Recipes
OFYR Charred Pork Belly Ramen|Weston Table

Large Plates

OFYR Charred Pork Belly Ramen
There is a lot to love about Japanese soul food. A steaming, aromatic pot of noodles seasoned with umami-rich ingredients (fish sauce and shitake mushrooms) makes the senses dance. Add some unexpected OFYR grilling magic that includes charring vegetables and a wildly unconventional social experience in which bubbling, toiling, steaming, sizzling, and charring is happening right in front of you and simple Asian comfort food transforms into a meal guests won't soon forget. We love to pass bottles of ice cold Asahi beer to drink alongside the slurping.
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cuisine Asian
difficulty Moderate
season Year Round
serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

  • 1 quart chicken stock
  • 1" knob ginger, sliced paper thin
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1/2 lemongrass, sliced into thin rounds and minced
  • 10 ounces buckwheat ramen (4 packages 2.5 ounces each)
  • 1 pound pork belly, cut into 1" pieces
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 pound baby bok choy
  • 1/2 pound shitake mushroom, brushed clean and gnarly ends removed
  • 3 fresno peppers
  • 2 extra large eggs, boiled, peeled and sliced in half
  • Sesame oil
  • 1 small bunch scallions
  • Sriracha
  • Soy sauce, for serving
  • Grapeseed oil, for preparing the OFYR

Directions

  1. Prepare the OFYR 30 minutes before cooking.
  2. Place a cast iron pot on the rim of the OFYR. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, ginger and lemongrass to the pot and let it come to a boil.
  3. Add the mushrooms, bok choy, and fresno peppers in sections around the OFYR. Drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook until charred on one side and then flip, season, and char on the other side, adding oil as needed. If the vegetables seem to be cooking too fast, simply push them further from the center, to another part of the grill that is cooler, or move the coals away from where the vegetables are cooking. When charred on both sides, remove to a plate and reserve.
  4. Slice the peppers into thin rounds, scraping away the seeds as you go.
  5. Add the pork belly to the OFYR plate and cook until nicely browned on one side, flip and brown the other side. When done grilling, remove to a plate and reserve.
  6. Add the scallions to the grill, keep your eye on them as they char quickly. When done add to the plate of the reserved vegetables.
  7. Add the ramen noodles to the hot chicken stock and cook until done, about 2.5 to 3.5 minutes.
  8. Arrange the reserved mushrooms, vegetables, and pork belly around pot in piles. Add the egg halves and the charred scallions last.
  9. Pass a ladle at the table for self-serving. Pass the sriracha and soy sauce and slurp away.

Grilling Notes

Depending on how big the bok choy heads are, it can be helpful (and an impressive social cooking moment) to steam them a bit. Once they are on the OFYR, pour 1/2 to 1 cup water over them to help soften the interiors of the heads. 
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