Char Sui Pork Packet Ramen

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Char Sui Pork Packet Ramen

Ingredient Notes

Chicken frames:

Chicken frames are the carcasses left after the breasts, legs and thighs have been removed. They are dense with collagen and bone marrow, which gives the stock a rich, gelatinous body that a whole chicken or stock cube can’t match. Your butcher will have them at very low cost. Ask for raw frames, not roasted. Or, buy a whole chicken and use the meat for another dinner and keep the frames for this.

Pork belly:

You want a piece with a good fat-to-meat ratio. The fat renders down during the braise and keeps the meat moist throughout the long cook. Rolling and tying the belly into a cylinder with butcher’s string means you get even, uniform slices when you cut it after chilling. The pork goes into the fridge in its braising liquid overnight, which firms it up and makes slicing clean and easy.

Mirin, sake and soy sauce:

These three together are the foundation of the char siu braising liquid. Mirin is a sweet Japanese rice wine, sake is a drier rice wine, and combined with soy they produce the classic sweet, salty, deeply savoury char siu flavour profile. If you can’t find sake, dry sherry is the closest substitute. Don’t swap the mirin for sugar as the flavour won’t be the same.

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Ingredients

soy sauce eggs (see my recipe)

STOCK

4 raw chicken frames (approx 1kg/2.2lbs)
2 tsp olive oil
130g pkt Shin Ramen Black (or packet of your choice)
1 spring onion, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated

CHAR SUI PORK

1 piece pork belly, approx. 30 x 20cm (12 x 8 inches)
3 spring onions, cut into 5cm (2-inch) batons
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced ½ cm (¼ inch) thick
3 cloves garlic, crushed
120ml (4 fl oz) soy sauce
120ml (4 fl oz) mirin
120ml (4 fl oz) sake

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Large saucepan with lid (for stock)
Ovenproof saucepan or dutch oven with lid (for pork)
Butcher’s string
Sieve or fine-mesh strainer
Large jug or airtight container (for stock)
Heavy-based frying pan
Protein press or heavy pan lid
Medium saucepan
Serving bowl

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Directions

MAKE THE STOCK

Place the chicken frames in a large saucepan and cover with water. Place over a medium high heat and bring to a simmer.
Simmer for 15 minutes, then strain, discarding the water and return the chicken frames to the saucepan. Cover with fresh water again and bring back to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 3 hours.
Strain off the stock into a large jug or container and refrigerate until ready to use.

PREP THE CHAR SUI PORK

Roll the pork belly into a tight cylinder and tie it with butcher’s string, securing it 7 or 8 times to maintain its shape.
Place the pork in an oven-proof lidded saucepan or dutch oven, so that it fits snuggly, with the spring onion batons, ginger slices, garlic cloves, soy sauce, mirin, and sake.
Cover and cook in a preheated oven at 160°C fan forced (320°F) for 1½ hours.
Remove from the oven, uncover and turn the pork over in the liquid, then allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

MAKE THE SOY SAUCE EGGS

See my recipe for soy sauce eggs and make these the day before serving.

PREPARE YOUR RAMEN (THE NEXT DAY)

Cut the pork into slices, approximately 1cm thick. Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan over medium-high heat.
Cook the pork slices for 2 minutes on each side, weighted down with a protein press, until well browned on both sides.
Meanwhile, heat 500ml of the stock in a medium saucepan over high heat until boiling. Add the seasoning packets and mix through, then add the noodles and spring onion whites. Cook for 2 minutes.
To serve, transfer the noodles and the broth to a serving bowl. Slice one of the soy sauce eggs in half. Place the pork and egg on top and garnish with the green of the spring onions.

Notes

Cook support

For this recipe, you'll need my soy sauce eggs recipe.

Chef Tips

Blanch the chicken frames before making the stock

Step 1 covers the frames in water, simmers for 15 minutes and then discards that first water entirely. This is blanching and it pulls out the blood, impurities and grey scum that would otherwise make your stock cloudy and give it an unpleasant flavour. Do not skip this step. The second round of fresh water is what becomes your stock, and it will be noticeably cleaner and better because of it.

Refrigerate the pork before slicing

After the pork braises and cools to room temperature, refrigerate it overnight in the braising liquid before you slice it. The rolled cylinder needs time to firm up completely so you get clean, even rounds when you cut it. Warm pork straight from the oven will fall apart. Cold pork straight from the fridge slices perfectly.

Storage

Store the components separately. The stock, pork and braising liquid keep in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. The broth actually improves overnight as the flavours continue to develop. Soy eggs keep in their marinade for up to 5 days in the fridge.

FAQs

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yes, and the recipe is designed for it. The stock, pork and soy eggs are all made the day before and refrigerated overnight. Everything comes together on the day you want to eat it in about 15 minutes. The overnight rest actually improves both the pork and the broth.

Can I make it vegetarian?

Not easily in its current form. The stock is built from chicken frames and the char siu is a pork dish. You could use a kombu or dashi stock and substitute firm tofu for the pork, but it would be a quite different bowl.

Can I use a different ramen packet?

Yes. Any instant ramen with a bold, savoury soup base works here. I use Shin Ramen Black for its depth, but any ramyeon-style packet will do. Just add the seasoning sachets to the stock as directed and follow the same method.