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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Stern. says
Thanks for your reply!
I am looking forward to the update!
It's kinda hard too find those ingredients on the other side of the planet...
I will try to make the tonkotsu with the miso paste today, but it will be different since I only have the red miso paste laying around.(and I was lucky to even buy that, and ofcourse overpriced, 300ml for €5(6,5 dollars))
I actually never heard of the white and hatcho ramen, so I will search for that too.(I probably have to import that tough)
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Stern, I've actually evolved both my tonkotsu and miso ramen recipes significantly since I published this. Been meaning to do an update with video but just haven't had the time. Basically for miso, I start with the tonkotsu broth and then add a miso paste that I make with 3 kinds of miso (mostly white, some red and just a bit of hatcho), sake, sugar, garlic, ginger and ground pork, that I sauté and then torch. Hope that helps.
Stern. says
Hi marc, thank you for sharing this traditional recipe( certainly one of the better ones here on the internet).
Lately I was experimenting with miso ramen, but I didn't find a recipe I could trust, could you please share a good miso ramen recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Natalie, what's a ship ramen?
Natalie says
Hi Marc - do you have a ship ramen recipe to share?
Thanks,
Natalie
Jason says
Omg! Thank you so much for posting this! Like you, I have been trying for years to perfect my tonkotsu broth; unsuccessfully. It has always been off a bit. In comparison to what you posted, I wasn't off by much though. You have a few things listed that I didn't think of or missed. Thank you!! Great short read too BTW. Sounds like the inspiration was strong in you.
david says
Sound great!!! I will try it and I will let you know ..thank u
Ramiro Salas says
It depends how much you put in. I added about 2 Tbsp for the whole broth, so the overall effect was negligible, but I didn't need to add any extra salt at the end. With that amount, you don't even know it's there. That being said, Fish sauce provides a small amount of natural MSG, so it adds also the umami flavor. The overall "feel" of the broth tasted more "whole" if that makes any sense.
david says
hmmmm adding fish sauce?? how was it?? is it salty ?? or not too sweet??
I want to try it.
Ramiro Salas says
Thank you for posting this. I made this recipe over the last couple
of days and it came out fantastic. A few minor changes: I added 1/2 cup
of Sake to the broth before pressure cooking. This increases the acidity
slightly and allows for more collagen extraction. Second, I pressure
cooked for 2 1/2 hours, following the advice from the Modernist Cuisine
on pressure cooking times for stocks (1 1/2 hrs for poultry, 2 1/2 hrs
for beef or pork). I use a large Kuhn-Rikon cooker so I don't have
issues with water evaporation. I passed the broth through a fat
separator after filtering so I can make sure the only fat source is from
the fat back. When mixing the Tahini and the fat back, I used an
immersion blender (in low speed) to make sure everything was smooth.
I used pork belly for the Chasu and I bough the highest quality noodles I
could find (frozen, not tightly packed) since I didn't have enough
bandwidth to go for the whole thing. I also added a bit of Vietnamese
fish sauce instead of salt, giving it a much nicer umami taste without
being noticeable. In addition to the standard toppings, I also added
finely sliced black garlic for added complexity.
All in all, I can say I won't be doing the lines in my local Ramen shops in the Bay Area anymore... Thanks again!
david says
omg!!! so quick answer.. thank you!!!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi david, I've never had silverlake's ramen so I'm not sure what it tastes like, but if you're trying to get more sesame taste, try adding more tahini. As for salt, it doesn't have to be Kosher salt, but table salt is less salty than kosher, so be sure to reduce the amount of salt if you're using table salt. I hope that helps.
david says
Thank you for quick answer. In L.A. there is silverlake ramen. They are totally new taste ramen. Very creamy and good salty. I try to make same as there style but something missing in my soup. When you use salt, it have to be kosher?? And how to make soup really roasting sesame seed taste. I put sesame but its not work. ㅠㅠ
Mzjpuff says
Ohhhh ok! I was getting so fustrated because I thought I was doing it wrong every time! Thank you so much! Hopefully, fourth times a charm! 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
The aromatics are fried for the same reason onions need to be very well caramelized for making french onion soup. The high heat induces the maillard reaction which creates thousands of different flavor compounds not found in the fresh ingredients.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi David, I actually put soy milk in chicken ramen. You're certainly welcome to add it to make it even more creamy, but it is not a traditional addition to tonkotsu ramen.
david says
also fried ginger, garlic and onion, can you tell me why have to do frying??
or can I just put fresh one???
thank you
david says
hi
I heard that some people put soy milk in the base. How it was work??
