Ode to Noodles
For those who appreciate a really good bowl of noodle soup. Inspired by “Ode to a Haggis”, by Robert Burns.
What corns of wheat and eggs of hen
do make when worked by skillful men
who grind the corns into a dust
and deftly take the eggs and bust
the shells and mix the insides up
and add them to the flour cup,
who kneed and pull and stretch and roll
and cut them up into a bowl,
and skim a stockpot topped with froth
to make an awesome batch of broth
and slice me up a grip of greens
along with cub’ed curd of beans
a broth poached egg add to the mix
this simplest of noodle tricks
and topped with steaming slic’ed meat
seasoned just so salty-sweet!
Who, in all our ages past
could aft an unintended fast
smell such food at hunger’s hour
and not the meal at once devour?
Not I, for I, the noodlevore,
could eat it all and ask for more.
O unsung master chef of food
who invented this amazing dish:
your handiwork does lift my mood.
May God fulfill your fondest wish.
The Neoguri noodle hack
Neoguri is, in my opinion, the best of the cheap packaged noodles. However, that’s not saying much; it is still dried packaged noodles. Here’s an inexpensive food hack that will turn it into something that is surprisingly delicious.
Neoguri. In my humble opinion, this is best of the cheap packaged noodles.
Ingredients
1 package Neoguri
425 ml of water
1/4 teaspoon dashi stock granules
1/2 teaspoon of dried wakame (dried thin seaweed)
1/2 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of chinkiang vinegar (Chinese malt vinegar)
1 teaspoon of chicken fat
1 tablespoon of red miso (known as Aka miso in Japanese)
1 egg
Optional ingredients
These add just a bit more flavor. I’ve often made it without, and it still tastes great.
Substitute 425 ml of low-sodium chicken broth for water. Make sure it is low-sodium; the miso adds plenty of salt.
1 scallion
1 clove of garlic
Hardware
1 quart sauce pan
Miso strainer
Asian spoon
chopsticks
knife (for slicing the optional scalion)
Mandoline slicer set to its thinnest setting (for slicing the optional garlic)
Procedure
Bring the water (or chicken broth) to a boil. While the liquid is warming up, toss in your dashi stock granules and wakame; the wakame will bloom in the liquid as it is coming to a boil. Use the back of a spoon to press miso through the miso strainer into the liquid, and stir to dissolve the miso. Add only 1/4 of the spice packet to the liquid. When the water boils, add the chicken fat. Then add your noodles, and let them simmer for about 4-5 minutes. While the noodles are simmering, slice up your scallions on the bias, and use a mandoline set at its thinnest setting to slice your garlic into thin little garlic membranes.
When the noodles are just about done, separate the egg, and set the yolk aside on the Asian spoon. Stir the eggwhite into the hot soup, and turn off the heat; the residual heat will cook the egg white. Pour the noodle and soup into a bowl, place the spoon with the egg yolk into the soup. Drizzle the Chinese malt vinegar and the sesame oil over the soup, and sprinkle with sliced scallions, add the thin sliced garlic, and serve.
