This post may have been a year in the making, but I've been working on this tonkotsu ramen for the better part of the last decade. In case you haven't been indoctrinated into the wonderful world of ramen, Tonkotsu broth is the Holy Grail of noodle soup broths. It's thick, creamy and nearly white in color from pork marrow bones that have been simmered to smithereens.
Given the availability of reasonably good frozen ramens, and the plethora of shops specializing in the one bowl meal, most sane people in Japan don't undertake the challenge of making ramen at home from scratch. I don't know if I'm just crazy or if it's my fearless American spirit, but at some point in college, it occurred to me that I could make the one bowl wonder that got me through many an all-nighter... from scratch.
My first attempts were pale watery excuses for ramen. Actually, they were more like noodles in pork soup. Over the years, my attempts yielded broths that were too porky, too brown, or too canned-meat tasting. Eventually, I got the soup to a place where you could pass it off as ramen to the less experienced palate (which was when I started writing this post), but it never quite nailed the nuanced balance of meat, aromatics, and body.
So how did I figure it out? During my recent trip to Japan, I had many bowls of ramen, each with its own distinct character and personality. Some used chicken stock, others included pork. I even had one ramen that was made of tuna stock. I think I was in the middle of a bowl of chicken consommé ramen with bacon, mozzarella and fried burdock on top when it occurred to me that perhaps limiting myself to a 100% pork broth wasn't the right approach for the type of stock I was trying to create.
I had another epiphany at Ramen Stadium, in Fukuoka, where I hopped from restaurant to restaurant, gorging on Tonkotsu Ramen. Many of the broths had a dark oil that I'd always assumed was sesame oil. Upon closer inspection, some of the soups revealed caramelized bits of onion that were nearly burnt. The research of Louis Camille Maillard came to mind and I realized that a lot of the nuances in the broth were not coming from the meat, but from the caramelized aromatics in the broth.
Back at home, with bags of chicken and pork bones in hand, I set to work recreating the flavors and memories while they were still fresh in my mind. And the results? Well, let's just say I won't be standing in line for hours outside Ippudo this winter. To say it's better than Ippudo's would be a stretch, but does it make your lips sticky with collagen? Yes! Does it have little creamy nibbles of pork fat floating in the broth? Certainly! Does it put a big grin on your face when the steaming bowl is set in front of you? Hell yea!
Mission accomplished.
The toppings are up to you, but I usually go with the standards like chashu, menma , woodear and scallions. If you want some chashu similar to Santouka Ramen's Toroniku, here's a recipe for my version. To give a Kagoshima flair, I finish each bowl with a drizzle of mayu (black garlic oil). It's technically burnt garlic and it's not something you'd want to eat alone, but mixed into tonkotsu ramen, it's divine!
This recipe makes enough Tonkotsu base for 6-8 bowls of ramen (depending on how much water you add), and the Tonkotsu Ramen recipe below makes 2 bowls.
Next, I need to find some kansui so I can tackle the noodle making as I'm not super happy with the noodles I get in Chinatown.
Recipe
Tonkotsu Ramen
Ingredients
- 2 pig trotters (cut in half lengthwise)
- 1.5 pounds pork leg bone (cut into several pieces)
- 1.5 pounds chicken bones
- 2 inch knob fresh ginger (sliced thin)
- 1 small head garlic (trimmed but whole)
- 1 large onion (sliced thinly)
- 1 teaspoon white peppercorns
- ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
- 5 cloves garlic grated
- 3 cups Tonkotsu base (from recipe above)
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon strained braising liquid from chashu
- 2 cloves garlic finely grated (not pressed)
- 1 - 2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon mirin
- ⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds coarsely ground
- 2 tablespoons fatback finely minced (salted pork fat)
- ½ batch fresh ramen noodles
- 2 teaspoons mayu (from recipe above)
- sliced chashu
- 2 scallions finely chopped
Instructions
- Fill a pressure cooker ⅔rds of the way with water and bring to a boil. Add the pig trotters to the boiling water and cook until you stop seeing red blood come out of the bones (about 10-15 minutes). The idea is to draw out as much of the gunk as possible into this first batch of water. Transfer the trotters to a bowl of cold water then repeat with the leg bones and chicken bones (you can use the same water).
