Sapporo miso ramen

As tradition built it

Per bowl; scale up as needed. Broth simmered 4 to 6 hours.

Ingredients

For the tare, per bowl

• 2 tbsp miso
• a splash a splash of the pork or chicken broth, to loosen it
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• a knob a knob of ginger, finely minced

For the broth

• 1kg pork bones, 1 whole chicken carcass pork bones and chicken carcass, for a simple stock

To finish

• 1 ball (tama) per person fresh wheat noodles, medium thickness
• 100g bean sprouts, stir fried
• 40 to 60g minced pork, cooked in the same garlic and ginger fat
• 15 to 20g a pat of butter
• 50g sweetcorn kernels

Method

1. Fry the minced garlic and ginger briefly in lard until fragrant, then stir in the miso, loosened with a splash of the pork or chicken broth, for the tare.
2. Build the broth from a simple pork bone and chicken carcass stock, simmered gently four to six hours, then strain.
3. Cook the noodles to packet timing.
4. Combine the tare in the bottom of the bowl with hot broth.
5. Add the noodles.
6. Top with stir fried bean sprouts and minced pork cooked in the same garlic and ginger fat, a pat of butter, and sweetcorn kernels, Hokkaido's own two signature additions.

What a modern chef changes

Shio koji in the tare, a controlled emulsion in the broth

Rungs 1 and 6

Method

1. Ferment a small batch of shio koji at home over five days and use it in place of a portion of the miso in the tare, for a rounder, less salt forward depth.
2. Build the broth at a gentle simmer for the first four hours for clean extraction, then finish with a hard rolling boil for the final 90 minutes only, so the finished stock carries body without turning the whole broth cloudy and heavy.
3. Brown the butter in a small pan until it smells of hazelnut before it goes into the bowl, rather than added cold.
4. Finish with a shaving of aged Hokkaido style cheddar from a UK artisan dairy in place of a plain pat of butter, dairy leaned on hard, taken one step further than the original dish ever did.