Beef Miso Ramen

One of my favorite things about my time spent at Yoko's, lo these many years ago, was the ramen.  As a young guy who'd only ever ate "ramen" from a packet that came in "chicken flavor", it was quite an eye opening thing to experience ramen that didn't basically just taste like a bullion cube dissolved in too much liquid.  

In particular, there were two varieties that stuck out for me: the pork, and the beef.  The pork was a quick-and-dirty concentrate of the classic tonkotsu stock, which I fell instantly in love with for that milky, salty, porky goodness.  The other, the beef, was a dark, rich miso beef broth (also a concentrate) that we did up in a wok with freshly stir-fried bits of New York strip and vegetables.  

It was the beef ramen I found myself particularly craving last week, after we came into some glorious bits of scrap tri-tip from Ray's, and I even bought some miso paste with the intent to make it.  Sadly, things got in the way and the meat went south before we could use it, but the idea stuck in the back of my mind until yesterday, when I was back at the Ray's again and saw some gorgeous hunks of ox-tail.

Now, the Yoko's beef ramen was just a paste from a jar you added to water and voila, beef ramen.  It was tasty, and good quality for an instant stock (along par with that "Better than Bouillon" stuff, with some miso in it), but not really available to me.  But those ox-tails put me in mind of the idea that I should just make my own stock, and build a ramen from home-made.  I seldom, if ever, make my own stocks (I know! A crime in foodie land these days), so this would be a good experiment, and one more use for my pressure cooker.

So, cobbling together bits of advice from my pressure cooker manual, Alton Brown's pressure cooker broth recipe, and the brilliantly elemental instruction of Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, more specifically it's advice on stock making, and of course some inspiration from Yoko's cooking methods, I came up with the following recipe:

J's Beef Miso Ramen (Serves 2)

For the stock:

1 Lb section of meaty oxtail

2 carrots, cut into 1-2" chunks

2 stalks of celery, cut into 1-2" chunks

1/2 an onion, cut into 1-2" chunks

1 handful of Italian parsley

5 cloves of garlic, whole, peeled

1 tsp peppercorns, lightly cracked

5 cups cold water

For the ramen broth:

1/4 cup red miso paste

2 Tbsp. ginger/garlic paste

1/8 cup soy sauce

The rest:

1 lb boneless beef spare ribs, cut into small strips

1 lb assorted favorite stir fry vegetables (recommend broccoli, carrot, onion, and green bean or snap peas)

8 oz. chuka soba noodles

Salt, pepper, soy sauce or Bragg's, and nanami to taste

Green onion and/or bean sprouts, for garnish

Making the stock

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Salt and pepper each side of the oxtail and place on a baking sheet.

3. Roast the oxtail in the oven for 30 minutes.

4. Add roasted oxtail, veg, parsley, garlic, pepper, and water to your pressure cooker pot.

5. Cook under high pressure for 50 minutes, then quick release.  

6. Drain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve or strainer into a saucepan. Discard meat and veg. 

Building your ramen:

1. Place the saucepan containing your freshly prepared stock on the stove over medium heat.

2. Add miso paste, ginger/garlic paste, and soy sauce, and whisk vigorously, ensuring that the miso paste has been fully dissolved into the liquid.  Leave on medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until ready to serve.

3. Fill a large stockpot or pasta pot with enough water to cook the chuka soba, and salt liberally, then place over high heat to boiling

3. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a non-stick skillet or wok over high heat.

4. Add cut spare ribs and stirfry until cooked, seasoning with the nanami if desired

5. Once the meat is cooked just about medium, add the vegetables, and stir-fry, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper and soy sauce if desired (I like to use a garlic salt grinder for a little extra flavor).

6. Add your chuka soba noodles to the boiling water in your stockpot and cook for about 2-3 minutes on a high boil.  Drain.

Serving:

1. Divide the noodles between two large ramen bowls.

2. On top of the noodles, divide the stir-fried beef and vegetables between the two bowls

3. Pour ramen broth over noodles.

4. Garnish with green onion and bean sprouts as desired.

Voila!  Delicious, home cooked ramen.  It's the homemade stock that really seals the deal, all that stuff the chefs keep saying is true: you simply can't expect anywhere near this kind of flavor from a canned or an instant stock, no matter how good it is.  Even the expensive stocks like Stock Options just won't compare to the real thing.  

This recipe is more or less exactly how I cooked it.  You could probably simplify it a bit, if you've got a wok with good volume, by adding the stock directly to the wok after stir frying the meat and veg (maybe even a little early so they get simmered a bit in it), and building your broth flavor from there.  That's how we did it at Yoko's, and how I would've done it, if not for my cheap wok completely rusting over within minutes of cleaning as we were preparing dishes for the night's cooking.