Tonkotsu ramen
Photo: Andy Li · CC0

History

Tonkotsu ramen, the pork-bone broth style from Fukuoka, arrived in the United States through Japanese-American communities on the West Coast in the 1980s. San Jose's Japantown, one of the oldest surviving Japanese-American communities in the country, adopted ramen as its everyday lunch format, with counters on Jackson Street that served tech workers and local residents alike. The tonkotsu style, with its rich, collagen-thick broth and straighter noodles, became the dominant Japantown style and set the flavour expectation for South Bay ramen.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Soy, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 1 hrTotal 12 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1 kg pork trotters or knuckles, blanched
  • 500 g pork back fat
  • 4 litres water
  • For tare: 120 ml soy sauce, 60 ml mirin, 30 ml sake, 1 tsp sugar, simmered 5 min
  • For chashu: 500 g pork belly; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp sake; 2 tbsp mirin; 2 tsp sugar
  • 4 portions fresh ramen noodles or dried thin noodles
  • 4 eggs, soft-boiled 6 min and marinated in chashu braising liquid
  • Nori sheets, bamboo shoots, spring onions, sesame seeds for garnish

Method

  1. Blanch pork trotters in boiling water 5 minutes. Rinse well under cold running water.
  2. Place blanched trotters and back fat in a large pot. Cover with 4 litres cold water. Bring to a rolling boil and maintain it for the entire cook time. This aggressive boil emulsifies the collagen into the broth.
  3. Cook at full boil 8 to 10 hours, adding water to maintain level. Broth should turn opaque white and thicken to a milky consistency.
  4. Roll pork belly tightly, tie with kitchen twine. Braise in soy, sake, mirin and sugar with 400 ml water at 120C for 3 hours until very tender. Slice 5 mm thick.
  5. Strain broth through a fine sieve. Season each bowl with 2 tbsp tare, then ladle 350 ml hot broth over it.
  6. Cook noodles 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain and add to bowls. Top with chashu, marinated egg halved, nori, bamboo shoots and spring onions.

Tip from the editors. The rolling boil is the technique secret: tonkotsu broth only turns white and creamy if you maintain a vigorous boil, not a gentle simmer, throughout the cook.

Where to eat tonkotsu ramen

Tonkotsu ramen in San Jose

Kumako Ramen Japantown ★ 4.5

$ JapaneseJapantown

Kumako Ramen Japantown in San Jose is a perennial Metro Magazine best-ramen winner, serving tan tan and four classic ramen styles in Japantown.

TryTan tan ramen

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