ME433.Kitchen

A practice repo with our favorite recipes

This project is maintained by ndm736

Shio Ramen

This recipe outlines the process of making the famous Ivan Ramen’s Shio Ramen with a few twists. The ingredients list is long, the process is arduous, and procuring the ingredients may be even more difficult. It may just be worth it.

Subdivision of Workflow:

You will need to make different components at different timelines. I would say the whole process takes two full days to be achieved at the minimum. A full ingredients list will be listed at the bottom of the page, but it is important to follow the timeline to make the best tasting ramen with minimal stress. It is also not fully crucial to have every ingredient listed - I will bold the important ones!

2 Days Before: Prepare Sofrito, Chicken Stock, and Noodles.

The sofrito recipe:

Make a ton of this to keep - I mean it. It is so good with everything. Add it to fried rice, base for curry, base for any stew… it will go well. The balance of sweetness from garlic, apples, and ginger coming together into a harmony of fragrance… if there’s any component of the recipe you take away from you, it should be this.

Sofrito Ingredient list:

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Vegetable (Neutral) Oil 1 Liter 1 Quart
Onions 1.2 Kilos 2.5 Lbs
Fuji Apples (Peeled) 325 Grams 11.5 Ozs
Ginger 65 Grams 2.5 Ozs
Garlic 160 Grams 5.5 Ozs

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 110 Celsius (225 Farenheit).
  2. Cut apples and onions into a dice. Or, throw all the ingredients into a food processor and watch them blend. Mince the garlic and ginger separately though.
  3. Grab a deep roasting pan (10” x 20”) or something of that sort, as long as it allows approximately a 1.5cm (1/2 in.) layer of ooil. Put onion and apple mixture in, pouring in the oil afterwards. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or something and put it into the oven for 3 hours. Stir every 30 minutes to prevent burning.
  4. Add the garlic and ginger mince mixture, and mix it throughout the roasting pan. Cover again and continue roasting for 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes and rotating the pan as well.
  5. Take out the sofrito and cool. Once cooled, transfer to a tight sealing container. The mixture keeps for 2-3 weeks.

The Chicken Stock:

In a normal circumstance, I would condone store bought Chicken Stock. However, we live in America - the flavorings are Western. We are unfortunately tasked with making new chicken stock by hand. Fortunately, it is very very easy. We just need a large enough pot.

Chicken Stock Ingredient list:

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Chicken 2 Kilos 4.5 Lbs
Water Enough Enough

Steps:

  1. Grab your chicken and rinse it thoroughly with cold water until the water running off it runs clear. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and trim off as much fat as you possibly can from the chicken; make sure you save this. Remove the skin and keep it to use the next day.
  2. Put chicken into the absolute largest pot you have. Add water until the water covers the chicken fully; the chicken should not be floating under any circumstance unless it is boiling. Keep track of the water level; you will want it to stay at this level throughout the entire 6 hours of cooking.
  3. Heat the pot. Keep at a simmering temperature for a full hour.
  4. Once step 3 is completed, raise the heat to high to allow the chicken to be boiled. Skim any scum rolling up to the surface using a skimmer. Use the skimmer to roll the chicken around for any other scum that may float to the surface from within the chicken and clear that scum as well.
  5. Add the trimmed fat back into the pot, lowering the heat back to a simmer. Did you note the water level? Keep adding water thoughout the remaining 5 hours to maintain that level.
  6. The chicken should basically be dissolved into the soup; what should remain are the bones. Take the soup off the heat, strain though a mesh sieve, or cheesecloth, and let cool in ambient temperature. Transfer to an airtight container and keep it in the fridge. At one point, the soup will become solid; it will gelatinize and separate into a fat and soup layer. Skim the fat layer and keep in a separate container. This keeps for a week.

The Noodles

Oh boy. This is the tough part. You will need a pasta machine for this. It takes an enormous amount of effort to tackle this head on. Don’t fret - I have faith in you. However, if you don’t have a pasta machine, or are unconfident to the point of not even wanting to try, don’t fret - go to your nearest Asian supermarket (where you undoubtedly had to go to for ingredients) and buy the Kae-dama pack from Sun Noodle. This should be a refrigerated pack of ramen noodles. They are quite good quality, but won’t perfectly match this recipe.

The ingredients in this list are quite essential at these exact measurements. I suggest if you don’t want to follow this, see Ramen Lord’s overwhelming list of ramen noodle recipes. The ingredients for recipes there are much easier to procure. Whichever way you cut it, you will absolutely need Kansui. There is a method on the site to how to make it, or you can buy it on Amazon (quite expensive however).

Noodle Ingredient List:

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Rye Flour 75 Grams 0.5 Cup
High Gluten (14-15% protein) Bread flour 620 Grams 4 Cups
Cake flour 300 Grams 2 Cups
Cool water 430 mL 1.75 Cups
Salt 13 Grams 1 Tbsp
Kansui 10 Grams 1.5 Tsp

I implore you to use metric measurements here. Please.

Steps:

  1. Toast the rye flour in a non stick pan for 4 minutes, stirring gently making sure the aroma hits your nose. Transfer to your stand mixer bowl and weigh out the flour again - there will be loss, but you only need 70 grams of toasted rye flour. Compensate any of the 70 grams with untoasted rye flour.
  2. In the bowl, add the high gluten flour and cake flour, stirring them together.
  3. In a separate bowl, dissolve the kansui powder and water together. This will take some time; be patient! Then, add your salt and make sure it dissolves into the water.
  4. Add the dough hook attachment to your mixer and run it on low speed. Slowly dribble in the water in thirds to hydrate the dough. The dough should begin to come together after a few minutes. It might look shaggy, and that is OK! Once the dough begins to come together, increase the speed to a medium-low speed and continue letting the machine run for 10 minutes. This should eventually form a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
  5. The dough should be much softer now. Set it down on a clean cutting board, flatten it out to make four 5cm (2-inch) strips of dough. Cover the 3 dough strips under a damp kitchen towel.
  6. Set up the pasta machine with the widest setting. Run the strip through once. Fold it in half to make a two-layered sheet. Fold perpendicular to the long length. Pass it over again on the second-largest setting. Double it over the same way. Then pass it through the third largest setting.
  7. No more doubling over. Pass it over on the fourth largest setting. Typically there are five settings to the pasta machine - I find that the smallest setting is too thin. At this thickness, add the noodle attachment and run it through the appropriate setting. Your choice of thinner or thicker! I usually go for the thinner. Toss the noodles with some cornstarch if they are sticking together.
  8. Portion them out onto a large tray that can be covered. Portion them in 150 grams if you like larger portions and 120 grams if you want to stick to regular portion sizes. Continue for each strip from step 5 and follow through. Keep them in the fridge until you need to use. Good noodles are aged! They will develop so much more flavor this way.

You should be fairly tired at this point - get some well deserved rest! There’s much more prepping tomorrow.

1 Day Before: Preparing the base, toppings, and the much beloved egg.

The base: Shio Tare and Katsuobushi Salt Ingredient List

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Sea Salt 48 Grams 4 Tbsp
Boiling Water 340 mL 1.5 Cups
Sofrito (you made this already!) 275 Grams 1 Cup
Katsuobushi 10 Grams .5 Ozs
Salt 10 Grams .5 Ozs
Chicken Skin Whatever you have whatever you have

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 Celsius (400 Farenheit).
  2. Pour hot water and sea salt into a bowl and mix.
  3. Mix in the sofrito and store in a separate container.
  4. Spread the katsuobushi onto a small baking sheet. The oven should be hot enough now; put in the oven for up to 4 minutes. Allow to cool and grind up into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle or even better, a spice grinder.
  5. Combine the katsuobushi powder with the salt and store in a separate container.
  6. In a microwave safe bowl, put in the chicken skin and microwave at high power for 8 minutes, uncovered. Check on it every 30 ish seconds for splatter. Cool down and reserve the fat by removing the remaining skin.

The Chashu Ingredients:

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Pork Belly 1 Kilo 2 Lbs
Sugar 15 Grams 1 Tbsp
Light Soy Sauce 75mL .33 Cup
Dark Soy Sauce 135mL .6 Cup
Garlic 10 Grams 2 Tsp
Ginger 15 Grams 1 Tbsp
Mirin 25mL 1 Tbsp
Sake 25mL 1 Tbsp
Kombu 10 Grams .5? Ozs

Steps:

  1. Remove the pork from the fridge. Allow it to come up to room temperature. Meanwhile… move on to step 2.
  2. Measure the sake and mirin into a saucepan, cooking for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
  3. Add the two soy sauces, garlic, and ginger into the saucepan and simmer over medium heat. Add the sugar once simmered, allowing it to dissolve, the continue cooking at medium heat for 5 Minutes. Add the Kombu somewhere in between. Let everything cool together off the heat for at least 30 minutes. This mixture is called a tare.
  4. Cut the pork belly across the grain to make two pieces. Sear off all the faces of the pork until they turn golden brown. Let the pork cool for 15 ish minutes. It is OK if there is blood running down! It will be added back into the tare soon.
  5. Remove the Kombu from the tare. Add in your pork belly into the tare and add water to just cover the pork by about a centimeter (.5 in.). Bring the liquid up to a boi and skim off any scum that comes to the surface. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and allow to cook, never allowing it to boil again, for 2.5-4 hours.
  6. Remove the pork from the pot and let it cool. Reserve the remaining tare after letting it cool as well.
  7. Once cooled, refrigerate everything in airtight containers. Skim off any fat on the surface of the tare.

