Other People's Recipes: Ramen in the style of David Chang

If you are going to let your blog lapse over the Thanksgiving holiday, the least you can do is come back with a bang.  That's what I intend to do by walking you through the process of this fantastic Ramen dish.  First, though, a side note.  It isn't always cut and dried which things I serve to you get the "Other People's Recipes" tag.  Obviously, something out of the proverbial ether doesn't deserve the tag, and something that I copy word for word out of a cookbook does, but many recipes are somewhere in between.  I will see another person's take on a dish, and after experimenting something new will be born.  I feel that the roasted pork shoulder I presented last fall varied enough as to fall under the "mine" category (although I included a link to the recipe that inspired me, just in case.)  This Ramen?  Not so much.  But that being said, I did tinker with it.  It isn't prepared exactly as described in David Chang's Momofuku cookbook.  If you want to do it exactly his way (and considering that he's a Michelin star and James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur and I'm not, I wouldn't blame you) buy his book.  If you want to hear about my experience, stick around after the jump.

Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder with Rosemary Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Fall.  It is perhaps my favorite season.  The Boise State Broncos are dominating opponents on the blue turf, the unrelenting heat of summer fades, and the calendar is filled with family celebrations.  While it is still over half a month until Thanksgiving, the chill in the air was making me pine for the type of food that takes all day to cook, whose aromas fill the house and makes stomachs growl; the type of food that makes dinner an event.  I had to ignore that desire the week of Halloween.  Our house was filled with guests, and we turned to quick fixes so that we could actually spend time with our company.  Pizzas, burritos, and pasta dishes all helped keep us out of the kitchen while satisfying the various dietary restrictions of our temporarily extended household.  The food tasted fine, and I had a great time with my friends, but as the last of them left for Oregon on the second I started planning how I was going to cure my craving.