Made Tonkotsu broth for the first time – 14 hours worth spending!

I live in a place where the chance of getting real Tonkotsu Ramen is quite slim, but it always looked so tasty, and we DO have pig parts for sale ^^. So I found out how to make it, got the bones and got up at 6 am yesterday, cooking until 8 pm. Biggest fight was the security shutoff of my stove, that bummer sometimes shuts off willy-nilly (it thinks its overheating, I guess…) so I definitely had to check every 10 minutes. While the broth was boiling (not simmering, tonkotsu has to rage) I made some of the toppings and the tare, played with my cats (and gave them some thoroughly cooked pork before the aromatics went in, they had a field day!) and watched Ramen documentaries. A long but rewarding day netting me 7 portions of creamy, silky, "damn this is good" broth. It got late and I wanted to savour it so I decided to have it today.

Today is the day to finally taste the fuits of my labour, with 5 portions frozen for days when I need something special, and 2 portions for my best buddy and me to eat. What you see here is:

– Tonkotsu mixed with Shoyu-Katsuobushi Tare
– Some pork belly slices that had been cooking in the broth until very tender (I needed some extra fat) that I harshly fried today, then seasoned with some of the Tare in the hot pan, caramelizing a little
– Homemade Ajitama (Ramen eggs)
– quickly charred corn
– And my own little spin: 2 uses of leek greens: I fried them in oil with some crushed garlic until very crispy, let them drip off and seasoned with salt as topping, and used the leek-garlic-oil as aromatic oil (the greenish oil blobs you see)

I am a tad bit proud of myself. I can`t say if it tastes like the real deal, but I bet you one thing – if I had a real deal place around me and it tasted like THAT I'd be there every week!

Let me know if you want closer info on any of the parts 🙂