Shio Ramen

clear salt-based Japanese ramen

Makes 1 bowl · 746 kcal per serving

Ingredients

• 400 g Chicken Stock
• 5 g Salt
• 4 g Kombu
• 8 g Sake
• 4 g Mirin
• 3 g Soy Sauce
• 8 g Chicken Fat
• 120 g Ramen Noodles

Method

1. Chāshū: Sear the pork belly on all sides in a dry pan to render fat and color. Add the soy, sake, mirin, and brown sugar with the ginger, garlic, and scallion, then water to barely cover. Simmer gently, partly covered and turning now and then, until fork-tender, 1.5–2 h (or 250°F / 120°C in the oven). Cool the pork in the liquid, then chill; it slices cleanest cold. Braise a whole belly at once; a few slices go per bowl.
2. Broth: Steep the kombu in the warm (not boiling) stock 20–30 min, then lift it out; boiling kombu turns the broth bitter and cloudy.
3. Tare: Warm the salt, sake, and mirin until the salt dissolves and the alcohol cooks off, ~2 min, then stir in the soy.
4. Assemble:
5. 1. Bring the stock to a gentle simmer and season to taste with the tare; it should read cleanly salty, never muddy.
6. 2. Slice the chāshū and sear or torch to order; reduce the strained braising liquid to a glaze.
7. 3. Boil the noodles in unsalted water to the packet time, usually 1–2 min for fresh, and drain well.
8. 4. Spoon the tare and the chicken fat into a hot bowl, pour over the hot stock, and stir.
9. 5. Nest the drained noodles in and arrange the toppings, chāshū on top.
10. 6. Eat immediately, while the noodles are springy.

Notes

Built on prepared chicken stock.