$306 vs $11 Ramen: Pro Chef & Home Cook Swap Ingredients

I don't have a plan.

I'm just grabbing pieces

and I'm cutting 'em.

I was told there's no real wrong way to do it,

but all of this feels wrong.

[whimsical music]

Hi, I'm Yuji.

I'm a professional chef.

These are my $306 ramen ingredients.

[whimsical music]

Hey, I'm Joe.

I'm a home cook,

and these are my $11 ramen ingredients.

[whimsical music]

Sayonara.

Why do they do this to me?

Top Ramen and SPAM.

[Yuji laughs]

I can work with this.

Oh!

Oh!

This is going in my food?

[whimsical music]

I was planning to make anko-miso ramen

with a nori noodle, ajitama, and monkfish chashu.

I had a whole monkfish with the head on.

Very beautiful.

This is the most disgusting-looking fish

I've ever seen.

I was going to use every single part -

bones for my broth

with a ginger, leek, and kombu.

I can't stop looking at this thing.

This looks like the thing

that was trying to kill them

in Finding Nemo.

[Yuji] The liver for ankimo-miso paste

and the fillets for monkfish chashu topping

cured in kombu.

There's a lot of bottles.

There's no words I can read

on any of 'em.

[Yuji] I have fresh jidori eggs

to make ajitama,

and everything I need

to make my own ramen noodle from scratch.

Where are the noodles?

I don't see any.

With Joe's recipe,

I have simpler ingredients.

You might find these in your pantry

or local grocery stores.

But with a little bit of techniques,

we can make this even better.

If I have to guess how much this will cost?

$13?

$11. [cash register sound]

Very close. [Yuji laughs]

If I had to guess, this would cost $348.75.

[cash register sound]

I feel like they could have fudged the numbers

to make me right, but, you know, whatever.

[whimsical music]

Here I have Chef Yuji's recipe book

with the recipe for his ramen.

It looks like I gotta get started

with my fish here.

So let's go.

Joe, you're gonna have to break it down

and we're gonna use every part of it.

This is Ernesto.

He's my monkfish.

You know, he was a good guy.

Now I'm gonna cut him into pieces.

To make good ramen,

you need a great broth

with a lot of collagens.

So monkfish has so much collagen.

The giant head and tails

are connected with one spine.

So you have to use the back of the knife

and then just try to make a little bit of a cut.

Every time I cook with Chef Yuji,

I'm cutting a fish's spine into pieces.

Am I the spine guy?

This is the head.

This is the tail.

He's only got two sections.

It's like if we were only head and butt.

I don't know if I'm doing this right,

but I'm so sorry, Ernesto.

Alright, I've separated the head and the tail.

[Yuji] Anko-miso ramen is very special

because it represents what mottainai is.

Mottainai is no waste in Japanese.

This is...

This is ramen.

I've never experienced ramen like this,

but I trust Chef Yuji.

That's one thing I do know.

Little warning - monkfish has a giant mouth

with a lot of sharp teeth.

Don't hurt yourself.

We're roasting everything,

including his teeth.

Teeth go over there, too,

and it's just another day.

So Joe was going to make a very basic ramen,

but I'm gonna do a little bit different.

I'm going to make crispy SPAM

and baby bok choy mazemen

with onsen tamago and a scallion oil.

The first thing I'm making is the crispy SPAM.

I'm not gonna lie,

I don't use SPAM

usually,

but I think I can make it work.

Mazemen is my signature style ramen

which is dry ramen,

ramen served without a broth

but with a seasoning and an oil.

How do I even...

Just go like that?

Whoa.

So I'm going to cut it a little bit smaller

and then make it crispy

so that when I mix it,

it becomes almost like a seasoning for the noodles.

Now it's time to fillet my tail meats.

First thing I gotta do,

I'm gonna pull off the skin.

It feels very satisfying to do it.

It feels like,

you know,

taking the shrink wrap off of something.

How do I know when I got it off?

Is there more of this supposed to come off or...

Hey, that's good enough

in my book.

So I'm just gonna cut along here,

and this is very tender.

It just goes right through, no problem.

There we go.

More fish spine.

This goes in with the bones.

My fillets are filleted.

Just trying to make sure

that they don't become overcooked.

So I'm trying to separate them

and just keep turning.