- Dump the now very dirty water down the drain and wash the pot. Scrub any dark brown scrum off all the bones and rinse them thoroughly. Return the cleaned bones to the pot and cover with water (the water should come up an inch above the top of the bones). Bring the pot to a boil and skim off any chunks or foam that floats to the surface. Keep doing this until you don't seen any more foam or scum floating up. This will take about 30 minutes.
- While the bones are going, Heat ½" of oil in a pot over medium heat and add the head of garlic and ginger. Fry this until they are browned and shriveled up. Use a slotted or wire mesh to transfer the ginger and garlic to a bowl. Add the onions to the oil and fry these until caramelized and shriveled. Add the fried onions to the ginger and garlic and set aside.
- Once the stock is scum-free, add the caramelized ginger, garlic, and onions, along with the white pepper to the stock. Affix the pressure cooker lid and cook on high pressure for 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, cover with a lid and cook at a boil for 5-6 hours (you may need to check and add water periodically, the bones should be mostly covered in water).
- Once the pressure is released use tongs to remove and discard all the bones. Remove any chunks of pork and set aside for another use. Strain the stock into a bowl and skim off any excess fat.
- To make the black garlic oil, add the sesame oil into a small saucepan along with the grated garlic. Put the pan over medium low heat and let the garlic cook stirring occasionally until it is very dark brown. When the garlic is very dark, turn the heat down to low and let it cook until it is black.
- As soon as it hits black, turn off the heat and transfer the hot oil and garlic to a heatproof bowl. Let this mixture cool down completely. Add the cooled oil to a blender or food processor and blitz until there are no visible garlic particles left and the oil is uniformly black.
- It will taste burnt and slightly bitter, but this is okay as you only add a little bit to each bowl. Put it the oil in a container and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.
- Heat the tonkotsu base in a sauce pan. In a bowl whisk together the tahini, chashu liquid, grated garlic, salt, mirin and white pepper. Add this to the hot broth and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Bring to a simmer, then add the sesame seeds and pork fat and whisk to combine.
- Split the cooked noodles between two bowls. Pour the tonkotsu soup over the noodles. Top with chashu, scallions and whatever else you want to add. Finish the ramen with a drizzle of mayu on each bowl.
Notes
- To get the creamy white soup it's important that you use pork leg bones and the trotters. The white color comes from the marrow and collagen in these parts. Using other types of pork bones such as ribs or neck bones will not give your soup the richness or color.
- Don't omit the fatback (salted pork fat). Most of the fat from the stock gets skimmed out, and the fat added at the last minute is what gives the soup it's rich "sticky" quality. By whisking small bits of minced fatback in at the end, you create an emulsion of soup and fat, so it makes the soup nice and creamy without being greasy. If you're having a hard time finding it, try asking for it at a butcher.
- The onions should be a deep brown, but they should not be burnt, if they are browning unevenly, turn the heat down, so they brown more slowly.
- Tahini is not the same as toasted sesame paste. It should be light beige in color and have a thick pourable consistency. If your grocery store doesn't carry it, try finding a Middle Eastern or Indian grocery store. I use a brand called "Al Wadi" that comes in a plastic container with a green label and lid and has a relatively mellow flavor. If you can't get tahini you can also grind your own sesame seeds until you have something resembling runny peanut butter.
- Salt has different levels of salinity depending on the type and brand. Even amongst kosher salt, Morton's for example is much more salty than Diamond Crystal (which I use). Most recipes deliberately go low on the amount of salt you should use so you don't accidentally over salt your dish. If you feel like it needs more salt, by all means, add more salt.
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Buck says
Made this twice, first attempt was great, But second attempt Sucess. Luckily I have a great asian market here in dallas that had everything I needed! Thanks for the recipe Marc! I'm Truely inspired, And my house smells like a ramen shop almost every weekend!
Gordon says
My attempt didn't come out so good - but I'm going to try again soon. Any idea how to recreate the amazing ramen from ichiran (hakata tonkotsu) or tenkaippin (chicken)?
