Miso Ramen Recipe

Miso Ramen with Soft Boiled Egg, Shitake Mushrooms, Buttered Corn, BBQ Pork, Pork Neck Bones, Scallions and Black Pepper

In early 2000s, I told my husband that ramen would be the next big thing, and that I should start a ramen shop. Now with the abundance of successful ramen shops all around me, I just mope over what could have been.

My husband loves ramen so when we get a chance to go to San Francisco, we head to the Westfield mall food court and have lunch at Ajisen Ramen. Their spicy miso ramen is one of my favorites. Whenever I have their ramen, I try really hard to perfect the ramen and broth ratio for each bite so that no liquid-gold-miso-broth would ever be left behind.

My Take on Miso Ramen

Unfortunately, San Francisco is quite a ways out. If we don't head to San Francisco, we get no ramen and that doesn't sit well with me. I figured it was about time to make my own ramen. I googled a bunch of recipes beforehand, took a few notes from different recipes and combined them into a recipe that I thought would be good. Since it was my very first attempt at anything, I was certain that my family would run for the door. Surprisingly, that wasn't the case. The miso broth came out perfectly and the bowl of ramen with all the fixings looked absolutely grogeous! For my very first time, I had to high-five myself.

Miso Ramen with BBQ Pork

What made the broth so good was 1, the fat from the pork stock and 2, the butter! Yes, there was butter in this ramen dish. I have never added butter to a noodle or ramen dish before. But that layer of pork fat and butter (I can never go Vegan!) worked so well together with the miso flavor. 

The broth for my miso ramen was made of pork neck bones. I see that other people use ground pork but I really love having a piece of pork neck bone in my bowl of ramen. The meat is moist and flavorful from soaking up the spices and seasoning in the broth.

Miso Ramen

The pork stock was slowly simmered with garlic, ginger, scallions, Shitake mushrooms, and seasoned with sake (or cooking wine), spicy fermented bean paste, miso paste, soy sauce, sugar, and chicken stock powder. Yes, I know, chicken stock powder is cheating but it's makes the pork stock so much better and full of umami flavor so sue me.

For the topping, I added a soft boiled egg, sweet corn sauteed with a generous amount butter (flavor!), sliced barbecue pork, sliced shitake mushroom (from the stock), a piece of pork neck bone (also from the stock), and and a sprinkle of black pepper.

For the noodles, I simply used store-bought fresh Japanese ramen. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Miso Ramen Recipe

Miso Ramen with all the fixings!

Japanese Miso Ramen Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 package fresh Japanese ramen noodles (2 lbs)
• 3 lbs pork neck bones plus 1 tablespoon salt for cleaning
• 4 liters water for stock
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 6 whole scallions
• 10 large whole Shiitake mushrooms (about 0.5 lbs)
• 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1 tablespoon sake or Shaoxing cooking wine
• 1/2 cup miso paste
• 1 tablespoon chili bean sauce (Toban Djan)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder

Ramen Toppings

• 6 soft boiled eggs
• Small sheets of roasted seaweed (nori)
• 3 green onions (slice thinly)
• Shiitake mushrooms from stock (slice thinly)
• White or black pepper
• BBQ pork (Xa Xiu)
• 1 15-oz can whole corn kernels (sauteed or microwaved with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter)
• Roasted nori (seaweed)

Instructions

1. Clean the pork bones thoroughly before cooking: In a large stock pot, add pork bones and 1 tablespoon salt. Fill it up with water and heat on high. Wait for the water to come to a rolling boil then cook for about 5 minutes. Place a colander in the sink and drain the bones into the colander. Rinse the bones clean with cold water.
2. Clean the stock pot and return to stove. Add sesame oil and heat on medium high heat. Then add minced garlic, ginger and shallots. Saute until fragrant (about 1 minute).
3. To the pot, add cleaned pork bones, water (4 liters), scallions, and Shitake mushrooms. Simmer on medium low heat for about one and a half hours.
4. Remove all solids from stock (bones, shitake mushrooms, scallions, etc). Don't waste the bones or shiitake mushrooms! Reserve them for ramen toppings.
5. Season stock with sugar, sake/cooking wine, miso paste, chili bean sauce, soy sauce and pork/chicken stock powder.
6. Prepare the noodles per package instructions.
7. When ready to serve, add noodles to bowl, add soup, and toppings.