Shadowing Practice: The Best Restaurant-Style Ramen At Home - Learn English Speaking with Video
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There's a reason real pork tonkatsu ramen tastes the way it does, and almost nobody does it the right way at home.
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A good ramen starts with good broth, and a good broth starts with good bones.
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The first step is to rinse off all our bones.
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Hidden in the bottom of this bowl is actually a pig's foot, but I covered it because I thought, maybe not everyone wants to see a pig's foot.
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But if you do, feel free to go ahead and try to find it.
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that flavor for our ramen broth.
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The next step is to add all our bones to a large pot.
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Once again, I'm going to keep that pig foot real hidden in there.
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And once all your bones are in there, go ahead and cover them up with water.
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The reason we're doing this is to get a nice clean broth.
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And if you don't, your broth will end up being cloudy and dirty.
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Look at that.
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You can already see all the nastiness coming out of those bones.
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We're trying to get rid of all that and more.
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Once your bones are covered, turn on the heat and then bring it up to a boil and let it go for 10 minutes.
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This right here is what's inside all those bones.
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So if you didn't understand why before, now I think you will.
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Once we've been boiling for 10 minutes, I'm going to fish out all the bones because we want to give them one last rinse before we make our broth, just to make sure they're extra clean.
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And don't even try.
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I'm still not going to show you the pig's foot.
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With one last quick rinse in cold water, our bones are clean and ready.
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These are the aromatics we'll use to build the base of our broth.
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We've got onion, which I'm going to quarter and leave the skin on, garlic, which I'm going to cut in half just like this, then ginger, which I'm going to carefully cut right down the middle, and these green onions, which I'm going to leave whole.
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Now into our as well as all our aromatics and stir until fragrant, one or two minutes.
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Wow, I love the smell of these.
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Just make sure as you stir these around that you do not char anything because that will give you a dirty broth, which we do not want.
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After a few minutes of stirring, we'll add our bones See if you can catch the pig's foot.
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I'm doing a good job hiding it.
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I bet none of you have seen it still.
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As well as a few white mushrooms.
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Here's how we start to build that umami flavor and then cover this up once again with water.
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Bring it to a strong simmer.
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If you haven't seen what that looks like before, this is it.
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Let it cook for 12 hours with the lid slightly ajar, adding more water as needed to keep the bones covered and constantly skimming all the junk off the top.
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While our broth cooks, we're gonna move on to make our chashu pork.
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This is that beautifully rolled barbecued Japanese pork that you may have seen before and when you make it right, This right here is pork belly.
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If you look from the side here, you'll see the cross section looks just like a piece of bacon, which is exactly what it is.
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The first thing we need to do is remove this skin on top, so I'll lay it skin side down on my cutting board, and then just like removing the skin from a filet of fish,
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I'll go back and forth carefully with my knife until everything separates and it looks like this.
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Next, we'll take our pork belly and roll it up as tight as we possibly can.
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The tighter you can get it here, the cleaner it'll eventually be for those nice portions we cut for our ramen.
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can around the pork and I will admit it took me two
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or three times to get it right but
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if you have someone there to help you it'll probably make it a lot easier.
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As a next step in a cast iron pan over medium high I'm going to get this deep golden brown
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and the reason I'm not starting off with any oil or fat in the pan is because I've got plenty right here.
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I'm going to play a little game with myself here
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and see how perfectly golden brown I can get this thing on all sides.
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Having a weirdly shaped object like this is really great practice for getting a steak golden brown.
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If you can do they don't give you enough of this meat.
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I feel like you eat one or two bites of it and it's gone, and then you're left with this big bowl of ramen.
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What I love about making it at home right now is
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that I could literally eat this entire thing in my bowl of ramen if I really wanted to.
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As we continue to cook this pork belly, we're going to render off a lot of that fat, which will continue to tighten up this roll of pork, giving us a cleaner cut of pork on our ramen.
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If you've ever had a bowl of ramen where the pork is too fatty, it means they didn't spend enough time rendering off the fat during this process.
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Once your pork is beautiful golden brown like this, go ahead For our chashu pork marinade, I'll add soy sauce, mirin,
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some sliced ginger, a few cloves of crushed garlic, then some green onion, and a little sugar.
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And once we've brought this up to a simmer, add in your pork belly and let it cook with the lid slightly open for two hours.
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Until it looks like this.
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Look at how bubbly and beautiful that looks.
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Now, all we do is turn off the heat, and once it's cooled down, we'll place it in the fridge overnight.
