No juice! Prepare according to directions, pour out juice, mix in flavor packet. Eat. Not me, though. After my first two bowls about 4 years ago, I decided I couldnt eat a bowl of salt and noodles.
MMMMMMM Ramen Noodles – the Asian’s revenge upon the unsuspecting Americans. Made from very little flour, a touch of rice, about a pound of powdered cardboard a pinch of dehydrated vegetables, a pinch of mystery meat, a ton of spice and lots of salt.
Alternate uses for them:
-
Cook long enough and you have flavored glue stronger than super glue!
-
Diarrhea? The squirts? Eat a couple of packs of the noodles and they’ll bind you up nicely.
-
Constipated? Blocked up? Eat a couple of packs of the noodles and they’ll blast you free.
-
Should have dropped tons of them on the Vietcong during the war. After eating those things, they would have screamed to surrender.
-
Driveway patch.
-
Weed killer.
-
Paint remover.
-
Rust remover.
Nutrient content of Ramen noodles: Less than paint.
Cristi said:
“I didn’t start eating Ramen until just a few weeks ago. My husband and I avoided it like the plague for the longest time, because every time we opened a package, we’d find bugs in it. Bleah! Bleah bleah!”
EWWWWW!!! That’s gross!!!
Might I recommend that you try going to your local Asian market to find some fresher ramen?
BTW ramen (as common as a Big Mac in Japan) is, in its true form, FRESH noodles. If you ever get a chance to go into a Japantown or Little Tokyo, go have a fresh bowl of ramen. It is EXQUISITE.
…you can have almost as good an experience if you watch the movie, “Tampopo” (dandelion), a Japanese movie about the quest for the perfect bowl of noodles (it’s hilarious and too unusual for words), one of my favorite movies. Beware: If you watch “Tampopo” you will likely get a strong hankering for ramen, so make sure you have access to some after you watch! 
– Baglady
I like mine like MissMonica7 (except I actually like them!) But then if I’m feeling very wild and crazy, I will melt some cheese into the chicken flavor noodles. Of course, I also put cheese in my chicken noodle soup! Oh yeah, that’s why I’m dieting…
I NEVER crush the noodles, I’m definitely a slurper.
And I also pour off most of the soup and just have the noodles.
But I put a teaspoon of sesame oil, a dab of my favorite chillie sauce (Yeo’s), a small handful of beansprouts and some very finely chopped green onions or cucumbers. Plop the cooked noodles on top. Mix up with your chopsticks,serve with a cup of the clear broth on the side, just like you see the Asian’s do.
Easy and Yummy.
I’m thinking lunch tomorrow.
I admit it! I’m a Ramen noodle junkie! I The hub thinks they’re absolutely disgusting (and the way he overcooks them, they are) but I just love the stuff. I break the noodles in half and follow the instructions for the soup adding pepper or something to make them spicy.
What’s with breakin the damned noodles? It’s like eating spaghetti an CUTTING it!! what’s up? Just slurp. And you can’t drain the liquid off…that’s why they call it “Ramen noodle soup”. AAAarghhhh!
“Slurpers forever!”
I don’t break them up. Then again, I eat them with chopsticks, and then drink the broth left over. I also sometimes eat my spaghetti with chopsticks.
gAwd,
I learned about “poor mans spaghetti” in college. It involves ramen noodles and half-cups of Ragu. It’s not that bad honestly, but then I come from humble roots.
elbow3, exactly.
Cristi,
They find bugs in breakfast cereal all the time. Frosted too . . . the cereal and the bug. Wonder how many slip past the tests, and then slip past us ? In truth I do not honestly care, as I ate much mud in my youth. I thought “mud-pies” were delicacies that my cousin prepared.
As far as ramen goes,
people do not realize the power of the boiling water. A main rule would be to use the minimium amount of boiling water possible to do the job. Then add flavor to the noodles while they are boiling. I put in a half teaspoon of margerine, two shots of Tobasco, a touch of worcestershire sauce. Boil until done. Drain the water out. Fluff the noodles and add about half of the “flavor packet”. Fluff a lot more. Eat.
See ? Being single can be an art too.
The way I eat Ramen is just to boil the noodles(not too long that they are soggy). Remove the water, add the flavoring(not too much though, because of the saltiness), stir, and then eat.
Real easy to do.
