Ramen

Method

1. boil12 min
   hard boil, then discard the water
   chicken bones covered in cold water — bring up fast, let the grey scum raft to the top, then dump it and scrub the pot and the bones. That coagulated blood protein is what makes a broth grey and muddy; nothing later removes it
2. simmer210 min
   bare simmer, 85–90°C, uncovered
   rinsed bones + 3 l fresh water + onion + garlic + ginger, skimming the first half hour. Hold it just under a break — a rolling boil shears fat and collagen into suspension and the bowl turns cloudy and greasy, which is the paitan you did not order
3. braise90 min
   low, lid ajar, in a small pot with a ladle of broth
   rolled pork belly + 3 tbsp soy sauce + mirin + sake + sugar, turning twice, until a skewer slides through with no resistance. Chill the belly in its liquid before slicing or it shreds; the liquid is not waste, it becomes half the tare
4. infuse25 min
   heat off, broth at 70°C
   strained hot broth + kombu + dried shiitake, then katsuobushi for the last 5 minutes, then strain again. Kombu simmered outright turns slick and bitter, and katsuobushi held above a whisper goes sour and fishy — this is steeping, not cooking
5. reduce8 min
   medium, small pan
   pork braising liquid + remaining 3 tbsp soy sauce + salt, until it coats a spoon = tare. It should taste aggressively, wrongly salty on its own; it is a seasoning concentrate that will be diluted 1:8 by broth, so tasting it neat tells you nothing about the bowl
6. infuse6 min
   low, oil at 120°C
   vegetable oil + scallion whites + a slice of ginger, until the whites are blond and the oil smells green, then strain = aroma oil. It floats as a lid on the finished bowl, holding heat in and pushing aromatics up at the nose with every mouthful; skip it and the ramen goes lukewarm and flat by the fourth bite
7. poach7 min
   boiling water, then ice bath
   eggs straight from the fridge for exactly 6.5 minutes, shock cold, peel, then sit in the leftover braising liquid at least 30 minutes = ajitama. Longer than a few hours and the salt firms the yolk from jammy to chalky
8. boil2 min
   large pot, unsalted, at a full boil
   ramen noodles, loosened by hand first, 90 seconds to 2 minutes, then drain hard and shake dry. Never cook noodles in the broth — the alkaline starch they shed clouds it and thickens it into gravy. Wet noodles water down the tare
9. top2 min
   bowls preheated with hot water
   per bowl: 2 tbsp tare + 1 tbsp aroma oil in the bottom, 400 ml boiling broth poured over and stirred once to combine, then noodles lifted in, then sliced chashu + halved egg + scallion greens + nori at the edge. From drained noodle to table should be under a minute — this dish has a shelf life measured in seconds, not minutes