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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Marc Matsumoto says
While aluminum has never been shown to be a causal factor in Alzheimer's, it can none-the-less be toxic to humans in high enough doses. If it weren't for a very thin layer of aluminum oxide coating aluminum surfaces (naturally occurs when a freshly cut piece of aluminum makes contact with air) will easily corrode. Salts dissolved in water will corrode aluminum given enough time and heat will accelerate this. Also, while aluminum is a very good conductor of heat, this can lead to hot spots in your pan especially when you're using it on a gas stove. All this is to say that I typically try to avoid aluminum cookware when I can. Stainless steel (though heavier and more expensive) is less reactive and conducts heat more evenly.
evan tomas says
Hello Marc, Glad to have found your blog and will most definitely be trying this recipe out soon! Just wanted to know if I can use an aluminum stock pot. I purchased a large one for a good price from a restaurant supply store, but have read that aluminum can give on a metallic flavor to stocks. Thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Andreas, it would be best to expose the marrow. You can put the bones in a thick plastic bag and use a hammer to break them in half.
Andreas Grüter says
Hi Marc.
This is such a great blog you have. I have very little experience in the kitchen but i really want to try to make this tonkotsu ramen. I got some pork leg bones, trotters and chicken bones from my local butcher. The trotters were cut, but do I have to cut the bones as to expose the marrow or do I leave them whole?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mikio, the term "katamen" usually refers to the the cooking the noodles for a shorter amount of time, which results in firmer noodles. They're not actually different noodles.
Mikio says
Hello Marc. Congrats on your blog, great recipes and fabulous pictures.
Just tried your tonkotsu recipe last night and as a nikkei former exchange student in Fukuoka I must say that you really hit the spot with this one.
Before last night, I had been craving for a bowl of tonkotsu ramen for years. I went to almost every ramenya in town but their tonkotsu didn't even come close to the real thing. I was starting to think that it was impossible to eat a real tonkotsu ramen outside of Japan.....So you can imagine how grateful I am for this recipe! Thanks for your efforts!
Just a quick one: I was wondering if you know how they make the hard noodles (katamen) that the ramenya usually offer in northern Kyushu.
Greetings from Lima, Peru
CindyC says
This is Awesome! you're Awesome! thx very much 🙂
Tristan Leterrier says
if you are having troubles to get the creamy texture, here's a tip:
discard the bones after cooking, and use a barmixer to emulsifiate the stock,then filter it.
within 30sec you'll get a super creamy white soup
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jaren, the base will have a light tan color and will not look super creamy until you add the tahini and pork fat to the final soup. The collagen from the trotters is part of the equation but you really need the marrow from the leg bones for the richness.
Jaren says
hey marc! i followed the recipe to prepare the broth but did not have the creamy soup base =( it looked a little darker from the caramelised onions, garlic and ginger. the pork leg bone is the knuckle that the butcher gave me at the market. could this be why it might be wrong? (nonetheless the trotters should have the collagen though...)
Tristan Leterrier says
a great technique to get a creamy and white-as-milk broth is to add pig skin before cooking the broth (300g for a 8-10 L pressure cooker), then discard the bones, and use a bar mixer to emulsifiate the marrow and fat.
believe me, you 'll get a perfect broth in no time
Marc Matsumoto says
Sounds delicious! Great idea using skin in place of the trotters.
Tristan Leterrier says
Hi Marc!! I followed a recipe that is a little bit different ( 7kgs of pig thy bones ,600 g of pig skin, ginger and garlic, 2 pots), but the result was really good, and l did got a white and creamy broth !!
l seasoned it with homemade shio-tare, shoyu-tare, and maayu.Toppings were nitamago and torotoro chashu , sesame seeds , leeks, ans white pepper. In France, even in Paris, there is no japanese restaurant that serve tonkotsu ramen, so l made a big ramen party so my friends could taste and they loved it !! thanks again for your help and your knowledge !!
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm no longer living in New York, but it's great to hear there's a place making fresh noodles locally.
goldfool says
I think you are in NYC area. Do you know about sun noodle? They opened a factory for Ramen in Tetterboro airport, there should be some local places that sell the fresh different types of noodles. They have also done tastings.
Joey says
Made it. Loved it. Thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Because pressure cookers speed up the time in which the flavor is extracted from the bones (usually 2-3x faster), cooking it beyond a certain point is pointless. It actually because detrimental to the stock as the bones will start to break down and you'll end up with a gritty stock. Since leg bones and trotters are so thick, I find that it needs about 1.5 to 2 hours, but there wouldn't be much point in cooking it beyond that.
