# Tokyo-Style Clear Shoyu Ramen

Japanese recipe from Chef Shun, with Chef Jason McKinney, about 6½ hours, serves about 4.

Never let it boil. A hard boil turns the broth cloudy. A lazy simmer for four hours is the whole difference.

- Total time: about 6½ hours (estimated)
- Hands-on: about an hour and 15 minutes
- Serves: about 4
- Level: Hard
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Note: Most of it is the 3–4 hour broth and chilling the chashu

## Ingredients

- 1 kg chicken backs or wings, for the broth
- 500 g pork bones or pork shoulder, for the broth
- 4 litres water, for the broth
- 1 onion, halved
- 4 garlic cloves
- 30 g ginger
- 2 scallions
- 10 g kombu, for the broth
- 20 g katsuobushi, for the broth
- salt, only if needed
- 200 ml soy sauce, for the tare
- 100 ml sake, for the tare
- 100 ml mirin, for the tare
- 20 g sugar, for the tare
- 5 g kombu, for the tare
- 10 g katsuobushi, for the tare
- 3 tablespoons reserved chashu braising liquid, for the tare
- 800 g pork belly, for the chashu
- 150 ml soy sauce, for the chashu
- 100 ml sake, for the chashu
- 100 ml mirin, for the chashu
- 2 tablespoons sugar, for the chashu
- water, to cover, for the chashu
- 4 portions fresh ramen noodles
- cooked bamboo shoots or menma
- blanched greens
- nori
- scallions, sliced

## Method

1. **The broth.** Blanch the chicken and pork 5 minutes, then rinse every piece clean under running water. Scrub the pot too.
   Chef's note: This is the step everybody skips, and it’s why their broth comes out grey. You’re washing off the scum before it has anywhere to go.
2. Cover with fresh water and bring it up to a very gentle simmer. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and scallions. Cook 3 to 4 hours.
   Chef's note: Never let it boil. A hard boil emulsifies the fat into the liquid and you get a cloudy tonkotsu. A lazy simmer keeps it clear. That’s chintan, and that’s the whole game here.
3. Add the kombu for the final 30 minutes only.
4. Pull the kombu out. Kill the heat, add the katsuobushi, and let it sit 5 minutes. Strain carefully. Don’t press the solids.
5. **The chashu.** Roll the pork belly into a tight log and tie it with twine. Sear it on all sides until it’s brown.
   Chef's note: It’s braised, not roasted. I had this wrong for years.
6. Add the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and enough water to cover. Cover the pot and braise gently 2 to 3 hours, until a knife goes through it with no resistance.
7. Chill the pork completely before you slice it. Warm chashu shreds. Cold chashu cuts clean. Reserve some of the braising liquid for the tare.
8. **The tare.** Warm the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and the reserved chashu liquid together until the sugar dissolves. Don’t boil it.
9. Off the heat, add the kombu and katsuobushi and steep 10 minutes. Strain.
   Chef's note: This is the part every shop guards. Same broth, different tare, and you’re eating shoyu or shio or miso. The tare decides what the bowl is.
10. **The bowl.** Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of tare into the bottom of each bowl. Nothing else yet.
11. Cook the noodles separately and drain them hard. Into the bowl, then pour about 350 ml of hot broth over the top.
   Chef's note: Never cook noodles in your broth. The starch clouds it and you just spent four hours keeping it clear.
12. Top with the chashu, greens, bamboo shoots, nori, and scallions. Serve it immediately. Ramen doesn’t wait.

## Tools

- Large stockpot, 8L or bigger, four litres of water plus bones needs room
- Fine-mesh strainer or chinois, a clear broth is half simmer, half strain
- Butcher's twine, for rolling and tying the pork belly
- Heavy pot with a lid, for the chashu braise
- Small saucepan, for the tare
- Spider or noodle basket, noodles cook separately and get drained hard

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Recipe page with photos and video: https://chefjasonmckinney.com/recipes/tokyo-clear-shoyu-ramen
By Chef Shun, with Chef Jason McKinney. Free to cook; please link the page when you share it.