emmeyekayeee

From the responses, there seems to be two main camps...I'm going to make a "blanch the impurities" broth and a "roast the impurities" broth. Now, what about......and which flavourings?

Ok. You've convinced me ( along with the other responders) to try it. I don't have a pressure cooker, but I will use a whole utility chicken and maybe a nice big ham bone, cook for 10 minutes and, ugh, drain the pot and rinse the meat/bones. Then start the broth making. I'm going to try to use whole flavour ingredients and not powdered. I will try to adhere strictly to the tried and true methods and not attempt a shortcut. Perhaps if I can get some success, I can learn to streamline so future batches won't feel tedious.

Yup. I'm going to adhere to your position on the whole dashi thing because it wasn't appetizing at all.... I'll take your advice and try again...... On the main thread......why does this look so easy, then when I do it, it goes south? https://youtu.be/f8oAW85cJW0 I've read Andrea's book but I just can bring myself to cleaning bones and dumping out water after 10 minutes to get rid of impurities. It just doesn't feel natural. What's wrong with me? It feels like rinsing out fond from my pan....

I don't think I have that brand here. It's a redneck town. Also, I think I may have added too much "stuff" to my homemade umami soup. Next time I'm just sprinkling. I still want to try to broth it up. Both wonton and phö. I'm heeding the various pieces of advice and experimenting.

Red Boat? Never heard of it. Please elaborate. I am beginning to acquiesce and give in to cheating. But.....geez....there MUST be a way. I immersed bonito and kombu innwater overnight and cooked it. Ummmmm, nope. Terrible. This is dashi?????? Yikes. Soni soaked some shitake in it for a while and reheated. Marginally better. I added some of my frozen concentrated broth and it was....decent. It isn't what I'm looking for, at all, but it's a good enough base for my ramen.

Bought the ingredients, going to go experiment.

Not at all.... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Umami&action=edit&section=3 I want to try this out.

What about recreating the umami revelation of 1908 and adding bonito, shitake, and kombu to get that "natural" MSG flavour?

heidih; I have read about parboiling to get rid of impurities, but I am recalcitrant to do it. It just feels like sacrilege to extract flavour out of meat, onto to just dump it. Like, I'm throwing out flavour here! Is it just me? Am I being biased to my own non-scientific prejudice? Why am I so stubborn about this? It is what drives me to roasting the meat in the first place. I do it with phö meat as well as wonton broth meat. I am conflicted. Kenneth T; it is disheartening that the broth that I so crave to replicate is quite possibly a cheat of bullion. Say it ain't so! If it is, I want to see if I can create it despite "take out restaurants" convention. Full disclosure: I have created crystal clear broth, but that involves freezing the broth then using the frozen gelatin that was formed to act as a filter as I defrost the broth in a strainer. I know it's an old trick used by foodies on a myriad of foodstuffs, but it is time consuming. I wish there was a way that would essentially guarantee a relatively quick process of clear and flavourful broth. I know it must exist, I've seen it on cooking shows, dangit. I've never tried to do a raft, I hear it involves ground beef. I don't know if I want to chase good protein after bad, if you know what I mean....

There MUST be a way to do this without resorting to cheating and buying canned broth.

Thank you for the replies. What you folks have suggested is pretty much what I've done in the past (sans MSG). I know that the protein will cloud the water, so I roast the meat first which seems to do a good job of maintaining clarity of broth. The problem seems to be the seasonings. If I add the (in the example of phö) ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, onion, salt, sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce....in whole (and roasted) form, there is a lack of flavour. If I choose to add flavouring via ground seasonings directly, it becomes occluded. If I steep using an infuser, there is once again, a lack of flavour. This seems to be the crux of my problem. My latest attempt has been to reduce the broth about 90-95% and use the liquid as a concentration. That KINDA works, but I still lack the clarity that I so much desire.

I take great pride in that knowing the fact that I can replicate recipes on my own. I've had some pretty good success with coming up with flavors and foods that remind me of my youth, specifically, takeout items. I think I do a pretty good job of burgers, fried chicken, pizza, a multitude of a Chinese food dishes, etc. One item that I cannot seem to figure out, which should be so simple to do, but it's frustratingly and deceptively difficult, is Asian broth. I'm talking wonton soup and phö broth. I can't figure it out and I need help. I've scoured the forums here and tried everything. But I can't get a clear broth and I can't get the right flavour. I need to know what I'm doing wrong, I've spent a decade trying to figure this out. To me, there is nothing in this world like good soup broth. Can someone find it in them to help me, please? I would be forever grateful. Regards, Mike