Homemade Chicken Ramen (Shio Ramen)

• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 leek
• Ginger and garlic
• 2 liters of water
• 50ml soy sauce
• 30ml mirin
• Sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 200g braised chashu pancetta
• Nori, chives, negi

👨‍🍳 Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Broth: toast the carcass in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes. Cook with vegetables for 90 minutes. Strain.

2. 2

   Tare: mix soy sauce, mirin, and salt. Set aside.

3. 3

   Eggs: cook for exactly 6.5 minutes, peel, and marinate in soy+mirin+water 1:1:1 for at least 4 hours.

4. 4

   Chashu: roll the pancetta, tie, marinate, and braise for 1 hour in mirin+soy.

5. 5

   Cook the ramen noodles in unsalted water.

6. 6

   Assemble: hot broth with tare, noodles, sliced chashu, halved egg, nori.

💡 Chef's tip

The ramen egg needs exactly 6.5 minutes of cooking and at least 4 hours of marinating for the orange yolk.

📝 Our take

The shio ramen is the most transparent of all: it has nowhere to hide. The quality of the broth is fully exposed. Six and a half minutes for the egg, then at least four hours marinating — non-negotiable. The result is that orange yolk that people photograph before eating.

🍷 Wine & food pairing

Japanese lager like Sapporo or Asahi, ice cold. A junmai sake at room temperature also works. The broth already has so much flavor that the pairing should be refreshing and neutral.