Non-Optional Topping: Half Cooked Eggs Ingredients

What is a ramen without Half Cooked Eggs?

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Yesterday’s Tare Whatever’s Left Whatever’s Left
Eggs Any number under 8 Any number under 8
Water 1L 1 Quart

Steps:

  1. You will oddly need a pushpin for this. Use this to puncture a hole at the larger end of each egg. It won’t leak, I promise (unless it’s already cracked).
  2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. You will want a large pot. Once boiling, slide the eggs in very, very gently and START A TIMER. Stir for about two minutes. Then, prepare a bowl with some ice water.
  3. Once it hits 6 minutes and 10 seconds, remove the eggs and place them IMMEDIATELY in the ice bath. You can stir until the water has no pockets of hot water. Keep here for about 10 minutes.
  4. Combine the tare with the water into a large sealable vessel. Peel the eggs and soak them into here. The eggs keep for 3 days, but you can push it a little longer. They get, however, quite salty.

Day of: Preparing Soup number 2 and preparing all the ingredients

This recipe requires a double soup - sorry if you thought you were done.

Soup 2: Dashi Ingredients

Ok, I’m gonna be honest - a lot of these ingredients are extremely difficult to source. You can replace the dried sardines (both of them) and the shaved dried mackarel with easy-to-find dried anchovies from any respectable Asian supermarket. You will, however, need the dried squid and the katsuobushi. Find a variety of katsuobushi if you can and just double the amount! It will do the same thing.

Ingredient Metric Amount US Amount
Water 2.5L 10.5 Cups
Kombu 50g 2 Ozs
Dried Sardines 75g 2.5 Ozs
Dried Shaved Sardines 17g .5 Ozs
Dried Squid Tentacles 100g 3.5 Ozs
Dried Shaved Mackarel 17g .5 Ozs
Dried Shaved Mejika 17g .5 Ozs
Katsuobushi 17g .5 Ozs

Steps:

  1. Place the Kombu, squid, and sardines into a bowl with some water. Leave for 1-2 hours, and drain the soaked ingredients. Add them back into a large stockpot and cover with water, bringing the heat up to about 60 Celsius (140 Farenheit). Skim any scum from the surface, and use a strainer to remove any solids, squeezing out every last bit of liquid out of them.
  2. Heat up to 80 Celsius now (176 Farenheit). place a fine mesh sieve on top of the pot and add the saved ingredients into it, allowing it to soak into the water for 3 minutes at this temperature.
  3. Take out the fine mesh sieve and remove any other solids that may be floating around. Keep it at low heat.

Assembly!

We need to ensure you have your assembling workflow lined out. Make sure that you:

  1. Heat up the chicken stock
  2. Warm up the chicken fat
  3. Bring the shio tare up to room temperature
  4. Warm up the Pork belly chashu somewhat and slice them into thicknesses of your liking.
  5. Remove the eggs from the tare, allowing them to come to room temp
  6. Finely shred some green onions. You should have three pots on the stove: one containing Chicken Stock, one containing the dashi, and the last containing the pork belly chashu. Now you will need a fourth pot. Your stove will be full. Everything will be messy. But so, so worth it.

Steps for Assembly:

  1. Heat up water into the last pot. As you wait for it to boil, continue to step 2.
  2. At the bottom of your bowl, add 20mL of warmed up chicken fat, 30mL of shio tare, and 5g of katsuobushi salt.
  3. Into the boiling water, add one set of noodles. Cook for 50-70 seconds depending on how hard you want the noodles to be.
  4. Meanwhile, ladle 135mL of chicken soup and 135mL of dashi into your bowl. Drain noodles and lay them down into your soup laden bowl.
  5. Slice egg in half. Lay both pieces on top of the noodles. Lay 2 pieces of chashu on top.
  6. Finally, pile some green onions on top.
  7. Enjoy!

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