Ivan Ramen
Page 13
5 Set up your pasta machine and adjust it to the largest size. Pass one sheet of dough through the machine, then fold it over on itself so that you have a double sheet. Turn the machine to the second largest size, and run the doubled sheet through. Double the sheet over again, and run it through the third largest setting.
6 Don’t double the sheet over again. Run it through the fourth largest setting, then once through the smallest setting. Set aside and repeat with the remaining sheets of dough. Once the dough is all rolled, pass the sheets through the widest cutter you have, or cut by hand into fettuccine-width noodles. You should have a nice, wide noodle with a little heft. Toss the noodles with a little cornstarch to keep them from sticking together, and shake off the excess before cooking. Store the noodles in a container wrapped tightly with plastic (or individual portions in ziplock bags) for up to a day.
7 Cook the noodles until just al dente in a large pot of boiling unsalted water; this will probably take 2½ to 3 minutes, but the first time you make this, you’ll need to watch and test them to find the right timing.
8 Once the noodles are cooked, drain them and run them under cold water, stirring with your hand to completely cool them. Shake them thoroughly in the strainer to get rid of as much water as possible before serving.
Four-Cheese Mazemen
Four-Cheese Mazemen
EDAM, PARMESAN, MOZZARELLA, AND MONTEREY JACK
This is the signature dish at Ivan Ramen Plus, my second shop. Cheese is continuing to find its way into more and more bowls of ramen, but it’s still not the most common ingredient. “Fusion” is a no-no word these days, but I love combining Western and Japanese ingredients and sensibilities. This bowl has Edam and Parmesan cheese and lemon, but also dashi, katsuobushi, and pickled bean sprouts. And while this dish is cheesy, it’s also balanced. The four-cheese mazemen is still hands down the most popular dish on the menu.
The tricky part of this dish is making sure that the cheese completely melts into the soup. In addition to the Edam and Parmesan, there’s also inexpensive melty cheese from Hokkaido (it’s Monterey Jack, basically) and mozzarella. If you can’t find fish powder, you could substitute a pile of katsuobushi or even sprinkle some crumbled bacon instead. I may sound like a broken record, but when you make these dishes at home, just remember to taste and use your imagination; be willing to adjust if it doesn’t taste exactly how you like. I’m giving you the recipes as we make them, but the differences in ingredients can be limiting, so stretch where you need to. Maybe you’ll come up with something better.
Makes 4 servings
500 grams (1 pound) very fresh bean sprouts, the fatter the better
500 milliliters (2 cups) water
100 milliliters (½ cup) rice vinegar
1 clove garlic
65 grams (¼ cup) sugar
200 milliliters (¾ cup) AGO DASHI or regular DASHI
100 grams (3½ ounces) shredded mozzarella
100 grams (3½ ounces) shredded Monterey Jack
120 milliliters (1½ cup) SHIO TARE
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 2 lemons
720 grams (1½ pounds) FAT RYE NOODLES
60 grams (2 ounces) grated Edam
60 grams (2 ounces) grated Parmesan
12 grams (2 tablespoons) katsuobushi (bonito) powder (see this page, steps 1 and 2)
4 grams (1 teaspoon) sea salt
4 thick slices PORK BELLY CHASHU, warmed in its cooking liquid or in the noodle water as it comes to a simmer
2 room-temperature HALF-COOKED EGGS, sliced in half
Finely chopped chives
1 Rinse the bean sprouts under cold water. Shake off the excess water and place them in a heatproof bowl.
2 In a small saucepan, mix the water, vinegar, and garlic, and bring to a simmer. Add the sugar and stir until it’s dissolved. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the bean sprouts and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the bean sprouts in the liquid until ready to use. They should hold for about a week.
3 Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil for the noodles. Bring the dashi to a simmer in a small saucepan.
4 Set out 4 ramen bowls. Although it’s a bit of a pain to warm the bowls, it helps the cheese melt. To warm them, bring about 7.5 centimeters (3 inches) of water to a simmer in a shallow pan. Place the bowls in the water one at a time, spinning and turning it until it’s warm, then remove it from the water. Divide the mozzarella, Monterey Jack, shio tare, lemon juice, and lemon zest among the warmed bowls.
