My version of Ramen Broth is made from a combination of pork bones, chicken carcasses and bonito flakes. It takes a few hours to make but it is not very difficult. You just have to be patient and pay attention to detail.
See note 8 for making Ramen Broth using a slow cooker or a pressure cooker.
I also added instructions for how to make a soy sauce flavouring base to make shōyu ramen (soy sauce flavoured) soup. Also check out my Shio Ramen and Miso Ramen recipes.
Bring 4L/8.5pt of water in a pot to a boil. Add chicken and pork bones and boil for 10 minutes. A lot of scum will surface.
Drain and wash the bones under running cold water one by one, removing coagulated blood, guts along the spine of the chicken and other brown dirty bits.
Add the cleaned bones, the rest of the Ramen Broth ingredients excluding bonito flakes to a large pot with 4L/8.5pt water, and bring it to a boil.
When scum surfaces, occasionally scoop it off gently using a ladle (note 5). Do not mix the broth with the ladle when removing the scum as it will cause the broth to become cloudy.
After removing the scum 4-5 times, turn down the heat to simmer gently.
While simmering, remove scum a few more times in the beginning if required.
Simmer for 2 hours with a lid on but allowing for slight ventilation. Then add a bag of bonito flakes. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
Makes about 1.6L/3.4pt of soup (note 6).
Place soy sauce and mirin in a serving bowl.
Boil water in a sauce pan and cook noodles and drain.
Add Ramen Broth to the bowl, mix. Taste test the soup and adjust with salt.
Add the noodles. Place topping of your choice and serve immediately.
1. My soup bones were back bones chopped into small pieces. If you have pork leg bones, that’s fine, too. Ask the butcher to chop them in half.
2. Spice bags are usually made with muslin. If you have a piece of muslin, you can wrap bonito flakes in the muslin and tie the edges to make a bag just like bouquet garnis.
At Japanese grocery stores, you can also buy a pack of disposable dashi stock bags in which you can stuff bonito flakes and seal (see the photo below).
Alternatively, you can use a store-bought bonito dashi pack as long as it does not contain anything other than bonito flakes.
3. How to make konbu soy sauce (4 servings):
Cut 10cm x 5cm/ 4” x 2” konbu into about a dozen small pieces.
Add the konbu pieces and 120ml/4.1oz soy sauce in a jar.
Leave it in the fridge overnight up to 1 week.
If you don't have konbu, just use the same amount of soy sauce.
You can use konbu soy sauce in pace of pouring soy sauce to the dishes, e.g. Cold Tofu, Spinach Ohitashi Salad, Boiled Okura with Bonito Flakes.
4. Time to cook noodles varies depending on the type of noodles as well as your preference. Follow the instructions on the pack as a guide line.
5. Instead of a ladle, you can use a flat sieve with fine mesh like this.
6. Depending on the diameter of the pot and the temperature of the cooktop, the amount of the soup stock varies.
If the water evaporated too fast, add boiling water to increase the quantity. If too much soup stock is remaining, cook further to reduce the quantity.
7. The topping of shōyu ramen is based on my recipe, Easy Japanese Rame Noodles. You can of course change toppings to your favourites.
8. Making Ramen Broth using a slow cooker:
9. Making Ramen Broth using a pressure cooker:
10. Ramen Broth can keep for a week or so in the fridge as long as it is brought to a boil every day and quickly cooled down, then place it in the fridge. You can also freeze the broth. It is more convenient to divide the broth into a serving size and freeze.