes, or until little scum is rising. The scum goes through several phases here, you’ll know when the scum is pretty much done rising. This blanch is integral for a white tonkotsu, don’t skip it, and don’t end it prematurely.
3. Strain the bones from the blanching liquid. Discard the liquid*.*
4. Scrub and clean the bones under running water, removing any black or dirty looking particulate that may be on the outside of the bones or in crevices.
5. Add your now clean bones to a pot and add 6 L of water.
6. Cook at a medium boil for 18 hours, stirring frequently.
7. In the last hour, add aromatics to the broth and bump the heat up to medium-high.
8. Strain the soup.
9. To finalize the emulsion, add the soup to a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds, being careful to gradually bring the blender to high to avoid splashing yourself, as the soup will rapidly expand when it blends. You can also use a hand blender, blending for 5 minutes, though the emulsion won’t be as strong.
10. Reserve the soup as needed.

Tare

1. Combine the soy sauce, mirin, kombu, dried anchovies and sake in container then place in the fridge and let sit overnight.
2. The next day, heat the mixture just until it’s about to simmer. The tare should be steaming but not bubbling. Hold it at this stage for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the kombu. Whisk in the brown sugar until it’s dissolved then add the katsuabushi. Hold at just under a simmer for 10 more minutes.
4. Strain the tare, store in the fridge as needed. It will last for 6 months in a covered container.

Negi Oil

1. Add oil and scallions to a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until the scallions cook to a golden brown.
3. Remove from the heat, strain the oil into a heat-proof container and store until needed.

Chashu Pork

1. Add all ingredients to a large heavy bottomed bot with a lid. Braise on 300F (149c) for 2-3 hours, or until the pork is easily pierced with a fork.
2. Let the pork cool in the cooking liquid overnight.
3. The next day remove the pork from the pot and slice into portions. Optionally, broil the pork or torch it for color.

Marinated Egg

1. Mix all ingredients in a cup, add eggs. Let marinade for 6-8 hours, then remove from brine and store in covered container. Leaving the eggs in the brine too long makes them VERY salty, so be aware of that.

To Serve

1. Remove toppings from the fridge to temper so they aren't cold, (soy eggs, menma, chashu, etc.)
2. Bring the soup to a simmer and begin boiling water for the noodles to cook.
3. When the noodle cooking water is boiling, drop the noodles.
4. While the noodles cook add the tare, aroma oil and hot broth to a warm serving bowl.
5. Shake excess water off the noodles then transfer them to the serving bowl. Adjust noodles with chopsticks if you want.
6. Add additional toppings and TAKE A RIDE TO MUNCHVILLE!

Adam's Notes

• This recipe requires a pasta machine. I use this model.
• Like most dough/bread recipes, this requires precision. I find that a kitchen scale it necessary here to achieve consistent results.
• Optionally, dust the noodle portions in corn or potato starch and squeeze them in your hand to make wavy noodles.
• Homemade Sodium Carbonate: Bake 100g Baking Soda on foiled baking sheet and bake at 250F for 1 hour. You’ll lose about 1/3 the weight of your baking soda . Sodium carbonate gives the noodles a chewy, stretchy profile which is critical for making proper ramen noodles - don't skip it.
• Crispy Scallions leftover from the Negi Oil make for great toppings on a eggs or a sandwich.

Example Workflow:

Day 0: Soak pork bones in large non-reactive container. Plastic or glass is best. This removes some impurities and blood found in the bones.

Day 1: Start stock - clean bones/skim scum, start soaking tare, make scallion oil, make noodles.

Day 2: Finish stock - add aromatics, strain and emulsify, simmer tare - add katsuabushi/sugar, braise/cool chashu, boil eggs.

• Day 3: prepare for serving (see instructions below).py scallios also make a topping for a sandwich or eggs.