Shoyu Ramen

• Prep Time

  1 hours

• Total Time

  3 days

Bringing ramen home takes a trip to an Asian market, three days of work, and your largest pot, but this low-stress (really!) labor of love might be the best soup you’ll ever make.

Ingredients

6 Servings

Kombu Dashi and Tare

2

½

2

1

Pork and Stock

1½

2

2

1

2

2

1

1

¼

Ramen and Garnishes

3

6

½

6

3

Preparation

1. Ingredient info:
   Step 1

   You can find all the Asian ingredients listed here at Asian markets, in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets, and online. Look in the refrigerated section of Asian markets for fresh noodles. Ask your butcher for chicken necks and backs.

2. Kombu dashi and tare
   Step 2

   Two days ahead: For the dashi, combine kombu and 4 quarts cold water in a large bowl. Cover and let sit at room temperature at least 8 hours and up to 12 hours. For the tare, combine soy sauce, sake, and mirin in a small bowl; cover and chill.

3. pork and stock
   Step 3

   One day ahead: Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Roll up and tie with kitchen twine at 2” intervals. (This helps keep the meat intact while cooking and makes for round, compact slices.)

   Step 4

   Heat oil in a large heavy pot (at least 8 quarts) over medium-high heat Cook pork shoulder, turning, until brown all over, 10–12 minutes. Add chicken, spareribs, scallions, carrots, garlic, ginger, and bonito flakes. Remove kombu from dashi; discard. Add as much kombu dashi as will fit in pot once liquid is boiling (reserve remaining dashi). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, skimming the surface occasionally and adding remaining dashi as liquid reduces, until pork shoulder is tender and stock has reduced to about 2 quarts, 2½–3 hours.

   Step 5

   Remove pork shoulder from stock and let cool. Wrap tightly in plastic and chill until ready to use. (Chilling pork will make meat easier to slice.) Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve into another large pot or a large bowl or container; discard solids (including ribs and chicken). Cover and chill.

4. ramen and garnishes
   Step 6

   Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Carefully add eggs one at a time and boil gently for 7 minutes. (Egg yolks should be shiny yellow and almost jammy; egg white should be just set.) Drain eggs and transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking; let cool. Peel; set aside.

   Step 7

   Remove string and thinly slice pork; cover and set aside.

   Step 8

   When ready to serve, bring stock to a simmer; it should be very hot. At the same time, cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions until al dente; drain (no need to salt the water, as ramen noodles contain more salt than pasta).

   Step 9

   Just before serving, divide noodles among 6 deep bowls. Top with sliced pork, placing it off to one side. Add tare to hot stock and ladle over pork to warm through (stock should come up just to the level of the noodles).

   Step 10

   Place a small pile of menma next to pork. Halve eggs and place next to menma. Place a small pile of sliced scallions next to egg. Tuck half a sheet of nori between side of bowl and noodles so it’s just poking out.

   Step 11

   Serve ramen with chili oil, sesame oil, and shichimi togarashi.

   Step 12

   DO AHEAD: Eggs can be cooked 1 day ahead. Keep unpeeled eggs covered in cool water. Cover and chill.

Nutrition Per Serving

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Reviews (434)

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• I love this recipe so much, it may take a bit of time, and a trip to the store, but it’s always a huge hit in my family. I’ve made this probably over five times and every time it turns out better. seems daunting but so worth it!

  • Audrey

  • Seattle WA

  • 8/5/2021

• Way too much work and am not sure it was all that delicious. I don’t mind effort but this was over the top

  • Brushjl

  • solon, onio

  • 5/15/2021

• Let me tell you, this meal is a labor of love. It takes 3 days, but damn did it make a delicious ramen. This recipe definitely required a trip to the Asian market – even for my kitchen that has a lot of staple Asian pantry items. At the end, when we got the broth ready to eat, it did take some straining to tone down the oil and fatty-ness and bring out the beautiful flavors of the broth. If you have pasta equipment, I highly recommend making your own homemade noodles to accompany this dish. Also, marinate your soft boiled eggs in a sake/mirin/soy sauce mixture for the full effect. Thanks for a delicious recipe and something fun to make with all the time on our hands during this COVID lockdown. Flavor: 5 stars Time/effort: 3 stars

  • Anonymous

  • California

  • 4/15/2020

• The directions for this recipe are written poorly and are unclear. The stock does not boil down by 1/ 2 even after 3 hours of simmering. Leads to a very meaty flavored broth. Miss the mirin and soy flavors almost entirely.

  • Anonymous

  • Nyc

  • 4/7/2020

• Made this last week and making it again tomorrow. So delicious and the closest thing we’ve had to true Japanese ramen. Using shoyu soy sauce is key. I’m unsure about the instructions for the dashi. If I’m supposed to only let it soak for up to 12 hours, how is it that I’m doing that 2 days before? Do i just take the kombu out at 12 hours and let the dashi sit until it’s stock time? But the instructions say to take the kombu out right when you’re starting the stock. Not sure what’s best here, but this is delicious regardless!

  • Anonymous

  • NM

  • 8/23/2019