Ramen broth recipes that don't just taste like hot water...
Discussion
I like a good bowl of Chinese / Japanese noodles, maybe a sliced chicken breast on top with some chili bits and spring onions....
However, I am consistently disappointed with home broth recipes, they are usually just like hot salty water with a soggy s
take floating in it and a bit of a seaweed hint, and leave me bored half way through.
I'm looking for broth recipes that actually have some OOOMPH, you know some taste... But I'm struggling, maybe I'm searching for the wrong thing
By "OOOMPH" I don't just mean chilli hot, I mean TASTE.
Any good recipes out there?
However, I am consistently disappointed with home broth recipes, they are usually just like hot salty water with a soggy s
take floating in it and a bit of a seaweed hint, and leave me bored half way through. I'm looking for broth recipes that actually have some OOOMPH, you know some taste... But I'm struggling, maybe I'm searching for the wrong thing
By "OOOMPH" I don't just mean chilli hot, I mean TASTE.
Any good recipes out there?
Edited by His Lordship on Monday 2nd November 18:54
To the best of my understanding, it is that authentic noodle soup broths take TIME to make - the kind of time that a noodle soup vendor who knows he will sell a hundred bowls of the stuff can dedicate, but is harder to justify at home.
Look up all the recommended steps in making authentic Tonkotsu broth for Japanese ramen, the 24hr process used to make Pho broth, or the Chinese beef noodle soup broths that are kept simmering for decades. Its a lot of work.
It doesn't mean you can't make a good broth at home, though. A simple Miso Ramen broth of water, dash stock granules, and good quality white miso is very flavorful. And using some of the tricks the professionals do (inspired by Pho restaurants, try charring bones & aromatics like onion, garlic, ginger etc on hot coals before adding to the noodle broth) can help. Another trick is to use MUCH more flavorful cuts of meat than you will eat in the final soup. Adding innards, feet and other wobbly bits will give you a real richness.
Look up all the recommended steps in making authentic Tonkotsu broth for Japanese ramen, the 24hr process used to make Pho broth, or the Chinese beef noodle soup broths that are kept simmering for decades. Its a lot of work.
It doesn't mean you can't make a good broth at home, though. A simple Miso Ramen broth of water, dash stock granules, and good quality white miso is very flavorful. And using some of the tricks the professionals do (inspired by Pho restaurants, try charring bones & aromatics like onion, garlic, ginger etc on hot coals before adding to the noodle broth) can help. Another trick is to use MUCH more flavorful cuts of meat than you will eat in the final soup. Adding innards, feet and other wobbly bits will give you a real richness.
There's a recipe in this months Waitrose food magazine that I tried to make at the weekend. I say tried because, as usual, Waitrose had run out of two of the key ingredients in the recipe.
The recipe calls for a stock made from poaching a whole chicken with some aromatics - this does indeed taste like hot water. This is poured onto soup base, which is reduced Dashi, with soy, mirin, sake and salt. I suspect this is where the flavour comes from, but as I couldn't get any Dashi I used some bottled "soup base", which was ok.
The revelation was the chilli oil. Onion, garlic, chillis and ginger in a mix of sesame & sunflower oil. Heat to 130c, which takes some doing. Then cool to 120c and stir in some other ingredients. The resulting sediment is what you want, the oil is just a bonus. Fabulous flavour - not just hot, a really nice savoury taste.
The recipe calls for a stock made from poaching a whole chicken with some aromatics - this does indeed taste like hot water. This is poured onto soup base, which is reduced Dashi, with soy, mirin, sake and salt. I suspect this is where the flavour comes from, but as I couldn't get any Dashi I used some bottled "soup base", which was ok.
The revelation was the chilli oil. Onion, garlic, chillis and ginger in a mix of sesame & sunflower oil. Heat to 130c, which takes some doing. Then cool to 120c and stir in some other ingredients. The resulting sediment is what you want, the oil is just a bonus. Fabulous flavour - not just hot, a really nice savoury taste.
omniflow said:
The recipe calls for a stock made from poaching a whole chicken with some aromatics - this does indeed taste like hot water.
