The Momofuku-Style Yuzu Soju Slushie
유자 소주 슬러시·(yoo-jah soh-joo sloo-shee)
Chapter 5 — Drinks & Desserts
When you've just coated your palate with the glorious, emulsified pork fat of an eighteen-hour tonkotsu broth, you need a high-acid, freezing-cold counterpunch. A cold beer does the trick, but the Asian-American ramen shop pioneered something sharper. Built on a bracingly tannic black tea base, sweetened with thick Korean citron marmalade, and fortified with a lethal dose of soju, this violently blended concoction cuts through the fat like a scalpel, resetting your mouth for the next bite of chashu.
Before you start
Bring the water to a rolling boil and steep the black tea for ten minutes.
You want an over-extracted, highly tannic brew that would be unpleasantly bitter to drink on its own, but necessary to cut through the sugar, ice, and impending pork fat of the ramen.
Strain the hot tea and whisk in the sugar and yuja-cheong until fully dissolved.
The residual heat of the over-steeped tea will help break down the thick citron marmalade.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then stir in the yuzu juice and salt.
Never add delicate citrus juice to boiling liquids; the heat destroys its volatile floral compounds.
Transfer the yuzu-tea tare to a sealed container and refrigerate for at least twelve hours.
Place the unopened bottle of soju in the coldest part of your freezer for three hours.
This optional but highly recommended step relies on the supercooling phenomenon, dropping the liquid temperature below freezing without solidifying it.
Ingredients
- water1 cup
- loose-leaf black tea3 tbsp
- granulated sugar1/2 cup
- yuja-cheong1/2 cup
- bottled yuzu juice1/4 cup
- kosher salt1 pinch
- plain soju375 ml
- ice4 cup
Method
- 01
Pour the chilled yuzu-tea tare and the cold soju into a high-powered blender.
If you successfully supercooled your soju using the traditional Korean method and smacked the bottom of the bottle to create a slush, you are already halfway to the perfect texture.
- 02
Add the ice and blend on high speed for exactly thirty seconds.
You are looking for a violent vortex that homogenizes the ice crystals with the sugar and ethanol, creating a smooth, velvety texture rather than a watery snow cone.
- 03
Stop the blender and test the consistency with a spoon.
It should drape off the spoon in a thick ribbon. If it is too liquid, add another handful of ice and blend for ten more seconds.
- 04
Pour immediately into thick, chilled highball glasses and serve with wide bubble-tea straws.
Instruct your guests to take their first sip only after they have eaten a slice of pork belly—the shock of cold, ethanol, and acid will physically wash the rendered lipids from their tongue.
Notes
Timing is everything with a slushie.
Do not assemble this until the ramen bowls are plated, the chashu is torched, and your guests are seated.
Seek out yuja-cheong at your local pan-Asian grocer.
Often labeled as Citron Tea or Honey Citron Tea, this thick marmalade provides a much deeper, more authentic flavor than artificial yuzu syrups, and its high sugar content acts as the chemical binding agent that guarantees a perfectly smooth ice texture.