Percent Daily Value, A Fool ErrantWith good intention, the Percent Daily Value (%DV) label gives us the big picture on what we’re eating. However, it’s also the same mean by which fancy product marketing fools us.
Using it to compare food with is a fool errant… Read the rest of this page »
have noodles, will travel
Students travel anywhere with instant noodles.
Noodles in ChinaNoodles are now presumed to be about 4000 years ago in China, with the recent discovery of a 4,000-year-old bowl of left-over noodles.
There are so many ways of making & serving noodles in China. Found in a variety of shapes & textures, there are rice noodles, (favoured in the south of China) egg noodle, shrimp noodle, wheat noodles (favoured in the north of China), threadlike rice stick noodle and transparent “Cellophane” noodles. And they can be found in Congees and Soups fried with pieces of meats and vegetables, plain as an accompaniment, even cold, nestled under some grated carrot & spicy meat sauce.
In rural areas of northwestern China, a millet noodles with a harder texture than wheat noodles is still eaten and are commonly called “iron-wire” noodles.
The ancient art of hand pulled noodles or “lai mein” is still practiced today by some. In 12 pulls an expert can yield 2048 even “dragon beards” as fine as angel hair noodles. Originally, “dragon beards” noodles were just called “beards,” but they caught the fancy of an emperor and the dragon was the symbol of all emperors.
Noodles of all varieties share a common symbolism - the longer the noodle you eat, the longer you should live!
Ramen/Indonesian - IndoMieIndoMie is the top selling and favorite brand of Indonesia. Its brands of instant noodle commonly share a very distinctive Indonesian’s taste which you can quickly learn to tell apart from any others. Many indonesians have grown up on IndoMie’s and are quite fond of it still, unlike here in the U.S. where its generic stuffs become the object of distaste later in life.
Instant Noodless were first introduced in Indonesia by Supermie in around mid 1970s, then Indomie came along and grabbed market shares with its legendary Indomie Mie Goreng (fried moodle) flavor, which is still one of the best selling Indomie flavor even after all these years.
Indomie is so popular among Indonesians, that many street vendors are selling boiled Indomie (Indomie rebus) with or without extras. If you live in Indonesia but haven’t tasted Indomie, then you are not an Indonesian, it’s as simple as that. Read the rest of this page »
String Theory and the art of noodlingThis webdiary is nothing short of remarkable in its knowledge about noodles. One of the best articles that I have read.
But you definitely have to skim quickly pass the initial rambling to about midway into this articles before he really talk about noodles and I think you’ll be suprised like I was about what he had put together!
Giant Instant NoodlesIndofood made a Guinness World Record in the category of “The Largest Packet of Instant Noodles†on February 3, 2005. Click on the link to see a photo of it with two rather diminutive chefs beside it.
The giant packet of “Indomie†instant noodles measures 3.4m x 2.355m x 0.47m, with a net weight of 664.938 kg, which is about 8,000 times the weight of a regular pack of instant noodles.
Mi GorengThe term “mi goreng” means “fried noodles” in Indonesian. They come in different varieties such as regular Mi Goreng, Satay, Pedas, etc.
Ramen for all SeasonsThe famous quote attributed to Gertrude Stein, “a rose is a rose is a rose”, is often interpreted as “things are what they are”.
It would seems most of us still remember ramen as the original cheap stuffs that we had taken for granted. That perception still bears with us when we look at the prices of some ramen todays, never mind why we willingly pay more for other junk foods… Read the rest of this page »
A Salt of Common SenseIf you didn’t have anything else to eat or drink in the desert, which is worst? Taking a pitch of salt or a glass of water with three time as much salt?
Well, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t hesitate to drink a glass or two of that salty water… Read the rest of this page »
Ramen/Thai - MAMAMAMA brand instant noodles is produced by Thai President Foods Public Company Limited, founded in 1972 through a joint venture between Taiwan – providing manufacturing technology expertise and the local company - responsible for marketing and distribution. After the first year, all the shares were transferred to Thai shareholder who remains as the major shareholder.
Aided by strategic joint ventures with other global companies that included Nissin Foods Co., Ltd., Myojo Foods Co., Ltd., and Danish Fancy Foods Group Co., Ltd., the company has achieved a renowned standard of excellent in the industry.
MAMA brand globalization and agressive product introduction will certainly be felt here more in the future. It has introduced many bold new products, including a new taste for instant noodles “MAMA NOODLES TOM YUM FLAVOUR (Green tea).” Its instant noodles generally reflect Thai’s love for its hot & sour “yum” flavor that is so characteristic of Thai cuisine.
Ramen/Vietnamese - VIFONVietnam Food Industries Joint Stock Company (state-owned VIFON), established in 1967, is the country’s leading manufacturer of instant noodles. Its specialty in rice noodles makes perhap the best instant rice noodles due to the high regard for rice noodles in Vietnamese cuisines.
The company use Vietnamese traditional food for its strategy to enter the market. It tries to create its own flavors using local ingredients in its authentic products. The company shipped its first batch of instant pho to the U.S. in late 1995 for free trial was an “instant” success. While it enjoy increasing sales every years, it have not yet penetrated into potential markets, as it has not yet tapped advantage of rice-based instant food or has any effective marketing strategies due to its use of exclusive oversea distributors.
The most notable thing in VIFON’s products, is the delicious cooked fish stock in retort pouch that is the only example of it from any manufacturers that we know of.
Ramen/Japanese - NissinNissin Foods was founded in 1948 by the instant ramen inventer, Momofuku Ando, from a backyard workshop. In 1958, it marketed “Chicken Ramen”, the first instant ramen - at 6 times the cost of fresh Japanese noodles!
