Tonkotsu ramen, 18 hours — cookly.recipes

Eighteen hours of bones at a rolling boil — the part every shortcut version gets wrong.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Stockpot, 12 L+, Fine strainer, Kitchen twine
Allergens: Gluten, Soy, Egg
Method: 34 steps · 22 photographed · 6 filmed
Components: 5 made from scratch
Films: 3, 15 min

5 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Shio tare

A concentrated salt seasoning of kombu, dried scallop and sake, spooned into the bowl before the broth.

Bought tare is salt and MSG; kombu, scallop and niboshi give the deep sea savour that pork bones alone never bring to the bowl.

Fine sea salt000 g
Kombu000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 8
Time: 12.5 h
Hands-on: 25 min

Makes About 400 ml, 30 ml per bowl · keeps 1 month refrigerated

At least 2 days before service; the salt edge softens by day three

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Chashu pork belly

Film

A boneless pork belly rolled into a tight cylinder, tied, then simmered slowly in soy, sake and mirin.

Shop-bought sliced pork is cured and watery; a belly braised whole keeps its fat and slices clean when cold.

Pork belly, skin off000 g
Soy sauce000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 12
Time: 19 h
Hands-on: 45 min

Makes One 1.2 kg roll, about 36 slices · keeps 4 days refrigerated, 1 month frozen

Two days ahead — it has to be fridge-cold to slice thin

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Ajitama egg

Film

A soft-boiled egg cooked to exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds, peeled, then steeped overnight in sweetened soy.

The marinade seasons the white and holds the yolk jammy; a plain boiled egg goes chalky in hot broth.

Eggs000 g
Soy sauce000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 9
Time: 13 h
Hands-on: 25 min

Makes 6 eggs · out of the marinade at 12 hours, then keep 3 days refrigerated in a sealed box

The night before; lift them out of the marinade at 12 hours

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Aroma oil (mayu)

Film

Garlic fried in lard until almost black, blended to a paste, then thinned with sesame oil into a dark, bitter finishing oil.

It gives the broth the smoke and bitterness it lacks; no bottled oil takes garlic that far without tasting burnt.

Pork lard000 g
Garlic000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 7
Time: 45 min
Hands-on: 35 min

Makes About 150 ml, 1 tsp per bowl · keeps 3 weeks refrigerated

Up to 3 weeks ahead, but spooned on only as the bowl leaves the pass

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Seasoned menma

Salt-cured bamboo shoot, soaked free of its brine and simmered in dashi, soy and sesame oil.

Tinned menma is soft and tastes of its packing brine; soaked and re-simmered in your own dashi it stays crunchy and matches the broth.

Salted bamboo shoots000 g
Dashi000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 7
Time: 1 days
Hands-on: 20 min

Makes About 300 g, 50 g per bowl · keeps 10 days refrigerated

Start the desalting soak two days out, season it the day before

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Pork trotters000 g
Pork neck bones000 g
Chicken carcass000 g
Kombu000 g
Aromatics000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

3 films · 15 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING7:00

Which bones to ask for, and in what ratio

TECHNIQUE5:00

The boil you are looking for — with sound

TECHNIQUE3:00

Noodle doneness in a home pot

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 34 STEPS

22 photographed · 6 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 22 of the 34 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 6 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: keeping the boil rolling, uncovered — step 20 of 34.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 28 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

3 things Yuki Tanaka watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
The skimming window that decides body vs grit
What to do about it
02
Rescuing a broth that never went white
What to do about it
03
Stacking the bowl so it stays hot
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The exact point to stop skimming — before that you lose body, after it you get grit.

Written by Yuki Tanaka. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $0.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

24 verified cooks · 86% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $0.99 ONCE

24 people cooked it, 86% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $0.99 rather than nothing. In 26 more cooks the price becomes $2.99. Your copy never does.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription