Ramen is one of those things that's just seen an explosion on the culinary front in the last decade. I'm in Richmond, VA, and while we have a decent sized Asian population, but we're no NYC or San Fran. Still, I feel like you can't swing a dead cat around RVA without hitting at least one ramen shop. While none of us are strangers to inflation in the last few years, I was astounded the other night about paying $14 for a very mediocre bowl of ramen recently. Maybe you're feeling similar, so here's how you can make it for relatively cheap for your family or even a decent sized gathering.

• Two beef stock bones (your local butcher will definitely carry this, but it may well be in the meat aisle at your grocery store)
  

• lots of soy, fish sauce and srirachi (I've still got a bottle from pre-shutdown Huy Fong, but hear their contemporary one sucks, so try the one from Underwood who was their supplier of peppers before getting screwed over in a contract dispute, they make a good one)

• One boneless pork chop per 2 people

• One pack cheap ass ramen noodles (flavor packet discarded or save the pork ones for collard greens) per 2 people

• One bunch baby bok choi per 2 people

• One soft boiled egg per person

• Chopped cilantro, green onions, and fresh jalepeno to your liking

So this is a long recipe in time, but very little hands on time. Take your beef bones and put them in a crockpot or stock pot in a gallon of cold water. Simmer very lightly for 24 hours. In a crockpot, you probably won't have to add water, in a stock pot, you probably will. Strain the final liquid through a fine mesh sieve, then add soy, fish and srirachi sauces to taste. I like lots of umami, so my measurements per gallon are probably 1/2 cup, 1/2 cup and a tbsn, but use your own tastes as a better guide.

So that's done and you have your broth, set it aside, but keep it hot. To soft boil your eggs, bring a pot of water to a boil then cut back to a hard simmer. Add your eggs and cook 7.5 minutes before transferring to an ice bath to arrest further cooking. Peel the eggs, and if you want to be super sexy, splash some soy over them and let them marinate a bit.

Chop and wash your bok choi, it's almost guaranteed to be filthy. Cook your noodles per package direction, usually about 4 minutes in boiling water followed by a cold rinse.

Finally, grill your pork over high heat to internal temp of 140. I realize that's under done, but your hot broth is going to finish the cooking process. Chop it into bite size pieces.

Now you're ready for assembly. In a bowl, place noodles on bottom, then your other ingredients. Finally cover with hot broth, and add cilantro, jalepeno and scallion.

Your starting point of a gallon of broth will serve roughly 10 people. So make a party out of it, you'll be amazed how wowed people are by something that's pretty simple. Or screw other people and you and your SO can have it for a handful of meals. It keeps extremely well in the fridge. And remember my sticker shock at $14 for one bowl, this whole meal can be made for fairly close to that. So make your friends feel luxurious on the cheap.

* Standard disclaimer: yes, this is a food recipe on a wet shaving hobbyist site. Yes, the mods grant me a certain amount of disposition for a totally off topic post because I've been doing this for a long time. Make it and report back, or downvote and move on. Like I said, I've been doing this for a long time, if you want more recipes, just search this sub for Friday recipe, and there's at least dozens I've posted over the years.