Tonkotsu Ramen

Taste: Salty and savory; Cooking method: Boiling; Time: One hour; Difficulty: Advanced.

Detailed steps for making Tonkotsu Ramen

First, make the char siu. Prepare a square piece of pork belly. If you can’t find it, you can use pork elbow instead.

Remove the skin and cut into 1cm thick slices. Use the back of a knife to pound the meat to make it tender.

Use cotton thread to tie the meat tightly into a cylindrical shape.

Put it in a pan without oil and fry it slowly until golden brown.

To make the char siu sauce, add a ready-made sauce packet to half a pot of water, 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of cooking wine, 2 tablespoons of rock sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix well and add the pork belly. Cook over medium-high heat until boiling. If you have leftover sauce from previous dishes, you can use it directly.

Cover and simmer over medium heat for an hour, turning the pork belly over halfway through. After cooking, turn off the heat and cover the pot for one night. After removing it, let it cool. The residual heat in the pot will make the meat more flavorful. After the char siu is no longer hot, it can be refrigerated for an hour before slicing, which makes it easier to cut.

Next, prepare the tonkotsu broth. Blanch the pork bones, pig skin, and chicken legs in cold water to remove any impurities.

After rinsing, put them in a pressure cooker and fill it with water. Cook on low heat for 6 hours until the meat and bones separate and the broth turns white.

In another pot, boil the noodles until cooked, then drain and put them in a bowl.

Boil some bean sprouts as a side dish.

Pour the heated broth over the noodles and mix well. Add the char siu pork, boiled egg, chopped scallions, cooked corn kernels, and bean sprouts. Delicious Tonkotsu Ramen is ready!

If you find making the broth too troublesome, you can use instant broth instead to save time.

You can choose different side dishes to go with the noodles, such as char siu pork, boiled egg, vegetables, cucumber, corn, seaweed, wood ear mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms. A bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen is always a good idea!

The broth is rich and flavorful, and the smooth noodles are a perfect match. It’s super delicious!

It really does take at least 6 hours, or even 24 hours, to make a pot of rich and flavorful Tonkotsu broth. And you can’t turn off the heat halfway through. That’s the only way to make a delicious broth.

Give it a try!

You can freeze the broth for later use. If you don’t want to spend so much time making the broth, you can use instant broth instead.