Recipe: Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu broth is super rich, but the ingredients are super cheap.

Pork & chicken bones cost a few dollars each, and are boiled for hours to form a creamy broth.

Ingredients

Tonkotsu Broth

• 3 lbs of pork bones
• 3 lbs of chicken bones
• Aromatics:
  • 2 bundles of scallion whites
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 1 large brown onion
  • 1 large leek

Toppings

• Wheat noodles
• Sliced pork belly
• Eggs
• Marinade:
  • 2 scallions
  • A few rock sugar
  • 1/3 Boiling water
  • 1/3 Soy sauce
  • 1/3 Mirin (sweet rice wine)
• Seaweed (nori)
• Chopped scallion greens
• Corn
• Enoki mushroom
• Wood ear mushroom
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil

Instructions

Part 1: Bone Broth

1. Boil pot of water
2. Add eggs to boil for 10 minutes, then remove (save for later)
3. Add pork & chicken bones to boil for about 20 minutes
4. While bones boil:
   1. Chop up aromatics and lay on roasting tray
   2. Brush aromatics with oil
   3. Broil aromatics in oven on High
   4. Roast for about 10 minutes or until browned
5. After 20 minutes of bones boiling, drain and rinse with water
6. Return pot to stove
7. Add bones and aromatics to pot
8. Fill water to cover all ingredients
9. Bring water to simmer, and leave uncovered for at least 5 hours
   • Add extra water as needed
10. Finished broth will be pale yellow and cloudy

Part 2: Pork Belly & Egg

1. Sear pork belly on both sides
2. Place pork belly into container (preferably glass)
3. Peel boiled eggs and add to container
4. Add rock sugar and scallions
5. Add boiling water to dissolve sugar and cook scallion
6. Add soy sauce and mirin
7. Cover container and let soak in fridge, ideally overnight

Part 3: Serving Preparation

1. Boil small pot of water
   1. Blanch mushrooms for a minute
   2. Cook wheat noodles per package’s instructions
2. Heat up garnishes
   1. Submerge egg in boiling broth for a minute
   2. Lightly sear pork belly on low heat
3. Prepare the seaweed, corn, mushrooms, & scallion greens

Part 4: Final Assembly

1. Add teaspoon of sesame oil & soy sauce into serving bowl
2. Add noodles, pork belly, egg, mushrooms, and corn
3. Pour in bone broth through filter
4. Finish with scallions & seaweed

Notes

Engineering Soup

Whenever I’m cooking I try to maximize value. I don’t like waiting around, but a lot of cooking requires time. I’ll always prepare things actively (cutting, cleaning, etc.) while other processes can complete passively (boiling, frying, resting, etc.).

The recipe requires boiling several different items. I hate waiting for water to boil, and its such a waste to dump out all the boiling water when I’m done with it. It’s literally a waste of (thermal) energy. To save time, I re-purpose the boiled water to save time:

1. Boil water for boiling eggs, then for purifying bones
2. Boil water for blanching mushrooms, then for cooking noodles

Efficiencies like that is living lean!

Other broth uses

The Tonkotsu broth by itself is very cheap, and I made about three quarts of this ultra-rich broth for less than $10 of ingredients. Asian markets are practically giving away the chicken carcasses and pork bones at $0.99/lb.

After boiling for hours, the meat is left dry and tasteless. They are essentially sponges that soak up a lot broth. When I’m storing the broth, I hand-squeeze every last drop from the meat fibers. I worked hard for that broth! The broth will cool into a thick mass of gelatin. This could probably last a while in the freeze; maybe in an ice rack to make bouillon cubes. Thaw out a few cubes for a serving of “instant” ramen.

Since the broth doesn’t get seasoned at all, the soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili paste are added at the serving. The aromatic bone broth is an excellent foundation for a Chinese hot pot broth.

Bone Broth Hot Pot

• Quart of bone broth
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Scallions
• Oyster mushrooms
• Dates
• Goji berries
• Season with white pepper and salt

Sear ingredients and add to the bone broth and you got yourself one Hot Pot

For a spicy Hot Pot , just buy the dang seasoning pack.
It’s way too much oil and chilies