Sapporo Ramen w/ Chashu and Black Garlic Oil: This ramen dish is topped with succulent chashu pork, buttered sweet corn, tender bok choy greens, menma (bamboo shoots), crunchy bean sprouts, and of course, the quintessential marinated soft-boiled egg. It’s garnished with fresh scallions and a light drizzle of aromatic black garlic oil. Of course, supporting all these different elements is the insanely rich flavor of the pork-based miso broth from Mike’s Mighty Good Ramen. Their savory soup bases and organic ramen noodles help to make home-made ramen achievable without the laborious task of creating a stock from scratch. Highly recommend you give it a try!
Preparing the ramen and broth, per package instructions, only takes about 3-5 minutes! What you decide to add on top to assemble your ultimate ramen bowl will obviously vary your prep/cook time considerably. I decided to just go for it all (haha), so the toppings took a bit of time to prepare. Anyway, I broke down the different component recipes in the comments sections, in case you were interested! Happy slurpin’!
🥚 Recipe for Marinated Egg:
Combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp brown sugar, and 6 tbsp water in a ziplock bag; mix by shaking and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan, boil water over medium-high heat (just enough water to cover eggs about 1”). Using a slotted spoon or ladle, lower eggs into water and cook for exactly 6½ min (for runny egg yolk or 7½-8 min for custard-like egg yolk), maintaining a gentle boil.
Remove eggs and transfer directly into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and leave for approximately 10 min.
Carefully crack the entire surface and peel off the egg shell. Place cooled eggs in sauce bag and seal tightly.
Marinate overnight (or up to 48 hours). Bring to room temp before serving.
🍖 Recipe for Chashu Pork Shoulder (sous vide):
Obtain boneless pork shoulder (aka pork butt) (request your butcher to cut a “shoulder roast” from the “money muscle,” located just opposite the bone end).
Combine 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp Kosher salt in a bowl and mix. Place pork shoulder in a ziplock bag and massage the salt/sugar mixture evenly into the meat (Note: add more salt/sugar depending on the size of meat, keeping it at a 50/50 ratio). Leave to cure in the fridge for 24 hours.
Remove roast from bag and toss the remaining liquid. With a paper towel, blot dry. Using twine, tie the pork roast at ½” intervals to form a nice cylinder.
In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine ¼ cup mirin, a 2” piece of fresh ginger thinly sliced, 2 cloves garlic (smashed), 2 green onions (white parts only, cut into ½” length), 1 tbsp sugar, and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add in ¼ cup soy sauce. Allow mixture to return to room temp.
Set up an immersion circulator and preheat sous vide water bath to 63°C (145°F).
Place the roast back into the ziplock bag and add the marinade mixture. Seal bag using the “water-displacement method.” Place in water bath and cook for 20-24 hours (depending on how soft you want your meat). Place in an ice bath to stop the cooking process, remove pork from bag, and dry with paper towels. Cut off the twine.
If textural contrast is desired, arrange pork on a sheet pan and broil for 1-2 min until edges are crisp and have nice brown color. Alternatively, if you wanna go pyro, use a handheld torch on all sides of the roast.
Slice the roast into ¼”-thick pieces and serve immediately (or store for later use).
Recipe for Black Garlic Oil (Mayu):
Mince about 8-10 large garlic cloves.
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, cook garlic in vegetable oil until it starts to brown, stirring frequently. Reduce to low heat once brown and continue stirring, until the garlic turns black (and quite sticky).
Add in ¼ cup sesame oil. Place mixture in blender and blend for about 1 min.
Strain the oil mixture through a fine mesh. Place in a glass jar to store.
