Making things complicated (when cheap would do)
All of you with proper cooking knowledge: please hide your eyes and turn away. I have to confess that my experience with noodle based dishes comes down to boiling sticks of spaghetti in a big pot until soggy, or reheating steamed noodles in a boiling water until soggy. Yes, there’s a commonality here. Oh, and then there’s ramen.
I bring up ramen because I’ve been tasked with making “our” supply disappear. Three packages, found in a dollar store and then set aside for an emergency. The bright yellow wrapping served as a flag, and I am faced with a decision. Do I hide them, in a dark place, or do I get the boiling water and reverse the dessication process?
Actually, I just finished watching a fascinating YouTube video, where someone with a cooking laboratory and too much time at hand has tried to duplicate the look, feel and taste of the real thing. Yes, ramen. I had no idea about what it takes to create springy noodles and a magic flavor packet. And, it turns out, the process is not magic. Just requires knowledge-based techniques.
Let’s see: flour, along with the proper proportion of liquid and “other stuff” will make a lump of dough. You then roll the lump into a flat profile before running it through a noodle maker. I don’t own one of those (yet).
Then the testing began. Do you need to fry or boil or steam the noodles, and for how long? The video creator did an excellent job of showing (me) why one technique or another is appropriate. No, I didn’t know.
As for the magic flavor packet, it comes down to making a broth using real meat parts, and then removing the water from the broth. Similar to dried apricots, in a way. A dessicator was involved (we used to have one of those). With some careful grinding, and the addition of a selection of spices, you can make a powder that turns back into broth when added to boiling water. Again, that common element.
Bottom line, the dollar store offers a cheap and tasty solution for those who lack a cooking laboratory.
