- So many niece and nephew asking Uncle Roger
to review Nick DiGiovanni making ramen.
- Ramen. I've been wanting to make this forever,
but now is the time.
- This guy Harvard graduate,
Master Chef finalist,
and have the smoothest baby face out there.
Fuiyoh!
Let's see how he do.
Before we start,
my nephew Nigel
trying out new character on his podcast.
He is Uncle Roger long lost Italian cousin.
- No, no!
- Zio Ruggero!
- Why?
- Because people be (beep) up carbonara!
No no no!
No cream in carbonara!
Mamma mia!
Link in description.
Give the clip a like.
Maybe he will review bad BBC Food carbonara video.
- I know so many of you have asked for ramen
for so, so long.
So today we're making tonkatsu ramen.
- What he say? What he say?
- So today we're making tonkatsu ramen.
- Tonkatsu...
Nephew Nick, I think you mean tonkotsu.
In Japanese,
ton mean pork.
Kotsu mean bone.
So tonkotsu ramen makes sense.
It pork bone ramen, but katsu mean cutlet.
So tonkatsu mean fried piece of pork.
That completely different thing.
Say it properly.
Tonkotsu, tonkotsu.
- I've already started a couple of things.
So for now let's pop back to yesterday,
when I hadn't shaved yet,
and we'll go to an Asian market.
So we've just pulled up to this -
- This is him with stubble. Hmm.
Uncle Roger can grow better beard than you.
Haiyaa.
- Unique and awesome ingredients here.
So the first things we're going to grab
is a bunch of pork bones and chicken bones
with that really flavorful stuff.
- Pork bone, chicken bone: correct.
But Nephew Nick, iron your shirt.
Haiyaa.
What graduate can't afford iron?
- It was like negative 8 million degrees in here.
I'm frigid.
- Oh, you should join team Auntie Helen.
She frigid also.
- Well, we got the pork belly, so let's get home
and make some ramen.
There's nothing like a good Japanese eggplant.
Got to find a place to put this for the drive.
- Ugh. Uncle Roger wish I didn't see that.
Nephew Nick, apologize to the children.
Haiyaa.
- I'm going to start making that amazing ramen broth.
First, I'm going to go in with all my chicken wings.
Next I'm going to start taking these pork hocks
that we got from the Asian grocery -
- Pork hock?
- As you can see here,
there is some meat on the outsides there,
but you've got a nice big chunk of bone in there
with tons of flavor.
- No, no, no. Pork hock, too much meat on there.
You should be using pork bone, not pork hock.
If you make tonkotsu broth with hock,
you're going to have too much meat falling off from broth.
Make it dirty.
- Once I've tossed in all of those pork bones
I'm going to go ahead
and add my last bit of protein in there,
which are duck wings.
- Duck wing?
Nobody use duck wing for tonkotsu.
Haiyaa...
We use pork bone and maybe chicken bone,
but I think Nephew Nick want to kill all the animal.
Why don't you put elephant wing in there also?
- I'm going to cover all of this up
with some nice cold and crisp water.
Then crank up the heat
and bring this to a nice rolling boil.
- Niece and nephew, screenshot this image,
and send to your weakest friend,
because this is weaken's worst nightmare.
They see that even dead animal have more company than them.
(air horn blasting)
- Once this has come to a rolling boil,
clear off some of the scum
that begins to form on the top.
Some people will tell you to rinse this all the way out
but I like to keep all the flavor of this stone
there from the bone.
So I don't like to rinse it out.
- No, no, no.
You have to rinse out.
Otherwise your broth gonna be so dirty.
Haiyaa.
Look at your water.
It's so pink already
because there's so much scum in animal bone.
It look bad, but it also taste weird.
You need to soak water overnight,
throw water away,
clean the bone,
and start over with fresh water.
Haiyaa.
Uncle Roger predict Nephew Nick broth
gonna be so dirty.
Let's see if I correct.
- Now is when we let this go overnight for 12 hours.
- Okay, 12 hour, okay.
- Next we'll do our chashu pork belly.
Now this part you don't have to do overnight
but I'm going to sous vide it to get it really soft.
- Ooh, he sous vide pork belly.
This nephew so fancy.
♪ Fancy ♪
- So I'm going to let this go overnight as well.
This pork has been very bad,
(slaps pork)
so we have to tie it up. First -
- Ugh.
(slaps pork)
- Ew.
Don't spank your dinner.
Get room and spank your girlfriend.
Leave the poor pork alone.
- For our sous vide,
the first thing we'll do
is put this finally rolled up pork
into a nice large bag,
add four cloves of garlic
a few hunks of ginger,
green onion,
soy sauce.
- Ingredient not bad. Okay.
- One third cup of this extremely pungent fish sauce.
- Fish sauce a bit weird.
- Sugar, about a half a cup or so.
Then, inside the bag,
we're going to massage the heck out of our meat.
- Stop it.
Stop it.
Haiyaa.
Are you making cooking video,
or auditioning for Bang Bros?
I feel bad for this guy girlfriend now.
