At week 4 of the project, ramen was bound to make an appearance. But instead of defaulting to Nissin, or worse, Mr. Noodle, I wanted to do some freezer carcass-clearing and attempt a tonkatsu broth without spending 60 hours cooking by using a few weekend tricks.
Trick 1: Be a bonehead
I didn’t want an insanely fatty-porky kotteri broth (apologies to Hokkaido-style fans) for something that I might be eating for a week, so I used a mix of frozen pork and chicken leg bones. Borrowing Mom’s wisdom (she out-hipstered hipsters’ bone broths long ago with her 煲湯), I blanched the pig parts to get rid of the scummy bits.
Trick 2: Golden brown is the new black
Want to bump your broth flavour? Oven roast the bejesus out of the bones. Char some garlic and onion in there too.
Trick 3: Instant Pot
Close enough to a time machine.
Trick 4: Do that thing Bill Cosby does
No no no, not THAT. You should go to jail for that. I mean embrace gelatin. The IP shaves cooking time but doesn’t defy the laws of physics. Extracting collagen – the good stuff that gives broth a lovely mouth feel – from bones fully needs 6+ hours (some noodle shops boast 3 days of boiling), but since gelatin is essentially cooked collagen, and I happened to have a couple packets in the pantry, it made for a handy boost.
Trick 5: Be a basic B
Kansui, a traditional alkaline treatment, is what gives ramen noodles its distinctive yellow colour and springy texture. How do you knock this off at home? Add baking soda to make basic cooking water! I did this before with fresh pasta, but frankly I was too tired to crank out homemade noodles this time – boxed linguini it was.
Trick 6: Leftovers for toppings
Not really a trick. The frozen Chinese style cha siu from a few weeks ago replaced Japanese chashu. Dried wood ear in the cupboard got a quick soy-mirin dressing. Soft-boiled egg (too lazy for ajitsuke tamago). Corn. Green onion. Oh nori, you’re still kicking around? Join the party!
This was much more involved than instant ramen, but I feel better about eating this for several days. Plus, now that there is more freezer space…is it time for ice cream?!
euniversal appeal 