Nibuta - Chashu - Pork Shoulder

Sliced pork chashu topping Tokyo-style ramen (with miso tare)!

Pork Chashu, or Nibuta, is a classic ramen topping of rolled pork shoulder braised in a savory-sweet, aromatic-infused sauce. The pork is then allowed to cool and sliced into rounds that are placed on top of the ramen broth and noodles. For many, pork chashu stands alongside the seasoned soft-boiled egg as the most iconic and beloved ramen topping.

This recipe for pork chashu relies on a pressure cooker to cut down on the required cooking time to create nearly fall apart tender pork. The pork is seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, sake, and mirin to provide a pleasing savory-salty-sweet flavor profile with just a hint of aromatics from some added ginger and green onion. Pork belly can be used in this recipe instead of pork shoulder, but beware that the result will be much fattier (delicious, perhaps?). We have found that a standard pork shoulder has plenty of fat and, unless you are in the mood for a very rich bowl of ramen, pork belly is often a little overwhelming in its richness and fattiness.

Recipe from: Chef Shinya Asami (Cozymeal, Facebook)

Time: 2-3 hours (22 minutes cooking at pressure)

Servings: 4-8

Ingredients - Step 1

• 1 pound pork shoulder (also called pork butt or Boston Butt)
• Water, to cover pork

Ingredients - Step 2

• Water, to cover meat, measured accurately
• 1 Tbps fresh ginger, sliced
• 2 to 4 green onions, cut into 2" pieces
• 8% brown sugar (by volume of water)
• 8% sake (by volume of water)
• 8% mirin (by volume of water)

Note on measurements: the amount of sake, brown sugar, and mirin are determined relative to the amount of water used to cover the pork. For example, if it takes 1000 ml of water to cover the pork, you will use 80ml of sake, mirin, and brown sugar.

More generally, if you have N ml of water (e.g., N = 1000), multiply that by 0.08 to get the volume of brown sugar, sake, and mirin to add. In our example, 1000 ml * 0.08 = 80 ml.

Ingredients - Step 3

• 10-16% soy sauce (by volume of water)

Note on measurements: compute the amount of soy sauce as was done for the sugar, mirin, and sake in the Step 2 ingredients, using the amount of water from Step 2 as 100% volume.

Directions

Pork shoulder tied-off and ready for searing

1. Tie pork with cotton twine, sear on all sides, then place in pressure cooker and cover with water. Cook under pressure for 2 minutes and let stand until pressure releases naturally.
   
   

   

   Chashu with aromatics and flavorings, ready for pressure cooking

   
   
   
2. Drain the water, rinse inside the pot and pork, then return pork to the pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover the pork while accurately measuring the volume of water used. This volume of water will be equal to 100%. Add ginger, green onion, sake, mirin, and sugar. Bring to pressure and cook for 12 minutes, turn off heat and let stand until pressure releases naturally and pressure valve is down.
   
   

   

   Chashu cooling after adding soy sauce

   
   
   
3. Turn the meat upside down, add the soy sauce, bring to a boil, cover with a lid (use a drop lid if you have one), and simmer for 8 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand to cool for at least 20 minutes. Slice into ¼" slices and serve immediately or store in refrigerator for up to one week. When storing, keep meat and broth together.

Notes

• If using an Instant Pot for the pressure cooking use the High pressure setting with no delay and turn off the keep warm setting. Let the pressure release at least partially after each step, but you can use the quick release after 20 minutes each time.
• Chashu cooking broth should be kept and will be used to assemble a Tokyo-style ramen bowl!
• We typically use 10-12% (by volume of water) of soy sauce in Step 3. The meat still has a savory-salty-meaty flavor of pork and soy sauce, accented with sweetness and aromatics from the remaining ingredients.
• Chef Shinya's original recipe calls for 1% salt in Step 3. We omit the added salt in because soy sauce (even the less-sodium Yamasa we use) has plenty of salt. Ramen broth is also usually well seasoned, and we have never felt like our completed bowl was lacking seasoning! If you feel chashu could use more salt, try adding a small amount in Step 3 next time.
• Substitute pork belly for the pork shoulder for a richer and fattier chashu. Remove the skin before rolling the pork belly and tying with string.
• Tying the pork tightly with string ensures that it stays in the log shape while cooking and retains the classic spiral cross-section after slicing.
• Letting the pork cool at least 20 minutes (we often let it cool at least 45 minutes) is important for creating perfect slices. Hot or warm chashu will tend to lose its shape when sliced, while cooled chashu retains the spiral. Use a very sharp knife to slice!