Matt says
I've read that using a pressure cooker for too long won't actually help with extracting more flavour from the bones. Have you ever tried to make this without using a pressure cooker? Any noticeable differences? Really appreciate this post! Thanks
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Titus, ideally you need both feet and leg bones. The feet lack marrow, while the leg bones lack collagen, both of these elements are what make the soup white and creamy.
Titus says
Hey Marc, great site you got here. I was trying your recipe and I was wondering if pig feet bone would work. Or it has to be pig leg bone. Also, do I need pig hock as mentioned in one of the comments? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
With meat will work fine.
Tlauver says
For the chicken bones, would just throwing in a bunch of chicken wings (with meat still attached) work, or should the bones be completely free of meat? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Richard, yep, it's best to cut the trotters through the bone. Butchers usually use a band saw to cut through them, so you'll probably have a tough time cutting them at home. It should still work okay if you're not split, but you'll need to cook them for longer. Even if they are prepackaged most supermarkets have the saws to cut up larger carcasses so if you can get someones attention you should be able to get them to cut them in half. The trotters go in with the bones.
Richard Ha says
Hi Marc,
This might be a silly question, but I couldn't get the trotters cut lengthwise at the butcher because I got them prepackaged from an Asian supermarket. Am I suppose to cut through the bone or can I just cut through the meat leaving the bone exposed? Also I'm supposed to dump the trotters into the broth together with the bones correct? Sorry I'm still new at this. I love your site and thanks again!
The Little Dumpling says
A tip on this that I think works well is to lightly oil the container before you freeze the base. Sure, the base will grab some of the oil, but you need to let the base cool to refrigerator temperatures before you make this transfer, so it is a cold base. Let it freeze, then pour a slim layer of oil over the base. When you thaw, you can either skim or spoon this layer off, depending on when you do it. But, of course, if you use a high quality oil, you can always consider it as an additional ingredient. That's what I do.
Loudon
The Little Dumpling says
Marc,
Your website, which I've been lurking around on for a month, led me on a dazzling food shopping trip in Anchorage, Alaska yesterday. Got trotters, fatback, tahini, all kinds of goodies. I will let you know how the experimentations go. Your site is absolutely phenomenal. I hope it is rewarding.
Loudon
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Alan, while I'm sure there are good and bad pork leg bones, I'm usually just happy to find them. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say that thicker bones probably have more marrow (a good thing) and that bones from heritage breeds of pork have better flavor (Mangalica, Iberico, Berkshire, etc).
Alan says
Marc,
Awesome receipe!! I have question of the quality of the pork leg bone. As far as pork leg bone , Is there specific size and color of the pork leg bone we should be looking at when we buy them from the market?
Thanks again.
Marc Matsumoto says
Yep, absolutely. I usually make a double batch and freeze it in 2 portion sizes. As for the length of time it all depends on your freezer. It will never spoil in a freezer, but over time, it will start to take on "freezer smell", and get freezer burned on the surface. Use your best judgement based on how long things have lasted in your freezer in the past.
lisa says
hi Marc,can i freeze the base if i can for how long?
Marc Matsumoto says
The braising liquid is the liquid that the chashu braises in, so you'll need to click the link to the "chasu" post and make that first to get the liquid.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kami, yep, by "pork fat" I literally mean uncooked pork fat. It's great that it already came minced, but depending on how small the cubes are you may want to go over them once again with a knife (they should be as small as possible . The idea is a bit like adding butter to soup or risotto at the very end to add richness, so you don't want to have big chunks of fat floating in your soup. The heat from the hot soup should almost instantly melt and cook the fat. As for the noodles, I've never been able to find good ramen noodles in the US, which is why I started making my own. Even large Japanese grocery stores like Mitsuwa don't sell plain uncooked ramen noodles without the soup. The closest thing are the thin Chinese yellow noodles that are sold in most Chinatowns and Asian grocery stores.
Kami says
How do you make braising liquid? Just soy sauce and miso together?
braising liquid
Kami says
Thanks, Marc! What do you mean Pork Fat? I made the broth yesterday and it turned out so good. The color is white creamy color. I couldn't find any chicken bones so I bought five chicken drums and take out the meat and used the drum bones. LOL...I haven't finished the rest of steps since we will have the noodles tonight. I don't have the ramen maker so i am going to substitute with different type of noodles. If you don't make your own ramen, where can you buy the ones it's already been made? I found the pork fat at supermarket but they're like raw pig fat (non-cooked). Do you mean pork fat like Chashu? The pork fat is already ground like tiny cubes from my supermarket which is very nice so i don't have to chop or ground it myself. Do I need to do anything before I add to the soup?
