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Noodle Thoughts

Noodle Thoughts

Red Ramen Burger

Posted on April 23, 2016

This post is belated. A friend of mine informed me that Red Robin just released the Red Ramen Burger a must try. I had planned to publish the post but then I had heard that Prince had died. Social media was memorializing and remembering the great musician on that day and my blog post seemed very insignificant. Then I just kind of forgot about it. I suppose in many ways it was indicative of my experience eating a ramen burger for the very first time. It was not a wow moment of having eaten something so delicious that I wanted to devour the whole thing. I am not sure if it was because it was from Red Robin or because the combination of meat, carrot and cabbage slaw, condiments etc. just didn’t do it for me. I really wasn’t fond of the flavors. The teriyaki sauce on the burger too cloying and sweet and the jalapeño mayonnaise too spicy and jarring to my tastebud. The ramen bun was crispy on the outside and hefty enough to hold the burger in place but all I wanted was a regular bun instead. The ramen burger is rather ingenious and probably very popular with the younger generation. I talked briefly to the Red Robin manager, very nice guy, who asked me what I thought of the ramen burger. He said that he felt it was going to be a love it or hate it item. Totally agree. I don’t think it will be a permanent fixture on their menu since I can’t imagine it will be that popular but I really have to hand it to Red Robin to think outside the box and go for it.

I follow Keizo Shimamoto on Instagram, he is well known for originating the ramen burger, and his versions look rather tasty. So before I pass judgment on all ramen burgers one day I must try one of his.

For now proud to be a traditionalist. Just give me a bowl of noodles to slurp and I’ll be happy.

Noodle Thoughts

Ramen Mom’s Mazemen

Posted on April 16, 2016

There really isn’t much art to making mazemen (mixed noodles). It’s so easy with such basic ingredients its almost guaranteed to taste good. Bon Appetit posted their kimchi, bacon and poached egg version recently which got my taste buds salivating for some. I had everything on hand and invited my number one critic my mom as the noodle taster. I didn’t follow the recipe and instead relied on the seasonings I use to make fried rice. I didn’t have fresh ramen noodles so I cheated and used the frozen Sun Noodle packet instead. I boiled the noodles per instruction, drained and rinsed in cold water. In the meantime I fried up bits of bacon (helpful hint use kitchen scissors to snip the bacon. Works better than a knife) and set the crispy bacon aside. Then with the bacon fat already in the pan I added some cut up kimchi along with some of the reserved juice and cooked until soft for a few minutes. In another frying pan I made a sunnnyside egg making sure that the yolk wasn’t firm. Need the oozy yolk to mix in to the noodles afterwards. The best part of the dish in my opinion. Then I added the bacon to the pan along with the noodles and mixed it up. This is where I just eyeballed the seasonings adding a dash of fish sauce (I like Red Boat no sugar added to it), mirin (rice wine), rice vinegar, sesame oil, tamari (you can use soy sauce if you like). Chop up lots of green onions and add to the noodles and mix it up. Save some of the onions for garnish if you like and add some kimchi to the noodles afterwards for some crunch. This dish is positively divine and my mom agreed that it was very tasty. She suggested that I reserve some of the noodles to make extra crispy and then put the mazemen on top. Great idea! I made some for ramen boy as a quick lunch but since he is such a picky eater I used extra bacon and scrambled egg instead. Same seasonings but I added sirarcha as an extra kick. He’s picky but he likes spicy. Go figure. I think this would be a perfect pre-race carbo loading dinner I will have to consider making this again in the future. For me this time.

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Noodle Thoughts

Tampopo

Posted on April 10, 2016

Spring has sprung with intermittent rains perfect weather to watch an old favorite like the movie Tampopo. I was in college when I first watched it with my future husband not at the theater but in the comfort of my apartment I shared with three other girlfriends. No doubt we craved for ramen afterwards and since back then there weren’t any nearby ramen joints in our college town we just settled for my version of packaged Sapporo Ichiban. The premise of the movie is about a ramen restaurant owner trying to keep her shop afloat after the passing of her husband. Her ramen is met with disdain from a truck driver and his partner passing through. The noodle adventures begin when they agree to help her master the art of making a perfect bowl of noodles. My all-time favorite scene is the flashback of the ramen master teaching the truck driver how to eat ramen.

This movie is the quintessential “ramen western” flick and a must see for true ramen connoisseurs.  Otherwise you are just a ramen lover wannabe. Watch the movie and guaranteed you will be hankering for some ramen pronto.

Noodle Thoughts

Ooze

Posted on January 17, 2016

I went to Davis Farmers Market hoping to pick up some fresh ramen noodles from Pasta Dave but out of luck this weekend. Pasta Dave makes delicious fresh noodles, mostly Italian, having tried some in the past. He is well known in the area for taking his pasta craftsmanship seriously with his pasta on the menu at top end restaurants like Ella in Sacramento. I was really excited to chat with him about his ramen noodles but his prickly manner matched the weather and completely put me off. Hubby and mother-in-law were also perplexed with his behavior so I’ll blame it on the rain and try his ramen noodles in the future. Instead I picked up some fresh Vega Farms eggs to try making shoyu tamago (soy sauce eggs) that is a popular topping on ramen. Ramen boy is not fond of eggs so his response to these were “yuck” but I’m sure once he tastes this golden yolk he will be forever changed. The recipe I tried is from Tadashi Ono’s Japanese Soul Cooking. He is a New York chef and author and owner of Ganso Ramen on my noodle hit list come March when I run the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon.

These eggs are so easy to make. I had the ingredients on hand to make the marinade with shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (rice wine), sake, water, ginger, scallions and garlic. I think the key to great soy sauce eggs is having the very best eggs you can find and Ono-sensei has some very handy tips like poking a hole at the bottom of the rounded part of the egg and to swirl the eggs around at the beginning while cooking. Instead of sharing the recipe on my blog I am going to send you to another. Elly’s Anatomy of Ramen series is brilliant and she highlights Tadashi Ono’s shoyu tamago recipe.

Luckily I only made four eggs because I can eat them in one sitting they are so decadent and delicious. Ojai, my handy yolk tester, totally agrees.

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Noodle Thoughts

Slurp!

Posted on January 14, 2016

Throwback Thursday. Living in Tokyo the noodle master is five years old and already serious about his ramen. It has to be Ippudo and it has to be for lunch on the weekend. He’s cranky without his noodle fix! Oishii!

Noodle Thoughts

Welcome to my blog

Posted on January 11, 2016

This blog has been a long time coming floating around in my head in 2015. I have slurped countless bowls of ramen in my lifetime, mostly undocumented, but the memories are still rich even more so being mom to ramen boy who will be entering high school this year. I wish I had taken pictures of all the ramen places we frequented over the years when we lived in Japan and Singapore and our overseas travels because there is a story for each one of them and I can remember many. Running into ramen boy’s classmate eating at Ippudo and chatting afterwords (the boy has a lot of siblings) and one of them who was a toddler at the time hopping on a motorcycle while we were talking unnoticed by us but not a bystander who politely asked if the child was ours. Ramen boy’s expandable belly full of noodles. He would order kaedama (extra noodles) more than once to the amazement of the servers. In fact to this day he still orders a large bowl of noodles with extra noodles.

This blog is not so much a review of ramen restaurants but hopefully more about the experience of sharing a bowl of noodles with friends and family. For me ramen is comfort food. It’s about memories that go way back to times I spent with my grandmother and she would make it for me or when I had it as an afternoon school snack with my middle school best friend Erlinda. The ramen bond I have with my son is something I hope we can share for years to come and in the meantime share with you.

Enjoy! I hope I make you hungry.