Ishume says
Excellent posting.
I have been searching for a good ramen recipe for many years...Just to see if I can entertain myself with this home cooked hearty soup and noodle. I have not used any fat back which, I believe, will thicken the soup considerably but I made the original stock thicker, which came from pork back and rib. Caramelized onion, onion and garlic mostly give the aroma and flavor to the soup as you mentioned.
Let me try with leg bones and fat back in the next time.
Again thx for the great posting.
Marc Matsumoto says
Fatback is a block of salted pork fat (you could also use italian
"lardo") think of it as ham made from the fat. It adds richness and
body to the soup at the end.
xnanodax says
Hey Marc 🙂 Thank you for another awesome recipe!
Does the fatback come from the stock? Or should I buy this?
Thank you so much!
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad you liked it! If you mince the fatback small it will almost
completely dissolve, but there will still be little specks of fat you
can see. The idea isn't to have fat floating on top, but to emulsify
it with the soup to make it richer.
Laura says
my girlfriends and i spent the entire afternoon making it and although it did not turn out as milky white as your picture and we only had 4 bowls of soup, we were really pleased with the results and happy to have another successful cooking project under our belts. I forgot to add some water after the straining the broth from the pressure cooker, so our broth was very rich and well seasoned. i used trotters, pork hocks and chicken wings for the bones. thanks for sharing your recipe! oh yes, is the fatback supposed to melt into the broth? or do they stay as little squares in the soup?
Laura says
Thanks for your response. I prefer to do it in the pressure cooker so it'll cut down on time. I might just have to use less water and add more water after straining the bones. I might do this as a project this weekend, and will let you know how it turns out!
Marc Matsumoto says
I think mine may have been an 8 qt, but I can't remember and I'm not
at home this week and next so I can't check. You can do this without a
pressure cooker but you'll need to triple the cooking time.
Laura says
Just curious - what size pressure cooker did you use? I have a 6 quart, but am concerned that it will not contain all those bones 🙂
Pascal says
Hello there!
I just wanted to tell you that I loved reading the story behind it, I loved reading how to make it and all. Problem is I'm sharing my kitchen with 7 other people; I'll have to wait till I get my own place (student now).
Anyway, I love reading your stuff, thank you 🙂
Take care
Marc Matsumoto says
To be honest I'm not entirely sure. Too many trotters may add too much
collagen and the soup may end up way to thick. I guess you could try
replacing the leg bones with half trotters half chicken bones.
Marc Matsumoto says
The tonkotsu base, won't be totally white, it will be a creamy beige
color. It won't turn as white as in the photo until you add the tahini
and fatback. Feel free to email me if that doesn't answer your
question.
Tlauver says
I haven't yet been able to find pork leg bones, but I've certainly found trotters. Would it okay to substitute more trotters for the leg bone, or would that throw off the flavor too much? Thanks! Awesome recipe 🙂
moriz says
Hello!
Thank you very much for this great recipe!
I'm trying to make tonkotsu ramen right now, and i've got a little difficulty to get this white colore of the stock. I used pork leg bones aswell as the pig trotters, cleaned the bones well, and skimmed any scum off the surface, but still after long time of cooking my stock is more brown in colore then white.
Do you have any idea what could i have done wrong?
Thanks for the reply and thanks again for this great recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
The leg meat is great for braising, so you could get the whole leg and
use the meat for something else. I'm pretty sure the cut I'm talking
about is the bone from the hind leg. Ham hocks are also part of the
leg bone, except if the ham has been smoked or cooked (most hams are),
the marrow in the bone will have rendered out a lot of the fat, which
is where the soup gets it's creaminess from, so I'm not sure it will
work as well. It was quite an adventure to figure it out in the first
place and I tried all kinds of cuts and bones before settling on the
leg and trotters, so I know what you're going through.