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With our pork done, we're going to move on now to make our soft -boiled ramen egg.
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We'll add our eggs to some boiling water and cook them for six and a half minutes exactly.
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carefully collect them all and transfer them to some ice cold water.
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Once they've had time to cool down, we'll peel our eggs.
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And as you do this, be careful not to break them.
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We want to keep them whole.
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As you peel them, put them in a bowl off to the side
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because we're going to marinate them in just a moment.
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I feel like everyone has their own methods on how to peel eggs.
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Usually, I actually like to peel mine under running water like this
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because I feel like the water gets into the shell and separates things quickly.
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But at the end of the day, I feel like there's really no right or wrong answer as long as you don't break the egg.
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To marinate our eggs, we'll go into our bowl with which is a seaweed that gives tons of umami, one clove of crushed garlic,
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as well as some soy sauce, mirin, and sake.
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We'll cover this up.
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Oops, I spilled a little there.
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And place this in the fridge overnight, along with our pork.
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Before we make our ramen noodles, isn't that exciting that we're making our own noodles?
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Since some of the bones in here are uncovered, oh, you can't see the pig foot.
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I'm going to pour some more water to top things off and cover it up again.
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And now, our noodles.
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Into a bowl with some flour, I'll add some baking soda and a pinch of salt, and then I'll mix this up until fully combined.
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water.
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You can look up what that is on your own time.
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I'm going to slowly pour it into the flour, continuing to mix with those chopsticks until it begins to form this crumbly, shaggy dough.
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And once the dough eventually looks like this, go ahead and dump it out on your cutting board and get in there with your hands to mix it all together.
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We're going to knead this and treat this just like we would any normal pasta dough, with the goal being to develop that gluten and get us those nice, iconic, chewy ramen noodles.
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Once your dough eventually looks something like this, go ahead and shape it into a ball, then cover in plastic wrap and let it rest at room While our dough is resting, check this out.
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If you look at our broth now, it's becoming milky.
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And what's happening is that all that collagen is breaking down from the bones and turning the broth nice and creamy.
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This is what I love so much about a tonkatsu broth.
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You get creaminess without actually adding any cream.
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It's amazing.
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Once our ramen dough has rested, we'll open it up and it should by now feel a bit more relaxed.
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It will still be harder and drier than most normal pastas because ramen dough is intentionally drier than normal pasta, but it will definitely be workable.
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Working with one piece at a time, I'll press out each piece of dough and then roll them maker.
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Adding just a touch of flour whenever needed to make sure things don't stick, but not too much or we'll dry it out.
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We're going to roll this out to level six on our pasta maker, and once I've finished each sheet, I'll flour it and set it off to the side while I repeat the same process with the others.
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Just wait until you see when it gets rolled into the actual ramen noodle shape.
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That is one of my favorite things to watch in the kitchen.
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Once all our sheets are made, we'll switch out the attachments, and like I said, this is one of my favorite parts.
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These are beautiful homemade ramen noodles.
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It's definitely extra effort and an extra mess in your kitchen to make them yourself, I think it is so incredibly worth it.
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I mean, I just gotta do it.
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I had to do it.
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Okay, let's focus.
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Cut your noodles into nice portions.
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You should be able to eyeball that and measure them out on your own.
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This is another cool part about making them at home is
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that you can make them as long or as short as you want.
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Remember also is you're making these noodles to keep flowering them because they will stick together if you don't flower them.
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These noodles, especially because they're fresh, will cook really fast so we'll set them aside until right before we're ready to make our ramen.
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When your ramen broth is done, turn off your heat and by now you should have a creamy, milky looking broth even though we never added any cream.
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We're going to strain this out now.
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out all the bones and I don't have to worry about hiding that pig's foot anymore because everything's dissolved and broken apart.
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Carefully strain this out, mixing as needed if it needs any extra help pushing that liquid through the strainer.
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And this next step here is optional and not traditional but I love miso and now is the time to add it.
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We add miso off the heat because high heat will kill the flavor.
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I'm gonna let this cool off uncovered and then refrigerate it until I'm ready to use it.
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We've done all the hard work so just a few steps left.
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All of these steps are basically to finish Cut the string off the pork.
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Funny story, in one of my biggest challenges ever in MasterChef, I left the string on the lamb.
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I tied it around the lamb to try to make the lamb look really nice
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and then I left it on there and they tried to bite it and there was string.
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It was really awkward.
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And once that string is off, we're going to cut this into nice thin slices.
