Water

Black Hen Label Rouge

 Clean (or defrost and then clean) the chicken under running water. Dry it out with a paper towel. Fillet the chicken to the parts - without filleting the actual fillet from the spine. You don't want to eat the fillets - use the whole thing in the soup. These fillets as well as tighs have a very distinct aftertaste. If you are in a rush - skip this step, however it is better to layer chicken parts in the pot for better distribution. Cover with the proportionate amount of water (regular tap is fine, but we use special filtered water). Put the thermometer in and don't let it go over the 83-85 Celsius mark. We don't want it to boil. Get yourself a bowl and a ladle to get all of the foam and impurities for a clean taste. We set a timer on 10 minutes to double check the stock. For non specific kitchen stoves without temperature control - better check it every 5 minutes. Be very aggressive with the foam and dirt removal, otherwise it will go back towards the chichen parts on the bottom of the pot and will set an offputting flavor and aroma. When the foam is gone for more than 30 minutes. Set a timer for 2 hours. You've got to check the water level and secure it in the end. When it have evaporated a bit - SLOWLY and a little bit of water back in to the pot. If you put a lot of water into the pot in fast pace - then you will start to create a paitan. We have a tap over our stove at the shop - so we just let it drip a bit in to the pot and maintain the temperature control. After 2 hours you can see a distinct chicken fat forming on top. If you haven't added water yet - add it now - and add it cold, so that the fats solidify on top of the broth for easier removal. We save our chicken fat for further processing into the aroma oil for other ramen bowls. I suggest you save this golden stuff as well, just don't forget to filter it through a coffee filter. After 5 hours your stock should be done. If you are not using the black or old hen, then I suggest you to cook the chicken a little bit more - maybe 1-2 hours more for better extraction. Take another lesser pot, put a big fine mesh siv, put a double stock filter (like a big coffee filter) or at least another even finer siv. Slowly ladle the broth trough your filters. DON'T POUR one pot into the other through siv! It will be a mess and it will also transfer the bone and meat burnt particles that we don't want in our bowl! Slowly but surely ladle everything! After that - put a pot into the ice bath for a propper cooling. Fridge life is 2-4 days depending on the chicken. We make our broth fresh everyday and discard the leftovers for the sauces or for staff.

This is our main chintan for various ramen dishes. It is crystal clear with a golden touch. Old french hen (sometimes we also use black breed hen) has this great chickeny aroma and flavor that we want to see in the very fundomental of ramen. It, in my opinion, gives this "hearty" feeling. 

Black Hen Chintan

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Black Hen Chintan

Ingredients

Used in these Recipes:

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Thorim