Obese-Wan Kenobi

Update: OK. Just got back from Tokyo over the weekend and I made the trek to Rokakoen and ate at Ivan Ramen. I wanted to try the real thing to see how my home version is doing. It's pretty much spot on. I'd say about 90% spot on. Of course this will happen because my salt, chicken, fushis are different from his like he says in the book. But, yeah, just follow the recipe and you will get fine, kodawari ramen at home. Thanks Ivan!

Throw in grains of rice with the salt. The rice grains will absorb the moisture instead of the salt. Thanks.

After 6 days of casual preparation and cooking step-by-step, I finally made the Ramen Broth! Yipee! All in the bowl: 1.) Chicken Fat 2.) Pork Fat 3.) Shio Tare 4.) Katsuobushi Salt 5.) Double Soup And viola! All together. No mixing yet. See the fat melt? Well, it was delicious! Well worth the effort. This has always been my Achilles Heel, the broth. Could never make a good one. Now I can! A few notes on some recipe discrepancies and what I did about it: On the Sofrito: there was way too much oil in the 1ltr. he recommended . I drained about two cups of excess oil. I think 500ml. of oil is fine.On the Dashi: I did not use the soaking water at all. He does not mention to use it, so I did not.On the Fushis: I was only able to find Iriko Niboshi. So the others, I made up with Katsuobushi. So there was 151 grams of 4 different Fushis and 17 grams of Katsuobushi. So what I did was make 168 grams of Katsuobushi and used that instead.This is an expensive soup! I went through 2 tanks of propane! The noodles I have already perfected before, so I can do that anytime. The Chasu and the Egg is not so important to me so I'll get to it sometime. So tomorrow I'll make noodles and be eating Ramen for awhile. Thanks and Regards.

Just enough to keep them submerged. Yes. It seems like a waste so I saved mine and still finding a use for it. I think the idea here is to just to soak the dried ingredients and not use their flavor. You use the flavor when you simmer in the next step the day after. Regards. I don't think the idea is just to soak the ingredients and not use the leftover water. If you read his Ago Dashi, he combines the ago, konbu and other ingredients and lets it soak overnight. Then he saids to scoop off any slime released by the Konbu and then heat the liquid and soaked ingredients to 140F. Does he make Ago Dashi differently then his regular Dashi for the ramen? See how confusing his directions are? There must by a typo because both Dashis directions are different! I'm not at Ago Dashi yet But I had a quick peek and to answer your question, yes, it would seem like a totally different recipe from the Ramen Dashi. The ingredients are different and the technique is different too. Regards.

toro, Just enough to keep them submerged. Yes. It seems like a waste so I saved mine and still finding a use for it. I think the idea here is to just to soak the dried ingredients and not use their flavor. You use the flavor when you simmer in the next step the day after. Regards.

Having the same "scratching my head" moment like Robert and others with the Sofrito. I ended up with so much oil. But when you look at the Sofrito picture in his book, it's quite dry and seems to have reduced. So what I did was just remove some oil until mine looked somewhat like the picture. So which is which? Thanks!

Memphis dust. That's Dan Mill's recipe, right? He gives it away for free. Just Google and you can make your own at home. I think he calls it "Magic Dust"

Any thoughts? Tried making one following a chorizo recipe. Epic fail My thoughts: Needs 60 day cure to give it a stringy texture. Maybe needs an injection of bacteria. I don't know, I'm at a loss... that's why I'm asking for help Best regards.

If you have a brick oven, roast it in there slowly, Spain style. Salt, pepper, olive oil and that's it. Enjoy it!

The Bench one is the best. You can get your whole body into it, not just your hands. It makes it easier.

Magictofu, Panaderia, Wish I had read this sooner! To all that replied and helped, here's what I did: I took out that "fresh" 3 week cabbage being brined in the picture above from the ref. I Just put it in the "coolest" part of my kitchen at around 4PM. When I checked on it around 9PM, the mixture was still somewhat chilled, maybe 18C still. Then I went to bed. Woke up at 7AM, checked on it and it was a mess! Rotten. It was so bad, I did not have the time to even take a picture, I had to get rid of it quick. Less than 24 hours, spoiled already. I must study this further and try again Thanks all! Regards.

dcarch, You can make Tonkatsu from the loin and tenderloin. Yes, I wouldn't go so far as saying Kurobuta is the Kobe of Pork. There are many that can claim that. Mangalista and the Jabugo are two off the bat. It's more like the Black Angus of Pork Nevertheless, it's still excellent. Best regards.

Shalmanese, you know how expensive my electricity bill will be? LOL! Can't do that. Thank for the article nickrey, I will read it. Regards to all!

OK, I'll try it But it's going to be a huge project. Room temperature in my kitchen right now is 31C. This will have to be constant monitoring. Thanks!

It might me too hard partner... Maybe in my part of the world, I will just buy suarkruat.... Thanks for your advise Cheers!