Obese-Wan Kenobi

March 12, 2014

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!

January 8, 2014

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

Thanks.

January 6, 2014

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.

January 6, 2014

toro,
It saids to soak overnight the dried sardines, dried squid tentacles and seaweed. How much water am I supposed to use?

Just enough to keep them submerged.

Then it saids to drain the soaked seaweed, sardines and squid tentacles and place in a large pot and cover with water. Do I discard the leftover water from the overnight soak?
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.

January 5, 2014

toro,

It saids to soak overnight the dried sardines, dried squid tentacles and seaweed. How much water am I supposed to use?

Just enough to keep them submerged.

Then it saids to drain the soaked seaweed, sardines and squid tentacles and place in a large pot and cover with water. Do I discard the leftover water from the overnight soak?

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.

January 5, 2014

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!

June 29, 2012

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"

June 29, 2012

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.

February 27, 2012

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

Enjoy it!

February 22, 2012

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

February 2, 2012

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.

February 1, 2012

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.

January 31, 2012

Put it in an air-conditioned room, preferably in front of an AC vent.

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!

January 30, 2012

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!

January 29, 2012

It might me too hard partner...

Maybe in my part of the world, I will just buy suarkruat....

Thanks for your advise

Cheers!

January 29, 2012

nickrey,

OK, I did not understand that part. The instruction was "no hotter than 70 -75 degress/F. 21-23 degress C." So I assumed, anything below those marks was OK.

So what do I do? I am in a tropical country with 28-40C temperature all year.... There is no cool place aside from the refrigirator or an airconditioned room.

Thanks!

January 29, 2012

Hi,

Sorry, "from" Charcuterie" the book by Rhulman.

Cabbage is fermenting in the refrigerator as instructed, don't know the temp, but maybe 4C.

Thanks!

January 29, 2012

Hi,

Tried making Saurkraut from Charcuterie. It been 3 weeks and the Cabbage still looks fresh. What could be wrong?

Thank you.

January 16, 2012

What I do is parbake them and then freeze them. When I'm ready to eat them, I just put it another 10 minutes in the toaster oven.

To parbake, just take them out at 185-190F internal temperature. They are still good to go at two weeks in the freezer.

January 5, 2012

Hi,

I was browsing around Toffee topics as I had the urge for some See's Toffee-Ettes. I've loved this confection since I was a child and I was wondering if there are any clone recipes for this?

I'd love to make this at home as I cannot buy it where I live.

Thanks!

November 27, 2011

Thanks!

There are also numerous mistakes in the recipes where ingredients don't get added or don't appear in the list, or are used in a different quantity etc.

November 27, 2011

Hi,

I saw this book at the bookstore and was tempted to buy it due to the nice packaging. I couldn't look inside so I was wondering if anyone here has it and can give some feedback?

It's by Phaidon and yeah, the packaging is great.

Thanks.

November 26, 2011

I've only tried 4 recipes.

Cereal Milk - Good

CM Panacotta - the 3/4 tsp. powdered gelatin recommended was insufficient. I followed that and it was a flop. I then used 1 tsp. and that worked well.

Cereal Crunch - Good. She does not give a time, but 15 minutes at 300F yields a chewy crunch, like a granola bar.

Mother Dough - Can't figure this out so far... I've done with the recommendations and have come up with too wet dough. Slurpy. Had to add more flour. To make a "wet ball" as the book states. It was about 90-150 grams off.

That's it so far, aside from the cookies that i mentioned above.

No disrespect. It's a pleasure working with these unique recipes

Thanks.!

November 26, 2011

Me, now, I'm thinking to put in dark chocolate nuggets to cut down on the sweetness of the cookie. To me it, the original recipe, was like eating melted sugar.

So far, my experience with the "Milk" cookbook, it's been overkill.. too much of some thing. Tried the Bagel Bombs dough from the book, and it was too wet based on the gram.

November 26, 2011

Made the Flake-Chip-Mallow cookie.

Yes, 18 minutes is too long. I came up with good ones at 15 minutes at 350F. 375F was too hot too. They were chewy and not hard like mentioned above.

They're good, but they are super sweet. A little too sweet for me. Can't eat too many. 1 cookie a day is good enough

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