If I put atari goma, is work better than tahini??
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mzjpuff, the broth straight out of the pressure cooker will not be creamy white. It doesn't get that way until you whisk in the tahini and pork fat. It's the emulsion of collagen and fat that makes tonkotsu broth white.
Mzjpuff says
Hi Marc, I got 6-8 cups today when I made it cause I put the pressure cooker on low like you suggested. Much less evaporation. So now my problem is the broth isn't creamy white. It's a light brown and I cleaned the heck out of all the bones! What's wrong now?
johnwu says
Thank you very much for this recipe! Made it just now and even though I used pork back bones rather than leg and had no chicken bones, it still came out delicious if not exactly the creamy white broth I wanted. Next time, I'll make sure to use the right ingredients. Here are some tips for those wanting to make this as I ran into some obstacles:
-If you're going to use a pressure cooker, be careful not to cook it on high heat for those two hours. Once I opened it up, my liquid had reduced by a lot.
-Once you're making the actual broth that the ramen goes into, question your taste test. When I tasted the soup, I felt it was a bit bland or not salty enough which may also have to do with the fact that I didn't have the proper bones other than the trotters. It made me panic and I ended up oversalting it. Fortunately, I was able to salvage it by adding a bit of sugar and more water. I think had I not overreacted, the broth would've been perfect with all the flavors of the toppings and mayu complementing it.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Passenger, if you can find it, pig head works great because it has a ton of collagen, but it's not readily available in the US which is why I use trotters (which also contain a ton of collagen). The mallet for breaking the bones is to release the fat in the marrow into the soup, but you can get the same effect by cutting the trotters lengthwise and having the leg bones cut into pieces. Hope that helps.
Passenger says
Dear Marc,
If I am not mistaken, Hakata styled ramen includes pig head inside the broth, thus it gives a thicker soup. Also, they tend to take a mallet and lift the bones from the broth while its cooking and break the pork bone into pieces. If I am not mistaken Ippudo does use pig head in its soup. I hope this helps.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Mzjpuff, it sounds like you're experiencing more evaporation than I do somewhere along the line. I'm wondering if it's in the step where you skim off the scum floating to the top. When this step is done and before you affix the lid are the bones still covered with water? If not, add some more water here. Otherwise, you may have the heat on the pressure cooker turned up too high. The heat should be high enough to barely maintain a whistle. It's too low if the whistle stops and it's too high if it's making a loud hissing sputtering noise. In any case you should still be getting a same amount of flavor out of the bones (it's just more concentrated), so you can just add water at the end to make more stock.
Mzjpuff says
I recently came back from a vacation in Japan and I fell in love with Rokurinsha's Tsukemen. I used this Tonkotsu broth and a fish based broth to try and re-create it. I definitely have to keep experimenting with this. Are you by any chance going to post a tsukemen recipe soon perhaps???
Mzjpuff says
Hi Marc, I have made this recipe about 3 times now and it's definitely a great tasting broth. The only problem I have is that I am not getting 10-12 cups of broth out of this recipe, maybe like 4 cups at the most. I originally bought the 6 quart Fagor pressure cooker cause that was the one listed on your page but I see now that it's been upgraded to an 8 quart. Does using a bigger pressure cooker solve this problem or am I doing something else wrong?
Marc Matsumoto says
You'll probably need a commercial pressure cooker (the aluminum kind with lid that's secured by bolts) to do a double batch. I'm not a big fan of aluminum cookware so can't really make any recommendations there.
Yogicfoodie says
Hi Marc,
Making it again for the fifth time! I can't thank you enough for the recipe.
Sidebar question, could you recommand a pot big enough to hold double batch of stock?
Thank you again.
Tristan Leterrier says
yeah exactly. l also remove the garlic and ginger.
junyang chen says
looks great!
ok so I add the skin to the other ingredients before cooking. once it is cooked, remove the bones and break down the remaining marrow and fats in the pot?
Tristan Leterrier says
you welcome. here's my last attempt, 3 days ago. the broth was really white before adding 35cc of chashu sauce.
junyang chen says
great! shall try it, thanks!
