You may wonder, quite rightly, what this recipe is doing on a site that is about barbecue cooking. The reason is that if you carve a whole chicken to remove the breasts, thighs and legs to use in separate recipes then you will be left with a raw carcass. You could of course use this as a base for soup but this ramen broth recipe is an excellent use.
The secret to a good ramen broth is to simply be patient and take your time. A good clear broth won’t be achieved if you boil the stock too hard as the fats will be incorporated into the stock and make it too cloudy. Clearing it will cause you so much unnecessary work.
There are two broths in the image above, Dashi and Chicken. Dashi is usually made by soaking Bonito flakes (available from any good Japanese or Chinese supermarket), Kelp (Seaweed) and shiitake mushrooms overnight. My version was created by soaking only the kelp overnight, bringing the liquid to boiling point then adding the Bonito flakes. The resulting broth was then strained through muslin.
The recipe below is for the chicken broth. It is important not to allow the liquid to come to a rolling boil. A very gentle simmer for a long period of time will give a delicious and clear broth. The Dashi can then be added to your broth depending on taste and the ramen.
This is a good use for a chicken carcass if you have removed the breasts, thighs and legs for other recipes. You can also add cleaned pork bones for a bit of extra flavour. Just follow the same steps.
Ramen Broth
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcass chopped into 8 – 10 pieces
- Pork bones optional
- 1/2 onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 inch ginger sliced
- 100 ml sake or dry sherry makes a good substitute
- 2 spring onions chopped into three pieces then crushed
- 1 1/2 ltr water
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to the boil, clean the chicken pieces under running water and add to the boiling water. Blanch for about 30 seconds and remove from the water. Discard the water and refill the pot with the 1 1/2 litres of water. Add all the ingredients and gently bring to the boiling point.
- When the water reaches the boiling point, immediately reduce the heat and allow just a very gentle simmer. Remove any scum that forms on the surface on a regular basis.
- Cover and simmer gently for about 3 hours, even longer if you have the time. Top up the water occasionally if you are losing too much.
- If you want to add the dashi, do it at this stage. Strain the stock and discard all the ingredients. Bring the stock to the boil and again gently simmer until it is reduced by half.
- The broth is now ready to use. Hopefully you have a nice clear broth. Use immediately with your choice of ramen ingredients.
