This past weekend I took the time and worked my way through the main recipe for shio ramen in the book. The first time it does take a while to complete, but you can do it with reasonable kitchen skills. The final bowl of ramen is really good, not as good as the top places I have tried in Tokyo, but much better than the best places in Silicon Valley in CA. The only major compromise I had to make was to use almost all katsuboshi for the nihboshi in the dashi, and that is the main reason the ramen is not as flavorful as professional ramen in Tokyo. The only change to the recipe was the soffrito, I used about a third of a liter of oil, if not less, just enough to cover the onion and apple to start the cooking. I also cooked a little more on the stove, you could see the bubbling of the water from the onion and slight softening of the onion and apple, then cooked at 300C in convection oven. The final product looks like the picture in the book, and if anything I have way to much flavored oil. Most every part of the recipe is easy to follow, and comes out great. I liked all the toppings a lot, the menma, the egg and the chashu. I did not make the chicken fat, just used the fat from making the chicken stock. The pork fat was easy to render following the recipe. The katsuboshi salt was easy to make. The noodles were easy to make and came out great!! I liked the texture a lot and the slight taste from the rye, a real winner. When I am in Tokyo will look for the nihboshi called for in the recipe. Excellent bowl of ramen, recommend others to try this recipe.