Baglady, you’re right. Ramen from a ramen shop and ramen-in-a-package-from-the-grocery-store are two different animals. I loved “Tampopo” and just the thought of watching it makes me crave ramen. (“Your foolish book has made me hungry . . .”.) I recently took a ramen neophyte to Katana-ya here in San Jose, where I introduced her to the classic chashu ramen. After we both inhaled our ramen (by the way, everyone, loudly slurping air and long strands of noodles is how the Japanese get around the hot, long noodle problem), I say after we both inhaled our ramen, she asked, “Did they start making this after Top Ramen became popular?” Get a clue, non-foodies!
I boil the water first, then add the seasoning packet and the noodles (broken in half). After 3-4 minutes, I stir in a beaten egg and eat it with Kim Chee. Or sometimes I break it into really little pieces and add salsa and tobasco sauce.
One of the few times I was ahead of the trend: I grew up in California and ate ramen noodles back when you could only get them at specialty Asian grocery stores–late fifties to early sixties. I think the brand name was “saporo ichiban”. I used to buy them by the case–so cheap it was obscene. The packages were a little larger, less salty, and could feed two in a pinch.
We frequently scrambled an egg and dripped it in while the water simmered, added small amounts of cooked meats, and whatever left over veggies we had.
Committed slurpers–but I usually lift the bowl up close to the face, use chopsticks or a fork, and drink the broth.
My kids lie down on the floor in front of the TV, use a fork and slurp and gulp to their hearts conent. Ah nutrition!
Hm. I’ve never even considered using a spoon. I always use chop sticks. Sometimes I’ll pour the broth into a cup and drink it, and put some cheese in the noodles.
I have to use a spoon. Probably my biggest neuroses is that all bites of my food at a meal have to be pretty much uniform in taste and consistency. I am all the time mixing my foods, and cutting them up into tiny little bites at the beginning of my meal (usually takes about 4 or 5 minutes before I actually start eating). It would be dissatisfying for me to eat the noodles, and then drink the broth. I know that sounds weird, but that’s about as weird as I get, and none of my other neuroses come even close to that one.
I haven’t eaten Ramen Noodles since my college days, but I always followed the package directions. I was a non-breaker-upper.
A friend of mine once passed an undigested noodle in his stool, and he freaked out because he thought he had worms.
Back when I was in military school, I only got about $5 a week, and we weren’t allowed to have cooking implements in the barracks, so ramen was very popular. My favorite was “oriental” flavor. (BTW - chicken flavor tastes like chicken, mushroom flavor tastes like mushrooms; does this mean that oriental flavor tastes like…orientals? Maybe Esprix can clarify that point. 
Anyway, we weren’t even allowed to have coffee makers or hot pots, but the sink in the mop closet produced water that was nearly boiling - hot enough to make ramen. I’d break the brick in half (but only so it would fit in a 32-ounce plastic cup), sprinkle the flavor packet over it, and then fill from the mop sink. (hey, wasn’t Mop Sink the cook on “Bonanza”? No? well never mind then.) After a couple of minutes of steeping, the noodles would be just right.
Here’s how I break my ramen noodles (or alternatively, here’s how compulsive I can get).
I too think that unbroken ramen noodles are too long. Originally, I broke the bricks directly in half.
However, I learned then that this would give me two lengths of noodles, because the bricks are made with two layers of dried noodles folded in half on one end. The noodles from the half of the brick with the fold would be long, and the noodles from the half with cut off ends would be too short.
Now, I break my noodles one of two ways. If I can, I will carefully separate the top and bottom layers of the brick from the side without the fold. If this works, the top and bottom layers of the brick will separate with the break occuring at the fold. This will leave me with noodles approximately 1/2 the length of the originals, what I think is the perfect length.
If I cannot separate the layers, I will break the brick at a point 1/3 of the way down from the folded end. This will make noodles all of the same end, each about 1/3 of the length of the originals and still an acceptable length.
“Sapporo Ichiban” kicks Ramen ASS.
I went through 6 years of college eating Kraft dinner and Ichiban. You’d think I’d be sick of it, but no, the special mind-altering chemicals in both have made me a life-long addictee. I probably whip up a late-night bowl of Ichiban twice a week, and Kraft Dinner another two times a week.
Preparation for Ichiban: Boil the noodles for 3 minutes in about a cup and a half of water. Turn off the heat. Add the packet of seasoning. Stir and eat. Yum.
The trick to Kraft Dinner (and most other packaged foods) - don’t add nearly as much water or milk as they tell you to - this always leads to soup. I have no idea why they put those goofy recipes on there. Use about half of the liquids they recommend and it’ll come out nice and cheesy.
I think the flavor packet should be added before cooking. It has starches in it that will thicken up the broth a little so it’s not quite so soupy. I usually use half the packet, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.