Noodle Tuesday: DK Kodama's crab truffle ramen
I shouldn't have been surprised that DK Kodama's demo of his crab truffle ramen at Cookspace last week took all of two minutes. This is, after all, the dish that was inspired by a pack of Sapporo instant ramen in the cupboard and a block of truffle butter in the freezer.
The snack that Kodama would throw together after work was the basis for the ever popular crab truffle ramen at Sansei, now made with fresh Sun Noodle ramen, a pork and dashi broth touched with truffle, topped with crab, cilantro and fresh red chilis. It is ramen for those with luxe tastes, which absolutely includes Kodama. ("I love anything expensive," he once said. "I can eat caviar by the spoonful—forget the accoutrements!")
The purpose of the demo: to highlight high-end Sub-Zero and Wolf kitchen appliances (with which Cookspace is outfitted), because local distributor Riggs is donating $100 to The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific for every piece of Sub-Zero and Wolf equipment purchased in Hawaii from now until the end of the year.
Today, Kodama's doing another demo, except this one's in New York, for the StarChefs International Chefs Congress. He and Ed Kenney are cooking a lunch with Hawaii ingredients: Hawaii-raised kampachi, Kona Maine lobster, and Sun Noodle. Sun Noodle started in Hawaii 32 years ago and now produces saimin and ramen for many of Honolulu's noodle shops. It recently opened another noodle factory in New Jersey to supply the burgeoning ramen obsession in New York and the East Coast, where Sun Noodle's current client list includes ramen restaurant ringleader Momofuku.