I wanna make like a,

almost like a breakfast bacon,

nice and crispy.

It smells great.

[Yuji laughs]

I got all my monk chunks here

and now it is time to blanch 'em.

I'm gonna put it in here

for about 30 seconds

until it looks white-ish.

I'm pulling out

the last of my monk chunks,

and this is ready to go.

We're gonna put these into the oven

and roast them at 500 degrees

and then I'm going to broil 'em.

Finish it up with the broiler,

so it has a really nice char color,

which actually transfers to the color of the broth.

So these crispy SPAMs are looking pretty good.

So I'm just gonna take them out,

as they are nice and crispy.

It's time to make my broth

with my monkfish bones.

That's the spine.

[Yuji] So the combination with leek and ginger

blend really well with fish flavor.

[Joe] And we're gonna do a cup of sake.

I'm just gonna cover up everything

with the water.

And the broth is gonna go

for about three to four hours

and then he's gonna strain the broth

and then add the kombu to finish.

And I'm just gonna let it sit for 30 minutes.

So now what I have here is monkfish broth

that I made myself.

It's a day of firsts for me

and I'm feeling really good.

So I'm gonna use this bok choy in a couple ways.

I'm gonna separate the outside

and the inside

and I'm gonna blanch

inside in hot water.

And then outside, I'm gonna just deep fry it.

You really don't have to cook that long.

You just have to pretty much dunk it

and then take it out right away.

I'm now making my chashu,

which is a topping for my ramen.

So Joe will be curing the tail parts

of the monkfish

with a kombu

to make a kombu cured chashu.

Chashu is usually pork,

thinly sliced after it's roasted.

Monkfish chashu is just an inspiration from that.

Alright.

My fish is salted.

Now I'm gonna wrap it up in the kombu.

I've never done this,

but I was told I'm supposed to spiral it.

I don't know why it's called curing.

He's not cured.

He's dead.

[Yuji] Salt curing it

will take out all the unnecessary moisture.

To have a really successful chashu,

you wanna have an almost crispy surface

in order to be able to be sliced thin.

I don't know if it's right, but it looks cool.

And that is the number one rule of cooking.

And now final step,

I'm going to wrap them up in my cheesecloth here.

[Yuji] And you're gonna air dry it

in a fridge overnight.

I'm just gonna throw this into the fridge

and let it cure.

Now I'm gonna focus on this outer leaf.

And then what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just deep fry this.

[oil sizzling]

[Yuji laughs]

Alright, let's see how it looks.

It's definitely looking more pink.

You know, I don't know what cured monkfish looks like,

but this feels right.

And now I'm gonna roast this in the oven

at 350 for 20 minutes.

These are actually looking very nice.

My baby bok choys two ways are finished.

Crispy bok choy and then the blanched bok choy.

This is gonna be a great topping for my ramen.

I got my tails outta the oven.

They're nice and cool.

And now I'm gonna slice 'em up.

These slices are getting a little less pretty

than in the beginning.

Things started to fall apart at the end there

but I got some really nice-looking slices,

like this, maybe, right here.

I'm gonna cut this other one

and then we'll be good to go.

So there are two types of eggs

that are commonly used for ramen -

ajitama

and onsen tamago.

I'm making onsen tamago,

and Joe is making ajitama.

Ajitama is more for broth

because it's hard,

so it doesn't actually sink into the broth.

I don't usually hard boil,

ice bathe, and marinate my eggs,

but, you know, we're in Chef Yuji's world now.

This onsen tamago is more common

for mazemen noodle

because the egg is very runny.

So you break it

and it kind of becomes almost like a carbonara.

I'm going to use this sous vide machine.

Sous vide machine

is a machine that controls the temperature

of the water at set temperature.

I'm gonna just wait for about a half hour

until they're completely finished

and then I'll take it out

and shock in an ice bath.

It's like a spa for eggs.

Now I'm going to marinate them

in a mixture of one part each

of sake, mirin, and soy sauce.

I'm gonna put this in the fridge

and let it marinate for 24 hours.

Joe is gonna be making ankimo-miso paste

with monkfish liver, sake, and white miso.

I've been warned

that every step of this

is gonna be something I'm not gonna like.

I'm gonna be removing the bloodline

from this monkfish liver.

I'll be chopping it up

and then I will be pulling worms out of it.

