The best bowl in San Francisco: Cioppino

Serves 4 · 12 hr (mostly simmering) · Weekend project

Tonkotsu is pork bones boiled hard, not simmered, until the fat and collagen emulsify and the broth goes white. It takes a day, but it's mostly waiting.

You need

• 4 lb (1.8 kg) pork trotters and neck bones, cut by the butcher
• 1 lb (450 g) chicken backs
• 1 onion, halved, 1 head garlic, halved, 2-inch (5 cm) ginger, sliced
• 4 scallions, white parts
• For the tare: 1/2 cup (120 ml) soy sauce, 1/4 cup (60 ml) mirin, 2 tbsp sake, 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb (450 g) pork belly, rolled and tied
• 4 eggs
• 4 portions (about 1 lb / 450 g) thin fresh ramen noodles
• To serve: sliced scallions, nori, bean sprouts, pickled ginger, sesame seeds

How to make it

1. Cover the bones with cold water, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes, drain and scrub off the grey scum. Clean the pot.
2. Return the bones with fresh water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm). Boil hard, lid off, 10 to 12 hours, topping up with boiling water to keep the bones covered. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and scallions for the last hour. Strain: you want about 2 quarts (1.9 l) of white broth.
3. Meanwhile, braise the pork belly in the tare plus 1 cup (240 ml) water, covered, at a low simmer for 2 hours, turning now and then. Cool, slice thin, and keep the braising liquid.
4. Boil the eggs 6 1/2 minutes, chill in ice water, peel and soak in 1/2 cup of the braising liquid for at least 4 hours.
5. Put 2 tbsp braising liquid in each warm bowl. Cook the noodles 1 minute less than the packet says, drain well and add. Ladle 2 cups of boiling broth over each, then top with pork, a halved egg, scallions and nori.

Chef's tips

• A pressure cooker gets the broth white in about 2 hours on high.
• Taste the broth with the tare in it before adding salt; the tare is the seasoning.

Contains: wheat, soy, egg, sesame.

Our recipe, the same one we give for tonkotsu ramen in Amsterdam. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 6 · 1 hr 10 min

A thick, peppery potato chowder built on salt pork, fresh steamed clams and cream, served with plenty of saltines. Inspired by the clam chowder at Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, Maine.

You need

• 24 littleneck clams (about 3 lb), scrubbed
• 1 cup water
• 4 oz (115 g) salt pork, rind removed, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion (about 10 oz), cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 celery rib, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 cups bottled clam juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 1/4 lb), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp snipped fresh chives
• 1 sleeve saltine crackers, for serving

How to make it

1. Put the clams and 1 cup water in the Dutch oven, cover, and cook over high heat for 7 minutes, shaking the pot once, until the shells open. Lift the clams out with tongs into a bowl and discard any that stay closed.
2. Pour the broth through a fine strainer lined with a paper towel into a measuring cup, leaving the grit behind. Add enough bottled clam juice to total 3 1/2 cups. Wipe the pot clean.
3. Pick the clams from their shells and chop the meat into 1/2-inch pieces. Refrigerate in a bowl.
4. Cook the salt pork in the clean pot over medium heat for 9 minutes, stirring, until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel and leave 2 tbsp fat in the pot, pouring off the extra.
5. Add the butter, onion and celery to the pot. Cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until soft and translucent but not browned.
6. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the clam broth, scraping up the browned bits. Add the potatoes, bay leaves and thyme.
7. Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer, partly covered. Cook for 14 minutes, until a fork slides easily into a potato. Press about a quarter of the potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken the broth.
8. Stir in the cream and pepper and heat for 5 minutes until steaming, but do not let it boil. Add the clams and half the pork bits, and cook for 2 minutes just to warm the clams. Taste, add up to 1/4 tsp salt, and remove the bay leaves.
9. Take the pot off the heat and let the chowder rest for 10 minutes so it thickens and the flavors meld.
10. Ladle into bowls and top with the remaining pork bits and chives. Serve with the saltines.

Pans and tools

• 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot with lid
• fine-mesh strainer
• paper towels
• slotted spoon
• wooden spoon
• ladle

Chef's tips

• Common mistake: rubbery clams. Add them at the very end, only to warm through.
• Taste before salting, since salt pork and clam juice are salty.
• Chowder tastes better the next day. Reheat gently over low heat and do not boil.
• Swap: two 6.5 oz cans of chopped clams with their juice for the fresh clams, added in step 8, or thick-cut bacon for the salt pork.

