Shōyu Ramen (醤油ラーメン)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large stockpot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Donburi ramen bowls
• •Ramen noodle basket (tebo), or a wire spider and deep pot
• •Small ladle or tablespoon for measuring tare

Instructions

1. 1

   Blanch the bones

   Put the chicken bones in a stockpot and cover them with cold water by an inch. Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes, until gray foam and clotted blood rise, then drain. Rinse the pot, and rinse the blanched bones under a gentle stream, rubbing away dark bits. This first water is not broth worth saving; it carries the murk that would cloud the clean soup.

2. 2

   Simmer the stock

   Return the bones to the clean pot with 8 cups cold water, the green parts of the negi, ginger, and garlic if using. Bring just to a simmer, skim once, then keep it quiet for 90 minutes. The bubbles should be small and lazy. A hard boil breaks fat and protein into the broth and makes it heavy, when Tokyo shōyu ramen wants a clear stock that can carry the tare.

   Skim off clear chicken fat as it rises and save it. That fat, chi-yu, carries aroma across the top of the bowl.
3. 3

   Strain gently

   Strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer without pressing on the bones or aromatics. Pressing gives you a few more spoonfuls and a duller broth, a poor bargain. You want about 6 cups. If you have less, the dashi can make up the difference.

4. 4

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in 3 cups cold water and warm it slowly. Pull the konbu out when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the pot, before it boils. Add 15g of the katsuobushi, take the pot off the heat, and leave it alone for 3 minutes. Strain through a cloth and let it drip on its own. Don't squeeze, because squeezing presses oily, strong flavors into the clear stock.

   The white bloom on konbu is flavor, not dirt. Boil the kelp and it turns bitter and slick; squeeze the flakes and the dashi loses its clean edge.
5. 5

   Build the tare

   Put the sake and mirin in a small saucepan and simmer 2 minutes to cook off the raw alcohol. Add the shōyu, salt, sugar, and dried shiitake, then warm only until the edges quiver. Turn off the heat, add the remaining 5g katsuobushi, and steep 10 minutes. Strain without pressing. This is tare, the seasoning sauce, and it is the decision in the bowl: soy aroma, salt, sweetness, and depth held in one small measure.

6. 6

   Blend the soup

   Combine 6 cups chicken stock with 2 cups dashi and warm it gently. It should taste clean and a little unfinished, because it is not seasoned yet. That is correct. The tare finishes each bowl, so don't salt the whole pot and trap yourself.

7. 7

   Ready the bowls

   Fill four donburi bowls with hot water, then tip the water out just before assembly. Warm the chāshū and menma in a small ladleful of soup, halve the eggs if using, set the nori nearby, and keep the sliced negi dry. Cold bowls and cold toppings steal heat from the noodles, and ramen is a dish with a short temper.

8. 8

   Cook the noodles

   Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a rolling boil. Loosen the noodles with your fingers and cook one or two portions at a time, usually 60 to 90 seconds for fresh noodles. Taste early. They should be springy at the center. Don't cook them in the soup, because their surface starch would cloud the broth and dull the tare. Drain hard with several firm shakes.

9. 9

   Season each bowl

   Add 2 tablespoons tare and 2 teaspoons chicken fat to each warm bowl. Ladle in about 1 3/4 cups of the hot chicken-dashi soup and stir once. Taste one spoonful. If it tastes flat, add tare by the teaspoon. If it tastes sharp, add more soup. Bowl by bowl is the old ramen shop logic brought home, and it keeps the seasoning honest.

10. 10

    Finish and serve

    Slide the drained noodles into each bowl, then lift and fold them once with chopsticks so they sit neatly instead of clumping. Lay the chāshū to one side, set one or two egg halves beside it, tuck in the nori, and gather the menma in three or five strips. Finish with sliced negi and a little white pepper if you like. Leave some amber broth showing. Serve at once, because the noodles keep cooking even while everyone admires your restraint.

Chef Tips

• •Buy bones with joints, skin, and a clean smell. Wings work well when backs and necks are hard to find. Sourcing first, always; tired chicken makes tired stock, and no tare can rescue it politely.
• •Ask for fresh medium-thin alkaline ramen noodles, chijiremen if the shop has them. Kansui gives ramen its spring and faint yellow cast. Dried ramen noodles are a sensible stand-in, but keep the packet seasoning out of this bowl.
• •Do not season the whole pot of soup. Tare belongs in the bowl, where you can correct each serving. More tare gives salt and soy depth; more soup softens the edge.
• •Chicken fat is not decoration. A teaspoon or two on the surface carries the fragrance of soy, chicken, and scallion before the first sip reaches you.
• •Keep the toppings few and placed with room between them. A bowl crowded to the rim looks generous for five seconds, then the noodles soften underneath it. Leave the broth room to shine.

Advance Preparation

• •The tare keeps 2 weeks refrigerated. Its flavor settles after a night, which is useful rather than merely convenient.
• •Chicken stock can be made 2 days ahead. Cool it quickly in shallow containers, refrigerate it, and lift off the set chicken fat for the bowls.
• •Dashi is best the day it is made, but it can be prepared 24 hours ahead. The konbu can also soak overnight in cold water for a rounder extraction.
• •Ajitsuke tamago and chāshū are best made the day before. For eggs, marinate soft-boiled peeled eggs in equal parts tare and water for 6 to 12 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 900g)