Hot answers tagged noodles
11
The primary difference between a dumpling and a noodle, besides shape, is leavening. Dumplings usually have either egg or baking powder to make them lighter.
There's considerable bleedover in terminology here. It's reminiscent of the difficulty of defining "chowder". You're always finding a counterexample. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up with ...
9
It becomes quite confusing when talking about the difference between chow mein and lo mein mainly due to the error in translation.
In Chinese chow mein literally translate as "fried noodles." However when buying chow mein at a chinese restaurant, you get vegetables with a side of deep fried noodles. Somehow the title of a dish is referring the to side ...
7
Spaetzle is basically a noodle. Throw together egg, flour and salt (maybe some water to thin it out) and force it through a mold. Anything with holes can be used as a mold (for instance, I've used my old metal colander and that would work fine). Once the dough is formed into little pieces (it doesn't usually hold together for long threads), put it in boiling ...
7
"Al dente" is used to refer to food cooked so it is still "firm to bite" but not soft
This is very important to pasta which should be removed from the cooking liquid just before it has fully cooked through, as like most foods, it will continue to cook after being removed from the heat source
Always gently stir your pasta every minute or so while cooking to ...
6
Some people prefer to cook them separately because when you do so, you can see the water changes color a little and they don't want that (mainly flour) in their soups.
Another advantage is that you can have your soup ready and just cook the noodles on demand. The noodles go to boiling water, the soup is just very hot, but not boiling. That's what ...
6
rfusca already gave very good suggestions for the literal question from the title. However, you can also address your problem the other way round.
First, cook the soup until your noodles are al dente (but will become just right while cooling at a normal speed). Take the big pot of soup off the heat.
Second, take a small pot, and fill it with just one ...
6
If your noodles are mushy, then you're overcooking them. Vermicelli take barely a minute or two to cook in already-boiling water. Egg noodles take a little longer, but either way, trying the noodles as they start to loosen up is the best way to ensure the right texture.
Remember, you are going to be cooking them again when you stir fry them, so they should ...
6
I always reserve a bit of pasta water to add it to the pan. The reason is simple: if you drain your pasta and add it to the sauce the pasta will suck up all the sauce and become a bit dry. Adding the pasta water ensures that your pasta will remain moist. Also yes, it helps thickening the sauce (this does not necessarily apply to tomato sauce).
Now, let's be ...
6
In addition to the reasons covered in other answers, some pasta dishes with sauces including cheese actually require using some of the cooking water in order to turn out correctly.
In these cases the starch in the water coats the proteins in the cheese and prevents them from binding to the cheese's fat which would otherwise act as a sort of glue as it ...
5
similar to what julio said, the main reason is that typical wheat-based noodles release a lot of starch into the water, which changes the consistency of the soup. the starches can add a dirty colour to the water, but more than that, they can also thicken the soup undesirably (think of making a roux). Finally, if there are leftovers, the noodles can sometimes ...
5
Some ingredients do not dissolve well in hot water - the starch swells and thickens, forming lumps that may have raw powder in them and are nasty. They need to be added to cold or lukewarm water and heated after they are dissolved. Other ingredients, most notably pasta, will partially dissolve in cold water making a thick gloppy soup. But if you add them to ...
4
I hate to say it, but I'd be willing to bet that gluten-free udon is about as practical as gluten-free seitan - the gluten is precisely what gives udon noodles the texture that makes them so special.
Having said that, I've bought frozen udon noodles that had tapioca starch as an ingredient in addition to wheat flour, and those were some of the best udon ...
4
No noodles are actually called "brown noodles" but the only noodles I'm aware of that are brownish in colour are either wheat or buckwheat.
Given the suggestion to cook it with a "protein source", and given that this is meant to be a quick and easy meal, I'm sure that the idea was to cook some dried noodles briefly in soup along with some sliced or shredded ...
4
@ElendilTheTall's answer would probably make some pretty badass Mi Goreng, but the whole point of packet Mi Goreng is to be a 2 minute meal in the least work possible.
The way I make Mi Goreng is to cook the noodles in a small pot until they're just cooked (a little firmer than you prefer to eat them).
Quickly drain them, throw them back in the same pot ...
4
It's not too much water that makes them soggy, it's cooking them for too long in the water. Thin noodles are virtually done as soon as they break out of their dry, tablet shape. As soon as this happens, take a noodle out and test it. Remember that cooking will continue even after you drain the noodles.
