Tori Paitan is one of the up and coming ramen broth that is popping up slowly over the United States. "Tori" stands for chicken and "Paitan" refers to a white and creamy soup. Most people who I talk to always say Tonkotsu is their favorite as they love the thick, creamy and flavorful broth. However very few know about its chicken based cousin.

Duck broth is luxurious, but a tricky liquid to perfect. Duck has a gamey flavor that can overpower everything in your ramen. The trick is to mask these flavors to uncover the subtle yet rich duck flavors that are every so tasty. One of the best dishes that has mastered masking the gamey duck flavors is Chinese Roasted Duck with its use of five spice powder, which is why I decided to use some roasted duck bones that were lying around.

Porcini and Parmesan is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of dashi, or Asian cuisine for that matter. When I pulled out a block of parm, my mom was perplexed and asked if I was even still making ramen. Dashi is a very pure stock: Water, Kombu, and Katsuobushi. Some add dried shiitake mushroom, but the dashi purists will not take it further than that. However with the creation of ramen, we need to think outside of the box and experiment. We gotta do it for science!