In 1970, Nissin Foods USA was established to introduce “Top Ramen” to the United States and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Nissin Foods is still the No. 1 maufacturer of instant food in Japan. The company manufactures products for the North American market at its two plants in California and Pennsylvania. While it does make many kinds of instant noodle oversea, the retail networks here have a relatively limited selection as of this writting.
Ramen/Korean - Nong ShimNong Shim, founded in 1965, is one of the best known ramen brand locally and is very well regarded, as none of its ramen we have listed were bad. Its Shin’s labels are the hottest spicy ramen we know of.
In 2005, Nong Shim America opened its 268,000 square feet manufacturing and distribution facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Nong Shim is considered to be the largest Asian noodle manufacturer in the world with plants throughout Korea and other part of Asia.
With original inventories finally gone near the end of 2005, we are getting the popular Shin Ramen from its American facility, which added beef flavoring to it, in line with the rest of the Shin brands. The most notable sign of the change is the use of “Gourmet Spicy” instead of “Hot & Spicy” on its package.
We starting to see more products switched over to California’s, but not everyone welcome the switch, as dedicated fans of the original imports will notice that the tastes have changed a bit quickly. The one manufactured here have been reformulated to use less MSG and ironically, many complain about a loss in taste. Other important ingredients like Shiitake mushroom pieces seem to be more skimpy too.
Ramen/Korean - SamyangSamyang Food is the oldest Ramen brand in Korea. Founded in 1924, it first made ramen in 1963. Today, it’s runned by a second-generation entrepreneur who is 3rd among the 13 in his family, his second elder brother was a former prime minister.
While not as notable as its rival Nong Shim brand here, it’s a first-class brand in Korea. We’re starting to see newer items from Samyang recently. Its ramen represent the milder side of Korean’s ramen, though some are spicy hot.
Ramen NoodlesRegular instant ramen noodles are made from wheat flour without egg, precooked and then quick fried to dry. This is how instant ramen was invented and the first “instant” noodle even had pre-flavored noodles - no needs for any seasoning packets.
Fried instant noodles is actually relatively low compared to many common foods for percent of calories from fats (this is not the Daily Value which can not be used for direct comparison between products, a common misconception!):
These numbers seem high, but that because you’re used to seeing the Daily Value’s only -Â the plain truth is that the typical diets of Americans already have more than 30% of calories from fat and it’s hard to do even a little less than this without a very restricted diets!
Newer instant noodles are breaking the mold, with many kinds of noodles developed to cook quickly. Even the air-dried noodles cook very quickly.
Ramen pros expect the noodles to have a good chewy texture and traditionally this is made by adding kansui, or alkali water (calcium and potassium carbonate) to the flour. A more modern method is to add a thickener such as tapicoa starch to it. This generally work well for thick white noodles like Japanese Udon and Korean style noodles.
The original instant noodle type does not need preservative to keep up to a year under optimal condition before there is a noticeable change in its taste. It can also be eaten as is, i.e., dried.
Wanko-men Doggie RamenThere isn’t much in the way of products and services people can’t buy for their pets these days…a company recently introduced a special variety of ramen noodles for dogs.
Its product, named “Wanko-men,” is a clever play on words, borrowing its name from the famous “wanko-soba” buckwheat noodles in Iwate Prefecture. “Wan-wan” is Japanese onomatopoeia for “bow-wow.”
“Well, dogs have a desire to eat the same foods as their masters,” explains Hirofumi Ito, president of Ramen Santoka. “But the noodles we eat are too salty for dogs. We figured if we reduced the salt, it would be safer and healthier for dogs to eat.
A cup is a cup, right?Well, it seems that a cup in instant noodle package’s cooking directions is often about six ounces, not eight. So 2 1/2 cups is more like 2 cups!
Fueled By Ramen RecordsFueled by Ramen Records is an independent record label started by two people, a drummer for Less Than Jake and a college freshman, and so their first offices combined a dorm room and an apartment.
Website motto: “No Food. No Sleep. Just Records.”
Hot Ramen Noodle LetterHot Ramen Noodle Letter - AsianJoke.com.
Excerpts:
“Dear Hot Ramen… I have a problem. Every morning at 6am the workers come into my neighbor’s apartment, which is right next door to mine and start pounding on the walls… I work at home and I’m not getting any work done. My boss is threatening to fire me. I want to kill them, but my neighbor is hot and I’ve been wanting to get into his pants since I moved in. What should I do?…Ooh-la-la Ramen Romance Soup…”
“Dear Hot Ramen…Why is 2+2=4?…Celestial Wonderment For All Ages Ramen Soup…”
“Dear Hot Ramen… Every time I come home I take off my shoes and socks and my socks always disappear. Where the hell are my socks?…Old Sock Ramen Soup…”
Spicy Meat Stew NoodleIngredients:
Nong Shim’s firery hot Shin Ramen is just perfect for using larger pieces of cooked meat stock that otherwise would not have much taste on its own.
I used pork chop meat left-over from making a simple lightly seasoned clear broth with squash, chicken stock & meat. The thick slices of boiled meat normally would not have much flavor by itself. Used here, the spicy broth imparted a rich flavor. Adding simple scallion slices enhances the flavor of meaty dish. Read the rest of this page »
the noodle eater’s hair guard
“Chindogu…is the gentle Japanese art of creating gadgets that are almost absurd for universal spiritual liberation”. It’s a philosophy championed by Kenji Kawakami.
Source: Uninventing the wheel - Japan Today