Alex says
I did find a local pig farmer but he only sells bone-in meat only, which means that I could buy the bone-in meat but would have to play the part of the butcher or take it somewhere. With that being said, do I want the front legs or the back legs? Are ham hocks the same thing as leg bones and could those be used? I looked up a butcher diagram and it looks like the hock is part of the leg but not the entire leg. This has definitely proved to be an adventure and understand why you wanted to document all of this on online! 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
The smoked bones will definitely change the flavor. Do you have any
local butchers or pig farms near you that can get you the bones? Maybe
at a farmers market? Since they aren't very popular sellers most
butchers won't display them, but if you ask ahead of time, they can
usually set them aside for you when they butcher a whole pig.
Alex says
Marc... thanks so much for putting this together. I'm not a vegetarian but do believe that we should treat the animals we eat with respect and dignity. In my household, we purchase humaenly farmed animal products. So, finding the bones has been difficult to say the least. I did go to my local Whole Foods where they do have the pork leg bones but they are pre-smoked. Do you think that these would work? My initial thought is that it would change the flavor of the broth but I seem to be running out of options. Any thoughts?
Marc Matsumoto says
The wings should work fine:-) Yep, after you do the first boil to get
rid of the extra blood, you put everything back in a pot of clean
water (you'll still need to skim it for about 20 minutes as more scum
will come up, but most of the really nasty stuff will be gone). As for
the pork belly, it's up to you whether you remove the skin or not. In
Japan they would remove it (and the extra fat), but in China they
would leave it on.
serissime says
Hey again! I am about to start the broth tomorrow! I ended up getting 2 sliced pig trotters, and several pounds of pork *knuckles.* I asked around several places (including ethnic markets and on-site butchers) and no-one had pork marrow bones, only beef. (I got the impression that I would have to preorder for a slaughter date, and I'm not sure if they would do less than a 40lb case.) Also, no one had any chicken frames or bones. I did make chicken wings the other day and have a few wing-tips, as well as about a pound of leftover raw wings. Think I can use that as my chicken? I figure I'll just strain the meat and everything out anyways.. and wings must have marrow too! Also, when everything is done being boiled for scrum, and you say to put the bones back in, you include the trotters, right? Just making sure 🙂
I couldn't find any pig cheek, just beef--but I did buy some pork belly. What I got has the skin left on... I should take it off before I make the chashu, right? And the ~1in thick layer of fat between skin and meat too, I would think.
Anonymous says
Hey Marc,
Yeah i had to omit the tahini and i used cooked fat back, so that might explain it! Will definitely try again with those two. thanks again!
Marc Matsumoto says
If your butcher carries pork, they should have the leg bones and feet.
If not, try a latin american or chinese grocery store. As for the pork
in Chashu, it's traditionally made with pork belly so that will work
just fine. I would not recommend using beef for ramen as it will have
a very different flavor. If you have trouble finding pork products,
chicken will produce a closer flavor than beef.
serissime says
I'm really excited to make this. I asked some questions about noodles on the noodle page, but I have another question. I read your chashu page and I don't remember ever seeing pig cheek in the store. I do know that my favorite butcher has beef cheek. I think they might have pork belly sometimes. Which would be better, beef cheek or pork belly? I also might need to use beef femur for the pig bones, not sure. Do you think that would be too different? I will have to actually ask the butcher to see if they have other stuff in the back or could specifically save me some when they slaughter. Anyways, thanks! I'm drooling now
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm usually all for cutting corners to make something 95% as tasty but with
much less effort, but unfortunately there's no shortcuts to be had here
(unless you just buy packaged ramen.
Rumraisin4me says
This is great. But is there a slightly simply (less ingredients) version of the soup base and ramen that's maybe 50% easier but only about 15% less awesome?
This seems to be a recipe for the perfect tonkotsu ramen, but I'd like a recipe that has the best balance of easy to make vs awesome tasting. Thanks!
Kathy says
Thanks for the quick reply!
I made the actual tonkatsu broth today (I seem to only have time to do a part a day >_>;;) and the sidefat (I couldn't find fatback anywhere - Whole Food's, Meat Shop or the grand asian market) and tahini definitely toned down the color but it was still more of a light-medium caramel brown. It was still good though!
I'm wondering if I didn't cook the bones long enough. I used a pressure cooker but my mother fussed about the pressure so it was more low-medium (although I'm not really sure how to gauge it... it's the same pressure she uses to make sweet peanut soup). So I tried to make up for that by pressure cooking 2.5 hours.