You should drain the noodles well in a colander. If you ...
4
Many of the dried noodles that are marketed as "udon"—at least in my experience in the USA—are actually mislabeled, thinner noodles like Hiyamugi or even Sōmen. I would suggest buying the semi-dried variety that are usually packaged in vacuum sealed plastic. This variety is shelf stable, but it can often be found in the refrigerated section of Asian ...
4
Depends on how extreme you want to go. I've used all the following methods for cooling stuff down depending on how rapidly it needed to cool down.
Standard for cooling down that is a ice water bath in the sink. Fill your sink with ice and water and then put the pot in the sink with the lid off. Stir to distribute the coolness. I'm not sure if this is ...
4
We used to have fried spaghetti for leftovers growing up. Take cooked spaghetti in sauce and put it in a warm frying pan with a little oil.
I've also had noodle fritters with leftover spaghetti, take undressed spaghetti and dip in a batter, then pan or deep fry. Somewhat like a potato pancake, we would eat them with sour cream.
4
You absolutely can — and in two different ways, depending on your preference.
The first is to place the noodles and cold water into a microwaveable bowl, and microwave on high for about 2-3 minutes, total. It can help to stir or "flip" the noodles halfway through. If the noodles aren't done to your satisfaction, continue microwaving them in 30-60 second ...
3
Your main sources of flavour in any Chinese-style noodle dish will be:
Garlic
Ginger
Chilli
Spring Onion/Scallion
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce
Rice wine / dry sherry
Sesame oil
Sesame oil has a very distinctive 'Chinese' flavour. It is very strong so you only need a little. You should not use it for frying - think of it more like a seasoning. Add a teaspoon or ...
3
The ingredients are pretty similar to Italian egg pasta: wheat flour, eggs, salt, and water. The amount of eggs used is more, though, so that the consistency is that of a fairly thick batter instead of a dough. This batter is typically pressed through a coarse strainer into boiling water.
More details at wikipedia.
3
If this is dry seasoning, you may be able to physically separate the salt out. Options might include sifting (if the salt is a different size), settling (if the salt is a different density).
You may also be able to perform chemical separation, for example if the salt dissolves in cold water where's the rest of the seasoning does not.
Finally, you could mix ...
3
The dough needs plenty of kneading, not yeast, knead in one direction (the pull direction). It's similar to pulling sugar
Use regular (low to medium gluten) flour and water, let it rest so the flour is fully saturated. Some cooks will use baking soda to help with tough dough
It's is probably wetter than you might expect too
It can takes a while for the ...
3
This is the last write up on the topic, and it's much simplier:
For hand pulled noodles you need:
Bread flour (wet gluten 29-30%, protein 11%-12%)
45% added water
1% alkaline solution
kansui powder or (Lye Water + Baking powder) or Peng or Baking Soda
Ingridents (Alkaline solutions)
kansui powder
55% sodium carbonate (Na2CO3),
35% potassium carbonate ...
3
"Ramen noodles" are a predominantly North American term for what the Japanese call "Chinese Noodles" (Chukamen, which I've also seen spelled Yuukamen).
In practice, you can use any wheat noodle that's made with eggs or kansui, including lamian or mee pok, or even buckwheat noodles (notably soba). Noodles made without either of those are not recommended.
It ...
3
Im new to the site and I wish I could make this comment not an answer but I don't know how.
Hand pulled noodles uses cake flour with less gluten and baking soda to reduce the gluten even further.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze2SphqrWyg&feature=g-hist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBSTSKY_DQs&feature=g-hist
If you are hand kneading its ...
3
From the point of view of someone who used to work in a Chinese restaurant, we used to prepare vermicelli which are really thin rice noodles by soaking the uncooked dry noodles in cold water for about 1 hour or until it is flexible. We then can store this soaked, but uncooked noodle covered with a plastic wrap in the refrigerator for several days. They don't ...
2
Organic merely tells you that the wheat that was grown, was grown in a more environmentally friendly way, ie. without the aid of pesticides. That on its own will have no effect on noodle stability.
They may be poor quality noodles, have gluten level issues, are they also wholewheat, do your regular udon have some form of strengthening additive like with ...
2
A difference I see between your recipe and other alternatives is that you don't have any other starch besides your rice. Other recipes include a good amount of tapioca or potato starch. The other difference was that other recipes used rice flour instead of rice.
You might also want to consider a change in technique. You can make rice noodles like a crepe ...
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