5 Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook until just past al dente, about 3 minutes. About 10 seconds before the noodles are ready, divide the hot dashi among the bowls.
6 Drain the noodles thoroughly, shaking the strainer up and down and from side to side to get rid of as much water as you can, and divvy them up. Use a pair of chopsticks to thoroughly mix the noodles, dashi, and cheese. The hot noodles should help the cheese melt.
7 Sprinkle the Edam, Parmesan, katsuobushi, and sea salt over each bowl. Place a piece of warm chashu in the center of each bowl, nestle half an egg into the noodles, and top with a heap of pickled bean sprouts and a sprinkling of chives. Give everything a good stir and eat quickly, before the cheese cools and firms back up.
Ago Dashi Ramen
Ago Dashi Ramen
WITH SHOYU TARE
Ivan Ramen Plus is all about dashi. Since first moving to Japan, I’ve been enamored of dashi and fascinated by the notion of making a fish-based soup with as much umami as a meat broth, or even more. I’ve experimented with dozens of dried and smoked fish, as well as shellfish and all sorts of konbu. (In fact, the menu at Ivan Ramen Plus was originally based entirely around fish soups—no meat or poultry.)
Ago, or flying fish, is sweeter and doesn’t have the bitter edge of iriko (sardine) that most ramen shops use in their dashis. It’s a bit more common in southern Japan, but it’s also quite expensive. But if you’re going to make fish the star of the show, you ought to use the best fish, so I went for it, and I don’t regret it for a second. If you can’t find it, use katsuobushi (bonito). This ago soup is sweet, aromatic, rich, and strong enough to provide the backbone for a bowl of ramen.
Makes 4 servings
4 halves SLOW-ROASTED TOMATOES
50 milliliters (3½ tablespoons) garlic oil from ROASTED GARLIC AND GARLIC OIL
1.1 liters (4¾ cups) AGO DASHI
120 milliliters (½ cup) SHOYU TARE
40 milliliters (3 tablespoons) CHICKEN FAT
520 grams (18 ounces) TOASTED RYE NOODLES
4 fat slices PORK BELLY CHASHU, warmed in its cooking liquid or in the noodle water as it comes to a simmer
12 strips MENMA
12 grams (2 tablespoons) ago (flying fish) powder or katsuobushi (bonito) powder (see this page, steps 1 and 2)
20 grams (¾ ounce) grated Parmesan
A small pile of mizuna leaves for each bowl
1 Puree the tomatoes and garlic oil in a food processor and set aside.
2 Boil a large pot of unsalted water for the noodles. In a separate saucepan, bring the dashi to a simmer.
3 Set out 4 ramen bowls. Divide the shoyu tare and chicken fat among the bowls.
4 Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for about 50 seconds, until the noodles are just past al dente. About 10 seconds before they’re done, divide the hot dashi among the bowls. Drain the noodles thoroughly, shaking the strainer well to get rid of as much water as possible. Divide the noodles among the bowls. Lift them with a pair of chopsticks or tongs and fold them back over themselves, so that they don’t clump into a ball.
5 Lay a piece of chashu on top of the noodles, then 4 strips of menma and a spoonful of tomato puree. Sprinkle fish powder and Parmesan over everything and finish with a small nest of mizuna in the center. Serve immediately.
AGO DASHI
An accurate thermometer is essential to making ago dashi. The ingredients are delicate and break down very quickly if the temperat
ure gets too high. You’ll also want a fine-mesh skimmer, china cap, or colander lined with cheesecloth. The dashi can produce a lot of sediment, and the konbu gives off a gooey slick that should be skimmed off.
Makes about 2 liters (2 quarts)
2 liters (2 quarts) cold water
60 grams (2 ounces) ago (dried flying fish)
40 grams (1½ ounces) geso (dried squid tentacles)
20 grams (¾ ounce) ebi (dried shrimp)
20 grams (¾ ounce) kaibashira (dried scallops)
30 grams (1 ounce) konbu
60 grams (2 ounces) katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito), or a premixed blend of shaved dried mackerel, sardine, and bonito, if you can find it
1 In a pot, combine the water with the ago, geso, ebi, kaibashira, and konbu, and let soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight, in the fridge.
