This is my go-to recipe for ramen broth. It’s a fairly simplistic recipe as far as ramen goes – I’d place it somewhere between a real, multi-day broth cook, and a decent packaged broth. For what it is, my family and I find it to be quite delicious, and it doesn’t require hours upon hours of work, which is sometimes a necessary consideration when you have a toddler and a baby running and crawling around and you have a craving for ramen. I’ve been tweaking this recipe for years, and this is my current version. It’s very adaptable, the base components being the Hon Dashi and chicken broth. Other than those two things, you can do just about whatever you want to it!
While going through the refrigerated noodle section at Hatoya Japanese Grocer here in Charlotte, I found this bag of Maruchan noodles I had never seen. While it does use ramen noodles, it is not a soup – there is no broth mixing, and no reason to heat a certain amount of water in order to make the base mix. These are, basically, sesame cold noodles, and they’re pretty delicious.
A good sliced pork recipe can elevate your homemade ramen to a savory meal in ways just adding hard-boiled eggs can’t. Pork slices add to the flavor of the broth, give a more robust visual aesthetic, and taste damned delicious. You can even use it for packaged ramen. This is my personal recipe for a braised pork using a center loin. It may not be the most ideal or traditional cut or recipe for a ramen, but it works for me, and it can double as an anytime-recipe outside of ramen prep, which is ideal when coming up with meals for your family.
I picked this package of Shimadaya Shoyu ramen up in the freezer section of my Japanese grocer. I liked the look of the packaging and, as all packaged ramen aficionados know, the freezer section ramen is usually the best ramen. This particular brand, however, left me severely wanting.