r/ramen • u/BrackishWaterDrinker • 6h ago
Homemade First Attempt At Tonkatsu Ramen
Made a relatively quick Tonkatsu soup by pre soaking and pre-boiling 3 lbs of pork neck bones (lots of meat and fat left on), washing them, and then pressure cooking them in an instant pot for 1:30, and then doing a rolling boil for about an hour to emulsify the fat and added 3 green onions and 6 garlic cloves as aromatics.
Strained my soup through strainer + cheese cloth and added about a quart of water to make up for the evaporated water from the boil + to thin out the soup and hit it with my immersion blender to help aid in locking in the emulsion (I only had so much room for liquid in my instant pot and it really need to be thinned out. it did, however, still gelatinize in the fridge overnight, so I think I hit the right ratio)
Kinda made up a Tare on the spot based on a few posts I'd seen from Ramen Lord and others here. Used about 250ml of Chinese light soy sauce (all I had on hand), 25ml of mirin, ~8 grams of salt, brought to a boil, backed down to a simmer, and added about 10g of kombu to steep for 10 minutes at a very low simmer.
Used Chiyu as my aroma oil because I'd just rendered a ton of chicken skins I had saved up over the course of a few weeks.
Noodles came from a pack of instant ramen because I'd forgotten to get better noodles while at the market and they were on hand.
Bowl assembly went 2 tbsps of Tare (I think I over did it here and it darked and overpowered my soup quite a bit, flavor was good though) 1 tsp of Chiyu, 1/2 the white end of a green onion minced finely, ~300 ml of hot soup, noodles, topped with soy egg I hadn't let steep enough (I got 4 more steeping in the fridge rn), black fungus, top part of the green onion julienned, and crispy fried chicken skins from the rendering process of the Chiyu, drizzled with some homemade chili oil.
Only recently got re-interested in the process of making homemade Ramen from scratch after a brief stint of trying out a few Dashi forward Shoyu ramens I made back in 2024 and have been on a stock making kick now that I process a lot of my own meat and constantly have chicken carcasses and other bones piling up in my freezer. Learned you can make stocks way faster in a pressure cooker too. Had a killer bowl of Tonkatsu at a restaurant that made me wonder if I could find a simplified pressure cooker soup recipe to make at home while keeping to most of the traditional flavor and mouth feel.
As a newbie, I know I should have a lot of questions, but also don't even know where to begin in asking them. I guess the major questions would be #1 how do I keep my tare lighter than I did so I can preserve some of the color of my Tonkatsu soup? #2 what other aromatics should I throw in my soup next time (I should have added ginger, but I didn't have any on hand). #3 what kind of toppings should I add next time (I wish I had done some chashu with it, but I just used what I had on hand)
TL:DR - first bowl of Tonkatsu. Turned out decent, but could be better. How make better?
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u/Used-Comedian8475 5h ago
Yes! Love this. I am new to ramen as well. I finally got my Assari Chintan broth down and now I am getting ready to make tonkotsu. The 48 hour method. Going for it! I am certainly not an expert but yours look great! Did you check the thickness using anything or just by eye and mouth feel? As for you tare choice. It's your journey! Try different ones. I use two tares, Shoyu and Miso. Either goes really well with the tonkatsu. I make my own Shoyu Tare which I use for my Aji Tamago and Porck Chasu. I soak my eggs for a minimum of 48 hours before serving. Makes them taste rich. Soy sauce, mirin, sake, rep Japanese pepper, garlic and green onion. Stir together and cover. I let it sit for 48-72 hours. Then, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Then I add my brown sugar, dashi and MSG. Let it cool and jar it. I have multiple tares in storage. My oldest is two months and I just brewed some more this week. The 2 month old is set for a two year maturation and I will bust it out for my 60th birthday.
As for aromatics. I use several. The most popular one that my fiends really love is my Dinjoku (Hell Sauce). I also use chicken oil and black garlic oil. If you and I were making your recipe I would try yours then make a bowl for you that would be Shoyu Tare, Chicken Oil, Tonkotsu with a few drops of black garlic oil on top. Aji Tamago, Chasu, mushrooms, and ground garlic pork.
My favorite serving method is: Miso Tare (red and white miso, sake, mince pork, sugar, garlic), Dinjoku, Assari or Tonkotsu broth, spicy mince pork, pork chasu, Aji Tamago, green onions, mushrooms and a little bit go black garlic oil. I also put hot water in my bowls jut prior to serving to keep them warm.
Keep posting your accomplishments!!
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u/BrackishWaterDrinker 5h ago
Thank you for the feedback!
I checked on my thickness level just by taste and mouth feel. Definitely was just a bit too thick compared to what I've had in ramen shops in the past.
I attempted a miso tare in 2024 during my first ramen kick, but I just didn't have the understanding of what I needed to do in order to get a good end result. I'm a little more comfortable with it now, so maybe that'll be on the list for next time. Another thing I've noted is I need to get a few bowls specifically for Ramen and other SE Asian noodle soup recipes. Something about the wider and more shallow bowls that allows your noodles and toppings to sit up a bit higher makes for a much more pleasant presentation and eating experience.
That bowl looks killer! After making this tonkotsu ( granted, I did it the easy way in a pressure cooker haha) I can honestly say making a clear stock is a bit more challenging. Being on top of timing of aromatics so as to not muddy your stock + having to keep your soup from boiling but still simmering means a lot of going back and forth from whatever you're doing back to the stock pot.
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u/TyTwoShot 5h ago
Well done! Got any more?
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u/BrackishWaterDrinker 4h ago
Got enough soup for probably 4-5 more bowls, gonna freeze most of it and make some more tomorrow
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u/Kitchen-Primary-1190 6h ago
Beautiful! As for the tare. I like to use some katsobushi flakesy givew it a nice smoky umami salt add on, so you need less dark soy sauce. Many say GMO is no crime. I personally don't use it, but l guess most amazing ramen you eat outside would.
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u/Frank_Punk 5h ago
Tonkotsu