Pedro Faria says
Hey Marc,
This recipe is oh-so-good! I don't how to express my gratitude. I made a mistake letting the onions get burned and the stock didn't turn out white in color, but nonetheless the taste... the smell... it's heavenly! I have yet to find pork cheeks for chasu, but even with belly it was awesome. Thank you very much!
josh says
Thank you for taking the time to reply. your recipes are awesome!
Marc Matsumoto says
Any will taste fine, but red onions will give you some unwanted color, so I'd go for white or yellow.
josh says
Once the stock is scum-free, add the caramelized ginger, garlic, and onions
to the stock. What kind of onion? white, yellow, red? just making sure i get the right onion. thank you
Emiliano Lucchi says
Thank you so much, and happy New year.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Emiliano, it will change the balance of the soup, but you could increase the chicken bones and trotters. I would not recommend using beef bones as it will give you a totally different soup.
Emiliano Lucchi says
Hello Marc,
I'm very happy i find your site, i would like to try your recipe but i can't find pork leg bones, you think i can use beef bones with lot of marrow or just use more pig trotter that are easy to find?thank you
Adam says
Plenty of Marrow.
Marc Matsumoto says
Save it, it's great for for making stir-fries and can be used as manteca to make tortillas and such. As for reintroducing, you're going to be adding fatback into the finished soup, so you shouldn't need it for the ramen.
Canadaramen says
Making the whole recipe for the second time...it rocked the first time, but that was a while back. Question: I chilledthe base broth after cooking it but before straining it. It had about an inch of fat congealed on top. It is a wonderful cream colour. I don't want to toss it out in case I need to reintroduce it...should I keep it or toss it? Am I likely to need it to add back? I doubled the recipe.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Adam, how much marrow is in the bones? It looks like it should be enough, but the reason why you want the leg bones (the bones from above the knee joint) is that they contain a lot of marrow.
Adam says
Hey Marc!
I ordered two pig trotters (cut lengthwise) from my local butcher. When they came in it was actually the feet and the entire leg with meat attached (basically two of these cut lengthwise and raw: https://t2.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/43/76/43/400_F_43764338_rnix3pQOgwQn6W0vkz5sVUOUyFgr6eln.jpg)
So I was wondering, since you described trotters as just the feet, do I actually need 1.5 more pounds of pig leg bone, or is what I have already sufficient? Thanks for your time and your awesome recipe!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lili, Tonkotsu means "pork bone", Tonkatsu means "pork cutlet", two different words, two different dishes. I don't think I've ever seen a tonkatsu ramen before, but it might be interesting:-)
Lili Little says
Hi Marc
Is tonkotsu ramen different from tonkatsu ramen? I'm assuming that this isn't tonkatsu because it's doesn't have fried pork but I wasn't sure. Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Alan, I've heard of refractometers being used to measure brix for ramen, but I'm not sure what sugar content has to do with the consistency of the soup. In a chain restaurant setting where you don't have the time to properly train apprentices, I could see how something like this could be useful, but for home use (or even a single ramen shop), I'm of the belief that it's important to rely on your senses rather than the output of some instrument to decide when the ramen tastes right. Van Gogh didn't use a colorimeter to mix his paints after all. I guess my point is that if everyone made the same ramen, the world of ramen would get boring very quickly. Taste your soup and decide what consistency is right for you.
Alan says
Hi Marc, I know most of the famous Ramen restaurant in japan and now in US uses stock refractometer / brix reading to measure the thickness of the soup. What is your recommended brix reading (0-33%) for the soup. I have heard around 10-11%. How do you adjusted the concentration of the soup..if it's higher or lower at the time of measurement ? Just add water to thin it out to get a lower reading? Or cook it longer to evaporated some of the water content out to get a higher reading of the soup to match around 10%? Since I really want consistence in my soup every time. It could be the pork bone and trotter I used have different content of collagen and fat..etc to make my soup not taste the same every time . Any tips on getting consistence soup?
Alan says
Hi Marc, I know most of the famous Ramen restaurant in japan and now in US uses stock refractometer / brix reading to measure the thickness of the soup. What is your recommended brix reading (0-33%) for the soup. I have heard around 10-11%. How do you adjusted the concentration of the soup..if it's higher or lower at the time of measurement ? Just add water to thin it out to get a lower reading? Or cook it longer to evaporated some of the water content out to get a higher reading of the soup to match around 10%? Since I really want consistence in my soup every time. It could be the pork bone and trotter I used have different content of collagen and fat..etc to make my soup not taste the same every time . Any tips on getting consistence soup?
evan tomas says
Ok, thank you!