Simple, tasty, indulgent. All you really need is a slow cooker to tenderize the tendon. Everything else is a matter of assembly.
Cook’s notes
Yes, the cook time is long (but there’s really not a lot of work to be done). Six hours or longer to cook the tendons until they are tender enough to be squished between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, then another 20 minutes or so to complete the dish.
Use good broth to cook the tendons in. That means broth made with beef bones (or a combination of beef, pork and chicken bones), spices and vegetables. We usually add a whole onion, a few cloves of garlic, scallions, whole peppercorns and salt to the bones when we make broth. After simmering in the slow cooker for a couple of hours, the liquid is strained. The tendons are then cooked in the liquid.
Too much work? You don’t have to make the broth and cook the tendons on the same day. The broth can be made a day ahead, cooled and refrigerated. Then add to the tendon in the slow cooker.
(There is, of course, the option of using ready-made broth. There’s the ready-to-pour kind that’s sold in cartons and there’s bouillon. Your choice.)
After six hours of simmering (it may take longer for larger cuts of tendon), you’re ready to use both the tendon and the broth to make your bowls of ramen.
Beef tendon shoyu ramen
Ingredients
- 500 grams beef tendon (1.1 pounds)
- 6 cups beef broth
- Japanese soy sauce to taste
- 150 grams dried wheat noodles (5.2 oz) boiled, rinsed, dumped in iced water and rinsed again
- 4 to 6 bunches bok choy cut into halves vertically and rinsed well
- thinly sliced scallions to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse the tendon and remove any visible impurities.
- Arrange the tendon pieces in the slow cooker and pour in the broth.
- Cook in HIGH until boiling gently (it usually takes two hours) then switch to LOW and cook until the tendon is tender (four to six hours).
- Scoop out the tendons and set the cooker on HIGH once more.
- Drop in the bok choy and cook for about 10 minutes. Scoop out.
- Season the broth with soy sauce (how much or how little depends on how salty the broth is) and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Drop your cooked noodles into bowls.
- Cut the tendon into bite-size pieces and arrange on one side of the noodles.
- Arrange the bok choy on the opposite side.
- Pour in the broth.
- Garnish with slices scallions and serve immediately.
Korean-style ground beef rice bowl