Meat + Poultry Cheater's Ramen with Country Ham, Parmesan and Egg 1 Review Making restaurant-style ramen takes days. A quick cheat is to add instant ramen noodles to chicken broth enriched with smoky country ham. Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky, likes springy Neoguri noodles, a type of Korean instant ramen that can be found at Asian markets. Slideshow: More Pork RecipesRecipe from Food & Wine Chefs' Easy Weeknight Dinners. By Edward Lee Edward Lee F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Restaurants: 610 Magnolia, MilkWood (Louisville, KY) Experience: Chez es Saada (New York City) What’s a dish that defines you as a chef? My fried chicken and waffles. It’s a Southern dish, but we cook it in a very Asian way. The chicken is poached first in a vinegar and soy sauce blend. Then it’s cooled, dredged in buttermilk and flour and deep-fried. Who taught you how to cook? My grandmother taught me how to appreciate food and that food was more than just sustenance. She made very old-school Korean dishes, fermented chile paste and kimchi from scratch, pickles and marinated vegetables. Even as a toddler, I always wanted to spend time in the kitchen watching her. What was the first dish you ever cooked by yourself? Both my parents worked and were rarely home for dinner, so my grandmother cooked, but only Korean food. I was craving American food, so I’d steal food magazines from the Laundromat and save my lunch money to go food shopping. The first magazine recipe I really remember making was a steak dinner with roasted potatoes and a rosemary rub. I was probably 11 or 12. What’s your favorite cookbook of all time? Marco Pierre White’s White Heat. It was the first cookbook to show the life of a chef outside of the food, and outside of what the public persona of a chef was back then, which was a classic French image of being very precise and a student of the arts. For my book (Smoke and Pickles), I really wanted to show who I am and what I do. I wanted to show everything, the flaws and the perfection. Is there a type of cooking that you wish you were better at? For me there’s a mystery around Jewish cooking. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’d love to make an incredible knish one day. What’s your favorite value ingredient? A bag of pork rinds. I like to grind them up and use them anywhere you’d use bread crumbs: mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, inside sandwiches or burgers. What’s your current food obsession? I am working with bhut jolokia peppers, the spiciest in the world. They’re grown in a little town in India, but people in America have started to grow them here. Where did you go on your last trip? I just got back from Vietnam. The street food is so cheap but also so diverse and so incredibly flavorful. I had a fish I’d never seen before, kind of like a lightly pickled herring in thin rice paper, with Thai basil, lettuce, very thin slices of pineapple and freshly grated coconut. The pineapple there is so different, incredibly musky, and the coconut is so fresh and has this sweetness to it. You can’t re-create that here, and that’s one of the reasons you travel. What’s your favorite store-bought ingredient? Red Boat fish sauce, which is really starting to take off. It takes just a few drops and it adds an entire new level of flavor. It’s as simple as adding a few drops to boiled ramen. What’s your dream restaurant project? I want to open a karaoke bar that only serves fried chicken. I have no talent for karaoke, but I do have an affinity for it. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on December 29, 2015 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Fredrika Stjärne Active Time: 30 mins Total Time: 50 mins Yield: 4 Ingredients BROTH 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 3 ounces country ham, prosciutto or serrano ham, coarsely chopped 1 small onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, crushed One 1-inch piece of fresh ginger 3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth 2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce 2 teaspoons red miso 2 teaspoons soy sauce RAMEN 2 tablespoons white vinegar 4 large eggs 8 ounces dried instant ramen noodles 8 thin slices of country ham, prosciutto or serrano ham (about 1/2 pound) 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese shavings 1 Hass avocado, thinly sliced 2 scallions, thinly sliced 2 sheets of nori, quartered Directions Make the broth In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the ham, onion, garlic and ginger and cook over moderately high heat until the onion is starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, fish sauce, miso, soy sauce and ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until the broth is flavorful, about 20 minutes. Strain the broth and discard the solids. Return the broth to the pan and keep warm. Meanwhile, make the ramen Bring a large, deep skillet of water to a simmer over moderate heat; add the vinegar. One at a time, break the eggs into a small bowl and slide them into the simmering water, leaving plenty of space between them. Poach the eggs until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the eggs to a paper towel–lined plate. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain and transfer the noodles to large soup bowls. Top with the poached eggs. Ladle the hot broth on top and serve with the ham, cheese, avocado, scallions and nori. Rate it Print