Homemade Ramen With Hot Dogs & Corn

Often times when my dad was too busy to cook a proper meal, he would make a bowl of Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen and fortified it with a hot dog and canned corn.  The corn my sound odd, but its sweetness goes well with the saltiness of the hot dog and instant ramen broth.  Once I became old enough to boil a pot of water and make instant ramen by myself, I carried on his tradition whenever I needed something to eat in a pinch.  Eventually, I’d come to add my own personal touch to instant ramen by using Mexicorn instead of plain canned corn.

With this month’s Charcutepalooza challenge being hot dogs, I was motivated to make one of the most treasured fast foods from my childhood completely from scratch.  Not only would I make the hot dogs from scratch, but the noodles, broth, and Mexicorn as well.

By now, grinding meat has become second nature.  However, emulsifying meat was new territory.  I was pretty paranoid when the meat was being blended in the food processor.  Fears of the emulsification breaking ran wild through my head as I’ve broken a mayonnaise once.  Thankfully the emulsification came together without a hitch.

I did have issues stuffing the hot dogs, though.  I lost the small plastic propeller from my sausage stuffer Kitchen Aid attachment which caused the meat to extrude unevenly.  Although I was successful in the end, stuffing was a bit harder this time around.  To smoke the hot dogs, I again used the method of starting the stovetop smoker on the stove for 10 minutes and then transferring it to the oven for about an hour until the hot dogs came to temperature.

The task of making the ramen noodles from scratch seemed ambitious at first, but once I got started I realized how easy it is to make a basic noodle (as long as you have a pasta roller and cutter).  Making the noodles simply amounted to mixing the dough in a stand mixer, portioning the dough, running the dough through a pasta roller, and running the dough through a pasta cutter.

One notable thing about the ramen noodles was the addition of xanthan gum.  Inspired by Tom’s modernist ravioli, I added 3 grams of xanthan gum to my 300 gram batch of flour.  True to his word, my noodles didn’t stick together at all even in the absence of a dusting of flour.

When I gulped down my first spoonful of soup and happily slurped the chewy noodles, I was taken back to my childhood.  I could picture myself sitting in the kitchen in Southern California filling my stomach with instant ramen packed with umami.  Only this time, the umami came from a broth consisting of homemade dashi and homemade pork stock rather than an MSG-laden packet of soup base.  Also, the smokiness of the bonito flakes in the dashi complimented the smokiness of the hot dog quite well.

Overall, the dish and challenge was a resounding success.  Not only did I get to relive a moment of my childhood, but I learned how to make an emulsified sausage, ramen noodles, and dashi (which I will be using a lot in the future) from scratch.

 

Ramen Noodles

Via norecipes.com (with an addition of 3 grams xanthan gum)

Ramen Broth

Via citrusandcandy.com

Mexicorn

Mise En Place

1. 250 g corn, cut from the cob
2. 130 g bell peppers, skinned and diced

Method

1. Melt a pad of butter in a pan over medium heat
2. Add corn and bell peppers to pan and saute for a few minutes
3. Salt to taste

Che Bap: Vietnamese Corn Rice Pudding

Although pho and banh mi have both garnered somewhat mainstream success with Western cultures and palates and certain Vietnamese influences can be found in some of the best restaurants in the world (I recently had that chao tom and it was amazing), che has undeservedly gone under the radar.

The variety of che is fairly diverse, but a couple common themes shared by some of the more popular ches are the use of sweet sticky rice and a sweet and salty coconut milk sauce.  With che thai being my all time favorite che, che bap is definitely in my top 5.  As corn season recently drew to an end, I thought I'd take advantage of the sweet corn while it lasted and make some che bap.

Instead of letting the harvested ears go to waste, I simmered them in water and used that water to cook the rice.  This added another layer of corn flavor to the che.  The resulting che pretty much tasted like sweet rice with corn and coconut milk: clean and straightforward. Corn and coconut seem to have a natural affinity for each other, and I'm not sure if any other cuisines utilize this combination.  Chef Curtis Duffy of Avenues recently created a dish of sweet corn soup with coconut, and I can't help but wonder if che bap served as an inspiration for it.
Corn and coconut's affinity for each other lead me to experiment with making uchepos topped with Vietnamese coconut milk sauce.  Aside from the lack of sweet rice, they turned out tasting a lot like che bap.  The next time I make uchepos, I’ll stuff them with young coconut meat rather than topping them with coconut milk sauce as I found the sauce to be a little too rich and heavy for the delicate uchepos.
   
Coconut milk sauce:

1. 1 cup coconut milk + 1 Tbps sugar + salt to taste + medium heat => low simmer
2. 1 Tbsp water + 1 Tbsp cornstarch (slurry) => stir until sauce thickens

Che bap:

1. 3 cups corn-infused water + high heat => boil
2. 1/4 cup rinsed sweet rice
3. 5 minutes => stir occasionally
4. 1/3 cup coconut milk + 5 Tbsp sugar + 1/2 tsp salt => lower to simmer
5. 450 grams corn kernels (3-5 ears)
6. 5 minutes
7. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract => serve warm or cold topped with coconut milk sauce