Monday 29 November 2010

The Perfect Rabbit Soup Stock (Leftover Yakibuta Ramen Stock)

After having read up on a lot of japanese stock making recipes for ramen and various articles and books on umami and molecular gastronomy, I had an idea for a kind of stock that I thought would be perfect for a dinner I was planning.

My girlfriend and some friends had a week previously managed to get hold of a couple of rabbits - needless to say, the two were more than enough for the four people eating and we had half a rabbit left over. In the meantime I had promised a friend to make him Yakibuta Ramen with various condiments. The result was rather a lot of left over Yakibuta Ramen stock that I had no use for - and the rabbit was fast going out of date.

It was then that it struck me - the various ingredients left over from making the ramen were all rich in umami, precisely, MSG (monosodium glutamate). Although the mix of fish and meat in stock is unorthodox to many stock makers, this turned out possibly to be the best soup stock I had ever tasted.
Here is the recipe -

Step 1 - prepare Yakibuta Ramen Stock -

Ingredients

  • 300-500g pork belly
  • 1 leek/welsh onion
  • 1 large piece of ginger
  • 4 tbsp soy
  • 4 tbsp sake
  • 4 tbsp mirin
  • water to cover pork
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 10cm piece of dried kelp/kombu
  • a 1/4 cup dried anchovies or prepared dried bonito mix/dashi soup mix
Mix ingredients and slow cook for 2-3 hours. Remove all ingredients from the stock and boil down to half the water volume. Simmer the pork for 2 mins in the sauce and grill in the oven (Ramen topping or just a snack). In a seperate pan boil the kelp from cold for 1 minute and discard. Add the anchovies or soup mix and simmer for 5 mins, then discard the rest. Pour the dashi soup into the ramen soup.

Reduce this soup to half the volume. 

Step 2 - The rabbit soup

Ingredients
  • 250 - 500g rabbit ribs, legs, etc...
  • 1 leek/welsh onion
  • 1 onion
  • 1 piece of ginger
  • 2 cups spinach
  • 2 - 3 mushrooms
  • soy sauce and sake to taste
Put all ingredients into the soup mix and pour water to cover all. Slow cook for 2 - 3 hours. Remove ingredients, shred the rabbit and add to the soup. Reduce the soup to taste and serve. 


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