Chinese soups are known for extracting intense flavours over long hours of simmering bones in stock. But here's an idea: what if said bones were replaced with finely minced pieces of meat instead?
After all, if bones alone impart flavour to a broth, imagine the intensity actual pieces of meat would yield. In Spain, a traditional way of making soup is to use chopped jamon bones. What works too, though, is using actual jamon to make a broth. "In Spain, jamón broth is common and quite popular as a base for soups, just like dashi is a base for many dishes in Japan. Much like the cuisine at Iggy’s —which is modern European with Asian overtones— this jamón dashi blends Japanese and Spanish tradition to create harmonious flavours," says Aitor Jeronimo Orive, head chef of Michelin-listed restaurant Iggy's.
The trick here is to use minced jamon rather than sliced, as mincing the ham introduces more surface area in contact with the simmering water, yielding more flavour from each piece of jamon.
We take a look at chef Aitor's recipe for creating a delicious jamon dashi broth that goes well with plenty of things.
After all, if bones alone impart flavour to a broth, imagine the intensity actual pieces of meat would yield. In Spain, a traditional way of making soup is to use chopped jamon bones. What works too, though, is using actual jamon to make a broth. "In Spain, jamón broth is common and quite popular as a base for soups, just like dashi is a base for many dishes in Japan. Much like the cuisine at Iggy’s —which is modern European with Asian overtones— this jamón dashi blends Japanese and Spanish tradition to create harmonious flavours," says Aitor Jeronimo Orive, head chef of Michelin-listed restaurant Iggy's.
The trick here is to use minced jamon rather than sliced, as mincing the ham introduces more surface area in contact with the simmering water, yielding more flavour from each piece of jamon.
We take a look at chef Aitor's recipe for creating a delicious jamon dashi broth that goes well with plenty of things.
Using minced jamon instead of sliced to make a stock base yields more flavour as the ham has more surface area contact with the soup.
JAMON BROTH
Ingredients
- 2l water
- 3 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms
- 20g dried kombu
- 40g bonito flakes
- 100g shio koji
- 125g jamon
Steps
- To prepare the dashi, fill a deep pot with water and soak kombu and dried shiitake for 45 minutes on low heat.
- Add kombu and bonito flakes into pot to infuse further for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Strain the liquid over a chinois sieve.
- Add shio koji until desired saltiness is reached.
- Infuse jamon and dashi in a deep pot over low heat for at least four hours to extract all flavour.
- Season with salt until desired taste is achieved.
- Strain all liquid through a chinois sieve.
- Serve with a homemade bowl of ramen, or even as the base of cooking a congee.
