Recipe: Ramen making 2 - soup base (or broth)

Soup base (or broth) is unflavored soup with no salt or sauce added to it. This is what makes farm lifestyle so great since not just vegetables, but also animal ingredients can be fully utilized. I used lamb leg bones since they are readily available from the farm and have surprisingly good flavor.

There is also a vegetarian version. Instead of using animal bones, simply use shitake and/or kelp seaweed base. Shitake alone is also sufficient for most people with vegan diet. It just tastes a little plain. Dried shitake has stronger flavor than fresh shitake.

Ingredients:

• 2 lamb leg bones (or in equivalent quantity)
• 3L water
• 2 green onions (or leek)
• ginger
• 10 dried shitake mushroom
  
• scrap vegetables (carrot, onion, etc.)

Directions:

1. Boil Sheep bones (also pig, chicken, etc. can be used if you have access) in a pot for 2-3 min. This removes initial meaty taste. Discard the boil water.


2. Clean the bones. Wash with water (scrub if necessary) and remove excess fat.


3. Break up the bones with a hammer. Need really solid surface. I usually put the bones in a plastic bag or wrap in a thick cloth and hammer it on a rock or concrete surface. Don't lose bone marrow juice from a rip in the bag because that's what you are after.


4. Add crushed bones, ginger slices, green onion to a big soup pot. Add other vegetables (carrots, celery, onions, etc.) for more complex flavor. Experiment different kinds of vegetables and find what makes the soup better.

5. Bring the soup mix to boil. Continue heating the soup at low to medium heat for 2-3 hours. Roughly remove foam on the surface.

6. Once you remove the pot from heat, strain the soup through strainer. If you want to remove finer particles, use paper filter (or coffee filter may work too).

Basically the soup does not have any extra flavors like salt. Look at sauce making below.