Notes from my fourth attempt at Tonkotsu. This is a Shio Tonkotsu ramen.
Weekend Work
Italian Beef Sandwiches with Giardineira
Tonkotsu Adventure No. 3
This was our third attempt at making tonkotsu from scratch. The results of this effort were truly delicious in terms of the flavor and thickness of the broth. The only complaint we had was that it was a bit sticky. This stickiness is due to an imbalance in the broth: an overabundance of gelatin (thanks to Ramen_Lord for a brief explanation). *We tempered this by diluting the broth with water before serving, at about 1 part water : 3 parts broth. The broth did not suffer and we were very happy with the result.
Filipino Pork Adobo
We can’t get enough of this dish. As the vinegar cooks down, it turns into the most delicious tart sauce. Super easy. Super tasty.
Helpful resources:
- Burnt Lumpia Blog: I’m Gonna Git You Suka a primer on Filipino vinegars
- Epicurious Post about the wonders of Cane Vinegar
- Alternate Recipe: Salu Salo’s Pork Adobo (belly or shoulder)
- Alternate Recipe: TheWoksofLife’s Pork Adobo (shoulder)
- Alternate Recipe: Panlasang Pinoy’s Pork Adobo (belly)
James Osland’s Beef Rendang
This is a slightly modified version — with my own cooking notes incorporated into the recipe — of James Oseland’s Beef Rendang recipe shared on Saveur from his book Cradle of Flavor (W.W. Norton, 2006). Continue reading
Ramen_Lord’s Tonkotsu Ramen with Shoyu Tare
We have a mild obsession with Tonkotsu ramen. A few months back, we made our first ramen broth at home using the David Chang/Momofuku recipe – the one from his book, not online or Lucky Peach, which calls for 5 lbs meaty pork bones and 4 lbs chicken. After a weekend of boiling bones and roasting chicken backs, and cleaning an endless stream of dishes, it was a let-down. It didn’t have anything special going for it; it just sort of tasted like chicken, and the veggies were far too prominent. The tare that went along with it was just sort of fine, but seemed only to exist to mask the inadequacy of the broth, as opposed to enhancing it or adding another dimension to the bowl as a solid tare should do. I’m glad we tried it, but we won’t be making that again. Continue reading
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