Cut pork femur bones and nice good pork belly for ramen?

Hi all!

I'm wondering if anybody can recommend a good place to get good quality pork femur bones, ideally cut to order (I'd like them cut around an inch in length and in half down the middle), and ideally priced fairly (which is to say, likely very cheap).

For the same purpose (making ramen!), I'd like to find a good source of pork belly. Ideally thinner-ish flat-ish pieces that can be rolled to make chashu. In previous cities I've lived I've found a variety of prices, some "fancy" stores will sometimes sell pork belly but it will be a "specialty" item and cost a ton, where a small Asian grocery store will sell it for super cheap because it's obviously not always the most meaty cut of meat - I'd like to find more of the latter, less of the former if possible!

I'm GUESSING that my source will likely be an Asian grocery store of some sort (I've had luck in other cities at Vietnamese stores), but I'm in Logan Square (brand new!) and haven't had much luck in the few places I've tried, especially for the femur bones.

Thanks in advance!

p.s. Bonus question: any great sources of good/fresh chicken feet?

p.p.s. Here is my first attempt at making tonkotsu ramen, which was a semi-failure. I'm hoping to do better this time.

Welcome to LTH Forum, shoelessone. And more importantly, welcome to the "Hog Butcher to the World". You may want to check out Peoria Packing, which should have the bargain prices you are looking for. As for the high end, Rob Levitt at Butcher & Larder is your friend. Butcher & Larder has recently moved into the new Local Foods Emporium just off of Elston. The address below is the correct one.

There are, of course, other places, but these two come to mind right away. I'm sure other posters will add their own suggestions.

Peoria Packing Butcher Shop
1300 West Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 738-1800

Butcher & Larder
1427 W Willow St
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 432-6575

Awesome, thank you stevez! That first link, Peoria Packing, looks PERFECT, and like a place I'd like to go regardless of ramen cooking!

I'll give it a shot and report back - thanks again!!

Welcome!

Both Peoria and B&L are well worth visiting, and about as different as two meat shops could be. I'll add a few Asian stores that are worth knowing about for meat as well as other goods. I don't know about the femur situation at any.

Quite close to Logan Square is Joong Boo Market (formerly Chicago Food Corp), a large Korean store with an active butcher counter. If you find yourself in Niles, don't miss the huge H Mart, also Korean.

Several good Vietnamese markets are found around Argyle Street. For meat, my choices would be Tai Nam and Viet Hoa.

For Japanese, it's Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, without question. Meat (and everything else) will be more expensive than at the others I mentioned above, but quality is high and you'll find items unobtainable elsewhere around Chicago. As a bonus, you can get an excellent bowl of traditional ramen at Santouka, located in the market's food court.

Joong Boo Market
3333 N Kimball Av
Chicago
773-478-5566

Super H Mart
801 Civic Center Dr
Niles IL
847-581-1212

Tai Nam
4925 N Broadway
Chicago
773-275-5666

Viet Hoa
1051 W Argyle St
Chicago
773-334-1028

Mitsuwa Marketplace
100 E Algonquin Rd
Arlington Heights IL
847-956-6699

Mayflower Foods and Chinatown Market at Cermak also carry $3/lb pork belly and pig trotters for even cheaper. Hong Kong Market does as well, I believe.

Not so sure about which bones they have but Montrose Deli gives away pig bones for free. You find them in the bucket at the end of the meat cooler, chicken area, on the right, on the floor, under a plastic bag lid. I was there on Friday and it had to be 30 lbs worth.

Montrose Ave and Long Avenue, Portage Park, Chicago.

5411 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 725-6123

I read your blog post and while I am no ramen expert, it's not even close to my favorite soup, I think I have a few suggestions.

1. Your bones don't have a lot of meat on them. There is this weird misconception that bones make a good soup. It is in fact the meat that gives soups flavor, bones are mostly for the gelatin that gives the soup body. If you are feeling up for an experiment, try a chicken stock with chicken breast versus chicken carcasses. The former will have pure clean chicken flavor but almost no body, while the latter will be thick with gelatin and have a weaker, muddier flavor.

2. Pork broths need mad seasoning for reasons I don't understand before they taste like anything. Also whatever you are using for a tare is vital to ramen flavor, so I wouldn't panic if your broth is bland before you fully season it. I personally just use my chashu braising liquid (after marinating my eggs in it) because that stuff is amazing.

3. I am a bit surprised that you browned your chashu first and then did a relatively dry braise. Chashu is mostly about texture for me and both of things seem like an impediment to tenderness.

I didn't see your final broth. To me what makes ramen interesting is that emulsification of fat and gelatin and not necessarily the flavor. Did you get that milky consistency associated with a good ramen?

A lot of this is down to personal preference, so I would work on how you want ramen to taste. Some people might want it to taste mostly of miso and tahini, you seem to want a pork broth. If that is true I would definitely spring for a meatier cut and just barely cover with water.

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you so much for your thoughtful reply botd!

Most of the reason I chose the bones I chose is because that's what I could find. As far as having more meat, that's an interesting point and certainly something I'll consider/investigate further.

That said, the next time I make ramen I'll be following this recipe: https://www.reddit.com/r/ramen/comments ... memade_18/ - if you are interested in ramen, and don't already read the /r/ramen subreddit (which is on reddit, a website where people post links/discussion), it's worth checking out from time to time.

I think part of my problem was that I added too much water (like you said, I think I should have JUST covered the bones), and I also think that I didn't let them boil enough. The next time I'll be using pork femurs and pork neck bones, and thanks to this thread I hope to find some "meatier" bones.

As for the Chashu, it's the first time I made it (or cooked pork belly for that matter), but I followed ramen_lords cooking recommendations, and in my opinion it turned out wonderfully. I think I could have cooked it a bit longer (another hour or so) so that it was totally melt in your mouth, but as is it was pretty good!

Again, thank you!

Rene G wrote:Welcome!

Quite close to Logan Square is Joong Boo Market (formerly Chicago Food Corp), a large Korean store with an active butcher counter. If you find yourself in Niles, don't miss the huge H Mart, also Korean.

Second the recommendation for Joong Boo, I love that place. I do 90% of my grocery shopping here and I get pork belly there all the time for homemade bacon. They have two cuts:

Frozen blocks, no bones – $3.99 per pound
Non frozen strips with some rib tip bones – $3.49 per pound

For pork bones, try Kurowski Sausage Shop on Milwaukee. It's a Polish deli with a great sausage selection (actually, they all do) but last time I was there they had a big cooler full of pork bones and scraps for some cheap price like $.69 per pound.