Fresh Homemade Ramen Noodles

So why on Earth would you make fresh ramen noodles when they are 15 cents a package? The same reason people make fresh pasta noodles instead of buying the $1 box. It tastes better! Thats the main reason we all make things from scratch isnt it? Because homemade trumps storebought any day of the week. But for some of us making from scratch is about more than that. Sometimes it is about the challenge presented. Can we rise to the occasion and make something as cheap as ramen noodles from scratch and have them taste better? Can we prove to ourselves that our culinary skills are being coninuously sharpened? Are we becoming stagnant in our cooking?  Or perhaps we want to make ourselves delusional in thinking we are somewhat on par with the high class chefs from 5 star restaurants and big names in the cooking world (not the Food Network people). For me is is a little bit of all of this. I like to delude myself into thinking that I can rub elbows with Jasques Pepin and he would turn to me and marvel at my culinary prowess. (Hey we all have to have dreams right??) Now dont get me wrong, I in no way think I could rub elbows with Pepin. I would faint on the spot or throw up on his shoes or perhaps just stare. But if by some miracle I survived enough to talk to him I KNOW I would be out of my league no matter how nice he was about it. Not saying I wouldnt want to learn from him of course.....but now I digress.

Back to ramen. I have recently subscribed to a new sort of culinary publication. It is called The Lucky Peach. This publication is a magazine for lack of a better word but it is heavy and in depth and more reading than recipes. And I have their very first issue. They only come out once a quarter and #2 set to hit stands in November. They are all themed too. This one was the Ramen issue. I do not think this publication is for everyone. In fact I am not sure of my family and friends who would enjoy it. But you can take this away from The Lucky Peach. And that is the Alkaline Ramen Noodle recipe. I paired it with some smoked pork broth, sliced pork tenderloin and vegetable condiments. If you like ramen noodles, you are sure to like this one! I will warn you that it is time consuming. But if you have made any of my recipes you will know that a lot of mine are time consuming. So just be prepared to work on it all day!

According to the article the baked soda is essential to the structural integrity of the noodles. "...the idea of baking baking soda 'changes the phase' of the stuffm turning it from sodium bicarbonate into sodium carbonate---an alkaline salt". This eleminates finding hard to get ingredients from Chinese markets to make authentic noodles and makes it more accessible to cooks everywhere.

Recipe:
3c all purpose flour
4T baked soda **see recipe below**
1/2c warm tap water
1/2c cold tap water

**For baked soda take 1/2c of baking soda and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Place in a 250 degree oven or toaster oven. Bake for 1 hour. Place unused baked soda in a jar with a lid and keep indefinitely. It will not look any differently from regular baking soda once baked.

In a large bowl place the warm water. Dissolve the baked soda in it. Then add the cold water.

Add the flour, stirring and mixing to form a crumbly ball---not your pleasant dough.

Turn the crumbly dough out on a work surface.

 Knead it together, working the dough for a full 5 minutes. (It will be very tough and unrelenting).

Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then knead for another full 5 minutes. Again the dough will be super tough and hard to knead but push through the pain! Rewrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 5-6 portions. Roll each portion out slightly and then roll through the settings on a pasta machine. Progress through the settings one-by-one. (For pasta dough I will normally skip one each time going from 7-to-5-to-3 but with this dough make sure you go one by one. The final thickness of the noodle is up to you. But I left mine at 3.

You can either hand cut the noodles or run through a noodle cutter attachement for your pasta machine. I used the spaghetti setting.

Keep the noodles well floured to keep from sticking.

Cook the noodles in a deep pot with plenty of water. Noodles cut on the thinnest setting will only need 2-2 1/2 minutes. Mine took about 3-5 minutes on once they floated. Check them regularly and stir to keep them from clumping.

Once they are done if they are stuck together (most likely they will be) rinse them under cold water and rinse away any excess flour or starch. This is super important because you may end up with extra starchy noodles and broth! Rinse the noodles after cooking!!




Recipe:

2-3c broth

1 pork tenderloin

1/2 red pepper, thin sliced

3-5 green onions, thin sliced

1/2c mushrooms, thin sliced
1-2t large grated ginger

1 clove garlic, thin sliced

soy sauce
black fungus strips **optional**

**Black fungus is a prized delicasy in Chinese cooking. It is only added at the end of cooking. It is more for texture than anything since it has a mild to non-existent taste.  


To make our dinner I roasted a pork tenderloin on 350 degrees for 1 hour. I seasoned only with salt, pepper, and garlic. I wanted to star to be the noodles and broth. I had some leftover smoked pork broth in the freezer that I used for the base. To make my smoked pork broth click this link for hogg and greens soup or find in the Recipes section of my blog. If you do not want to make your own broth then buy some chicken stock or vegetable stock. Place your stock on the stove and once meat is cooked through bring to a low boil. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes and then slice it thinly and set aside.

For your condiments the possibilities are endless. I stuck with what was in my fridge. Here is how I layered my bowl. I wanted ginger and garlic flavor but did not want mounds of it nor did I want to compromise the integrity of my broth. So I put 1/2-1t of grated ginger and 2 slices of garlic on the bottom of the bowl.

Then top with your cooked ramen noodles. Ladle in your broth until it comes up almost to the top of the noodles. Place in your veggies making sure they get into the broth to get the rawness out without making them mushy. Then top with your sliced pork. And if you have or want to get black fungus top with the fungus. Then dig in!!