Aburasoba

Also known as mazesoba or Taiwan mazesoba, these ramen noodles are covered with mixture of creamy egg, Japanese tare, red miso, and vinegar.

Aburasoba Recipe

yields 3 servings, with leftover chashu

Ingredients

chashu

2 lbs pork belly

25g (1½ tbsp) mirin

25g (1½ tbsp) Taiwan cooking wine or sake

12g (2 tsp) garlic, chopped

16g (1 tbsp) ginger, peeled and chopped

130g (½ cup) dark soy sauce

75g (⅓ cup) light soy sauce

16g rock sugar

water

63 degree egg

3+ eggs

water

Sauce

1+ cup tare (reserved braising liquid)

1 tbsp black rice vinegar

2 tsp red miso paste

1 tbsp neutral oil, divided

(Optional) 3 tsp sesame oil, divided

To Serve

3 packs ramen noodles

menma (bamboo shoots)

fish cakes

½ to 1 cup Tokyo negi, chopped or green onion, chopped

toasted black and white sesame seeds

3 sheets of nori

rice vinegar, to taste

(Optional) chili oil

Directions

chashu (adapted from Ivan Ramen)

Bring a medium pot of water to boil, and blanch the pork belly for a few minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to clean off the meat scum, and set aside.

Next, make the tare, which we will use to braise the pork. In a dutch oven over medium heat, add the sake and mirin, heating it to a light simmer, cooking for 3 minutes or so to burn off some of the alcohol. Next, add the garlic, ginger, rock sugar, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce, and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Stir until the rock sugar dissolves and continue cooking, uncovered; after 2 or 3 minutes, turn off the heat and let the mixture sit for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld.

Cut the pork belly in half across the grain and gently place in the dutch oven, making sure that there is a snug fit. Add enough water to just cover the meat by about half an inch.

Next, bring the liquid to boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer. Cover the pot and cook until the meat is tender enough to be easily pulled apart by a fork, about 3 to 4 hours. When ready, carefully remove from the pot and set the meat on a plate to cool. Reserve about a cup of the braising liquid for the sauce, and save the rest for future braises. Once cooled, refrigerate the meat, and only after the meat has completely chilled, slice the pork belly into strips of desired thickness. When ready to serve the aburasoba, reheat the chashu by simmering in water or broth for a minute or so.

the 63° egg

If you don’t own a sous vide machine, this is a bit of a finicky process, but worth it once in a while. Poke a small hole in the bottom (larger end) of each egg with a pushpin. Next, fill a saucepan with enough water to submerge the eggs. As the water warms on medium heat, check to make sure the temperature of the water does not exceed 64°C.

When the water reaches 64°C, gently lower the eggs into the water using a slotted spoon, to prevent the eggs from cracking. The temperature may drop a bit and if so, leave the heat on medium-low and bring it back up to 63°C. Once it comes back to 63°, reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cook the eggs for 45 minutes to an hour, checking the temperature of the water every so often to make sure that the temperature of the water stays around 63°. The water will look like it’s barely bubbling. If it ever exceeds 64°, take the saucepan off the stove briefly, checking the temperature of the water, watching as it drops to around 63° before putting it back on the stove. If it dips below 63°, turn up the heat on the stove slightly and monitor it. Once it reaches 63°, reduce the heat to a low setting. On an electric stove, I am able to just leave it on the stove on low for the entirety of the hour without adjusting the temperature.

After about 45 minutes to 1 hour, transfer the eggs into the ice bath to cool for 2 to 3 minutes. When ready to serve, gently crack and partially peel the eggs to slide onto the dish. It may not seem like the egg will stay intact since the whites are liquidy, but if you carefully take off about a quarter of the egg shell, the entire egg will slide out of the shell easily.

to serve

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the tare (reserved braising liquid) with the red miso, oil, and black vinegar. Stir frequently, making sure the miso is completely dissolved before pouring about one third cup of sauce into each serving bowl. Divide the neutral-flavored oil and sesame oil, if using, evenly amongst the serving bowls and mix into the sauce. Next, heat up the ramen noodles according to package instructions, and warm the fish cakes in the same pot. Place the noodles in the bowl, and garnish with negi, menma, nori, the warmed fish cakes, and place the 63 degree egg in the middle. Finish off with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

To eat, break the egg yolk and mix so that the egg and sauce meld together and stick to the noodles. I like to also break up the chashu and mix it all up with the noodles and negi, as well as add more rice vinegar as I eat. The acidity pairs well with the creaminess of the egg yolk.

Notes

1. Reduce the chashu recipe to about 1 pound of pork belly if you prefer to have no leftover chashu. It’s nice to have leftovers since it takes about 3 to 4 hours to cook, and you can repurpose for other dishes (fried rice, chashu don, ramen, etc).

2. This recipe calls for just 3 eggs, but I often make more so that I have a supply of them in the fridge. The 63 degree eggs pair well with any kind of rice bowl.