Kitakata Ramen (喜多方ラーメン)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large stockpot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Noodle basket (tebo), or a spider and large pot
• •Deep ramen bowls, warmed before serving
• •Kitchen twine for tying pork, if needed

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the niboshi

   Pinch the heads from the niboshi and pull away the dark bellies if your fish still have them. Those small parts carry a hard bitterness that can bully a clear broth. Put the cleaned niboshi and konbu in 3 cups cold water and let them soak while the pork stock begins, or overnight in the refrigerator if you have time. Cold water draws out flavor gently, which is why the finished soup tastes clean rather than sharp.

   Good niboshi should smell like clean dried sea air, not old oil. If it smells tired, don't hide it under soy sauce. Use fresher dried fish or make a different soup.
2. 2

   Blanch the pork

   Put the pork bones and pork belly or shoulder in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain. Rinse the bones, rinse the meat, and wash the pot. This feels fussy until you see the gray water go down the sink. Blood and loose proteins cloud the broth, and Kitakata ramen wants clarity, not a milky pork soup.

3. 3

   Simmer the stock

   Return the clean bones and meat to the pot with 12 cups cold water, the sliced ginger, and the green scallion tops. Bring it slowly to a quiet simmer, then keep it there, with only a few lazy bubbles breaking the surface. Skim when foam appears. After 75 to 90 minutes, lift out the pork when a skewer slips in easily but the meat still holds its shape. Keep the bones simmering until the broth tastes lightly sweet and porky, about 3 hours total.

   A rolling boil knocks fat and protein into the liquid and turns the stock cloudy. That isn't failure, but it is a different bowl. For Kitakata, quiet heat is the method.
4. 4

   Make the tare

   In a small pan, combine the shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar, sea salt, and 1/2 cup of hot pork stock. Bring just to a simmer for 3 minutes, enough to dissolve the sugar and soften the raw edge of the sake. This is the tare, the seasoning base. Keeping it separate lets you season each bowl precisely while the broth stays clear and unforced.

5. 5

   Season the chashu

   Put the hot cooked pork into a small dish or sturdy bag and pour over about 1/2 cup of the tare. Reserve the rest of the tare clean for the bowls. Turn the pork once or twice for 30 minutes, then chill it until firm enough to slice neatly. Hot pork drinks seasoning quickly; cold pork cuts cleanly. Both things matter.

6. 6

   Finish fish dashi

   Bring the soaked niboshi, konbu, and their soaking water slowly toward a simmer. Pull the konbu the moment the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides of the pot. Let the niboshi simmer gently for 8 minutes, then take the pot off the heat, add the katsuobushi, and leave it alone for 2 minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine strainer. Don't squeeze. Squeezing presses bitter, oily flavors into the dashi, and you were guarding its clear edge from the beginning.

   The konbu comes out before the boil because boiled kelp turns the stock slick and faintly bitter. The rule is simple because the reason is simple: protect the clarity.
7. 7

   Combine the broth

   Strain the pork stock. For four bowls, warm 4 cups pork stock with 2 cups fish dashi, holding it just below a simmer. Taste it before adding tare. It should be clean and savory but not salty yet. Add the fish dashi near the end because niboshi aroma fades under long heat, and this ramen depends on that light dried-fish lift.

8. 8

   Prepare the toppings

   Slice the chashu thinly. Bring the menma to room temperature, slice the scallions, and set out the narutomaki if using. Warm the ramen bowls with hot water, then empty and dry them. A cold bowl steals heat from the soup before the noodles have had their say, which is a small tragedy and entirely avoidable.

9. 9

   Boil the noodles

   Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a strong boil. Cook the fresh noodles according to the maker's timing, usually 2 to 3 minutes, stirring at the start so the waves don't cling together. Drain hard, shaking off water. Don't cook the noodles in the broth. Their starch would muddy the soup, and the broth has been treated too politely for that.

   The noodle is the first secret here. Kitakata's hirauchi jukusei taka-suimen means flat, aged, high-hydration noodles. If you can't find them, use fresh thick wavy ramen noodles, not instant noodles.
10. 10

    Build each bowl

    Put 1 1/2 tablespoons tare in each warmed bowl, plus 1/2 teaspoon clear pork fat if you want a little sheen. Add 1 1/2 cups hot combined broth and stir. Slide in one portion of noodles, lift and fold them once so they sit loosely, then top with three slices of chashu, a small stack of menma, scallion, and narutomaki if using. Serve at once. Ramen waits for no scholar, and certainly not for a long speech.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the noodles first. Fresh Kitakata-style noodles are thick, flat, wavy, and high in water, and that texture is what makes the bowl itself. A fresh thick wavy ramen noodle is the sensible stand-in. Instant noodles change the dish too much.
• •Use prepared menma if you can find good ones. If you can't, simmer plain bamboo shoots briefly with a spoonful of tare and dashi, then cool them. Say plainly what it is: a stand-in, useful and honest.
• •Keep the pork stock at a tremble, not a boil. Cloudy broth isn't shameful, but it belongs to another ramen. Kitakata's lightness comes from clear stock and careful seasoning.
• •Taste the final broth after tare, not before making decisions. If it tastes flat, add a spoonful of fish dashi. If it tastes thinly salty, you've asked soy sauce to do dashi's work.
• •Slice the chashu thinner than you think. Thick slabs look generous but weigh down a light bowl. Three thin slices warm quickly and leave room for the noodle.

Advance Preparation

• •The niboshi and konbu can soak overnight in the refrigerator. The cold soak gives a rounder dried-fish flavor and saves time the next day.
• •The pork stock, tare, and chashu can be made up to 3 days ahead. Chill the stock, lift off the fat, and save a little clear fat for finishing the bowls.
• •The fish dashi is best made the day you serve, because the niboshi and katsuobushi aroma fades. If you must make it ahead, keep it refrigerated and reheat it gently.
• •Cook the noodles only at the last moment. Boiled ramen noodles don't wait well, and Kitakata's springy chew is the point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 800g)