Wild Boar Ramen Recipe

Ramen is Japanese soul food. Composed of noodles, soup, and toppings, Japan’s second-most recognizable dish—after sushi—is nothing like the salty bags of Top Ramen that most Americans know. Regardless, ramen is considered “fast food” in Japan, and the country’s weary working class doesn’t have to go far to find an affordable bowl of soup and noodles. One slurp of the silky, rich stock and you immediately begin to feel the weight of the day wash away—at least for a moment.

Despite the assortment of colors and textures that adorn a bowl of ramen, it’s really the soup that gives ramen its elixir-like quality. When my husband and I traveled to Japan a couple of years ago, ramen was our first meal after landing and the last dish we ate before departure. Jet-lagged and sleep-deprived, the first bowl set us on the right path to conquer our jam-packed visit to Kyoto, and the last bowl fortified us for our continued journey into Southeast Asia. 

Ramen soup is made of gelatin-rich bones, meat, and aromatics that are simmered for a long period of time. While the components of ramen soup are not unlike bone broth or stock, ramen soup is distinctly Eastern. Westerners value clarity in their broths and stocks, whereas in preparing tonkotsu—which translates to “pork bones” in English—a pristinely clear stock is the opposite of what you want to achieve. Even recipes for Vietnamese pho, my birth country’s national dish, are obsessive when it comes to stock clarity.

Tonkotsu soup is unlike any stock I’ve ever made. To make it, the stock is kept at a boil for a full 12 hours. This high-heat, rapid-boiling action emulsifies the gelatin, fat, and water, creating tonkotsu’s creamy, almost white, thick texture. The cloudier and thicker the stock, the better for ramen. 

Pig’s trotter is the cut of choice for preparing tonkotsu stock. Loaded with cartilage and skin, this cut is necessary for creating a creamy ramen soup. If you have the knowhow—and fortitude—to clean wild boar trotters, go for it, but buying them is obviously a lot less work. Don’t fret if you’re beginning to think this recipe isn’t “wild” enough. You’ll get the opportunity to use up the bones you’ve saved from the hams, shanks, shoulders, and neck of your wild boar, which will add even more flavor to the stock.

Next, let’s talk about the toppings. Don’t be intimidated. Seriously. Focus on the noodles and the pork chashu. The rest—although nice to have—is more or less optional. The most commonly used cut for chashu is pork belly, which is conveniently flat and easy to roll into a pretty, neat log. If you are fortunate enough to shoot a wild boar with that much fat and belly on it, use it. But if not, you’ll have to make do with a fatty piece of deboned shoulder or hindquarter, which you’ll find is impossibly asymmetrical. 

I’ve had some practice tying meat, and after several adjustments, I finally achieved the shape I wanted with a piece of boneless pork shoulder—although the amount of kitchen twine I used would’ve made a French chef grimace. If you’re less experienced and nearly reach the point of pulling out your hair, don’t. The roll is mostly for looks. Just throw the whole lot in the pot and call it good. The meat will taste absolutely fine. 

I won’t pretend that my recipe will rival that of a Japanese ramen chef, who spends day in and day out making this dish and a lifetime in perfecting it, but hopefully you’ll get the idea. Delicious ramen is a balance of flavor and texture, achieved through time and patience. It’s where instant ramen got its inspiration. People love ramen because it’s hot, irresistible, and soul-satisfying—and a little bit of a guilty pleasure. Except with homemade ramen, the flavor is multiplied by 10.

How to Make Wild Boar Tonkotsu Ramen

This is a weekend-type cooking project. Give yourself an entire day to prepare tonkotsu ramen. Actually, it’s better if you don’t expect to serve it until the day after. For this recipe, I finished the soup on a Saturday night, left it to cool on the stove overnight and strained it the following morning, which also allowed the chashu time to firm up and the eggs to marinate. I refrigerated the soup in quart-size containers and reheated it to serve Sunday night. Tonkotsu stock freezes well.

Serves: 10-12
Prep time: An entire day
Cook time: 12+ hours 

Ingredients for Tonkotsu Broth:

• 3 pounds wild boar bones
• 3 pounds pig’s trotters
• 1 leek, washed, cut lengthwise
• 5-inch knob of ginger, sliced
• 1 large onion, cut in half
• 3 shallots, cut in half
• 1 whole bulb of garlic, top sliced off
• Kosher/sea salt, to taste
• Tamari/soy sauce, to taste

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Ingredients for Wild Boar Chashu:

• 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1½ cups water
• 1 cup sake
• 1 cup tamari/soy sauce
• ¾ cup mirin
• ½ cup sugar

Ingredients for Ramen and Toppings:

• 6 servings of uncooked ramen noodles (frozen or dried)
• 6 soft-boiled eggs
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 package enoki mushrooms
• 1 can corn
• Shichimi togarashi (Japanese spicy powder mix)
• Seasoned nori (dried seaweed)
• Chili oil
• Special equipment: kitchen twine

Directions: