The One Recipe

Blanch and clean bones

Place pork bones and chicken carcasses in a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat for 10 minutes to remove impurities. Pour out the water and discard. Rinse bones and pot under hot water, scrubbing any scum off.

Simmer broth

Return cleaned bones to the pot and add 6 L fresh cold water. Bring to a vigorous boil, then lower to a gentle but steady simmer. Skim any scum every 15–20 minutes for the first hour. Add smashed ginger, smashed garlic, quartered onion, dried shiitake, and kombu (add kombu in the last 30–40 minutes and remove after 10 minutes to avoid bitterness). Maintain a gentle simmer for 6–8 hours (for a milky tonkotsu texture you may simmer 8–12 hours; higher heat early helps emulsify marrow). Add bonito flakes in the last 10 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth into a clean pot. Discard solids. Keep warm.

Season the broth

To the strained broth, add soy sauce, mirin, sake, salt and neutral oil. Taste and adjust — the broth should be rich, slightly savory, and balanced. Reduce a portion if you want a more concentrated flavor for the tare component (reserve about 1–2 cups of strongly flavored stock for mixing into the tare).

In a small saucepan combine dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, chicken stock (200 ml taken from the finished broth), miso (if using), sesame oil, and sugar. Bring to a low simmer for 3–5 minutes, stirring to dissolve the miso and sugar. Cool and keep at room temperature. For each bowl, allocate roughly 35–40 ml (2–2.5 tbsp) tare per serving and adjust to taste.

Roll and tie

Roll the pork belly into a tight log and tie at 1.5–2 cm intervals with kitchen twine to maintain shape while braising.

Sear and braise

Heat a small amount of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and brown the pork belly on all sides to develop color. Transfer to a pot with soy sauce, mirin, sake, 500 ml water, brown sugar, crushed garlic and sliced ginger. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover partially, and braise on low for 1.5–2 hours until fork-tender, turning occasionally to coat with sauce.

Cool and marinate

Remove the pork from the braising liquid. Reserve braising liquid to use as additional tare or to rewarm slices. Allow the pork to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate in the braising liquid (or tightly wrapped) for at least 4 hours or overnight to firm up and deepen flavor. When ready to serve, slice into 6–8 mm thick rounds and gently reheat in warmed braising liquid or in the oven.

Prepare garlic oil (mayu): thinly slice 4–6 garlic cloves and gently fry in 100 ml neutral oil over low heat until golden but not burnt (about 8–12 minutes). Remove garlic and reserve oil. For a darker, smoky garlic oil, continue heating garlic until very dark brown then strain (use sparingly). Make chili oil by warming neutral oil and infusing with chili flakes for 5–10 minutes. Prepare soft-boiled marinated eggs: boil eggs 6–6.5 minutes (for jammy yolk), cool in ice water, peel and marinate 6–24 hours in 1:1 soy sauce:mirin (enough to cover). Slice scallions thinly and separate whites and greens. Warm menma and nori sheets briefly before serving. Toast sesame seeds lightly if needed.

Cook noodles

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cook fresh ramen noodles according to package or about 90–120 seconds for fresh, 3–4 minutes for dried, until al dente. Stir gently to prevent clumping. Drain quickly, shaking off excess water.

Heat bowls and combine tare

Preheat serving bowls by pouring in hot water briefly, then discarding. Put roughly 35–40 ml (2–2.5 tbsp) tare into each bowl (adjust to taste). Ladle 600–700 ml of hot broth per bowl (for a large, rich bowl use 700 ml). Stir to dissolve tare into the broth.

Assemble ramen

Place cooked noodles into the broth. Arrange 2–3 slices of warmed chashu on top, half a marinated soft-boiled egg per bowl (or whole if preferred), 2–3 tbsp menma, a sheet of nori leaning against the side, a sprinkle of roasted sesame seeds, a drizzle of garlic oil (about 1 tsp) and optional chili oil to taste. Scatter scallion whites and finish with scallion greens. Add a tiny drizzle of toasted sesame oil for fragrance. Serve immediately.