I think he will do to girlfriend
what he do to pork belly.
Spank her,
tie her up,
and dip her in fish sauce.
That actually sound quite nice.
(sexy music playing)
Sorry, children.
(beep)
- Now we're going to roll this up extremely tight -
- Okay. But at least he marinate the meat.
So not like Jamie Oliver.
White pork belly.
- And cook this overnight for about 12 to 15 hours.
Okay. It's the next morning.
I was tending to that ramen broth
throughout the night.
- Oh really?
I thought you will be spanking someone.
- Now, we blew the fuse three times last night.
Let's start with our soft boiled eggs.
Now that our water is boiling,
we're ready to add those eggs.
But first we're going to add
about a tablespoon or two of vinegar
which is actually going to prevent
running of the whites -
- Runnning of the whites.
That what Uncle Roger call every marathon ever.
- I'll drop in my six eggs,
place on the lid.
But we're going to do it
for six minutes and nine seconds,
which I promise you,
(record scratch)
it sounds silly,
but it's the perfect time
for a soft boiled egg.
- Six minute nine seconds.
Haiyaa.
Another dirty joke by this guy.
I can't believe this guy video.
Dirtier than my Nigella Lawson video.
- Here I have a really cold ice bath.
- Good, good.
Good technique.
- Straight into the ice bath to halt their cooking.
For our ramen egg marinade,
we'll combine three quarters cup of mirin,
quarter cup soy sauce.
- Good.
- Dark soy sauce.
If you can't find dark soy sauce -
- Ingredient all correct.
- Now it's time to peel our eggs,
but I just wanted to show you guys first,
how perfect that yoke on the inside is.
- Mm.
- I told you it's amazing
- Uncle Roger feel like I need shower
after watching this video.
- Drop them right in that soy bath.
I'll cover these with plastic wrap
and allow them to soak for several hours.
- Ah! Niece and nephew.
You see this.
If you use plastic wrap like this,
the top of it won't be marinated
because it touching plastic,
not the liquid.
It will have one white spot on it.
Pro tip: Use paper towel.
Like how Way of Ramen channel do with egg.
- Our eggs are all set.
Next, we're going to make our tare.
- Ah! He making tare.
This already better than Jamie and Nigella ramen.
Tare is the soul of ramen.
It the flavoring for the broth.
- First, we're going to start with our dashi.
Add about three and a half to four cups of water,
three sheets of kombu
and really let this heat up,
but we don't want to boil it.
- Correct. Don't boil kombu.
- Basically, dashi is this
umami-packed Japanese soup stock.
It's used in so many different things.
And this is how we're going to build the foundation.
- This guy really loves shot of his hand.
So many close up of his hand.
Is he hand model or something?
Imagine if Uncle Roger make cooking video.
And all you see is:
- Cup of bonito flakes.
- Okay.
- Dried shiitaki mushrooms.
I'll turn off the heat and set it aside.
Once that incredible dashi is done,
we'll strain it into a nice large -
- Oh, pot too fast.
Some liquid fell out.
Don't waste food.
- We're now keeping about two cups of our dashi.
We'll create our tare by adding one cup of soy.
- Oh good.
- This tare look like it got so much umami.
So no need MSG.
- Six cloves of garlic.
And then about two tablespoons of black peppercorns.
- Okay. Tare not bad.
- Now for our ramen.
Please do not use dry instant ramen noodles.
This is an absolute no-go.
(bomb exploding)
- Correct.
Don't use packet instant ramen
and also don't use soba like Jamie Oliver.
But Uncle Roger don't recommend
niece and nephew make ramen at home.
Tonkotsu ramen noodle,
very hard to get right at home.
Just buy it from store.
Support your local Japanese store.
- Ramen noodles are very different,
in that they need to be alkalinated.
- Correct.
- This is just a fancy way of saying
that we put baking soda in the dough.
- Small correction:
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.
But ramen, you need sodium carbonate.
Uncle Roger,
so chemistry.
- Switch on that spaghetti head,
and then you're ready to roll.
- I have to say it look pretty good.
- These look absolutely fantastic.
Cut it with a nice spray of bread flour.
Just so nothing sticks.
Now, our ramen is ready to be cooked.
Right here is our 20 -
- What?
(soup glopping)
What?
That is disgusting.
Why this ramen broth look like this?
This look like roadkill.
Tonkotsu broth
not supposed to look like dirt water.
Haiyaa.
This what it supposed to look like.
If your ramen broth look like mud,
you fucked up.
Uncle Roger right.
I predicted earlier, his ramen broth gonna be so dirty.
He didn't wash his bone.
He didn't throw out water,
and his bone have too much meat on there.
This broth as dirty as Nephew Nick brain.
- Gotta find a place to put this for the drive.
This pork has been very bad.
(slaps pork)
- Six minutes and nine seconds
- This broth messier than Auntie Helen.
- We're going to strain off all this broth
to make it nice and sweet.
- Even if you strain,
you can't strain out the brown color.
Haiyaa...
- Next, we have our chashu,
which is our Japanese pork belly.
