Korean Instant Noodles Food

Pinterent Oktober 29, 2023 Comment

Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.

When I asked you folks for your favorite instant noodle brands onTwitter, I was chuffed to note that a great chunk of you picked

Favorite non-Japanese noodle:Shin Cup. Spicy, savory, and intensely garlicky with flavor to spare, it's in a league of its own when it comes to ramen (orramyun, as it's called in Korea).

Nongshim Mupama Spicy Hot Ramen Ramyun Noodle (5pcs) / Korean Food

Here's something interesting: Japanese instant ramen stemmed from a desire to create a no-fuss, quick and easy version of the real dish. It's a sort of toned-down, fast-food version. Korean instant ramyun, on the other hand, was a derivative of Japanese ramen, made with Korean flavors. That is, it's

Until now, that is. If Japanese ramen can be engineered from a delicious simmer-all-day artisan meal into an instant lunch, why can't we do the reverse for Korean ramyun?

The flavor I was aiming for with this dish is based on the standard Shin Ramyun from a packet (check out ourtaste test of all the Shin Ramyun products here). I started by reviewing the ingredients list. Unsurprisingly, enriched flour and colorings, flavorings, and preservatives of various kinds dominate the ingredients, but a closer look at them can reveal their purpose. Up near the top we've got disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate, two flavor enhancers that are designed to work in conjunction with monosodium glutamate (MSG, in this case cleverly hidden in the hydrolyzed soy protein and yeast extract that appear later in the ingredients list) to up the savoriness of foods.

Spicy Noodle Soup (10 Minutes!)

too meaty. At home, I prefer using more natural sources for my glutamates and inosinates, and Japanese-style dashi broth proves to be just the ticket.

Dashi starts by steeping giant sea kelp in hot water. Sea kelp provides a concentrated source of glutamic acid, the amino acid from which commercial MSG is derived.

On top of that, smoked dried bonito flakes (known as katsuobushi in Japanese) add inosinic acid, glutamic acid's partner in crime. You can use either bonito flakes or the tiny dried sardines known as niboshi, though I tend to prefer the former for the subtly smoky aroma it adds. With a good source of glutamates and inosinates at my disposal, I moved on to the rest of the broth.

Stir Fried Korean Ramyun Noodles (ramyun Goreng)

Beef extract, beef fat, and beef stock are the most prominent of the real ingredients in the soup base, along with a slew of aromatics, including black pepper, green onions, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, and chile. With these elements as my building blocks, I began building my broth.

I've never liked the flavor of canned beef broth—it tastes tinny and artificial, and judging from the ingredients in most beef broths, it's no wonder: They contain surprisingly little actual beef. Most of the flavor comes from yeast extracts and hydrolyzed vegetable proteins—the very things I'd just made my own dashi broth to avoid. Rather than use beef broth, I decided to combine my dashi with some chicken broth, giving it a rich beef flavor with the addition of some short ribs. With chicken broth, homemade is best, but even store-bought stuff does perfectly well in this recipe. Packaged chicken broth is held to much more stringent standards than beef.

Added bonuses: short ribs are packed with connective tissue, which converts to gelatin as the broth cooks, giving it a nice, rich body. And, after cooking it until tender, I could add the shredded beef back in as a garnish for the soup.

Korean Instant Noodle

Browning the beef before simmering the broth adds an extra dimension of flavor. I also decided to take a page from my Japanesetonkotsu ramenrecipe and brown onions and ginger to increase that roasty aroma and enhance their natural sweetness.

After simmering for four hours—long enough to fully tenderize the beef—I was left with a broth that was tasty enough with plenty of body, but it wasn't quite right. It lacked the punch, brightness, and intensity that I was after.

plenty of chile, garlic, radishes, and acidity regulators, all of which give it a kimchi-esque aroma*. I tried adding some kimchi juice to the mix. Definitely a step in the right direction, but not

Best Korean Ramyeon

*I wish more things in life had a kimchi-esque aroma, or rather, that some things that smell like kimchi smelled less of it, and other things that don't smell of kimchi smelled more of it. I long for a different kimchi-esque aroma distribution in my life.

What's missing? A touch of soy sauce brought it closer, as did a good sprinkle of kochukaru, but it was still missing that intense garlic and chile hit. The solution? Doubanjiang, a Chinese fermented chile-bean paste. It's not a traditional part of Korean cuisine by any means, but it was exactly what my broth needed to complete its flavor profile. Bright and fresh with an intense heat that builds as you sip it, supported by a complex, savory backbone from the beef, sea kelp, chicken broth, and smoked bonito. This is a broth with some real complexity. If you made your broth right, it should have so much body that it gels into a solid block when you refrigerate it overnight.

Last step: adding the garnishes. Instant ramyun comes with packets of dehydrated garnishes including chile pepper, scallions, mushrooms, and thin flakes of beef. We can do better than that. For the mushroom and beef element, I decided to sauté hon-shimeji mushrooms in hot oil until well-browned before adding my shredded short rib meat. The fatty meat crisps up in the skillet just like good Mexican taco meat, adding both flavor and texture to the finished bowl.

Spicy Korean Kimchi Ramen

I already had the kimchi drained and ready, so that went on top as well, along with the requisite shower of thinly sliced scallions. Finally, add an egg—soft-boiled so that I can stir the yolk into the broth—and we've got a meal worth waking up early for.

All Asian ingredients can be found in Asian specialty markets or ordered onilne. Kombu is dried sea kelp. Katsuobushi is dried, smoked bonito. Niboshi are dried anchovies. Gochujang is a Korean chile bean paste. Doubanjiang is a Chinese chile-bean sauce. Gochugaru is Korean red pepper flakes.

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2, 000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

American Nongshim Versus Korean Nongshim: An Instant Noodle Showdown

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.SEOUL -- Exports of South Korean instant noodles known as Ramyeon have seen a steady increase, capturing the hearts of noodle lovers who favor challenging hot and spicy brands.

According to K-stat, a trade statistical information system operated by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), exports of ramyeon stood at $467 million in 2019, up 13.1 percent from a year ago.

The export volume has increased by 122 percent over the last five years. China is the largest importer of South Korean ramyeon with $124 million, followed by the United States with $54 million. Hot South Korean instant noodles are also popular in Japan, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Korean Ramen Noodles

According to a report released by Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, South Korean exported $380 million worth of ramyeon to the Middle East in 2019.

Samyang Foods, credited for introducing the first instant noodles in South Korea in 1963, has targeted Southeast Asian countries with Halal-certified Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen. When the noodles famous for its infernal spiciness hit the shelves in Southeast Asian countries in 2017, it created an online phenomenon, with consumers uploading their agonizing journey of eating hot noodles onto YouTube.

Backed by the online phenomenon and Hallyu (Korean cultural wave), total global exports of Samyang's hot instant noodles quintupled from 50 billion won ($42 million) in 2015 to 259 billion won in 2017.

Give Instant Noodles A Flavourful Makeover With This 5 Minute Viral Recipe

Samyang's success with halal-certified spicy chicken noodles prompted other South Korean companies to target the global Halal market. Shinsegae Food, a subsidiary of South Korean retail giant Shinsegae, unveiled a Halal-certified instant noodle brand called Daebak, which means jackpot or big success in Korean, in Malaysia in 2018.

While Samyang's Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen is a spaghetti-like instant noodle with no soup, Shinsegae's Daebak Ramyeon maintained South Korea's popular noodle soup style. Daebak Ramyeon used its spiciness in marketing to dare customers to try the instant noodles. According to Shinsegae Food, more than five million noodles packs were sold in Malaysia between March 2018 and November 2019.