2 With a fine-mesh skimmer, scoop off any slime released by the konbu. Set the pot of soaked ingredients over medium heat and heat the liquid to 140°F (60°C). Turn off the heat and immediately strain the soup through a fine-mesh strainer, china cap, or a cheesecloth-lined collander, being sure to allow all of the liquid to drain from the ingredients.
3 Put the liquid back in the pot and return it to the stove. Over medium-high heat, bring it to 176°F (80°C) and add the katsuobushi. Lower the heat, and keep the temperature at 176°F (80°C) for 5 minutes, then strain the dashi again. Use immediately or chill and store; it will keep for a couple days in the refrigerator.
SHOYU TARE
Shoyu tare is made with soy sauce as a base. It’s the seasoning for shoyu ramen, and it’s used in a few other variations introduced later in the book. There’s no question that the quality of the soy sauce you use is important. If you don’t have konbu powder, use dried sheets cut into small pieces or pulverized in a blender.
You’ll notice that I’m very specific about the temperature at which this should be cooked. The flavors in dried seafood are very delicate and will break down rapidly and even turn bitter if the temperature gets too high. Decades of experimentation by Japanese cooks has determined that 176°F (80°C) is the sweet spot for making dashi and tare. Any type of instant-read thermometer will make this procedure simple to follow. But having said that, no one’s life will be ruined if you just wing it. Just don’t let the liquid boil—a bare simmer is okay.
Makes 300 milliliters (1¼ cups)
50 milliliters (3½ tablespoons) sake
50 milliliters (3½ tablespoons) mirin
100 milliliters (½ cup + 1 tablespoon) usukuchi (light) soy sauce
100 milliliters (½ cup + 1 tablespoon) koikuchi (dark) soy sauce
2 grams (a 1-inch square) konbu
3 kaibashira (dried scallops)
10 grams (⅓ ounce) sababushi (shaved dried mackerel) or katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito)
1 In a small saucepan, bring the sake and mirin to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook off the alcohol for 3 minutes.
2 Add the soy sauces and bring to 176°F (80°C) over medium- high heat. The mixture shouldn’t be simmering or even bubbling. The liquid will be too hot for you to hold your finger in for more than about a second.
3 Add the konbu, kaibashira, and sababushi. Stir and maintain the temperature at 176°F (80°C) for 10 minutes.
4 Turn off the heat and let the shoyu tare come to room temperature. Strain and use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for at least a week.
Ago Tsukemen
WITH ROASTED GARLIC
I created this dish for a pop-up dinner in Atlanta. It was the first time I’d ever done a multicourse ramen dinner. The whole point of ramen is to provide a complete meal in a bowl. The idea of offering more than one ramen dish presented the challenge of creating several different noodle experiences without overstuffing the diners.
This dish is served cold, like soba, with a cold ago-based soup. I haven’t tried this in Japan, but my American customers immediately see the playfulness of it and the parallels to soba. I think customers in Tokyo would find it a little sacrilegious and beside the point, partly because there’s so much good soba available everywhere. Oh well.
Makes 4 servings
520 grams (18 ounces) TOASTED RYE NOODLES
200 milliliters (¾ cup) chilled AGO DASHI
8 grams (1 teaspoon) roasted garlic from ROASTED GARLIC AND GARLIC OIL
12 milliliters (2½ teaspoons) garlic oil from ROASTED GARLIC AND GARLIC OIL
8 grams (1½ tablespoons) KATSUOBUSHI SALT
80 milliliters (5½ tablespoons) SHOYU-SOFRITO TARE
1 Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil for the noodles. Cook the noodles until just past al dente, about 50 seconds. Plunge them immediately into an ice bath to stop the cooking. When the noodles are chilled, drain them thoroughly, shaking the strainer up and down and from side to side to get out as much water as you can. Divide them among 4 chilled plates.
