Japanese Shoyu Ramen Recipe
Shoyu ramen is a Japanese dish which consists of noodles in a soy sauce-based broth. Soy sauce is added to the broth which can be vegetable, meat or seafood and simmered low and long so that the flavor of the soy sauce infuses into the broth. Just before serving, noodles are added and topped before eating. It is enjoyed as a main meal.
‘Shoyu’ means soy sauce. Medium to thin curly noodles made from wheat are used because they absorb the flavor of the broth well. Typical toppings are chashu which is Japanese braised pork, green onions, fermented bamboo shoots known as nenma, nori seaweed and eggs.
There are many shoyu ramen variations across Japan. In Kitakaya the broth is slightly sweet and is made with pork and dried fish. In addition to the classic toppings, it is served with fish cakes.
In Hiroshima the broth is served chilled and popular particularly in the summer. It is served with light vegetables like cabbage and cucumber. In Onimichi, located in Hiroshima, shoyu ramen is served with thin or flat noodles.
The process for make authentic shoyu ramen is long and can take several hours to days.
Origin and Cultural Significance
Shoyu ramen originated in Japan quite recently, around the early 1900’s. It’s around the time the Chinese created ramen exploded in popularity though it had already been introduced from China some 60 years before.
It became a staple of Japanese cuisine after World War 2 when it became cheap to import wheat flour. Today shoyu ramen is considered one of Japan’s 4 major ramen styles. The others being, tonkatsu, miso and shio.
Japanese Shoyu Ramen Recipe
Shoyu ramen is a Japanese dish which consists of noodles in a soy sauce-based broth. Soy sauce is added to the broth which can be vegetable, meat or seafood and simmered low and long so that the flavor of the soy sauce infuses into the broth.
Ingredients
- Water - 12 qt
- Pork leg bones - 1⅓ lbs
- Onion (large, skin on, roots trimmed) - ½
- Garlic (skin on) - 5 cloves
- Ginger (skin on, sliced) - 1 knob
- Pork belly - 2 lbs
- Rendered chicken fat - 3.5 oz
- Long green onion (green and white parts divided) - 2
- Soup broth (reserved) - 2 cups
- Soy sauce - 2 cups
- Sake - ¼ cup
- Mirin - ¼ cup
- Kosher salt - 3 Tbsp
- Scallions – to taste
- Ramen noodles (freshly boiled) - 8 servings
- Menma (seasoned bamboo shoots) – to taste
- Nori – to taste
Instructions
- In a large stock pot (at least 12-QT) add 10-12 quarts water, pork leg bones, onion, garlic cloves and ginger.
- Turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, tie up the 2 lbs pork belly tightly with butcher twine to prevent it from falling apart.
- When the water starts to boil, skim off the foam and scum using a fine-mesh skimmer.
- Gently add the pork belly to the soup broth.
- Set the timer and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours on high heat (or medium-high heat at first, if the soup broth is close to overboiling).
- Keep skimming the foam off every now and then.
- 10 minutes before the 2-hour mark, reserve 2 cups (480 ml) of the soup stock for making the chashu sauce.
- If the starting liquid was 10 qts add the remaining two quarts and return to a boil.
- While the stock continues to cook, gather all the ingredients for the chashu sauce.
- To a large pot (about 5 qt) add the 2 cups reserved soup broth, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and kosher salt and stir all together to start the chasu.
- Bring it to a simmer over medium heat.
- Once simmering, turn off the heat and set aside.
- At the 2-hour mark, add to the stockpot the rendered chicken fat and the green parts of the long green onion reserving the white parts to use later.
- Set a new timer and cook, uncovered, for 1 HOUR on high heat.
- When the 1-hour timer goes off at the 3-hour mark, use a pair of tongs to carefully and gently remove the pork belly from the soup broth and transfer it into the large pot with the chashu sauce.
- Create a drop lid over the chashu by covering the entire area just above the liquid with a large piece of crumbled foil (this is called a drop lid)
- Bring it to a simmer.
- Once simmering, cook for 2 hours on low heat or simmer.
- Reduce the first stockpot to low heat and continue to cook, uncovered.
- Once in a while, spoon the sauce over the pork belly as it’s extremely tender and hard to flip over without breaking it.
- After 2 hours of cooking the chashu, carefully and gently remove the pork belly and transfer it to a tray.
- With a pair of scissors, cut and remove the butcher twine from the pork. (Try not to handle the too much because it is super tender and can easily fall apart)
- Cover the tray or plate with plastic and let cool completely.
- Chill the chashu (pork) well: Place it in the freezer for up to 1
hour until cold but not frozen) if serving it right away. If serving later the same day, or the next, chill overnight in the refrigerator. (It must be cold and firm, so it stays together when thinly sliced.) - Skim the chashu sauce to remove the fat and meat pieces.
- Transfer the sauce to a smaller pot. (This salty sauce is
called shoyu tare (sauce) and is the base for the ramen soup broth.) - When the 3-hour timer rings, turn off the heat.
- Using a large fine-mesh strainer, remove the spent bones and aromatics from the broth and discard.
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil to cook the noodles.
- Meanwhile, gather all the toppings.
- Heat the soup broth on medium heat until it’s piping hot.
- While the broth is reheating, prepare the ramen ingredients.
- Cut the green parts off from 2 green onions/scallions.
- Cut the green leafy parts in half lengthwise.
- Cut the reserved white parts of the long green onion in half widthwise, then cut them in half lengthwise.
- Thinly slice the white parts of the long green onion crosswise.
- Take the chashu out from the freezer or refrigerator.
- Hold the chashu steady using paper towel and thinly slice it
with a sharp knife, about ⅛ inch thick. - Loosen the dry noodles before cooking them.
- Once the water in the big pot is boiling, add 8 servings fresh ramen noodles and cook according to the package instructions (typically, 60–90 seconds).
- While cooking, stir and separate the noodles with chopsticks.
- Prepare the ramen bowls quickly, to each bowl, add 1–2 Tbsp of shoyu tare and 1 Tbsp chopped white part of the long green onion.
- Pour 1½ cups of the piping-hot soup broth into each bowl.
- When the noodles are done cooking, drain them well in a strainer, shaking it a few times to drain the water thoroughly.
- Transfer the noodles to the individual ramen bowls.
- Quickly arrange the chashu slices, menma, green onions, and
nori on top of the noodles. - Serve immediately.
