I moved to Canada with my family when I was 5 from China to St. John’s Newfoundland. It was a bit of a culture shock. I remember being incredibly upset the first time I was introduced to pizza, refusing to eat any of the cheese and crying for congee. Needless to say, growing up Turkey was not the centerpiece of our holiday meals. The first time my mom and I attempted to roast a whole turkey, we didn’t give the turkey enough time to defrost, so threw it into a sink of water and washed off all the butter. On her next attempt, the white meat was so dry, it shredded as it was carved. We gave up after this and it wasn’t until I tasted my mother in law’s turkey 7 years ago that I understood Stephen’s love for the protein. The dark meat could be juicy, the white meat tender, and topped with gravy and cranberry sauce, amazing.
Today, we roast a whole turkey at least twice a year and there was one year we ate 3 just for Thanksgiving (with my parents, with Stephen’s parents and a personal one just for us). While other families may clamour over who gets the turkey leftovers, Stephen and I are all about the bones because omg turkey soup. This is our second year using our carcass to make a rich turkey broth, perfect for a bowl of ramen.
As with any bowl of ramen Stephen makes, there’s 3 distinct parts, noodles, broth and toppings. In this blog post, we’ll be focusing on how to make the broth and a few toppings. A great supermarket ramen noodle brand is Sun Noodle, which can be found at T&T, any type of flour noodle would work (eggless). Making ramen is a full day, sometimes multi-day, adventure, but the rich milky broth is worth every hour of boiling it takes! Each spoonful is like drinking pure essence of turkey. Planning is required.
I’ve included ideas for some toppings, but anything goes. I also love kimchi, smoked tomatoes, pan fried enokis and chopped up wood ear mushrooms on my ramen bowls. Lastly, having a stock pot of broth going for 8 hours in a kitchen can be quite aromatic. To minimize the scent seeping into all of our furniture, Stephen and I often cook the broth outside using a plug-in induction stove, previously on our condo balcony and now in our backyard.
For other delicious recipes featuring turkey, visit www.ThinkTurkey.ca
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Turkey Farmers of Canada. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.
- 15 lb turkey carcass
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium sized onion
- 2 lb turkey breast
- 2tbsp miso paste
- 2tbsp salted butter
- 4 eggs
- 2tbsp soy sauce
- 2tbsp mirin
- 6tbsp water
- 2 stalks of green onion
- 1lb bean sprouts
- 1tsp chili oil (optional)
- 150g-200g of noodle/bowl
- Peel garlic and chop onion in half.
- In a large stock pot (ie. 20qt), add turkey carcass and fill with water until over 3/4 full, making sure the carcass is fully covered.
- Bring pot to a rolling boil and skim off any scum from the top of the broth until no more appears (approx. 10 minutes). This step is important to having a white broth.
- Add garlic and onion to the pot, cover, lower heat until the broth is just simmering and maintain for 8 hours. Check on the por every couple of hours to ensure the level of broth hasn't reduced too low. If so, top off with 1l of boiling water. Ideally, this recipe should output 5qts of pure broth.
- Combine the miso and salted butter into a paste and cover the turkey breast with it, marinate overnight if possible, or for at least 4 hours.
- Roast turkey breast at 325°F until the internal temperature of the thickest part, not touching bone, reaches 165°F. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
- Soft boil the 4 eggs and then out into a container with the soy sauce, mirin and water, making sure the eggs are covered. Marinate for at least 4 hours.
- Cook bean sprouts in boiling water for 1 minute and set aside.
- Finely chop green onion.
- When ready to serve, bring turkey broth pot to a low boil.
- Cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions. While the noodles are cooking, ladle 2 cups of hot broth into a large bowl, add 1 tsp of salt. Whisk together.
- When the noodles are cooked, strain thoroughly and add to bowl. Top with a marinated egg, a handful of cooked bean sprouts, 1 tbsp of chopped green onion, 3 slices of roasted turkey breast and a dash of red chili oil (optional).
- Ramen is meant to be eaten as soon as it's served, to prevent the noodles from getting soggy.
- I also like to sprinkle some seven spice powder (shichimi) on my bowl, which can be found in any Chinese grocery store or ordered from Amazon
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