The chashu was absolutely delicious though. Thanks for putting all these recipes together!
Marc Matsumoto says
I used golden, but black would give it a darker color, interesting idea!
Chocolatesa says
What type of sesame oil do you use for the mayu? Black or golden?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kathy, The femur bone should be right. Did you do the double boil for the
bones? It's possible the onions were over caramelized, but I get them pretty
dark brown when I do it.
Kathy says
This is probably a stupid question but does it make a difference what sort of pork leg bones are used? I picked up pork femur bones but also noticed some pork legs (not the feet) but with the flesh/skin still on (similar to the package of pork feet).
My stock is more of a rich brown than pale cream color (chicken bones, pork femur bones & pork trotters). But I possibly caramelized the onion too much if the bones weren't the issue.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lo, what kind of pork bones did you use? If you included pork trotters
(the feet) the stock should have been pretty white before you added
anything. Also, from your post it sounds like you omitted the tahini and fat
back. Both those ingredients add to the whiteness of the stock. You should
be able to get tahini in any middle eastern grocery store. If you can't you
can make your own by grinding toasted sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle
until it forms a smooth paste. As for the fatback, you can just use raw pork
fat, but it's essential that it has not been cooked (once its cooked most of
the fat has rendered out and it will not give you the creamy mouthfeel ramen
is supposed to have).
Anonymous says
Hey,
Thanks a lot for your recipe, and the site. Been reading for a while and it's been a great source of inspiration. I made my first batch of the year at the weekend following your recipe fairly closely. One thing though, I still couldn't get the broth to be as white as it is in your pictures, or as I remember Tonkotsu being when I lived in Japan. Is the whiteness really just down to the bones? If so i'm a bit confused as to what went wrong... the soup was more brownish, as it's been before when I made purely pork bone soups (I have an unhealthy fascination with Ramen Jiro, which is a Tokyo version of Tonkotsu heavy on pork bones and garlic).
Anyways, if you have any tips/advice on getting the soup white it'd be appreciated but apart from that thanks a lot. Definitely the best batch I've made so far and definitely gonna continue to interpret your recipes with the left over soup 😉
Here's a post on it https://www.lo-la.co.uk/2011/01/10/the-first-ramen-batch-of-2011/
Be well
Lo
Marc Matsumoto says
Awesome glad to hear it. It is time consuming, but you can freeze the
leftover tonkotsu base, so the next few bowls shouldn't take you quite as
long:-) The recipe is still evolving on my end so I'd love to hear what you
do with it next time!
mcouperide says
For New Years Day 2011 I decided to try out this ramen recipe, including the homemade noodles. I spent four hours yesterday gathering all the ingredients (most difficult to find was the kansui for the noodles - I drove to four different Asian stores to find it. I never did find the pork cheek for the chashu), and five hours today standing in the kitchen cooking everything. My wife thought I had gone nuts (she is herself a fantastic gourmet chef and does all the cooking, usually. I realize now that I am soooo lucky).
Considering I spent 9 hours gathering stuff and and preparing two bowls of ramen, it did ocurr to me that we could have driven up to New York (from suburban DC), stand in line at Ippudo Ramen, and driven back, probably in the same or less time.
My resulting ramen was a respectable accomplishment for a first attempt. Maybe not quite as savory and robust as Ippudo, but actually more healthy-tasting, and pretty damn good tasting at that. Even my wife was impressed.
I pretty much followed your suggested recipes for everything, including the mayu. I have some ideas for modifications the next time I venture to try again. But thank you for your recipes; they are spot on!
Marc Matsumoto says
Do you have a butcher in town (not at a supermarket)? They should have a
supply of bones from the chickens they debone. As for the pork, butchers
should also have those too. They most likely won't have them on display
since it's not really something people usually buy, but if you ask them,
they should be able to set some aside for you the next time they butchering
chickens/pig. Pork shanks should work, but how much meat is on them? You
really want the bones more than the meat. If you have a Chinatown near you a
Chinese butcher should have no problem getting you what you need (the might
even have them out in the case).
