Champon — Nagasaki Noodle Soup and Chinese-Japanese Fusion

Ingredients

• For the broth
• 500 g pork trotters, chopped into pieces
• 500 g chicken carcasses, broken into pieces
• 2 litres water
• 1 tsp salt, to season moderately
• For the topping
• 150 g pork belly, sliced into thin strips
• 150 g squid, cleaned, scored, cut into pieces
• 150 g shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 150 g clams, scrubbed
• 100 g fish cake (kamaboko), sliced
• 150 g cabbage, roughly chopped
• 100 g bean sprouts
• 1 medium carrot, julienned
• 2 tbsp lard
• For the noodles
• 400 g fresh champon noodles, thick springy wheat noodles; fresh udon if unavailable

Method

1. 1
   Place the pork trotters and chicken carcasses in a large stockpot. Cover with the water and bring to the boil over high heat. Skim the surface thoroughly. Reduce the heat and simmer for 4–6 hours, skimming as needed, until the broth is milky, rich, and carries the combined depth of both proteins. Season moderately with salt. Strain and reserve. The broth is ready when it is opaque and milky, with a rounded savouriness that neither pork alone nor chicken alone could produce.
2. 2
   Heat a wok over very high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the lard and allow it to melt and shimmer. Add the pork belly strips and wok-fry, keeping the ingredients moving, until lightly coloured and fragrant. Add the carrot and cabbage and fry until the edges begin to caramelise. Add the squid, shrimp, and clams, followed by the bean sprouts and fish cake slices, frying each addition briefly before the next. This is where the dish lives or dies: the wok must remain at maximum heat throughout so that the ingredients sear and caramelise rather than steam — any drop in temperature produces flat, undifferentiated flavour that cannot be recovered in the broth stage. The topping is ready when every component carries visible colour at its edges and the wok is fragrant with caramelised meat and seafood.
3. 3
   Pour the reserved hot broth into the wok over the wok-fried topping. Bring the entire mixture to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 2–3 minutes to allow the flavours to integrate. The surface should be milky and active with movement; the broth will absorb the caramelised fat and fond from the wok-frying stage.
4. 4
   Divide the fresh champon noodles equally among four large bowls, placing them in the bowl uncooked. Ladle the entire hot topping-and-broth mixture immediately over the noodles in each bowl, ensuring even distribution of protein and vegetables. Allow to stand for 1–2 minutes. The noodles are ready when they have softened to a thick, springy resistance under light pressure with a chopstick — firm at the centre, yielding at the surface.