Pork Bone Ramen

[zhemao]

This dish is a bit involved and time-consuming. It's best to block off an entire weekend morning to tackle this one.

Ingredients:

• Kombu


• Pork bones


• Onions


• Black tree ear


• Tofu


• Instant ramen


• Egg (optional)


• Scallions


• Salt

Directions:

Making the stock

I used two different kinds of stock for this one, a kombu (dried kelp) stock and a pork bone stock. The latter takes a while to make. You can make the stocks beforehand if you don't want to spend half a day cooking.

1. Soak the kombu in cold water for 30 minutes.


2. Bring the water to boil on medium high. The stock is finished once the water has reached full boil.


3. Save the kombu for a later day. An alternative way to make the stock is to take kombu from a previous batch and boil it for 15-20 minutes.


4. Sprinkle salt over the pork bones. This will cause the blood to start coming out of the meat.


5. Rinse the bones in cold water, making sure to wash off the blood.


6. Put the bones in the pot and cover with cold water. Turn the heat to high and let it heat up uncovered.


7. Just as the water starts to bubble but before it comes to boil, turn the heat to low.


8. Continue simmering uncovered on low for 15 minutes. Make sure the water does not start boiling. This fully cooks the meat while keeping it tender.


9. Remove the bones from the broth and set aside to cool. Skim off any foam or clotted blood with a strainer.


10. Once the bones are cool enough to touch, remove all of the meat from them. You may find a small knife useful in this step. Set the meat aside.


11. Return the bones to the broth and turn the heat back to low. Cover the pot and let it simmer for about 2 hours. You don't have to worry if it starts boiling at this point.


12. Once finished simmering, strain the broth into a container and set aside. Discard the bones.

Prepping the veggies and tofu

Other than the onion, the other soild ingredients are purely optional. You can add ingredients like carrots, corn, bok choy, or napa cabbage, if you want. I used tree ear, a sort of Asian fungus. It has a sort of rubbery texture, so if that's not your thing, you may not want to use it. I also used tofu because it soaks up flavor very well.

1. If you bought your tree ears dried, soak them in cold water to reconstitute them. You'll have to continuously add more water as they reconstitute, since they expand quite a bit.


2. Peel an onion and chop it in half. Set aside one half for a later date.


3. Cut out the base of the remaining half and then slice it into thin strips. Break up the layers.


4. Take half a block of tofu and chop it into small cubes. The best way to do this is to cut into eighths along the shorter two dimensions, and then cut finely along the final dimension.


5. Rinse the tofu in hot water to firm them up and remove any unwanted flavor.

Soft boiling an egg

You can soft boil an egg using any method you prefer. I followed these instructions. After you've finished boiling soak them in cold water to cool them down. They need to be cold before you peel them or it'll be really hard to keep it from falling apart in your hand. This is another thing you can make ahead of time and keep in the fridge overnight. You could also use medium or hard-boiled eggs or poach an egg in the broth later. Or you could just leave it out.

Making the Ramen

Okay, finally. Are we almost done yet? Jeez.

1. Bring water to boil and add the block of ramen. Cook it according to the directions on the package (about 3 min, usually).


2. Drain the water and rinse the noodles in cold water. Place them in the serving bowl.


3. Add two cups of pork bone broth, one cup of kombu stock, and one cup of water to the pot.


4. Bring it to boil and then mix in the soup base from the ramen packet.


5. Add the sliced onions.


6. Once the onions have cooked down a bit, add the tree ear.


7. Turn the heat to medium low and then cover.


8. Once the onions are fully cooked, add the tofu and cook for a minute or two more so that they absorb the flavor. This won't take long because you cut them so small.


9. Ladle the broth and solid ingredients over the noodles. Top with the pork from before, the soft-boiled egg, and some chopped scallions. You could also add dried nori and bean sprouts if you'd like.

Phew, finished. This is a pretty hearty dish, what with the fat and marrow from the pork bones. It will definitely leave you satisfied. Your instant noodle package might also come with some shichimi powder. You can add this to the noodles to give it some spice and citrus and cut through the fat of the pork broth. If you'd rather not use the prepackaged soup base that comes with the ramen, a good homemade substitute might be garlic and ginger plus miso paste (if it's miso ramen) or salt and chicken bouillon (if it's shio ramen). I haven't tried it either way. If you try it and it works out for you, let me know.

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