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Are you trying to eat healthier for 2016? Well.. then, sorry. This recipe ain’t for you.
My love for ramen started precociously, sitting at my third-grade desk in Phoenix, breaking up the deep-fried-and-freeze-dried once-were-noodles in their little cellophane bags, sprinkling the MSG-laden powdered flavor packet (this was, of course, before they were used as currency in Litchfield prison) on top of the little crunchy bits, shoving them in my face and shivering maniacally from a sodium high. I’m pretty sure I wrote a poem about it.. almost positive.
I pressed paused on my obsession with the noodles for another 18 years or so, until I found myself with a major celebrity crush.. on, yep.. you guessed it! Liam Hemsworth David Chang.
This David Chang. That’s right, people. On my “list”, sandwiched in between Clay Matthews and Benedict Cumberbatch (I had to super white-girl in there somewhere, you knew that.). Comfortingly–or not so comfortingly–I don’t thing I’m alone, though, seeing as how “david chang wife” is what Google suggests I search next.
Anyway, as I blew through episode of episode of The Mind of a Chef a few years back, I fell madly in love–with my eyes and ears–with steaming bowls of rich tonkotsu, chewy noodles, perfectly creamy soft-boiled eggs, meltingly tender chashu pork. We live in Memphis, so we were without any real ramen joints at the time, and I waited with little patience as one of our favorite restauranteurs here built and opened a izakaya. So I decided to make tonkotsu from scratch, having never actually tasted it before, and $30 in pork bones and 12 hours later, I had my first bowl of the perfect broth–ah! So rich, a little salty, full-bodied, it was love at first slurp. A loaded bowl of tonkotsu sounds good to me for just about any meal and was actually what I requested for dinner the day Leo was born! But making it at home is such a process.. one for which I have little patience anymore. And besides, if it doesn’t turn out amazingly well, you’re already so invested, you might just shed a couple tears (in theory……).
So I decided to combine two concepts gleaned from Chef Chang–the emulsification of fat in water that essentially makes a tonkotsu broth (and why it’s milky and not clear) and the use of bacon in infusing flavor to broths. Chang makes a rowdy bacon dashi, but I decided to take it one step further and essentially emulsify the bacon fat in water to mimic the richness of a tonkotsu in a fraction of the time.
The resulting broth is rich and smoky and salty, but not overly so on any of those profiles. The noodles absorb the flavor, the soft-boiled egg yolk offers a creaminess that I simply can’t (and won’t!) get over, the sautéed used bacon is surprisingly tender. It comes together quickly and is so, so satisfying. Don’t think that it’s too “bacony” either–it really isn’t! You can really dooty (yep) it up here, too, adding whatever sounds good and that you have on hand. At our ramen joint, I often load my bowl up with kimchi, spinach, bamboo shoots, pickled ginger, shiitake mushrooms, corn.. and at home with tofu, fresh mushrooms, and any veggies we have on hand.
Bacon Ramen
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
- 3 ¼ slices ginger peeled
- 6 slices bacon
- 2-3 tablespoons oil for frying
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- salt to taste
- 2 packages ramen noodles from dry, fresh, or frozen, cooked according to package
- chopped fresh spinach to serve
- togarashi Japanese spice blend, to serve
- green onions sliced, to serve
- soft-boiled eggs
- black sesame seeds to serve
Instructions
- Combine water, garlic, ginger, and bacon in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a strong simmer/low boil. Let cook together for 30 minutes.
- Strain out aromatics and bacon and separate boiled bacon. Discard ginger and garlic. In a skillet over medium heat, add a glug of oil (vegetable, if you’re into that; olive; coconut–whatever, really, as long as it doesn’t have a very strong taste) and fry bacon until browned. Add salt to re-flavor your bacon. Remove from heat and slice into bite-size pieces.
- Add soy sauce and mirin to broth then salt to taste. Place noodles in serving bowl and ladle broth over. Garnish with desired toppings and serve.
- Soft boiled-egg, to serve. I follow this method but cook about 6 minutes instead of 9. Click here.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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This looks amazing! I’m excited to try it! Silly question….do you peel the ginger before slicing or just throw the slices in there unpeeled? Thanks so much!
Peel it first!
Instead of water,would beef or chicken broth be better?
It would definitely give it more flavor! I would use pork broth if you have it to go with the bacon, but chicken or beef or even vegetable broth would help too!
This came out great. I actually followed your directions. At the 24 minute mark soft boiled my egg for a few minutes in the same pot. Pulled everything out. Added my noodles and cooked them for 5 minutes. Added a few drops of soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Turned the heat off and added the sauce packets from the instructions. Poured it all in a bowl. Cracked my egg sliced it in half and added it the the bowl. Looked and tasted as good as some of the restaurants. Thanks
I’m so glad!! And thank you for sharing your details. Great ideas!!
I really want to try this(it sounds delicious, and i want to star learning to make home ramen of all styles) , but just out of curiosity on step 1 is the 30 min boil covered or uncovered
Uncovered!
Hi!
This sounds amazing and I want to try to make it tonight, but being Swedish, I have to convert the measurements to metric. I’ve managed all of them except for the ginger. Is it 3 & a quarter inch slice of ginger (8 centimeter) and how thick would it be?
Also, have you ever tried this with adding fresh mushrooms in with the garlic, ginger and bacon and letting them cook in (before discarding with the aromatics)
Hi! The measurement is for three slices that are about 2cm thick 🙂 I’ve not tried adding fresh mushrooms during the aromatics phase but I bet that would be delicious. Dried shiitake might be even better!
Cook bacon in a skillet. use the bacon grease in the broth. Please don’t boil bacon then fry it and add salt to it, that is absurd.
So, since you want to emulsify the fat from the cured pork belly, it’s absolutely critical to boil the bacon first for the broth. Frying it later simply prevents waste and actually results in a very chashu-inspired pork. Frying the bacon and adding it to the ramen broth would result in a very flavorless, fatless soup 🙂
I think a lot of folks don’t understand the difference between pouring fat into soup and emulsifying. It’s a massive difference in texture and flavor. Well done.
Thanks so much, Chris!
“but I decided to take it one step further and essentially emulsify the bacon fat in water to mimic the richness of a tonkatsu in a fraction of the time.”
HOLY SHIT you are a genius. I think I love you. And also, as a born-Wisconsinite, I get the Clay Matthews thing. I just do. He’s basically a corn-fed Jason Mamoa, if you think about it.
Anyway… well you have given me something to be excited about as I meal plan for the week. Can’t wait to try this out.
Ha! I’m so glad you get me. I always say that if my husband is going to force me to watch football all the time, I’m completely justified in commenting on the shapeliness of the players glutes, right? Pretty sure that’s real. Pretty sure.
This recipe is wonderful! My only regret is that it really does make 2 servings only. Question: When cooking the noodles, I did NOT use the seasoning packet that came with the noodles. That was the intent, right?
That’s exactly right! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
The ramen just got better and better eating it . I wish I could make it spicier tho. The bacon broth was super rich
I’m so glad you liked it! Try slicing 1-2 Thai bird’s eye chiles or 1 red jalapeño and simmering that along with the bacon for a spicier broth 🙂
Welp, I’M not trying to eat healthier in the new year, and I’ve never tried BACON ramen before, so clearly, I need to try this immediately. Done!
Do it do it do it do it do it!!!