You already know that Aogu and Koji like ramen. So, as something of a New Year's Resolution, I decided to make ramen for them. I don't mean make ramen noodles, I mean the broth and other accoutrements that make ramen the wonderful, fabulous, irresistable dish that it is (for some).What dedication I had! Though my new cookbook (given to me by my sister, Laurie, for Christmas) The Japanese Kitchen instructed me to start by boiling pork and chicken bones for seven hours, I was not deterred.
Though I had to prepare the chashu (barbequed pork) separately and with different seasonings, I did not give up.
But when I finally presented what you see above and breathlessly asked, "how is it?!!" and Aogu replied, "it's pretty good," I was unreasonably devastated. As he helpfully pointed out once I re-inflated, I shouldn't expect to make something so mysterious and tricky as ramen perfectly the first time. And in fact, we did improve it the next couple of times we ate it (with seven hours of boiling, etc. you better believe I made a LOT of ramen soup and chashu!), though we have yet to unlock the secret of tonkotsu--that is, pig bone marrow--ramen as made in Aogu's hometown of Kumamoto, Kyushu.
Maybe we'll have to study some ramen sites and see what we can learn. Or, if you know something about making ramen, please share!
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