Duck Bone Broth Ramen

Remember my last post roasting duck legs to make lettuce wraps? Well, I’ve got a related post. Bone broth has been something that is becoming more and more popular – there are even bone broth bars popping up everywhere. When I first read that, my first thought was confusion. Hasn’t this been done for ages? It’s certainly been a constant in my family – it was unusual to just throw away cooked bones. It was considered a waste. Instead, bones were simmered in water on a stove for hours on end, coaxing out the flavor and ending up with a deep, rich broth. By the end of making this broth, I was taking little sips, savoring each hot spoonful. I knew I couldn’t just throw away the roasted duck leg bones. I’ve had duck bone broth before – at a specifically duck joint in China where they served half a duck in pancakes with the broth from the bones, Momofuku’s whole duck meal, and a Nan Jing 南京 favorite: duck blood soup (which is SO GOOD, even if it sounds gross). This broth turned out so good. It is a perfect base for ramen, or any other type of noodle, I’d imagine.

Start off with your roasted duck bones. If you’re starting out with fresh bones, just roast them for an hour at 350F.

I like to quickly boil them in water first and then dump out that water to give these bones a quick cleanse. Then, return the bones to the pot and add in all your additions – vegetables, spices, etc.

After hours of simmering… you get this beautiful broth:

I may have taken a few sips at this point. 🙂 Now, you can add in noodles, add in your additions, or just drink it plain.

I had some leftover duck meat, so I topped the ramen with some of that. I also added cooked shiitake, soft boiled egg, and fresh scallions.

RECIPE: Duck Bone Broth Ramen
*I used four duck leg bones, but you can use whatever you have on hand. I decided to leave the measurements pretty open ended, as this is this recipe’s character. You can add whatever you want to this broth.

Duck Bone Broth:
bones from roasting duck (if you are using fresh bones, roast them for one hour at 350)
carrots, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
peppercorns
2 whole star anise
handful shiitake mushrooms
whole head of garlic
1 tbsp dashi powder

For the ramen:
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
dash white pepper
1 whole star anise
salt
pepper
2 slices fresh ginger
2 packs dry ramen noodle

1| Add in bones and cover with hot water. Bring to a boil. Immediately remove bones and dump out the water. This cleans the bones from any initial gunk. Refill the pot with the bones, vegetables, spices, and enough water to cover everything. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 2-3 hours.
2| When it is done simmering, strain stock and return to pot. Add in dashi power. Bring to a boil again and reduce, uncovered, to the amount of broth you want. I just needed enough for two bowls, and with only four duck legs, I actually didn’t need to reduce it too much.
3| I added in the above amounts of soy sauce, mirin, sugar, ginger, etc, according to my taste. Bring back to a boil. Cook dry noodles until just cooked, but still a bit hard. Optional: add in cooked shiitake, scallions, leftover duck meat, and soft boiled eggs.