2016 Cookbooks II: (Momofuku Follow Up)

This will round off the cookbook series of emails unless I get another one this year, but I need a break from these restaurant recipes. I appreciate how they reuse so many things and keep so much cool stuff on hand, and I’ve learned a lot. But to do these things as a home cook, you either have to stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry for making only and all their dishes, or you have to spend days getting things together and reducing recipes for one time use.

So back to Momofuku, I finally made David Chang's two signature dishes:

Momofuku Ramen

This is pretty ironic because at least in college, ramen is thought of as the ultimate easy and cheap meal, yet this version took days and was actually pretty expensive by the end of it. I took his advice and did not make my own noodles, but found a source for very good fresh ones. Still, the broth alone took about 12 hours with multiple components. A lot of that was simmering, but much of it is hands on, and it’s never unattended. It was all worth it for someone who enjoys epic cooking sessions like this and Kara loved eating it too. The toppings include:

• pork belly (6 hours marinating, 2 hrs cooking, with regular basting)

• pork shoulder (I had some frozen from Super Bowl, but that would have been another 6 hrs)

• slow poached egg (45 mins, constantly monitoring the water to be 140º- very cool technique)

• Asian style collard greens (45 mins)

• flavored bamboo shoots (30 mins)

• chopped scallions

• toasted nori

• [I omitted fish cakes because I couldn’t find them. I called my Japanese store in LA just to see, and even they didn’t have it]

Momofuku Pork Buns

I used the same pork belly from the ramen, and the recipe for quick pickled cucumbers is truly fast (like 10 minutes). Add some store-bought hoisin sauce, chopped scallions, and the only thing that took time was making dough and 25 steamed buns (now I have a bunch frozen). These are delicious. He admits to not inventing this recipe—it’s a classic—but for whatever reason, his version has become a huge hit, and we loved it, too.

Bonus: Pickled Shiitakes

Like I said, these restaurant cookbooks don’t waste. So what to do with spent dried shiitakes used just for the broth? We can pickle that! Marinated in soy sauce, sugar, sherry vinegar, with a bit of ginger, they’re a very tasty accompaniment.