Shoyu Ramen Tokyo Style Light Soy

Ingredients

• For the chicken broth
• 1.5 kg chicken carcasses, rinsed
• 2 litres water
• 20 g kombu, wiped clean
• 15 g katsuobushi (bonito flakes), for dashi base
• For the shoyu tare
• 120 ml dark soy sauce
• 60 ml mirin
• 60 ml sake
• 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, whole
• For the chashu
• 500 g pork belly, rolled and tied
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 30 ml mirin
• 30 ml sake
• For the ajitsuke tamago
• 4 eggs, soft-boiled 6 minutes, peeled
• 80 ml diluted shoyu tare, tare loosened with water — standard marinade proportion
• For the menma
• 100 g menma (bamboo shoots), canned or prepared, drained
• 30 ml soy sauce
• 15 ml mirin
• 15 ml sake
• To finish each bowl
• 400 g fresh medium-thick wavy ramen noodles, Tokyo style, wavy not straight
• 4 sheets nori, cut to size
• 4 slices naruto fish cake, sliced into rounds
• 2 spring onions (negi), finely sliced
• 30 ml rendered chicken back fat, optional; floated on surface for richness and gloss

Method

1. 1
   Place chicken carcasses in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, drain immediately, and rinse the carcasses under cold running water to remove impurities. Return to the pot with 2 litres of fresh cold water. Add kombu. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat — never a rolling boil. After kombu has steeped 15 minutes, remove it. Add katsuobushi, steep 5 minutes off the heat, then strain out. The broth should read clear and pale gold.
2. 2
   Continue to hold the chicken broth at the lowest possible simmer — surface should tremble, not bubble. Skim any foam or fat that rises. This is where the dish lives or dies: a vigorous boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and the broth turns opaque and grey; only a maintained gentle simmer preserves the transparent golden-brown clarity that defines Tokyo shoyu. Cook 2–3 hours, skimming regularly. The finished broth must be clear enough to see the bottom of the pot through it.
3. 3
   Combine dark soy sauce, mirin, sake, and dried shiitake in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and reduce by approximately one-third until the tare is concentrated and deeply aromatic. Remove shiitake. The tare is ready when it smells of layered soy and umami with no sharp alcohol note.
4. 4
   Sear the rolled pork belly on all sides in a heavy pan until browned. Combine soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a snug pot, add the pork, and braise at a low simmer, turning occasionally, until the pork yields when pressed with a finger and a skewer meets no resistance. Cool in its braising liquid, then refrigerate. Slice to order.
5. 5
   Simmer menma in soy sauce, mirin, and sake over low heat until the liquid is largely absorbed and the bamboo shoots are deeply colored and flavored. Refrigerate overnight for best penetration of flavor.
6. 6
   Soft-boil eggs at exactly 6 minutes, transfer immediately to ice water, peel, and submerge in diluted shoyu tare. Marinate for 12 hours refrigerated. The whites should be set and deeply amber at the surface; the yolk jammy and pale gold at center.
7. 7
   Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a full boil. Cook wavy medium-thick ramen noodles according to pack timing, stirring to prevent clumping. Drain thoroughly. The noodles should be just tender with resilient chew — not soft throughout.
8. 8
   Warm four deep bowls. Place 30–40 ml of shoyu tare in the base of each bowl. Ladle 350–400 ml of hot, clear chicken-dashi broth over the tare and stir briefly to combine. Add the drained noodles. Arrange sliced chashu, menma, halved ajitsuke tamago, naruto rounds, nori, and spring onion over the noodles. If using, float a spoonful of rendered chicken back fat on the surface. Serve immediately — the broth should be steaming and the noodles fully submerged.