So let's get started.

This here is the bloodline,

which I will be removing.

I don't have any experience

doing something like this.

Maybe deveining a shrimp

would be the closest.

Monkish liver is almost like a natural foie gras

from the ocean.

It's called ankimo.

So it will add really nice fat into the broth

and also so much creaminess

that you won't be able to get from anything else.

This is giving me some problems.

Okay.

That's like a...

That's a piece of bloodline right there.

And now I'm gonna cut this

into cubes

and then we will start removing worms.

It's natural to find little worms in the monkfish

because they're on the bottom of the ocean.

But there is nothing to be afraid of that.

You just have to take it out.

I don't see any in this piece.

I guess Yuji ordered a wormless monkfish.

It's really a shame.

And now it's time to blanch my liver chunks.

And then they are going into the ice bath

so that they stop cooking.

So I have,

this is scallions here.

I'm gonna use this in two different ways.

So I'm gonna separate the green and the white.

And the green is gonna be

for the scallion oil.

And the green part is a little bit bitter,

but once it's cooked in oil,

it gets a little bit sweeter.

So I'm gonna just cook this in oil

and then just keep this fresh.

And it's important to have a flavored oil,

especially for a dry style ramen,

because that's gonna be the main part

of the seasoning.

I'm gonna just add neutral oil

and then I heat it up

until they're just soft enough

to be able to blend it

with an immersion blender.

My liver chunks are ice bathed,

and now I'm gonna chop 'em up

into slightly smaller pieces.

These are going to be the paste

that goes into my ramen broth.

Now I'm just gonna scoop it up.

You take the sake

and we're just gonna cover it.

I'm gonna simmer this for a half hour

until the sake totally evaporates.

I'm just julienning

this white part.

Now it's all finished.

I'm gonna just

put it in the water.

This will add more curly textures

and also remove a little bit of bitterness.

I've been stirring this nonstop

and it's nice and cooked down.

I'm gonna blend them up in this little food processor

and turn 'em into a paste.

Yeah, this is exactly what my morning smoothies are like.

So we're gonna grab a spoonful of the miso.

White miso will add just a really nice sweetness

and also extra salt.

The combination of the fat from the monkfish liver

and then white miso are really great.

My paste is done

and now I'm gonna put it into this bowl here.

It does look like cookie dough,

which is troubling.

It's just like

if you're a prank person,

you know, make yourself up some miso liver paste

and prank your friends.

This is gonna be, I'm pretty sure,

my first taste of liver.

That's pretty good.

I don't know if I'd do it every day,

but, you know, this one is good.

Now scallion is cooked enough

to be made into like a scallion oil.

I have this immersion blender,

so I'm gonna just blend the whole thing

and make a really nice green sauce.

[blender whirring]

Wow, nice and green.

So I add it to my scallion oil here,

and I'm gonna add a little bit of sesame oil.

This is the secret ingredient.

Shrimp flavor.

Love it.

Wow. Smells so good.

I can make this.

Add the package.

This is gonna make a really unique Top Ramen.

I'm very confident, yes.

I'm gonna be making nori noodles now,

and I'm very excited about this

because I've never made noodles before,

and I love noodles.

What's unique about this

is that we're using this nori,

which is like seaweed,

and this is gonna get incorporated into the noodles.

[blender whirring]

Look at that.

That looks like you opened, like, an ancient book.

Look at that.

[Joe coughs]

I have a mouth full of nori dust.

Pour the flour in

and get a nice even mix going.

This is the kansui.

Kansui is alkaline.

Alkaline adds extra gluten into the noodle

and it makes a noodle more bouncy and chewy.

I'm gonna just kind of make a well here,

and then I'm just gonna pour my water in.

This feels a lot better

than the slimy fish that I was handling earlier.

Now, I'm just kind of guessing

on what the proper technique is.

This feels right.

You're gonna have to rest it

for a little bit

so that the gluten will develop a little bit more

and then the noodle will be nice and chewy.

It's been about an hour.

First things first,

I'm gonna cut this into some sections.

Dust the whole area

where I'll be working.

[Yuji] Roll it out and make a big sheet

and just cut it with a hand.

I'm gonna go pretty thin

with these noodles.

That, there,

that's a good-looking noodle.

