This is the tonkotsu style broth that went with the wontons I made for my mom’s birthday wonton soup.

Disclaimer:  I am not much of a delicate and subtle flavors kind of cook.  I like bold flavors that pop.  Salt is a good friend of mine.  This is my tonkotsu style broth.  It is thick, creamy, and coats your mouth with its umami richness.  If you are looking for a light and clear broth for your wonton soup…this is not it.  Go elsewhere.

This is more or less how I make my broth when I want homemade tonkotsu ramen.  When I make broth for ramen, I use my 12 qt stock pot, and let it simmer for at least 6-8 hours so that it becomes even creamier and thicker.  This time, for my wonton broth, I used a smaller 8 qt pot and simmered for only 4 hours.

I started with 2 lbs of pigs feet and 2 lbs of smoked turkey wings.  Don’t look down on the humble foot, for it serves as the foundation for this rich soup.

This step is optional, but I first blanched the turkey and pork.  I covered the bones with cold water and let it come to a boil  Once the water boiled, I dumped the water into the sink, and washed the bones.  This gets rid of a lot of coagulated blood, bits of bone, and other impurities from the broth.  This is done to make a visually appealing clear soup without bits floating around.  I always skip this step and just skim off impurities, but for my momma’s birthday, I will blanch the damn bones.

If you are using the same pot to make the broth, you should wash it out first.  There’s a lot of scum stuck to the bottom.

Here are my quickly boiled meaty bones.  You can see a lot of dark bits stuck on them.

This is like a toothbrush commercial.  Look at my tooth-looking pig’s foot all grimy and gross.

Bling!  Look how shiny and white my tooth-looking pig’s foot is after a good brushing!  I used my finger to scrub the bits off under a little water.

After I cleaned off the bones, I patted them dry.  I wanted my broth to have as much flavor as possible, so I got my good ol’ French oven out, heated up some bacon fat on high heat, and browned the pigs feet and turkey wings.

While the bones were browning, I got my aromatics ready.  I first soaked 4 large dried mushrooms in a bowl of hot water to soften them.  I have no idea what kind of mushrooms these are.  Asian food packaging can be quite mysterious.  After about 15-20 minutes, I squeezed the mushrooms dry.  Keep that mushroom water!  That will go into the broth later.  Just discard the very bottom where bits of dirt and whatnot has sunk.

I have a bunch of green onions, a shallot, a head of garlic, 4 mushrooms, 2 bay leaves, and about 4 inches of ginger.

With the help of more bacon fat, I browned the aromatics too.  Just let it keep browning until everything has a nice char.  Sure, you can skip browning the bones and veggies, and the broth will still taste good.  But the browning will help it taste GREAT.

After everything got warm and toasty, they are now ready for the long soak.  Dump the bones back into the pot and fill it up with water.  Sometimes I also add in a carton or a few cans of chicken stock, but I only had water this time.  Do pour in the bowl of mushroom water, sans the bits of dirt.  Leave the pot uncovered, and once it boils, turn the heat to low.  Leave it alone for about 3-4 hours.  Well, don’t ignore it.  Check on it every now and then to make sure everyone is doing alright.  Also, taste it.  If it tastes too watery and bland, let it simmer some more.  Add some salt and pepper if you so desire.

Here is the broth after everyone left the pool party.  By the way, don’t toss the turkey and pigs feet into the trash.  Strip the meat off and save it.  You can add the meat into the soup, eat it as is, whatever you do, don’t waste it.  Save the mushroom too, they will go into the wonton filling.  The garlic and most of the green onion and shallots melted into the soup.  I tossed the ginger into the compost.  I suppose I could have used the ginger in the filling, but at that point, I had already minced up another ginger root.  After the broth cooled down, I put it in the fridge.

Here is my bowl of meat jello.  You can keep that layer of fat if you want an extra rich and fatty broth, or you can scrape it off.  When you are ready to assemble your bowl of wonton soup, just heat this big lump of jello until it turns into liquid again.  Add some sesame oil, chili oil, garlic chili paste, XO sauce, etc, to give your broth an even bigger extra flavor boost.

Tonkotsu Style Broth
Ingredients
– 2 lbs pigs feet, cut up
– 2 lbs smoked turkey wing
– bacon fat
– 4 dried mushrooms
– 1 bunch of green onions
– 1 shallot
– 1 head of garlic
– 4 inch knob of ginger
– 2 bay leaves

Directions
– Cover the pigs feet and turkey wing in cold water and bring to a boil.  Once the water boils, pour the water out.  Rinse and scrub off the impurities on the bones.  Pat dry, then brown the meaty bones with bacon fat on high heat.
– Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 15-20 minutes, until they are soft.  Save the water, but squeeze the mushrooms dry.
– Chop the green onion into large chunks.  Slice the ginger root (no need to peel) into thin slices.  Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole.  Peel and cut the shallot in half.  Leave the mushroom whole.
– Brown the aromatics in bacon fat until they get a nice char.
– Add the meat bones, mushroom water, and water to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn the heat low.  Let it simmer uncovered for 3-4 hours or until very flavorful.  Season the broth to your taste.