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Ooh yeah.
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This is some of the best smelling pork you're ever going to be around.
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Now for the fun part, fire.
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Lay your pork down on a baking sheet lined with a wire rack, doing your best to be nice and gentle with it so it doesn't fall apart.
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And then use a torch to caramelize the chashu pork.
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Not too much, but just enough to get that beautifully caramelized color and flavor.
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Kind of like making a creme brulee.
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Once you feel you've gotten that beautiful color on the first side, go ahead and flip everything over.
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This one was an end piece, but unlike with bread, the end pieces with chashu pork are actually good.
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Although this wouldn't be as traditional to serve on a bowl of ramen, so I'll probably save that for a snack.
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listening to and watching how quickly the fat bubbles up and pops.
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This is such a great way without that much extra effort to make things look really good and it's also fun.
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If you don't have a torch like mine, don't worry.
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You can easily toss this under a broiler at home and get a very similar result.
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Once it looks like this, we can start our final plating.
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First, we need to cook our noodles.
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Our homemade noodles may have dried out a bit by now, but as long as you move them around a bit, they'll separate quickly when you drop them into that boiling water.
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They'll cook extremely fast.
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The second they float, they're done.
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Grab your ramen bowl and put them straight in from that boiling water.
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butter, but leave it there.
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You'll see why in just a second.
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One thing I love about ramen shops in Japan is the chefs will often take a pair of chopsticks
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and they'll pick up the noodles over and over again
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so they can layer them in a nice beautiful pattern on the top of your bowl.
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I don't have the technique like they do to layer these noodles, but I am going to try my best to get nice, clean and presentable layers of noodles.
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Once our noodles are layered, we'll take our broth, which I put back over low heat to get nice and warm, and then we'll pour this over the ramen to fill our bowl.
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Now it's finally starting to look like ramen.
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For the egg, I'll heat it really quickly
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water just five or ten seconds to warm it up and then cut it in half and place it on top.
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Next we'll add our chashu pork and then add whatever other toppings you like.
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I like to plate it a little different with different ingredients every single time.
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It's funny sometimes when I spend
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that long making something I'm almost too tired to taste
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and I just want to go to sleep
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but I at least need to try the broth and some of our homemade noodles.
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Itadakimasu!
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I feel bad saying it's the best ramen I've ever had
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because I love Japan but it's the best ramen I've ever had.
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I guess I never need to take that 15 hour flight to Japan again.
Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with a video like "The Best Restaurant-Style Ramen At Home" provides a unique opportunity for English learners to practice speaking in a context that combines culinary arts and culture. By focusing on food preparation, this video introduces learners to specific vocabulary related to cooking, ingredients, and techniques, which can enhance their conversational skills when discussing similar topics.
Utilizing the shadowing technique, learners can mimic the speaker’s intonation and rhythm while describing the process of making ramen. This practice not only improves English pronunciation but also builds confidence in speaking about everyday activities. The context of cooking can make learning more enjoyable, as learners are likely to be more engaged when the subject is relatable and practical. Thus, this video serves as a valuable tool for those preparing for situations such as the IELTS speaking practice, where expressive language use is crucial.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
- Imperative verbs: The speaker frequently uses command forms like "rinse off," "add," and "turn on." Such commands are essential in instructional contexts and help learners understand how to give and follow instructions in English.
- Present continuous tense: Phrases like "we're trying to get rid of all that" illustrate the ongoing actions in the cooking process. This can aid learners in discussing their current activities more fluently.
- Conditionals: The speaker mentions, "if you have someone there to help you," showcasing how conditionals form hypotheses or give advice. Understanding this structure will enhance learners' ability to articulate choices and consequences in various situations.
Common Pronunciation Traps
Watching the speaker prepare their ramen, learners can identify some tricky pronunciation challenges, especially with terms in culinary vocabulary. Here are a few to focus on:
- “Aromatics”: The initial stress on the second syllable can be difficult. Practicing by repeating the word and saying it in sentences will help reinforce correct pronunciation.
- “Chashu”: This term, relating to barbecued pork, can trip up learners unfamiliar with Japanese culinary terms. Breaking it down phonetically may aid in overcoming this obstacle.
- “Simmer”: This common cooking term often confuses learners due to the double 'm' sound. Emphasizing this can significantly enhance overall **improve English pronunciation**.
Incorporating these elements into a consistent shadowing app practice can further refine speaking skills, allowing learners to master both the culinary vocabulary and the overall flow of English conversation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.