WHAT'S COOKIN?...Not the smoker thread...

[hollohas]

I've been cooking a bunch of new things lately, so time to revive the cooking thread.

Here's today's lunch. Tonkotsu ramen with Chashu.

This was my first go, so I made the chashu and tare, but I used a tonkotsu base for the broth, which was pretty darn good. Turned out awesome. I'm happy with the results, so next time I'll make the broth too.

[Mykidsdad]

That looks amazing!

[Irving]

Can you post the recipe?

[ChickNorris]

Can you post the recipe?

Or just invite me. That'd work too. ; )

[hollohas]

Don't have much of a recipe. I watched like 2 dozen YouTube videos and kinda followed what I thought was the best bet.

Here's the basic rundown for the Chashu. Although your best bet is to watch some videos of pros doing it.

- pork belly rolled into log and tied with butcher twine. Blanch in boiling water for 10 minutes to clean it out, dump water. ( I couldn't find a whole pork belly, only some VERY thick slices. So I rolled those)
- return to pot and add the following to pot. (Some people sear it, I didn't. Searing something before it braises in such a strong sauce seems like wasted time to me).
> 5 slices of ginger root
> one garlic bulb, cut in half
> 5 green onions
> 1/2 c water, 1/2 c sake, 1/2 c dark soy sauce, 1/2 c light soy sauce, 1/2 c mirin.
- bring to boil and put in oven to braise for 2-3 hours, turning periodically.

Let cool in pot. Once cool put pork and sauce into ziplock and refrigerator overnight. (Don't skip this or you won't be able to slice it thin for your ramen). You can reserve some of the cooking sauce separately to use as tare too. Some add fish sauce or dashi or some MSG to dress it up a bit.

Add some peeled soft boiled eggs to the bag too if you want some marinated eggs.

I used this base for my tonkotsu broth. By all accounts, it's pretty legit. I agree. Was pretty good. Wasn't far off from some of the good ramen shops around town.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K69ZK46...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Toppings to your liking. I used green onion, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, black fungus, eggs and crunchy chili flakes.

Slice your pork cold. Heat it in the broiler quickly or hit it with a torch. Put your tare and broth in a bowl, add cooked noodles and toppings. Slurp it up.

BTW - if you don't want to do all this and just want some ramen without all the fixins. Get some real ramen noodles at the Asian market along with that soup base. For under $2, you'll have ramen in 5 minutes WAY WAY better than the package stuff we're all used to.

[Irving]

Thanks, looking forward to checking it out when I'm home again.

[Mykidsdad]

Made the kid a birthday cake

[Mykidsdad]

Spring Fling Napoleon for Mother’s Day

Puff pastry with strawberries, blueberries, mango and whipped cream cheese pastry cream


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mykidsdad]

13 pounder fresh from the fryer

[Mykidsdad]

Apple pie came out lookin nice