Wednesday 2 May 2012

Bad Ramen



I don’t really understand noodles. They’re rather like rice, not anything I grew up with. Yep I know how to make them, I’ve cooked them, I’ve followed detailed recipes from Harold McGee to make proper alkaline noodles to go in Tonkotsu broth lovingly distilled from a shit load of bones. This doesn’t mean I get them; it doesn’t confer upon me an appreciation of their finer subtleties.

Many moons ago I when I worked at Oddbins people would come in and ask for Champagne for special celebrations and the like, they’d ask about Dom Perignon or Krug, and I’d question them as to whether they thought it’d be money well spent? Did they drink Champagne enough to really justify all that extra cost, wouldn’t they prefer to buy a couple of bottles of Bollinger Grande Annee for the same price? I wasn’t trying to make people feel foolish, I was just worried that as we get to the higher price points the law of diminishing returns starts to gnaw away at the obvious differences, leaving subtleties. And the one thing I do know about subtleties, is how easy they are to miss. Just talk to me about interpersonal relations for a pretty swift demonstration of that.

So anyway, I’ve read loads about Ramen noodles, pretty much the whole of the first issue of Lucky Peach was one long soggy love letter to them. They sounded awesome. David Chang outlined their sheer wondrous brilliance in many a third person piece, and I wanted in on all this good stuff. But where was I to cut my teeth?

A full day’s worth of boiling, kneading, chopping and, well actually more boiling again, supplied me with a bowl of steaming porky, fatty broth. Rustically cut noodles curled around my fork (I didn’t have any chop sticks), the still ever so viscous yolk of my soft boiled egg leaked dangerously into the soup whiule scattered herbs and spring onions gleamed emerald round the puddles of fat languorously coalescing on the surface. Yet still I didn’t really feel that I’d got it. It was nice, I had a glorious sense of satisfaction over a dish well made, but it didn’t feel like it was mine to love. There was no tugging at heartstrings, no moments of wistful reminiscence; I just didn’t have any context. Not having grown up eating noodles, I didn’t really have a backlog of flavour memories with which to compare what I’d made. It was frustrating; deep down I knew that if it had been roast potatoes, I’d have had an opinion. Fuck yes I would have done, and I’d not have been backward about coming forward with it. You’d have known, because I’d have told you, how much better, or indeed worse, I could have done the potatoes. But with these noodles I was silent.



When you’re mighty geeky like I am, there’s a certain helplessness about being confronted by things that you can’t judge flavour wise. It’s sad, but I’ll admit to liking to know about what I’m eating, I feel a little lost at sea when I don’t, that little boy lost in China town not knowing what in the world to order.

Btw, read into this whatever you will….

11 comments:

Helen said...

And so now you know how I feel about wine...oh except I've drank a shitload of wine. Hmmm. Maybe it is that I'm just useless, then. I can't retain any information about it despite having taken 3 courses. I can't set up any points of reference in my mind and remember them. The reason for this escapes me...(FEAR FEAR FEAR).

Still mahoosive kudos on the ramen making, though...

Kavey said...

This, Mr E is a truth. A TRUTH.

Unknown said...

Kavey, thanks, (best comment ever) x

tanya said...

isn't that just the problem when you start appreciating the finer subtleties about what you eat and what you drink? you suddenly realise it applies to EVERYTHING, and a simple thing like taste starts to feel like an insurmountable task. so much to learn... or just blag it...

lap-fai lee said...

You made your own ramen according to the Prophet Chang and ate them with a fork?! You might as well stuck them in a plastic tub and stuck foil over them too. Whatever subtleties you may or may not perceive with the noodles would have been lot against the cold hard metal fork.

Unknown said...

Tanya - Quite, I don't doubt that you can appreciate beautifully made Ramen or the like, just that the emotional pull might be lacking.

Lap-Fai - Apologies, I shall nip out to buy some proper chop sticks this afternoon so I can appreciate them properly the next time I make them.. I was actually rather pissed off when I came to serve and realised what we were missing.

Lap said...

Sometimes I eat pasta with chopsticks too, it feels so wrong. It shouldn't but it does.

Unknown said...

Lap, I've got a friend who after he moved houses couldn't be bothered to buy cutlery so for about a year ate everything with chop sticks..

champagneonthebrain said...

I hear a trip to China coming on! :-)

Shu Han said...

good ramen is springy, with a bite, but substantial and tasty enough on their own.

But I understand when people don't get it.

It's the same way I feel about beer, or wine. I feel like I ought to like them, and be able to make fine judgements about them, especially if I love food, but nope.

Anyway, great read (:

Unknown said...

Hi Shu Han, thanks for the comment, you'll be glad to know that the more I eat Ramen, the more I seem to get a feel for them, having now made them a couple of times has really helped. Especially as I now know what they taste like very fresh.