Kind of twist and massage all around

so that they will have a really nice natural waviness.

And then that will pick up the miso much, much easier.

So I got this ginger and lime,

so I'm gonna be making ginger lime juice.

Hmm.

Wow.

That's actually pretty good.

It's gonna be a perfect finish for my ramen.

Time to finally get to noodles.

That's it.

Last of my noodles are done.

Gotta make 'em wavy real quick.

Now, look at this.

I made noodles myself.

I've never done this before,

so I'm really proud.

Now I'm the top ramen.

[whimsical music]

Alright, we're in the home stretch of this ramen.

First thing I'm gonna do is make my broth,

whisk it up.

I'm gonna take a big old clump of noodles

and I'm just gonna drop 'em in there.

I'm gonna cook it for about two, three minutes.

[Joe] Alright. My noodles are coming out.

Look at that beautiful bowl of noodles.

Oh, my lord!

Okay, I'm doing it.

I'm doing it.

So I'm just trying to carefully toss the noodle in oil.

We are going to take my broth.

I'm just gonna ladle, ladle, ladle it in.

[Yuji] Plate onto the plate,

and then add eggs.

Looks perfect.

It's nice and runny.

[Joe] Now we beautify.

Three pieces of chashu.

I think that looks real nice.

And then I'm gonna take my eggs.

Look at the color on that.

And we're just gonna give it a nice slice

down the middle.

Right there.

[Yuji] And then I'm gonna just add toppings

to make it look pretty.

Sesame oil that we're just gonna drizzle.

Black pepper,

and togarashi.

[Yuji] Since shichimi togarashi is spicy,

it combines everything together.

[Joe] We're gonna top it off with the scallions.

This is the white parts of the scallion.

Scallion oil that I made earlier.

This is sesame oil.

The last thing I'm going to do is grate lime zest.

Finish with the ginger and then lime juice.

So this is my take on Joe's ramen -

crispy SPAM

and then a baby bok choy mazemen

with onsen tamago and scallion oil.

This is my take on Chef Yuji's ramen.

I can't wait to see what he did with my ingredients.

[percussive music]

Hey, Joe. Yuji.

Feeling very good about

How you made it, right? this challenge. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like I was back in college.

[both laugh] Yeah?

Yeah, working with my ingredients.

[Yuji laughs]

That's still what I make ramen with.

Yeah? All these years later.

[Joe] Whoa! Wow.

This looks like a fancy restaurant ramen.

And you did it with Top Ramen noodles.

Top Ramen noodle.

That smells amazing.

You probably wouldn't be surprised to know

that I've never handled a monkfish before.

[Yuji laughs]

But I've also never made noodles before.

Oh, yeah? It's fun.

This is my first time making noodles.

It's fun, yeah? This is very cool.

It wasn't too difficult.

I'm dying for you to try it.

Lemme know what you think.

Mm.

Wow.

That's crazy.

It's actually pretty, like, delicate.

I'm pretty proud of this.

I'm really happy.

Yeah, you did a great job.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great, 'cause I'm looking for work.

You're hired. [Yuji laughs]

This chashu came out super good.

It's so simple;

just salt and seaweed. Mm-hmm.

It really adds really good flavor.

Thank you.

Now you have to try my Top Ramen.

[Yuji laughs]

Alright, so walk me through what you did here.

Yeah.

So mazemen means dry noodle,

but it actually literally translate as mixed noodle.

So what you're gonna do first

is to break this own onsen tamago

and then egg yolk will come out super runny.

And then you're gonna mix the noodle in it

so it becomes almost like a ramen carbonara.

[Yuji laughs]

I love it.

It's very nice. This is great.

I could eat everything.

It's actually good.

Nothing has taken the forefront at all.

It all really just blends together really nicely.

You would believe if I say this is a fresh noodle.

[Yuji laughs]

I should serve this at my restaurant now.

Yep. Top Ramen.

Top Ramen.

I mean, overhead is so low on this.

I'm curious next time we work together

what kind of fish spine it's gonna be.

[Yuji laughs]

Is it gonna be like a great white shark spine

that I gotta wrestle myself?

Think about spineless fish.

Oh, there we go. [Yuji laughs]

Thank you.

Yeah, I need a break from spines.

Jellyfish.

I've de-spined too many fish.

[whimsical music]