Marc Matsumoto says
Yep, it's a euphemism for pigs feet:-)
Kami says
OMG!!! I can't believe i found a good recipe for making ramen. It's always in my mind to try this one. I will definitely try to make it this weekend. Is pig trotter as same as pig feet? I will post it again how it turns out. Thanks, Marc!!! I am so excited. :D...
Savita says
This is awesome! I followed the recipe exactly, and it's just delicious. I actually doubled the number of pig trotters for the broth, so now I have some frozen away for next time. Many thanks!
ByThePowerOfRAmen! says
I bet it was the extra trotter, hah. Seems obvious in retrospect. They looked so small, but I guess a little goes a long way! Making this soon for family, thanks for the perfect recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
Wow, duck bones, that sounds awesome! I'm assuming you substituted the chicken for duck bones? If so, it's unlikely the bones contributed richness unless there was still a lot of fat and cartilage on the bones. The richness comes from fat and melted cartilage (collagen) in the soup and was most likely from the pork. You can make it less rich by eliminating the minced pork fat at the end.
ByThePowerOfRAmen! says
Awesome recipe man. I've got some late night seconds at my side as I type this message. I used duck bones and it turned out fantastic. I was wondering if you could recommend any toppings or condiments to balance the richness of the soup? Maybe some sort of pickled ginger? Also, could the duck bones have played a role in making the broth a little richer than I'd like?
Marc Matsumoto says
Medium heat. You want the water to be at a hard simmer to keep the fat and liquid emulsified, but if it's boiling too much , you'll keep having to add water. Keep in mind you'll also need to triple the cooking time if you don't use a pressure cooker.
JH says
Hi if I do not have a pressure cooker, at what heat do I cook the soup base in? High heat or medium heat? Thanks
Venise says
I tried making this today, but I didn't have all the ingredients (such as the pig trotters...) So I had to improvise with pork bones and fat that I've been saving to make soup, with a bit of homemade chicken stock. Even though I didn't make it like yours, it was probably the best ramen I've had, since the restaurants that I've been to in Montreal up to date are pretty regular, and are no where near authentic ramen. My dad had some and he was so impressed... I told him next time he wants me to make some, to buy me the pig trotters. 😛
Btw, I searched and searched for a great recipe for tonktosu and yours just seemed awesome, especially because of the research you put into it... One video just said to boil pork bones with a bit of ginger for the broth and served it like that with the chasu and other toppings... no mirin or tahini or anything else! :S SO... Thank you! 😀
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Kolten, to be honest I've never tried using ham hocks to make this soup so I'm not entirely sure how well it will work. Aside from the smoke flavor that the ham hock will add (which might be interesting), the other potential issue I see is that ham hocks have already been cooked, which means some of the collagen and fat have probably already been rendered out. Were you able to find pig trotters? While you could probably get away with substituting out the leg bones for something else, the trotters are essential to get a creamy tonkotsu broth. As for the meat on the bone, a little bit of meat is fine as it will add flavor.
Kolten J says
Marc, I am having the hardest time finding pork leg bones from anyone here in Utah. Is there any way I could use ham hocks? If so, do I cut off the excess meat and use just the bone. I am dying to try this recipe. Thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Tristan, sorry to hear it's not working for you. Are you using the types of bones listed in the recipe? If so, it's possible that there's still blood coming out of them after the first boil, so you can try and boil them a little longer before scrubbing. Also, keep in mind that the soup stock will be a light brown color before you add the tahini and fatback, it also won't look super creamy until those ingredients are added.
Thomas Abraham says
Hi Marc, thanks a lot for your recipe.
It's my second attempt doing tonkotsu ramen and l couldn't get the stock right...again!
the stock always turns to brown, very different from your stock that is almost white..
and even after 2 hours in the pressure cooker (10L) the stock is not really creamy...
i don't get why...
it would be awesome if you could upload a video to see each steps of your recipe..
Marc Matsumoto says
Nope, you'll need a larger pressure cooker, and the time it take for the cooker to get up to pressure may take a little longer, but the cooking time remains the same.
JohnMayhew says
Hey Marc, if I double the recipe should I double the pressure cooker time as well?
JohnMayhew says
Hey Marc, if I double the recipe does that mean I double the time for cooking in a pressure cooker as well?