I haven’t seen the flick, but apparently the person in the flick makes abatch of ramen that is 2 kinds of instant ramen and a slice of beef diced and fried up. The bit from Sora News explains it.
They didn’t manage to do theirs in 8 minutes because of the time it takes to cook the instant noodles [getting the water to boil] but I will comment - when I made ramen, I started with the hottest water out of the tap, dropped the bricks in to the warm water then kicked the burner to the highest temp to get it to boil. I could generally make ramen from ‘scratch’ in under 3 minutes that way. See, the noodles are actually already cooked and pretty much just need hot water and the application of heat to rehydrate and make them eating temp hot. Not willing to try the challenge because I firstly don’t think I can get those particular bricks here, and secondly because I don’t eat anything that may possibly have mushroom powder [the so called natural flavor that is umami boost is frequently mushroom powder or shellfish juice that has been dehydrated] or fish sauce [that is frequently made with shellfish, again, an allergen.]
However, if someone wants to give it a try with my not so helpful hint, I would be glad to hear about it.
In the movie, it’s called ram-don. Apparently it’s a dish Bong Joon-ho invented for the film.
The new housekeeper’s first reaction after putting the phone down is, “What the hell is ram-don?”
It’s an hilarious scene, with all kinds of other frantic activity going on. The family will be home unexpectedly in 8 minutes and much has to be concealed.
The link above claims it can be done in 8 minutes. Prep time: 3 minutes Cook time: 5 minutes. Be sure to include time for kicking someone down the basement stairs before serving!
In the US, we don’t get that high of a wattage (we’re on 120V). They all seem to top out at 1500W (1800W should be the max on a 15 amp/120V line, but it seems kettles and space heaters all only go to 1500W. Somebody more proficient in electrics may be able to explain why), and a lot of kettles are 1200W. Here it takes about four minutes to boil one liter of water @ 1500W. Citation.
ETA: Oh, yeah, for just a half liter, though … looks like around two minutes, then. I typically use more water than that, though, as I like my ramen brothy. The instructions on the packet say 2 cups for each packet, which is how much I use.
Electric kettles are very uncommon – maybe more like *rare *-- in American homes. At least down here. I’ve never actually seen someone use an electric kettle in their home, though I know they’re out there somewhere. Home Depot sells them online, but if they’re made for the American power grid … they’ll be a lot less robust than ones used overseas.
Americans will typically either use the microwave, a tea kettle, or a covered saucepan (e.g. me) to boil water.
Sure, if you’re making noodle soup, but the dish in the OP didn’t look brothy at all.
And my condolences on not being able to use a decent kettle. I don’t know how anyone manages without one. It is hands down the most-used appliance in any kitchen I’ve ever used (that didn’t have an urn, that is).
Oh, we do use them here, though nowhere near on the level they are used elsewhere. My parents have one, and in college a lot of people had one so they could do some rudimentary cooking in their dorm rooms (I have a feeling they may actually have been prohibited, but that was 25 years ago.) Me? I just use the stove or nuke the water. I just don’t need another appliance in my life when I have a perfectly good stove or microwave that does the job. I’m not a big tea drinker or ramen eater, so I rarely need boiled water for anything. I’m lucky if I put a kettle on the fire or nuke a cup of water even once in a week.
The issue a lot of people have is that their gas and microwave do not produce 2500 or even 2200 watts. Korea has 220 V, though, unlike Japan, so the electric kettles work ok.
I suppose if you are used to a kettle it would be strange not to have one, but it doesn’t do anything you can’t do pretty easily in the microwave or stovetop. My boyfriend uses a kettle, but when I stay over, I ignore it in favor of the microwave.
What’s this “urn” thing you mention? I’m intrigued.
As long as we are discussing kitchen tools, Americans do not use an item that was ubiquitous in SE Asia, which I dearly miss (I wish I’d had the sense to bring a couple back with me). It’s basically a very large, extremely efficient thermos with a push-button and spout for dispensing liquid (The Indonesian word for it was “termos.”)
They are made large enough to hold a couple of quarts of liquid or more, and they are sublime at retaining heat. Fill one with hot water, and it will still be steaming hot 24 hours later. They are wonderful for serving tea at parties, or just having instant access to hot water all day long.
I’ve got an induction stove that can put out 6.5 kW I can boil 6 cups of water in less time then in takes me to open up 4 ramen packets. It would certainly take me less than 2 minutes to boiler 2 cups especially if I started with hot water.
Out of curiosity, I went to see how fast I could boil 1 liter (4.22 cups) of 15C water on my gas stove in an uncovered pot. In the cast-iron dutch oven, it took almost 6 minutes for a full boil. I realized that it takes quite a while for the cast iron to heat up, and it was starting from cold. So I tried a cheaper vessel with a relatively thin bottom, but same diameter as the other pot and got it down to 3:45 for 1 liter. My actual stovetop tea kettle, though, which has a smaller diameter base took 5:15.
Which is, about, 1500 watts dumped in the water? That’s about what I would expect from a random gas stove. I guess the trick is to avoid too much loss of heat. Getting it below 2:45 would be pretty good.
I’ve got one. Actually, I’m on my second one. As noted, the American variety are built for the American power grid. They do boil water rapidly, but based on conversations with people in the UK not as rapidly as British ones on the British power grid do.