Momofuku-Inspired Ramen Bowl

David Chang is a celebrity chef with a deep interest in food science. He started with Momofuku Noodle Bar, featuring fresh ramen. The restaurant became all the rage in New York City and rapidly expanded into an empire with outposts from Toronto to Sydney.

You may think of ramen as dehydrated noodles in a packet with some sort of mysterious flavor powder eaten in dormitories. But in Asia, ramen means fresh noodles, rich stocks, herbs, and meats. You can prepare the broth and meats for this recipe days in advance.

Makes 4 large bowls

Takes 8 hours

• 3 pounds trimmed pork shoulder
• ¾ pound pork belly in a whole solid slab, not sliced (see Notes)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for broth
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 quarts Smoked Bone Broth (page 220)
• 6 large button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pound fresh or dried ramen noodles (see Notes)
• 4 large pasteurized eggs (see Notes)
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 4 (4-inch-square) pieces nori (see Notes)
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Prep. Trim any excess fat from the pork shoulder and cut it into fist-size chunks. Leave the belly whole. Sprinkle both the chunks and the belly with the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.

2. Fire up. Set up your grill or smoker for smoking and shoot for 225°F. Add wood for smoke.

3. Cook. Put all the pork in the smoker and place a pan with 1 inch of water beneath the meat to catch the drippings. Cook the shoulder to an internal temperature of 203°F, 4 to 6 hours. The belly will be done by then. Remove the meat from the smoker.

4. Taste the drippings from the smoked meats. If they are too thin, boil them down to a nice rich consistency. Heat the broth to a simmer and add the drippings and the mushrooms.

5. From here on you want to move quickly so ingredients don’t get too cold. Shred the pork shoulder with Bear Paws (see page 109) or forks. Slice the pork belly into ¼-inch-thick squares. Set aside.

6. Fill a 1-gallon pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 3 or 4 pinches of salt and drop the ramen into the water (discard the seasoning packet if it came with one). Cook just until tender. You do not want to cook the noodles all the way through because they will continue cooking when you move them to the broth. Drain them and hold them in a bowl until needed.

7. While the noodles are cooking, start another pot of water boiling. It must be wide and deep enough to hold four coffee cups or ramekins. Lightly coat the cups or ramekins with cooking oil. Crack each egg into one of the cups and lower it into the pot. It only takes about 5 to 6 minutes for the eggs to cook, depending on the thickness of the cups. They are done when the top of the yolk gets a bit milky.

8. Serve. Now build the bowls. Start by dividing the noodles evenly among four large bowls, preferably wide and shallow. Ladle 1½ to 2 cups of the broth over the noodles in each bowl to cover. Put 3 or 4 tablespoons of shredded pork in each bowl, piling it near one outside edge. Spoon a pile of green onions next to the pork and then lay 2 slices of pork belly near the onions. Put a square of nori near the edge of the bowl and scatter radish slices over the soup. Sprinkle on some jalapeño and cilantro. Finish with a poached egg in the center. Serve the bowls with a spoon for slurping all the goodness and some chopsticks for picking up the noodles and meat.

Notes: You will probably need to order the pork belly from your grocery store’s butcher since she or he probably doesn’t keep it in stock.

You don’t have to settle for dried ramen. Sun Noodles makes excellent fresh ramen noodles that are sold in some Whole Foods Markets and many Asian food stores. They are far superior to dried.

If you want runny yolks, you should always use pasteurized eggs.

Nori is dried seaweed and it comes in paper-thin sheets. You can buy it at Asian groceries or online.