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Tokyo Style Ramen Broth

Ramen broth simmering with aromatics!

The foundation of every bowl of ramen is the soup or broth. The final bowl of ramen is created by adding seasonings (such as a tare), noodles, and toppings, but regardless of how much other stuff is added nothing can mask a low-quality broth. There are a wide variety of different ramen broths, ranging from chicken or pork bone based ones to seafood ones. Different regions of Japan, and even different ramen shops within the same locale, specialize in the various styles of broths from clear chicken broth to the much loved Tonkotsu (pork bone broth). As an eater, one of my favorite things about ramen is the vast number of broth and seasoning styles - there is always a favorite and always one more combination to try!

For the home chef, long-simmered bone broths are often considered out of reach due to their time commitment and the difficulty of sourcing quality animal bones required to make many broths. The "project" nature of the broth was certainly something that kept us from making ramen at home for a number of years. However, as we learned from Chef Shinya, it is possible to make a respectable ramen broth at home that will more than satisfy your ramen craving.

Chef Shinya's recipe relies on chicken and vegetable base to replace the long-simmering of bones, dashi powder for a kick of umami, and aromatics, sake, and soy sauce to round out the flavor profile. This approach yields a broth with nicely developed bone broth flavors and a medium-light body. The green onion, ginger, and garlic offer pleasing aromatic notes that add to the complexity of the broth without being overpowering.

Recipe from: Chef Shinya Asami (Cozymeal, Facebook)

Total time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1800 ml water
• 3 ½ tsp chicken base
• 2 tsp vegetable base
• 2 tsp dashi powder
• 4 tsp soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp Sake
• 4 to 8 green onions, cut into 2" pieces
• 2 Tbsp Ginger, sliced
• 2 to 4 cloves garlic

Directions

Aromatics - ginger, garlic, green onion

1. Wash green onion and ginger and peel the garlic. Cut green onion into 2 inch pieces and ginger into rounds.
   
   

   

   Finished ramen broth

   
   
2. In a medium pot, bring water to a boil, add everything at once. Return to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain solids and discard.

Notes

• We tend to use 3 cloves of garlic and 6 to 8 green onions
• The ginger does not need to be peeled, but give it a rinse to wash off any dirt. Likewise, after washing the green onion there is no need to trim off the roots as all of the aromatics will be strained out before serving.

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Burmese pumpkin stew

 This is one of my favorite side dishes to make when cooking Southeast Asian food (and I will make it with both Burmese curries and Thai curries). You could certainly eat this on its own, but it is more common to eat along with something else (as is common in both Thai and Burmese cuisines!). 

I find that it pairs well with a vegetable (such as stir fried bok choy or green beans) and a curry, such as a Thai red curry dish or a Burmese meat curry). 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lb. peeled Kabocha squash cut into 1-in cubes (about 4 large cups)
• 3 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp minced ginger
• 3/4 - 1 cup of diced yellow onion
• 1/4 tsp chili powder (or more if you want more heat)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp paprika (ideally not smoked)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Cut, peel, and seed the Kabocha squash (note: I highly recommend buying pre-peeled and pre-cut Kabocha squash if you can...it is an absolutely pain - and potential danger to your fingers if using a knife - to peel)
2. In a large sauce pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to turn translucent (about 6 minutes). 
3. Add the garlic, ginger, and chili powder and cook for an additional 5 minutes. 
4. Add the squash, turmeric, paprika, and salt and give 1-2 stirs to mix together. 
5. Add the water and the tamarind concentrate and give another 1-2 stirs. 
6. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. 
7. Simmer (uncovered) for about 10-11 minutes. The squash should then be tender when pierced with a fork or knife but not mushy. If you cannot pierce with a fork or knife easily, cook an additional 2 minutes. 
8. Remove the pieces of pumpkin from the pot (but not the juices!)
9. Bring the heat to medium-low and reduce the stew/curry sauce for an additional 4-5 minutes until thicker
10. Remove from the heat, add the pumpkin back into the pot, and stir gently until combined. 
11. Serve over rice with whatever else you are serving!

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