Revisiting My Ramen Recipe

This Week’s Film: The Ramen Girl

Cuisine: Japanese

In July, 2008, I featured Tonkotsu Ramen on a menu of Chinese Favorites in Japan to accompany the film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Today?s photo is the finished dish, and here is the Tonkotsu Ramen post from July 2008:



?The Japanese word ?Tonkotsu? means pork bones, and the broth for Tonkotsu Ramen is made by boiling pork bones in a kettle of water with a little salt. This is one of the simplest, most delicious, and economical stocks for any cuisine. I make it often, and keep containers of it in my freezer at all times.

The Tonkotsu Ramen dish is also fairly simple, although I deviated from the standard preparation somewhat. It typically calls for rolled, roasted pork belly for the meat topping, but I just couldn?t justify all that extra fat, given how much fat the broth has in it. So I opted for a lean little pork sirloin, which I oven-braised in soy sauce, tonkotsu broth and mirin. It turned out quite tasty and tender.

To assemble the dish, I quickly boiled and drained the ramen noodles, transferred them to a soup bowl, poured a steaming measure of the tonkotsu broth over them, and topped them with finely chopped scallions and several slices of roast pork loin wrapped in strips of nori. A simple, yet satisfying dish.”

Since then, I have experimented further with my Tonkotsu Ramen recipe, with much improved results. My revised Tonkotsu Ramen recipe will be posted at the end of the week, along with my film review of The Ramen Girl.