It’s okay to make ramen with spaghetti (and how)

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It is a difficult business to replace the ingredients of a culturally specific dish. Some people are food pioneers and are ready to put something new and endanger the whole dish in the hope of achieving great results.Others are recipe purists who rename your dishes faster than accepting swaps-especially when it comes to famous dishes such as: Ramen.. If you can’t find the actual ramen, the purists will tell you and plan for another dinner. Purists can go kicking rocks, I say: when the need arises, you can absolutely replace spaghetti as your “ramen” noodle with a useful addition of baking soda.

Well, not long ago, I would have had a hard time adding Italian basil or regular Thai basil to you too. Phat kaphraoOr put the peppers inside you Nuea phat phrik.. They are not the right variations! Not the material used in Thailand! You would have said that using spaghetti for ramen should be called spaghetti soup. Perhaps Spaghetti ramen. I am a purist and for good reason. Many people who have a strong desire to use the “right” ingredients are chefs and passionate cooks of the country and culture in which these internationally renowned dishes were born.

These “ingredient enthusiasts” may be worried that their culture may actually be flushed and misunderstood. And that fear is understandable. However, given why and how most dishes transcend national borders and cultures in the first place, food alternatives prove to be perhaps one of the most shared cultural culinary experiences. In some cases, eating modified food may be the only way to get closer to home.

There are areas where fresh ingredients are readily available, areas where it is easy to meet international supermarkets, and areas where “rare” ingredients are imported. If you are looking for authentic food from other countries, there are various restaurants you can choose from. But for many, this is not the case.Limited choices or Food desert Low access to wide Various foods. Whenever it doesn’t fit my budget, I might go buy $ 20 ramen. So what is it because you can’t get the exact material you need? Do you want to sit in your hand?

If my mother didn’t drive to the nearest Asian grocery store in less than 45 minutes, she would pick up peppers and Italian basil, or slice lemons when she ran out of lime. Did you notice that one ingredient is slightly different? no. Was it delicious? absolutely. Was it still Thai food? That was certainly the case. (If you want to discuss with my mom, be my guest.) many Of the ingredients you need, some alternatives work very well. In fact, for ramen, it can change most.

Why ramen spaghetti works

It’s not the only ingredient, and it’s not the most important ( Dashi ), Noodles are the best filler and probably the most fun part of ramen. If you can’t find fresh ramen anywhere, or if you forget to get it at the last grocery store, you can effectively use regular boxed dry spaghetti, capellini, or angel hair pasta. Both ramen and Italian pasta are made of flour and water, but ramen has one important element. Watering.. This alkaline component gives the ramen a characteristic texture and golden color. If you didn’t get fresh ramen, you probably wouldn’t have found brine, but there are two ways to get the benefits with baking soda.

How to turn spaghetti into ramen with baking soda

A faster and easier hack is to add baking soda directly to boiling pasta water. This recipe Okomomi Kitchen’s recipes and methods are the simple ones I love. Simply add baking soda to a pot of boiling water to make an alkaline solution, imitating the effect of brine to make traditional ramen. Add spaghetti (or capellini for ramen-sized noodles) and bring to a boil as instructed. The noodles are a little more elastic and yellowish than without baking soda.

For ambitious ramen lovers, you can make your own ramen using baking soda instead of brackish water. Brine is usually added directly to the noodle dough. This recipe From fine cooking. If you don’t have access to this strongly alkaline material, you can first bake baking soda in a low-heat oven to replace it. This article The New York Times article has a fascinating and highly scientific explanation of why this works, but if you don’t have the time, baking baking soda this way will result in a stronger alkaline salt than before. Sodium Sodium carbonate, which has a much closer flavor and efficacy to brine than ordinary baking soda. To give it a try, use the baking method at the end of the fine cooking recipe above.

The most important thing to remember is that ramen is a team sport. In other words, it’s not just noodles, it’s a dish. If you have the quality of high-quality soup stock, roasted pork fillet, And all your favorite toppings are ready, and you can’t stop your precious meal without freshly cut ramen. Is it as good as a ramen shop in the city center with all the necessary ingredients from Japan, or is it good enough to remember growing up in Osaka? It may not be. But if a small substitute can bring you closer to those tastes and memories, it’s definitely worth it.