2 Combine and mix the dashi, garlic puree, garlic oil, katsuobushi salt, and tare in a large bowl. Divide the mixture among 4 cups and serve alongside the noodles. To eat, dip the noodles in the soup and slurp up.
Breakfast Yakisoba
Breakfast Yakisoba
WITH CHASHU AND EGGS
When I returned to New York to open a branch of Ivan Ramen stateside, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and support from the chef community here. Everyone was eager to help me find contractors and realtors, warn me away from legendarily bad locations, and open their kitchens for me to do pop-ups. One of those pop-up opportunities came from chef April Bloomfield at The Breslin. Together, we put together a “nose to tail” ramen event: she butchered a pig and I created dishes making use of the different cuts.
One of my favorite touches was our take-home goody bag. For years, fancy restaurants have given their diners granola or muffins for breakfast the next morning. I thought it’d be funny to send everyone home with breakfast yakisoba (stir-fried noodles). Everyone got little vacuum packs of noodles, sauce, and chashu, along with instructions on how to cook them. This recipe is a version of those goody-bag noodles. You can use any fresh Asian noodles, but Chinese markets usually offer fresh chow mein–style egg noodles that are ideal for yakisoba. If you don’t want to make chashu, a couple strips of bacon will work just fine, too. Breakfast of champions!
Makes 2 servings
250 milliliters (1 cup) water
2 grams (a 1-inch square) konbu
3 kaibashira (dried scallops)
1 dried shiitake mushroom
25 milliliters (2 tablespoons) sake
25 milliliters (2 tablespoons) mirin
5 grams (¼ ounce) sababushi (shaved dried mackerel), or substitute katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito)
5 grams (1¼ teaspoons) sea salt
1 medium onion, sliced
Vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
150 grams (2 cups) shredded green cabbage
3 medium carrots, peeled and grated
2 large eggs
300 grams (10½ ounces) fresh Asian noodles (see note, this page)
4 thick slices PORK BELLY CHASHU, warmed in its cooking liquid or in the noodle water as it comes to a simmer
1 In a bowl, combine the water, konbu, kaibashira, and shiitake, and allow to rehydrate for at least 1½ hours, or overnight, in the refrigerator.
2 To make the tare, combine the sake and mirin in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the soaked konbu, kaibashira, shiitake, along with the soaking liquid and bring to 176°F (80°C); the liquid won’t simmer, but will be too hot for you to hold your finger in for more than a second. Keep at this temperature for 10 minutes, then add the sababushi and hold at 176°F (80°C) for 5 minutes more. Strain out the solids and add the salt to the tare, stirring until it’s fully dissolved. Reserve until needed. You can make this the night before and keep it in the fridge if you have the foresight.
3 Bring a pot of unsalted water t
o a boil for the noodles.
4 While the water is heating, sauté the onion in an oiled pan over medium-high heat until it just begins to caramelize—about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes, then add the cabbage and carrots and cook until tender, about another 10 minutes. Reserve.
5 In a small nonstick skillet, fry your eggs how you like them. I like my yolks runny. Set them aside.
6 Cook the noodles until al dente, 2½ to 3 minutes. Drain very thoroughly, add the noodles to a lightly oiled nonstick skillet over high heat, and cook until slightly crispy, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables and stir everything together with chopsticks. Add the tare and continue to cook and stir for 3 more minutes.
7 Divide the noodles between 2 plates and top with the chashu and eggs. That’s an Ivan Ramen breakfast!
Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Mazemen
Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Mazemen
IVAN RAMEN SUMMER SPECIAL
This is a special dish I run regularly in the spring and summer, and it is always popular. The Japanese love tomatoes, even if they are expensive as hell. The BLT is popular in Tokyo, but I’ve never really had a great one there, because the bacon sucks. (I always look forward to a big pile of bacon when I come back to New York.) This dish was the first one I created upon returning to the States. It has all the elements of a classic BLT, with a smoky, fishy twist and, of course, noodles. Plus, it’s a great chance to use some of the different components you’ve made for Ivan Ramen shio ramen.