Skye says
I've been going nuts trying to find the bones for this. Where/how on earth do you acquire a pound and a half of chicken bones? Will chicken backs work? And I can't pork leg bones, either. Any idea how many pounds of pork shanks would translate to enough bones?
Jacob Estes says
I read this recipe a few weeks ago, and thought it was interesting, but didn't really make any plans to actually make it. Then, I was browsing a grocery store I haven't been to in a couple years and noticed they have pig's feet packaged up with the other meat. I've never seen them raw like that!
Anyway, I've never made stock or broth before (well, not for the purpose of having broth), and so this is a lot of firsts for me. It's on the stove as I type this, and so far it's looking good.
Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks! I wouldn't reheat the base stock, just use as much as you need
at a time. For freezing, I usually portion out serving size amounts
into tupperware and freeze, should last for months frozen. As for the
fridge, it should keep for about a week.
joe says
This is beautiful! How long do you think the gelatinous stock will last in the fridge/freezer/through multiple reheats?
Marc Matsumoto says
I've never worked with a pig head before so I'm honestly not sure what
to do with the brain. That said, you will definitely need to draw out
the gunk as you would with any other cut of meat that has blood in it.
You could also probably leave out the trotters, but I would not omit
the leg bones. I'm assuming that a pig head is going to weigh
significantly more than 1.5 pounds, so you'll also need to do the math
to figure out how you need to change the ratio of other ingredients.
Hope that helps.
Annesue says
I am rather curious about trying to make this, and I'm rather curious as to how to go about it if I want to use the pig's head as a base for the stock.
Would I need to draw out the gunk the same way as the trotters, or do I just start boiling it straight away and would I need to remove the brain if it's still attached??
I know you haven't posted a recipe with it, but I'm curious as to how you would have gone about it!
Kind regards and I can't wait to try out this amazing looking recipe!
Amanda says
Try Ryo's in Sydney's Crows Nest.
Marc Matsumoto says
Nope, by a long time I'm talking 15+ years. There are a ton of food
bloggers both in Sydney and Melbourne though, perhaps one of them
might know of a good place.
James says
Do you remember the name of the place in sydney? I'm about 3 hours from there in Canberra - its the capital but its such a small town. It seems even the places that do serve ramen rarely have tonkotsu in my experience. Its more miso ramen or shoyu ramen. Maybe the porky flavor isn't to everyone's taste!
Marc Matsumoto says
Where in Australia are you? It's been a long time, but I recall
getting some descent ramen in Sydney. As for the dough, you can hand
knead everything together.
James says
Thanks so much for this recipe. I live in Australia and to find any decent ramen, not to mention tonkotsu ramen, is near impossible. I became hooked on Tonkotsu ramen after living in Fukuoka and getting a taste for its mouth watering broth, so it seems I have no choice but to recreate the experience at home. I was wondering for the home-made ramen noodles, is there an alternative to mixing the ingredients for the dough if you don't have a mixer? Thanks again 🙂
Starboltkid says
thank you. No, I didn;t have a pressure cooker. What you said is exactly what happened...We shall see how it goes. Again, I truly appreciate you puttin gthis recipe out there for all of us who miss the tate of Delicious tonkatsu ramen.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi, sorry about that, the water in the directions was a hold-over from an
earlier iteration of the recipe (before I added the chashu braising liquid).
Did you make the soup base in a pressure cooker? If not, it's possible that
your soup has reduced too much while cooking. Were the bones still covered
in liquid when it was finished? The tonkotsu base recipe should yield about
10-12 cups of stock (assuming you made the full recipe), so you should be
able to add some water to your stock.
Starboltkid says
Question...in your recipe above for making the ramen...it says to mix the tahini, chashu liquid, etc....with water, but it doesn;t have the amount of water listed in ingredients...How much water do you use? I made everything last night and the soup base yielded 3 cups...only enough for two people. So, I am wondering ( haven;t tasted it yet) if it is concentrated and more water can be added without compromising taste. Thank you SO much for putting this recipe up. I lived in nagoya for 9 years and Ippudo was a twice weekly visit for me. Miss it!