Black Garlic Buta-men (jiro-style Ramen) / 豚麺・二郎系ラーメン Recipe

Blanch bones

Place pork bones in a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes to remove impurities. Drain and thoroughly rinse bones and pot to remove scum.

Render fat and brown aromatics

In a separate heavy pot, add the pork fatback and melt over medium heat until fat renders and pieces brown lightly, about 10–15 minutes. Add halved onions, smashed garlic heads and ginger and continue cooking 5 minutes until aromatics have light color. This step builds a deeper, mellower pork flavor.

Simmer broth

Return cleaned bones to the pot with rendered aromatics. Add 6 L cold water, dried shiitake and konbu. Slowly bring to a gentle simmer (avoid vigorous rolling boil) and maintain a low simmer for 6–8 hours, skimming foam occasionally. After 2 hours, remove konbu. Continue simmering until stock is rich and milky in color.

Add umami components and season

During the last 20 minutes of simmering, add katsuo flakes and simmer 5 minutes then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot. Return strained broth to gentle heat and add light soy sauce, mirin and salt. Adjust seasoning to taste — the finished broth should be rich, fatty, and savory but drinkable.

Finish with rendered pork fat

Stir in 60–80 g of reserved rendered pork fat (kept warm). Keep broth hot until assembly.

Make black garlic oil (mayu): In a small saucepan over very low heat, gently warm the neutral oil. Add peeled black garlic cloves and cook at the lowest heat for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cloves break down and oil darkens but does not burn. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Blend the garlic and oil into a smooth paste or strain to keep an oil infused with black garlic flavor and color. Stir in 1 tbs sesame oil. Reserve about 3–4 tbs black garlic oil per bowl for finishing (roughly 60–80 ml total for 4 bowls).

Prepare garlic paste: Smash fresh garlic cloves (about 6 tsp worth) with a pinch of salt into a smooth paste. Keep covered until assembly. This is the strong fresh garlic characteristic of Jiro-style.

Prepare chashu (if not pre-made)

If making chashu: roll and tie a pork belly or shoulder piece (about 700–900 g) and braise in a mixture of 200 ml soy sauce, 200 ml water, 100 ml mirin, 50 g sugar, smashed garlic and ginger for 2–3 hours until tender. Cool, slice thickly into two oversized slices per serving. Keep warm.

Blanch vegetables

Bring a separate pot of water to a rolling boil. Blanch the chopped cabbage for 30–60 seconds, then add bean sprouts and blanch together for 30–45 seconds until just wilted/crisp-tender. Drain thoroughly and keep hot. Jiro-style typically piles the cabbage and bean sprouts on top of the noodles.

Cook noodles

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cook thick ramen noodles according to package/fresh noodle instructions (usually 2–4 minutes) until chewy and al dente. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Drain well, shaking off excess water.

Assemble bowls

Preheat 4 ramen bowls. Divide noodles evenly among bowls. Ladle hot pork broth over noodles (about 500–600 ml per serving), leaving space on top for toppings. Mound a generous portion of blanched cabbage and bean sprouts atop the noodles (Jiro-style is generous with vegetables). Place 2 thick slices of pork chashu per bowl on the side or atop the mound.

Add fats, oils and aromatics

Spoon 1–2 tbs warm rendered pork back fat onto each bowl (about 20 g). Add 1–1.5 tbs black garlic oil per bowl, drizzling it over the broth. Place 1½ tsp fresh garlic paste on top (adjust to taste) — the signature Jiro garlic punch. Add menma (bamboo shoots) alongside, sprinkle optional sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Serve

Serve immediately while piping hot. Encourage diners to mix black garlic oil and garlic paste into the broth to disperse flavor. Provide extra black garlic oil, garlic paste and pork fat at the table if desired.