Tantan men, a ridiculous Tonkotsu Success

Having toyed with the idea since my last post, I decided to make a Tonkotsu Tan tan men this weekend. Using a tonkotsu base is pretty atypical to style apparently, most seem to be made with a light chicken broth, clouded with heaps of ground sesame and chili oil. But I figured I could both practice the tonkotsu method, and try a new style out. 

My god, it turned out so well.

Feast on that.

The key to success was really in this Tonkotsu method that I've been shamefully avoiding but ultimately knowing was the real deal. "It's too simple!" I said. "It doesn't have enough stuff in it" I said. "It's going to be gross!" I said.

I was wrong. Keep it simple but use proper technique.

It uses just pork and chicken parts. No additional items needed. Keeping it simple was really the way to go. The result was a pristine white, clean, not too heavy, but still nicely creamy, Tonkotsu broth. 

Look at that white pig water. Gorgeous.

Here's the ratios:

4 lbs pork leg bones, broken in half to expose yellow marrow

1.5 lbs chicken feet, blanched, toes and blemishes removed

2 lbs whole chicken wings. 

The pork bones need something to really reduce their overt funk, so the chicken provides balance and lightens the body. NO AROMATICS and a rapid boil (after blanching of course) for 12 hours results in a perfectly white broth, brimming with gelatin and fat. Virtually impossible to screw up.

Also it turns into white pork jelly. Dat gelatin content.  

A soy/sesame tare rounded things out. Typical to tantan men, it has ground sesame, but I deviated slightly by using white soy sauce and altering the amounts. Since the broth itself is pretty rich, I reduced the sesame paste levels and increased the other components. The resulting soup is surprisingly drinkable, but has a nice nuttiness and good complexity.

Some other recipes I came across included sake, Chinese black vinegar, and Szechuan pickles (an ingredient I am extremely unfamiliar with). All of these might be interesting additions in the future. But you can tell that the chinese influence is quite prevalent in this style of ramen. 

Noodles were 40% water, 1% added protein, 1% kansui, 1% salt. Tacky dough, but nice bite, less chew than Sapporo. Paired really well. These cook for about a minute. Overcooking is a little easy given the lower protein level. 

Homemade chili oil was dead simple and could have steeped longer. Making aroma oil of your choice, then adding in a heap of ground korean togarashi powder results in some lightly spiced, tasty chili oil. Looking for darker color next time, which would come from longer steeping. Blood red type color.

Soboro (the ground pork) has sweet bean paste in it (called tenmenjan in Japanese, a cousin of miso). Cook ground pork until no longer pink and water evaporates, add ginger, garlic and sweat. Then the tenmenjan and perhaps some sake. Boom, done. Sweet salty goodness. Consider using hoisin or oyster sauce instead in a pinch. Maybe even a really dark miso. Lot of flexibility in this. It's delicious though. 

Other toppings were pork belly, half cooked egg, blanched bokchoy, and some green onion threads. Really nice overall. Very pleased with this go around.

I even had some the next day! 

What style should I attempt next?? With a solid Tonkotsu finally in my grasp, I'm quite curious.