Tonkotsu ramen soup

[Hiroyuki]

Tonkotsu ramen soup

Tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen, once local to the Kyushu area of Japan, is now quite popular throughout Japan. Its main feature is its white milky soup. All recipes for tonkotsu ramen soup call for both 'double boiling' and 'rolling boil' steps. Double boiling is required to get rid of the odor of the bones, while a rolling boil is required to make sure that water and fat mix together in the pot and the marrow from the bones becomes gelatinous and acts as a fat emulsifier, making the soup nice and milky.

Usually, thigh bones are used to make this soup because they contain more marrow than other parts of pork. Other pork bones, chicken bones, and kelp may be used to give additional flavor.

Some nice description of double boiling can be found here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=79713

Here I present one tokotsu soup recipe with a boiling-down time of 6 hours. Later, I will submit two others, with boiling-down times of 3 and 12 hours, respectively.

This particular recipe is based on this one:

http://www.mendo.jp/origin/020630/ (Japanese only).

• 1 kg pork rib
  
• 2 Japanese leek (negi); Use only the upper, green portions.
  
• 1 carrot, diced
  
• 1/2 onion, skinned
  
• 1/2 bulb garlic, skinned
  
• 1/2 bulb ginger, sliced, un-skinned
  
• 7 l water
  

1. Put the bones in boiling water. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes (or until the water boils again).

2. Drain the bones. Wash off any innards, blood, and other impurities under cold running water.

3. Break the bones with a hummer or something similar.

4. Put the bones and other ingredients in a pot, add water, and bring to a boil.

5. Skim off foam. Keep at a rolling boil for 6 hours.

Keywords: Japanese, Pork

( RG1560 )