Contains: shellfish, dairy, gluten.

From The Best 100: our home version, inspired by Eventide Oyster Co., Portland, ME. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 2 hr · Medium

Hanoi chicken pho is lighter than beef: charred onion and ginger, a few spices, and a whole chicken.

You need

• 1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 lb / 1.6 kg)
• 1 onion and a 3 in (7.5 cm) piece of ginger, halved and charred
• 2 star anise, 3 cloves, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 small cinnamon stick, toasted
• 3 quarts (2.8 l) water
• 3 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp rock sugar or sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb (450 g) wide flat rice noodles
• Thinly sliced onion, green onion, cilantro, lime, chile, and Thai basil or mint

How to make it

1. Put the chicken in the water, bring to a boil and skim. Add the charred onion and ginger and the spices in a tea ball or cloth.
2. Simmer gently 45 minutes. Lift out the chicken, pull the meat off in large pieces and return the bones to the pot for 45 minutes more.
3. Strain the broth and season with fish sauce, sugar and salt; it should taste slightly too salty on its own.
4. Soak and cook the noodles, divide among bowls, and top with chicken and sliced onion.
5. Pour the boiling broth over and serve with herbs, lime and chile.

Chef's tips

• Keep the simmer gentle for a clear broth.

Contains: fish (fish sauce)..

Chef Amazing's own recipe, written for a home kitchen. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.

Serves 4 · 3 hr · Medium

The broth is pork bones, dried squid and daikon, sweetened lightly with rock sugar. The bowl is a little bit of everything: minced pork, sliced pork, shrimp, quail eggs and crisp garlic.

You need

• For the broth: 3 lb (1.4 kg) pork bones, 1 oz (30 g) dried squid, 1/2 oz (15 g) dried shrimp, 1 daikon (about 1 lb), peeled and cut in chunks, 1 onion, charred, 1 tbsp rock sugar, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp salt, 4 quarts (3.8 l) water
• 8 oz (225 g) pork shoulder, in one piece
• 8 oz (225 g) ground pork
• 12 shrimp, peeled
• 8 quail eggs, boiled and peeled
• 4 oz (115 g) pork liver, thinly sliced (optional)
• 1 lb (450 g) dried rice noodles (hủ tiếu or thin rice sticks)
• For the garlic oil: 1/4 cup oil, 8 cloves garlic, minced
• To serve: bean sprouts, garlic chives, Chinese celery, lettuce, lime wedges, sliced chile, black pepper

How to make it

1. Blanch the pork bones in boiling water 5 minutes, drain and rinse. Toast the dried squid in a dry pan 2 minutes until fragrant.
2. Put the bones, squid, dried shrimp, daikon and charred onion in a big pot with the water. Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer gently, uncovered, 2 hours. Add the pork shoulder for the last 40 minutes.
3. Lift out the pork shoulder, cool and slice thin. Strain the broth and season with the rock sugar, fish sauce and salt: it should taste clean and gently sweet.
4. For the garlic oil, fry the garlic in the oil over medium-low heat, stirring, 3 minutes until golden. Pour into a bowl right away.
5. In a small pan, cook the ground pork with 1 cup of broth, breaking it up, 4 minutes. Poach the shrimp and liver in the simmering broth for 2 minutes.
6. Soak the noodles in warm water 20 minutes, then blanch each portion in boiling water 30 seconds and shake dry.
7. Into each bowl put noodles, minced pork, sliced pork, shrimp, liver and two quail eggs. Pour hot broth over, add garlic oil and pepper, and serve with the herbs and lime.

Pans and tools

• 10-quart stockpot
• fine sieve
• small frying pan
• noodle basket or sieve

Chef's tips

• For the dry version, toss the noodles with garlic oil, soy and a little sugar and serve the broth in a cup.
• Dried squid is the secret: find it at an Asian market.
• Skim often for a clear broth.

Contains: shellfish, fish, egg.

Our recipe, the same one we give for phnom Penh noodle soup in Ho Chi Minh City. Saved, it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place and what you already have.