What you're looking at here is pork belly
that's cooked the entire night,
but I just can't help it.
I have to spank it.
(slaps pork)
Lastly, though, I do want you
to look at the meat on the sides there.
Soft, perfectly tender, pulled pork.
Pork belly,
it's been a pleasure getting to know you
these last 24 hours,
but now it's time to cut them.
- No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't cut pork belly when it hot.
Haiyaa.
It not solid enough.
You have to take pork belly out,
chill it overnight,
and then cut it when it colder.
Ugh.
First you spank pork belly
and then you cut it when it warm.
What has pork belly done to deserve this?
I have to put my leg down from chair again.
It gonna go all over the place.
- So let's get a couple of nice slices just right through.
- See?
- You know, it's funny.
It's almost so soft and tender
that I can't really get any slices.
- What I tell you?
What I tell you?
- So that's good enough for me.
Once I've pulled off the pork belly's thong,
I can get a few more -
- See, if you chop like this...
- Too tender to do what we're looking for.
- You just making pulled pork now.
That's not chashu.
(sighs)
- Now it's time to finally open up those soft boiled eggs.
First let's cross our fingers
that we got that color from those eggs.
Just to show you a little spot on the top of the egg
that was not submerged.
- See? Uncle Roger predicted this also.
- We're going to cut through that egg
very clean and keeping all that yolk inside.
- Texture good.
Texture very good.
- I've clearly gotten some of that soy.
- Maybe you can submerge a bit more time
because you see it brown on outside, white on inside,
just like Auntie Hersha.
- And boy, oh boy.
Aren't those yolks incredible.
Just look at how soft and amazing it is.
Now we've reached the final shot, where we assemble.
I know this is the moment you've all been waiting for.
- His hand again.
- After mixing it around a little bit,
I'll place in a nice spoonful or two of my tare.
- Tare go in.
- Then comes my actual broth.
- (sighs)
Is dirty broth.
- So it's amazing
to finally be able to put it into the bowl.
Where are the actual ramen noodles?
Those should be placed
into this hot broth
immediately when they finish.
- Wait.
- Those should be placed into this hot broth immediately.
- You say it should be placed immediately,
but then you hadn't even prepared ramen
to go in.
Does the word "immediately"
mean something different to you?
You should cook the ramen beforehand
and everything go in at the same time.
Don't cook ramen after you start plating,
because when you cooking ramen,
the broth gonna get cold.
Haiyaa.
- And once it's boiling over very high heat,
I'll toss in our ramen noodles.
And then for just a minute and 30 seconds or so
we'll let this cook.
Admire how amazing -
- Mm, look a bit soft.
- After one or two shakes,
put it directly into my ramen broth.
And now we're ready for that final plating.
So in go our -
- That so much -
Wait.
That so much enoki.
It feels like you having enoki with side of ramen
- Then we'll go right in the middle
with those gorgeous eggs.
Then we have our beautiful pork.
Then a nice, generous handful of green onions
and last but not least, some nori
that I've actually gotten -
- Nori weird shape.
- Now, there is one of the most gorgeous ramen bowls
I've ever seen.
Now, before we eat this,
I want to paint the pork in a little bit more fat.
- Okay. That fancy.
Torching.
Haiyaa, but torching good,
but don't torch your pork next to the egg.
You gonna cook the egg by accident.
Torch it elsewhere.
Your house so big.
Go find some other room to torch your pork.
(torch sizzling)
- Now our ramen is ready to eat.
I do want to say
that this is one of the most beautiful bowls of ramen
I've ever seen.
- Hmm! Okay.
This ramen better than Nigella and Jamie ramen
because he actually make tare.
But Nephew Nick, tonkotsu supposed to be white,
creamy and sexy,
not like brown water.
That the biggest mistake he made,
but Uncle Roger like how much effort he put in.
He making noodle from scratch.
That not easy.
Out of five component of ramen,
I think he have at least four.
He forgot to make aroma oil.
Nephew Nick, next time clean your pork bone.
Don't cut pork belly when it hot.
And no more spanking in cooking video.
Uncle Rogers so glad I picked wearing my orange polo,
not tank top,
because niece and nephew get so thirsty.
Maybe next video,
Uncle Roger will read all the best comments
left by niece and nephew.
Let me know if I should do it.
Comment down below.
(beep)
This guy Harvard graduate, Master Chef finalist
and have smoothest baby face in whole -
(laughs)
(clears throat)
(beep)
Get a room and spank girlfriend instead,
leave pork alone.
Pork didn't do shit.
(laughs)
- Sorry, Nick's girlfriend.
(beep)
- Are you making cooking video
or auditioning for Bang Bros?
(laughs)
(beep)
Running of the whites.
That what I call every Black Friday sale.
(beep)
Nephew Nick, next time clean your bone.
I don't -
No, that sounds dirty.
Not like that.
Uncle Roger don't mean dirty like that.
(beep)
Niece and nephew, remember
to go watch Nephew Nigel podcast clip
about Italian Uncle Roger.
Go, go click on that.
Click on that.
(jazz music playing)