40-Minute Creamy Pork Ramen
Tonkotsu is the rich, creamy pork bone broth that made Japanese ramen famous in America. It comes from Fukuoka, a city in southern Japan, and shops boil pork bones hard for 12 hours until the broth turns white and milky. Nobody's doing that on a Tuesday. Our shortcut gets real pork into the broth fast: we melt down pork belly, brown ground pork hard, then boil it all in broth for 15 minutes so the pork fat turns it cloudy and rich. Soy milk and sesame paste give it the creamy body. Top it with a soft egg with a jammy, half-set yolk, and it tastes like a night out. It's one of 100 recipes in Chopsticks Optional, my new cookbook.
- 01Bring the small pot of water to a boil. Gently lower in the cold eggs and boil exactly 6 1/2 minutes. Move them to the ice water for 3 minutes, then peel. Mix the soy sauce, water and sugar in a small bowl or zip bag and add the eggs to soak while you cook.
- 02Put the pork belly in the cold large pot and set it over medium heat (pan around 350F). Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the fat melts out and the pieces are golden. This pork fat is what makes the broth taste like real pork ramen.
- 03Turn the heat to medium-high (around 400F). Add the ground pork and press it flat. Let it sit 3 minutes without stirring, then break it up and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until deep brown and crispy in spots. Stir in the soy sauce and sugar and cook 30 seconds, until shiny. Scoop out half the ground pork for the topping. Leave the rest, the pork belly and all the fat in the pot.
- 04Turn the heat to medium-low (around 300F) and let the pot cool 30 seconds. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir 1 minute, until they smell great and just turn pale gold. Garlic burns fast, so move on sooner if it browns.
- 05Pour in the chicken broth and water and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom. Turn the heat to high and boil hard (a rolling boil, 212F) for 15 minutes. The hard boil beats the pork fat into the broth and turns it cloudy and rich, the same way ramen shops make pork broth. Pour through a strainer, pressing on the pork, and put the broth back in the pot. Throw away the solids.
- 06In a bowl, whisk the tahini and miso with 1/2 cup of the hot broth until smooth. Pour it back into the pot. Add the soy milk, soy sauce and sesame oil.
- 07Bring it back to a bare simmer over medium-low (about 180F, just a few bubbles). Don't boil it hard now or the soy milk can split. Whisk 30 seconds. It should look creamy, milky and a little thick. Taste, then add salt only if it needs it.
- 08In the other pot, boil the noodles. Fresh ramen: 2 to 3 minutes, shaking the nests loose as they go in. Instant bricks: 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well.
- 09Split the noodles into 4 deep bowls and ladle the hot broth over them. Top each with the crispy pork, a soy egg cut in half and corn. Garnish with green onions, a piece of nori tucked in the side and a drizzle of chili oil if you like.
Flavor notes. Rich, creamy and porky, like a savory milkshake of a broth (in a good way). The crispy pork and jammy egg make it filling. Green onions and a little chili oil cut through the richness.
- Boil hard with the pork fat, then go gentle once the soy milk goes in. Hard boiling makes it rich; gentle heat keeps the soy milk smooth.
- Use eggs straight from the fridge and time them exactly. 6 1/2 minutes gives you a set white and a jammy yolk.
- Make ahead: soy eggs keep 3 days in their soy mix in the fridge. The broth keeps 3 days; reheat gently and whisk before serving.
- No pork belly? Use 4 oz thick-cut bacon, or 3 tbsp lard.
- No soy milk? Use whole milk. Keep it below a simmer so it doesn't split.
- No tahini? Use 2 tbsp smooth unsweetened peanut butter.
- No miso? Use 1 extra tbsp soy sauce.
- No ramen at all? Boil spaghetti or angel hair with 1 tbsp baking soda per 2 quarts of water. It turns springy and yellow like ramen. Don't add more or they taste soapy.
- No nori? Skip it.