I haven't done it for a while, but I often used to poach a whole chicken in the slow cooker, and the broth was nothing like hot water - maybe just needs poaching lower and longer.Or you could just cheat.
I recently got a DIY ramen kit from Shoryu and it came out almost exactly as you'd get in the restaurant.
https://www.shoryuramen.com/diykits
Restaurant price though.
I recently got a DIY ramen kit from Shoryu and it came out almost exactly as you'd get in the restaurant.
https://www.shoryuramen.com/diykits
Restaurant price though.
Love me a ramen. My dear Mum got me a kit from sous chef which, whilst expensive, does have everything you need for a lot of cooks and some excellent recipes for a variety of different ones. Christmas is only just around the corner!
https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/japanese-ramen...
Ramen is all about the layers of flavours, not just the soup so I think all of the accoutrements are super important. If it doesn't take a couple of days to make ramen, you're not doing it right. The combination chicken wing / pork shoulder soup recipe in the kit was really good. Tonkotsu (pork bone) broth looks like a real pain to make, but everything I've ever cooked by this guy was great so if you've got some spare time and 1.5kg of pork trotters:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/02/rich-a...
https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/japanese-ramen...
Ramen is all about the layers of flavours, not just the soup so I think all of the accoutrements are super important. If it doesn't take a couple of days to make ramen, you're not doing it right. The combination chicken wing / pork shoulder soup recipe in the kit was really good. Tonkotsu (pork bone) broth looks like a real pain to make, but everything I've ever cooked by this guy was great so if you've got some spare time and 1.5kg of pork trotters:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/02/rich-a...
J8 SVG said:
Might be an illegal move but I make my stock in a pressure cooker and seems to get a lot of flavour from a chicken carcass. Reduced down with chillies, garlic ginger lemon grass and makes a great ramen starting point
Pressure cookers are a great tool to make a base stock in a relatively short time. When you look at any bones/carcasses afterwards, you can see how they have been broken down.For quick and simple then the go to is veg broth made from boiled root veg and seasoned with pepper and light soy sauce. If its too bland then add some sliced onions, ginger, garlic
Boiled parsnips are a favourite of mine because of its sweetness.
Leftover curries, satays can be watered down from the boiled noodles for curried noodle soups. Works a treat when you do the same with leftover bolognese, lasagne filling, veg pie filling and adding chilli oil.
Boiled parsnips are a favourite of mine because of its sweetness.
Leftover curries, satays can be watered down from the boiled noodles for curried noodle soups. Works a treat when you do the same with leftover bolognese, lasagne filling, veg pie filling and adding chilli oil.
Tonight's dinner was started yesterday. 500g chicken wings, 500g pork shoulder with 3L of water and other stuff for 3 hours.
The stock came out almost gelatinous when it headed to the pan today.
A ramen's style is defined by the tare - tonight was miso style so ginger, garlic, sake, mirin and red miso. This is brought to the boil then added to the stock just before serving.
Boiled eggs in chashu sauce (soy, mirin, sake, star anise, ginger, spring onions and garlic) for 12 hours.
Pork from the stock goes in to the chashu for 20 mins after the eggs come out. In the mortar is katsuobushi (dried tuna) grilled and mixed 50/50 with salt.
Put it all together.
Doesn't just taste like water!
The stock came out almost gelatinous when it headed to the pan today.
A ramen's style is defined by the tare - tonight was miso style so ginger, garlic, sake, mirin and red miso. This is brought to the boil then added to the stock just before serving.
Boiled eggs in chashu sauce (soy, mirin, sake, star anise, ginger, spring onions and garlic) for 12 hours.
Pork from the stock goes in to the chashu for 20 mins after the eggs come out. In the mortar is katsuobushi (dried tuna) grilled and mixed 50/50 with salt.
Put it all together.
Doesn't just taste like water!
The "Alex French Guy Cooking" YouTube channel is worth a look in general, but he made some ramen broths a while back:
https://youtu.be/Wf0McesjcWo
https://youtu.be/Wf0McesjcWo
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